The Feminist Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (FMEAL) Collaboration Initiative brought together four national women’s funds and eight partners, with two from each fund. The decision to include movement partners was unique in the Collaboration Labs. The results demonstrate the value of broader stakeholder participation and the ability to work together with movement partners to generate knowledge, share power, and take action.
The FMEAL Collaboration aimed to explore two components:
- the contribution of FMEAL approaches—especially qualitative storytelling methods and collective sensemaking—in transforming power dynamics between partners and funders, both at the level of women’s funds and their partners and at the community level; and
- the individual and organizational mindset shifts needed to embrace FMEAL approaches.
Impact: Meeting the Purpose of Better Serving Movements
Resourcing this collaboration led to several outcomes:
- Expanded Gender Equality Understanding
- By using feminist qualitative data collection tools and engaging in collective sensemaking, participants deepened their understanding of the “what” and “how” of gender equality change. This resulted in personal and organizational shifts that contributed to gender equality work. Participants also gained a better understanding of their contexts and how their organizations contributed to gender equality.
- Transformed Power Perceptions and Changed Power Dynamics
- The participation in both the co-design of “the approach and the tools” and experimenting with them in their communities transformed individual perceptions of power as feminist activists and rapidly changed power dynamics between partners and funders, with a quicker transformation than expected.
- Increased Relationship Building
- More equitable relationships were reported between partners and funders, fostering increased openness. Participants felt more willing to share challenges with the funds and provide critical feedback, which was seen as constructive to gender equality work.
- Improved Learning Integration
- Women’s funds found it easier to integrate learning into organizational practices, including tighter integration of program
Insights for Women’s Funds and Other Funds
1. Principles of a FMEAL Mindset Shift
- Put participants at the center as experts and owners of the process.
- Support individual and organizational mindset shifts to center participants and focus on accountability and learning:
- Interrogate power dynamics within the MEAL process to drive equal power sharing.
- Prioritize power-informed, participant-led learning over objectivity.
- Reframe the “MEAL expert” as a critical friend to accompany participant-led learning.
- Assert the transformative potential of deep listening.
2. Focus on the “A” and “L” of MEAL
- Shift accountability to movements rather than donors, emphasizing processes that reveal insights into gender equality change in communities.
- Enable learning to be translated into changes in organizational practice and strategy.
3. Encourage Openness
- Integrate trust building and vulnerability throughout the MEAL process to enable more open sharing of views.
4. Adopt New Methods to Facilitate Better Participation
- Embrace participatory qualitative and quantitative methods focused on
- interrogating power dynamics,
- prioritizing intersectional analysis and practice, and
- recognizing the dynamic nature of gender equality change and addressing backlash and resistance.
5. Challenge a Fixation on Success
- Encourage learning from both successes and failures, moving beyond a “culture of success” to a reflective, transformative process.
6. Shift to an Organizational MEAL Culture
- Ensure MEAL is a whole-of-organization responsibility, requiring leadership and investment from the board and executives to foster a learning and accountability culture. This should value the perspectives of all team members, not just program and MEAL staff.
7. Frame MEAL Practices in Care and Justice
- Ground MEAL practices in care, informed risk, language justice, and principles of accessibility and inclusion.
Leçons pour les donateurs
1. FMEAL Values Contextual Local Knowledge and Can Transform Power Dynamics in Relationships
- FMEAL requires resources for implementation and supports the shift of power from funders to grantee partners, giving more authority to local knowledge. By emphasizing a partner-centric approach, FMEAL helps to rebalance power dynamics that are traditionally dominated by funding.
- FMEAL is relational and requires time to build trust. A transparent, transformative approach to managing power dynamics leads to more flexible reporting and better understanding between women’s funds and partners.
- As civil society faces increasing risks, partnerships with other women’s funds create resilience, strengthening transparency and development in the global feminist movement.
2. Collaboratively Developed Tools Have Wider Application
- Tools developed collaboratively, informed by diverse contexts, are more robust and applicable across various environments.
3. Flexibility and Language Justice are Paramount
- Flexibility enabled participants to meet people “where they are” and adapt to contexts.
- Language justice ensured that concepts were clear across languages, with translation and interpretation enabling a multilingual collaboration to thrive.
During the FMEAL Collaboration, each organization committed to experimenting with the approach/tools over 12 months. Lessons were distilled in a collective sensemaking session and provided invaluable insights for both women’s funds and donors, emphasizing the importance of empowering participants, transforming power dynamics, and focusing on context-specific learning. The principles outlined above offer a roadmap for adopting FMEAL approaches, highlighting the need for continuous reflection, organizational commitment, and an inclusive, participatory approach to evaluation and learning.