Are M&E Professionals best placed to be Learning Practitioners?

Does Learning mean being intentional with the L in MEL?

Hello and welcome to the 23rd Edition of #LearnAdaptManage. Thank you to our 4,595 subscribers for joining us on our journey to use #evidence to inform decisions and actions in #internationaldevelopment. ?? Click the subscribe button on the upper right corner to join us!

A few years back, I attended a webinar in which we attempted to discuss the difference between MEL and Learning. Before then, I had not given it much thought because, as an M&E professional, I was naturally curious about data use for adaptive management, which was my definition of learning.

Wait, is that the definition of learning? Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, here is a definition from USAID Learning Lab .

'Learning systematically includes (1) asking specific, answerable questions that address critical knowledge gaps; (2) completing activities to answer those questions (e.g., performance monitoring, evaluations, tacit knowledge capture, etc.); and (3) sharing findings with colleagues and stakeholders in order to improve decision making and program implementation.' -USAID

Back to the story.

In the webinar, we had learning specialists who were not M&E professionals. Their experiences ranged from communication to social behavior change to organizational development to program management.

I listened a lot more during the webinar because hearing how other people talked about the role of M&E based on their personal experiences in the sector was a bit sad, to say the least.

This might not be surprising to you, gentle reader. (hey, Bridgerton fans! no spoilers here; you can continue reading)

Most people, and rightfully so, still view M&E through the lens of donor accountability alone. This includes some M&E professionals and others outside the profession.

If you have been around for a while, you know that we see M&E as serving a dual purpose in this space. Accountability, not just to the donor but to the communities we engage in, and learning to maximize the impact of our work.

This reminded me of a great document from INTRAC on learning and accountability. You can check it out here .

"Most people agree that M&E should be used for both learning and accountability.....but there is no consensus about which one is more important. The debate matters as there is sometimes tension between the two purposes."

What do you think of this debate? If you read the Intrac document, you might have some ideas.

Back to the story.

So, after the webinar, I walked away (not literally), thinking, what should my opinion be on this topic?

Well, I formed one after a couple of discussions.

The conversation for me shifted to what competencies learning practitioners require to deliver on their mandate.

I view the learning process through a spectrum of evidence generation, evidence synthesis, and evidence use. Based on this, I ask what skills we need at each stage and who has them.

This tells you that everyone working in a program plays a role in learning.

PS: I still think you need specialists to design learning systems and support programs and organizations in building a learning culture, but learning involves all of us. Was this PS necessary? The point is, yes, you need to hire people like me!

And guess what?

I shared my formed opinion in a webinar! (There is a theme here; participating in webinars might actually be good for you!)

Here is a post with a short clip about this topic.

So, does being a M&E professional make you a learning specialist? Let me know what you think and why.

Thank you ??for reading this far! It is always a pleasure to have these conversations with you here, and hopefully, we can be in a webinar together soon! ??

What are your key takeaways from this edition? Please let me know in the comments section below ??

Florence Randari is an experienced Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) professional who has built effective monitoring and learning systems and processes for programs across East Africa for almost a decade. Her expertise lies in helping teams develop and maintain a learning and adaptive management culture that ultimately leads to tangible improvements in program impact. She is the founder of Learn Adapt Manage (LAM) .