What organizational and programmatic capacities in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) are mostly needed for more effective, impactful and sustainable programs?

Development programs that make substantial differences in the lives of their beneficiaries have become a necessity in a world that looks for meaningful incremental growth that contributes to a well-articulated theory of change. While external evaluations of development programs are looked upon for objective, non-biased assessment of programs' worthiness and value, building organizational and programmatic capacities in monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL) is instrumental for programs effectiveness, impact and sustainability. Developing a programmatic understanding of what it takes to deliver results beyond program outputs, how impact takes place, what factors facilitate or impede program sustainability together with developing the needed capacities for putting this understanding into the program design, monitoring plans, evaluation tools, and sustainability-fostering interventions, are instrumental to development.

Embarking on building programmatic understanding and capacities in MEAL, several questions are posed;
-- What MEAL-related capacities should be developed?
-- How could these capacities be best developed?, and
-- Who should be accountable for ensuring MEAL capacities are well-placed within the program and the organization at large?

This panel discussion - organized and led by AMIDEAST - aims to bring out some perspectives on the why and how of building organizational and programmatic capacities in MEAL, highlighting opportunities and challenges, and sharing several lessons learned in the process of building an institutional mindset and capacities in monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning.