Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) is vital for learning from our work and informing advocacy. However, in the sector, MEL is often burdensome and extractive, offering little in return. This collaboration allows women’s funds to develop FMEL tools reflective of a gender-transformative agenda. Many funds lack resources to build FMEL systems alone and need support to build grantee partners’ capacities in participatory FMEL.
Collaborators：
Taso Foundation
Fonds pour les Femmes Congolaises (FFC)
Women Fund Y
SAWF IN
Inspiration
We face challenges like instability from pandemics/conflicts, donor loyalty issues, and sustainability concerns. MEL is crucial for emphasizing our work’s significance. This collaboration helps us develop FMEL tools and systems aligned with our gender-transformative agenda. We also aim to build grantee partners’ capacities in participatory FMEL.
The Process
Phase One: Support women’s funds in building accessible, participatory FMEL systems. Engage grantees via questionnaires and workshops to understand their MEL experiences and challenges.
Phase Two: Develop a participatory MEL system with feminist values. Build grantee partners’ capacity through skills transfer and coaching, enabling them to create FMEL systems aligned with women’s funds. Produce a report documenting the collaboration’s results and success stories.
Ways of Working
- A steering committee with two representatives from each fund guides the collaboration.
- Decisions are made collectively, usually by consensus or majority vote.
- Taso Foundation serves as the grant manager and lead coordinator, supported by a Project Coordinator who ensures smooth implementation and documentation.
What Does Success Look Like?
- Transfer of power to grantee partners, enabling them to develop synchronized FMEL systems.
- A report demonstrating success stories and the FMEL system’s development.
- An effective FMEL system used by both WFs and grantee partners.
- More active proposals from grantee partners and less passive reporting.
Between the lines
This collaboration unites funds from various continents to develop participatory MEL systems, fostering shared experiences and a feminist approach to MEL practices. Interpreters and translators familiar with the work and contexts will be hired. The project aims to synchronize FMEL processes, identify best practices, and transform grantee partners into active participants in grantmaking and impact reporting. The goal is to support women’s funds lacking resources to build an accessible FMEL system and to help grantee partners understand and develop their own participatory FMEL systems.