On this page we answer the question, what is Monitoring and Evaluation and Learning? We explain why we think it’s important and our approach.
You can also view our related training courses and news. We also offer consultancy, facilitation and coaching on this subject.
Accepting that circumstances and factors surrounding social interventions and projects tend to be dynamic and emergent requires a major focus on learning. We understand MEL as the reflection-action learning processes happening during and after any social intervention aimed at maximizing contribution to transformative changes, including implementing organisations’ changes. "Not everything that can be counted counts…not everything that counts can be counted." W. Bruce Cameron.
From a learning perspective, MEL participation of different stakeholders – understood as methods, tools, approaches, practices and attitudes – is not just considered a “good practice” but actually constitutes a core, pragmatic principle to inform processes of organisational learning and decision making. Since knowledge is to be created by actors on the ground, programmes need to be informed by stakeholders’ interpretation and participation in making sense of their experiences.
We believe that our role as evaluators is to facilitate collaborative processes that are empowering and contribute to a sense of ownership for stakeholders.
In our experience, when introducing a participatory and facilitative approach to reflection and data collection, new insights and learning will emerge which are of direct and immediate use to the stakeholders involved, so that the outcome of the evaluation is not limited to the report and accountability to funders and donors.
In our MEL activities we focus our attention on data and information coming from participatory processes from grassroots for decision making and learning at organisational level.
We use different evaluation frameworks such as casual frameworks including logframes and Theory of Change (ToC), Participatory Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning; contribution frameworks, such as Outcome Mapping and Process Tracing, as well as gender analysis approaches with intersectional perspectives which are closely linked with evaluation frameworks around power asymmetries.
In our work we apply a wide range of technical skills for social research, including qualitative and quantitative tools to aid data generation, and collective and multi-stakeholder analysis and sense making. We particularly favour transformative participatory tools that are oriented in reflection and action.
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