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Some people are probably already familiar with the STAR programme that has been operating in Portugal since 1987, but I think it is appropriate to give a brief summary of the origins of the programme as in doing so it will give some insight into what the programme is all about and what it is intended to achieve. In summary, STAR is a community programme designed to give improved access to advanced telecommunications in less favoured regions of the European Community. However, STAR is first and foremost a tool for regional development and stems from the regional problem.

Birding, the active seeking out and identification of birds, is a wide‐spread and fast growing avocation on this continent, and indeed throughout the world. Jon Rickert's A Guide to North American Bird Clubs lists 17 national/continental organizations for both professional ornithologists and amateur birders and 844 state, provincial, and local associations. In addition, there are those legions of “unorganized” bird watchers and occasional, inquisitive discoverers of backyard birds. Members of this diverse congregation of birders have at least one thing in common — the need for a reliable identification tool enabling them to correctly label the just‐seen, unfamiliar bird. A field guide is just such a tool.

GENERAL MANAGER Harry Murray was telling me that his Imperial Hotel is the acme of conference centres when I noticed on his reservations chart a booking for the launch of a new Rolls Royce. It seemed an appropriate even for what undoubtedly is the Rolls Royce of business venues.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on improving the monitoring and evaluation of DRM capacity development initiatives.

The paper first explores the complexities and challenges presented in the literature, before using empirical data from a research project in six countries (Ethiopia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Philippines, Haiti and Mozambique) to discuss current approaches to M & E of DRM capacity strengthening interventions.

This is generally an area of technical weakness in the initiatives studied, with poor understanding of terminology, little attention to outcomes or impact and few independent evaluations. The need for greater inclusion of participants in M & E processes is identified and one programme from the fieldwork in Mozambique is presented as a case study example.

The paper ends by presenting a unique M & E framework developed for use by DRM programmes to track the outcomes of their interventions and ultimately raise standards in this area.