B. Ways of Collecting Information

Information about systems at the site level is collected in several ways. First, there is required reporting based on recordkeeping. Project management may require all sites to submit daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly reports. Regular site reports are the main source of information regarding total amount of food received and distributed to beneficiaries, inventories in storage sites, extent of losses, adequacy of food management systems, staff training needs, and the number of project beneficiaries. Second, there are site visits to improve performance of sites not operating adequately. The visits, regardless of the information produced, have a positive impact on site management. Third, and the focus of this chapter, is monitoring a sample of sites, based on mathematical laws of probability which state that a small number of sites randomly selected from all the sites will demonstrate the characteristics of the whole. The goal of statistical sampling is to achieve maximum objectivity, representativeness and efficiency.