When I first started exploring career pathways in the development sector, one acronym I constantly came across was “M&E” (or “MEL”). This refers to monitoring and evaluation (and learning), a systematic process of data collection and analysis that allows organizations to assess a project’s progress and impact. My research into M&E never went past an initial search of the acronym’s meaning, because I checked out once I saw the mention of data… at least until recently.
In March I was thrown back into the data world as my project wrapped up two years of implementation, and began its endline reporting phase. I attended several of the endline meetings since they were held in the office, but I did so fully expecting to take a back seat. M&E seemed beyond my skill set and previous experiences trying to tackle data-focused projects only deepened my disinterest. My attendance at these meetings was mostly motivated by the relevance they had on my project.
The AIF team in Baripada is seeking to scale and implement its Integrated Program in Odisha. Our team needed concrete and high quality data points showing program impact to ensure stakeholder buy-in and advocate for additional funding. Since my work was going to require me to reference and rely on data for advocacy, I figured it would be worthwhile to learn more about the process of collecting and analyzing data despite my hesitancy. It was at this point that I connected with BIF senior fellow and alum, Prashant Anand.
Prashant is co-founder of Samanta Foundation, an Uttarakhand-based NGO aiming to promote holistic education among forest dwellers and other marginalized communities. Together, we discussed the organizational and sector-wide need to learn M&E as well as my hesitancy to explore skill development in this area. We both agreed that my fellowship period is as good a time as any to try tackling M&E because 1) it is relevant to my project as well as useful skill 2) it provides an opportunity to reframe how I approach my own learning. Since Prashant’s team at Samanta Foundation happened to be in the process of developing trackers for one of their projects, I would have the opportunity to help out.
Samanta Foundation oversees a School Transformation initiative which establishes school resource centers (SRCs) within local primary schools to provide teachers and students with educational tools and resources. I flew out to Uttarakhand in early April with the goal of helping the team develop two trackers: one to track SRC adoption and impact and the other to collect data on parent engagement with SRC-related events. I was equipped with a “Foundations of M&E” crash course and enthusiasm to learn how to apply all that I learned in a real world context. What ensued was an impactful experience that changed my understanding of skill development, especially with regard to data-oriented work.
One of the most important things I learned about M&E is that it is a way more collaborative process than I previously thought. When I used to think of data processes the image that came to mind was someone sitting alone at their computer, excel sheet on screen. This was happily not my experience at all. Developing the trackers required conversations and feedback loops with educators and other team members who provided valuable insights about indicators and other metrics. It was as much a team building exercise as it was a data process.
Additionally, I learned that so much of what motivates me is understanding the why of a project and relating that to a much larger context. I had the opportunity to join educators in the field as they worked at their SRCs. I also met countless community members both directly and indirectly impacted by Samanta Foundation’s work. Having that context drove me to dive deeper in the project, because I wanted to be able to capture data that spoke to those lived experiences. I’ve been able to take this lesson back to my project in addition to the following takeaways:
- “Non data people” can be “data people” (and vice versa). I firmly believe that anyone can learn any skill. My two biggest barriers in the beginning were my lack of educational resources (e.g. learning materials, time) and my self-held beliefs about what I could learn. Finding mentors and learning opportunities are essential to learning any skill whether it is data-related or not!
- Find ways to make understanding M&E learning easier to understand. M&E can get jargony quickly so I actively sought out additional learning tools that would help me understand related concepts and frameworks. For example, this LinkedIn post by one M&E expert helped me learn to distinguish between outputs and outcomes.
- Courses are nothing without application. The Udemy course I took was great for understanding the basics of M&E, but I needed to apply them to a real world scenario to make them relevant. It was great to work alongside an organization with a clear need for M&E and the knowledge and tools to create the plan and process.
Meeting Samanta Foundation team members. Photo Credit: Guneet Sekhon
I believe that the three takeaways listed above are relevant whether you are learning M&E or communications or project management skills. They will continue to be relevant to me as I explore new roles upon my return to the US. I hope they also serve as a friendly reminder to future fellows to take advantage of skill development opportunities. You will likely come across many of them during your fellowship journey, and they are worthwhile to pursue!
