Fellowship MEET UP (Monitoring & Evaluation Exchange Talks for Understanding and Progress)

Potential participants include those who:

• Are interested in a rich professional development opportunity for networking, collaboration, and ultimately publication.
• Are involved in the monitoring and evaluation of one or more Fellowship programs, including those employed at implementing organizations, funding organizations, independent consultants, and others.
• Can attend the eight, 90-minute online MEET UPs (see schedule below), and participate actively in the English-language discussions.
• Can commit to collaborating with a group of participants to host one thematic MEET UP to explore a learning theme of their choice. (The group will determine themes as a whole through the discussions at MEET UP 1.)

We aim to convene a group that includes a diverse range of participants, including those with varying levels of MEL experience, from countries around the world, from Fellowship organizations of all sizes, and from organizations that either fund and/or implement such programs.

We will select applicants primarily based on how their strengths and learning needs complement those of the other group members.

The call for applications has closed. 

All meetings are currently scheduled to take place on the following days on Thursdays, starting at 13:00 (UK Time):

• September 18, 2025 - MEET UP 1: Introduction and Priority Setting
• October 09, 2025 - MEET UP 2: Theme Selection & Refinement
• October 23, 2025 - MEET UP 3: Team Design Meetings
• November 06, 2025 - MEET UP 4: Thematic Exchange (Topic TBD)
• December 11, 2025 - MEET UP 5: Thematic Exchange (Topic TBD)
• January 15, 2026 - MEET UP 6: Thematic Exchange (Topic TBD)
• February 05, 2026 - MEET UP 7: Thematic Exchange (Topic TBD)
• March 05, 2026 - MEET UP 8: Reflecting and Refining

Numerous elements comprise a well-functioning MEL system within an institution, but just as no two institutions are alike, the ways to structure and conduct such MEL activities are also diverse. While a national government agency might have a whole, independent arm dedicated to MEL, a Fellowship program may be a single activity funded within a private foundation or even the singular focus of a small NGO. As such, the scale of resources that can be applied to MEL for such programs varies widely, and interpreting "best practice" for such situations is a challenge.

The Fellowship MEET UP series will utilize the three layers of Görgens and Kusek's "12 components of a functional M&E system" as inspiration to identify the practical challenges and questions faced by participants. As part of the application process and the initial prioritization meeting (MEET UP 1), participants will be asked to reflect on their institution's strengths and weaknesses by sharing examples of success, of which they are proudest, and areas of blockage, challenge, or confusion in which they need help. These will be utilized to curate a complementary group of participants set to help one another, and they will be presented in the first meeting as a spark to identifying the key themes to be addressed in each of the thematic exchange MEET UPs (4-7).

Example questions by participants might include:

• "Our Fellowship program is meant to augment our other activities. How do I craft a Theory of Change that fits into a wider set of institutional objectives?"
• "Everyone in my organization wants to know something else! How do I prioritize the types of data I try to gather about my Fellowship program?"
• "I've heard a lot about social network analysis. How could I use these methods to better understand the connections in my Fellowship network?"
• "We're gathering lots of data, but how can my organization turn that data into useful insights?"
• "I'm the only person in my organization responsible for MEL. How do I best prioritize what I do, and how can I encourage others to help me?"