Monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) toolkit for grantmakers and grantees

Toolkit

Resources to support and inspire better MEL among donors, grantees, and their partners, developed by a global grant-making team.

How can we make monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) work for grantees and donors? In 2017, the team leading MEL for the Open Society Foundations’ Economic Justice Program (EJP) set out to rethink traditional, donor-led approaches that, all too often, failed to serve anyone on either side of the relationship. The aim was to design an approach that instead prioritized grantee learning and long-term systems change.

About the project

These resources were created by the Open Society Foundations' Economic Justice Program (EJP) and are hosted on BetterEvaluation.

While there were plenty of MEL tools and templates available, there were few that could be easily adapted or that addressed the complex nature of the challenges that economic justice organizations and donors were facing. EJP funded organizations working around the world on advocacy, research and oversight and policy engagement on challenging topics such as combatting corruption, strengthening democratic systems, and supporting marginalized workers to build collective power and participation.

Further, significant anti-MEL sentiment existed throughout the field and within OSF. These challenges were compounded by a lack of investment by many donors in strengthening MEL capacity of grantees in a tailored, “right fit” way.

In this context, and drawing on a wealth of evidence and expertise, the EJP MEL team developed and tested different approaches to measuring, evaluating, and learning for grant-makers and grantees working on complex social change. Over five years, EJP produced a vast array of supporting materials and MEL resources—from guidance on milestones to a flexible grantee reporting menu; from agendas for peer learning events to specifications to introduce a new data management platform in a bureaucratic setting.

EJP’s MEL team aimed to always practice what they preached. When the program closed in 2022, they worked closely with external consultants to reflect on the process and draw out lessons and tools for others looking to prioritize long-term change and adaptive learning—and for donors wanting to address the imbalances of power and burdensome MEL requirements for grantees. These reflections and insights are captured in a short learning brief that accompanies this toolkit.

The toolkit

The toolkit itself is a curated compilation of MEL resources, handpicked from the dozens of materials produced by the Economic Justice Program. It is organized into four focus areas:

  • Rebalancing grantee/donor power for better MEL
  • Designing donor MEL systems and practices
  • Emphasizing evaluative thinking for complex systems change
  • Seeding innovation, evidence, and grantee-led learning in the economic justice field

The hope is that this unique repository and the accompanying brief will serve as a valuable foundation for social justice donors, partners, and practitioners seeking to strengthen their own MEL practices.

About this toolkit

Rebalancing grantee/donor power for better MEL

  • Rebalancing grantee/donor power for better MEL

    Though it’s not often acknowledged, funders are almost entirely reliant on grantee MEL practices to understand the impact of their resources in the world.

    Resources in this series

    • Grantee MEL capacity assessment

      This resource, part of the MEL Toolkit for Grantmakers and Grantees, provides a simple discussion/interview guide to assess grantee capacity across several components of MEL.

    • Grantee reporting menu

      This resource outlines the menu of reporting options developed as an approach to reporting that was more flexible and clearer for grantees and provided more insights to program officers.

Designing donor MEL systems and policies

Emphasizing evaluative thinking for complex systems change

  • Emphasizing evaluative thinking for complex systems change

    Each portfolio team within the Economic Justice Program was tasked with creating its own approach to learning and evaluation to address the complex challenges that it was seeking to address.

    Resources in this series

    • A guide to developing, refining, and using milestones

      This guide provides a set of recommended steps for defining, refining, and integrating milestones while developing a theory of change.

      This resource is part of the MEL toolkit for grantmakers and grantees resource collection.

    • Theory of change example for grant portfolios

      This resource is a theory of change example that was developed for an anti-corruption portfolio (2016–21); it includes standard theory-of-change components, such as outcomes and activities, as well as elements more specific to OSF’s longer-term strategi

    • Template for developing a portfolio learning strategy

      This resource is the template that the Economic Justice Program MEL team developed for the portfolio learning agendas of EJP's inaugural strategy.

      This resource is part of the MEL toolkit for grantmakers and grantees resource collection.

Seeding innovation, evidence, and grantee-led learning in the economic justice field

  • Seeding innovation, evidence, and grantee-led learning in the economic justice field

    The provision of infrastructure, community-building, and resources for learning across the field and among grantees was a major feature of the monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) support that the Open Society Foundations’ Economic Justice Program

    Resources in this series

    • Close-out note for the Enhancing Impact for Economic Justice portfolio

      This resource is a portfolio close-out note that was originally developed for colleagues internally at OSF: It provides an overview of the portfolio (its aims, structure, and scope) along with reflections on key achievements and lessons learned.

    • MEL jamboree facilitator agendas

      These agendas, for grantee “MEL jamborees”, provide a detailed view of not only how an actionable learning event for MEL could be structured but also offer an insight into the interests, challenges, and opportunities facing grantees when it comes to MEL

    • Learning Exchange Fund overview and application form

      The MEL team in the Open Society Foundations’ Economic Justice Program created a special fund to support structured learning and collaboration between its existing grantees.

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