Planning and practice in monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning

Programme

1: Why do MEAL? Current MEAL trends and drivers 

• Why organisations invest in MEAL systems 
• A brief overview of key current MEAL trends and implications for organisations

2: Overview of MEAL cycle/system

3: Key terms used in MEAL

• Recap on key terms used in MEAL: goal (impact), outcome, output
• Introduction to case study: reviewing programme goal and outcomes

4: Developing a systematic MEAL plan; purpose and key audiences

• Introduction to a systematic approach for developing a MEAL system and plan 
• Group work: defining the purpose of a MEAL system and key audiences

5: Defining key MEAL questions and indicators 

• The purpose of MEAL questions and indicators
• Group work: defining key MEAL questions and indicators 

6: Introduction to MEAL methods and tools

• Overview of tools used in MEAL processes
• The use and how to limit the abuse of tools
• Practice using a simple survey tool and analysing qualitative and quantitative evaluation data 

7: Deciding MEAL plan methods and tools for case study

• Group work: deciding on key data collection methods and tools 
• Complete MEAL plans for peer review

8: Peer review of MEAL plans

• Practice presenting a MEAL plan
• Practice giving constructive feedback on a MEAL plan

9: Evaluation approaches

• Overview of evaluation approaches and examples
• Group work: designing an evaluation process
• Share and review evaluation plans

10: Communicating MEAL results

• Group work: communicating findings to different audiences

11: Practical solutions for addressing MEAL

• Open space: practical solutions for addressing participant gaps in MEAL
• Open forum for remaining questions and discussion points