Monitoring and evaluation in thinking and working politically: Webinar report

This webinar report explores how monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) is made more relevant and useful in politically complex programming environments by intentionally adapting existing systems, tools, and practices.

This work emerged from a late 2024 virtual fishbowl with a diverse set of colleagues, and a 2025 paper by Florencia Guerzovich and Tom Aston as part of the Thinking and Working Politically (TWP) Community of Practice.

Thinking and Working Politically (TWP) is a lens or framework for understanding political dynamics, power relations, and incentive structure, rather than a discrete tool or methodology.

This content may be valuable to MEL practitioners grappling with the realities of relational dynamics, power shifts, and evolving strategies across contexts. It speaks directly to the tension between upward accountability and learning, and offers practical insights on adaptive approaches, including the role of learning cadences.

Not only is this paper a useful resource for evaluators working with TWP, it is also a good example of how to share knowledge generated during an event.