text: Chapter 2
  range of military operations, and therefore require continuous monitoring and evaluation from planning
  through execution to measure the overall effectiveness, and to help commanders and their staffs understand
  the current situation and its evolution during operations.
  2-38. SFA activities by themselves are not likely to achieve a strategic end state. To make progress towards
  a strategic end state, multiple complementary SC activities must be conducted over time to achieve a desired
  result. Assessments are performed in close collaboration with the U.S. country team, the host-nation
  government, and other multinational partners. It is important that SFA planners become involved in
  assessment working groups to help determine whether SFA activities are contributing to the achievement of
  the strategic end state, or if they need to be modified or reconsidered.
  2-39. Performing an initial assessment informs the combatant command on host-nation willingness and
  inclination to implement and sustain SFA activities. It also identifies and informs the planning team on
  partner FSF capability and capacity requirements, gaps, and potential risks.
  ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES
  2-40. The assessment process consists of four major activities that include—
  * Monitoring activities to collect relevant progress data (should be sex disaggregated).
  * Evaluating progress data to determine end state conditions, achieving objectives, and performing
  tasks to a measurable standard.
  * Recommending action for improvement, modification, or termination of activities.
  * Directing changes to SC plans or activities.
  2-41. Monitoring is a continuous observation of those conditions relevant to the current operation. It
  involves monitoring, collecting, and analyzing relevant indicators of performance or effectiveness and
  conditions in an operational environment that affect those indicators. Monitoring within the assessment
  process allows staffs to collect relevant information, specifically that information about the current situation
  that can be compared to the forecasted situation described in the commander’s intent and concept of
  operations. Progress cannot be judged, nor effective decisions made, without an accurate understanding of
  the current situation including gender and sociocultural information. Monitoring enables evaluation and
  measurement of developmental activity progress toward a desired end state.
  2-42. Evaluating is using criteria to judge progress toward desired conditions and determining why the
  current degree of progress exists. Evaluation is at the heart of the assessment process where most of the
  analysis occurs. Evaluation helps SFA planners and practitioners determine what is working and what is not
  working and helps them gain insights into how to accomplish the mission.
  2-43. Recommendations provide ways to improve the effectiveness of operations and plans by informing all
  decisions. The assessment process is incomplete without recommending or directing action. Assessments
  may reveal problems, but unless it results in recommended adjustments and directed action to improve
  progress, its use to the commander is limited.
  2-44. As SFA forces and planning staff continue to assess changes in the environment and chart the progress
  of the partner FSF, they must continually challenge their original framing of the situation to ensure the
  operation is meeting the stated objectives and end state. Further, they must assess whether the envisioned
  objectives continue to be appropriate to meet the end state. Finally, they must know if the intended end state
  still makes sense. While measures of effectiveness and measures of performance help assess effectiveness
  and performance of the plan, it is critical to assess the strategic objectives and end state. The assessment
  working group informs the commander’s decisions by evaluating and re-evaluating the stated objectives and
  end state against other possibilities and outcomes.
  MEASURES OF PERFORMANCE AND MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS
  2-45. Indicators in the forms of measures of effectiveness and measures of performance aid in determining
  progress toward attaining end state conditions, achieving objectives, and performing tasks. Measures of
  performance (MOPs) help determine if a task has been performed properly. Measures of effectiveness