what is MEL?

MEL is short for monitoring, evaluation, and learning.

We define MEL as the natural process of watching how things are going, asking if they're working and why, and then changing our behavior to continuously improve.

Many of life's important decisions are made using MEL, whether it's deciding if you should to go back to your ex, or a donor deciding to continue funding a program.

Keep reading to see what MEL looks like in practice.

Monitoring

In a relationship, monitoring is like going through your partner's phone everyday to see if they're cheating ?


It's an ongoing process we use to make sure things are progressing well...and spot if things are not going well.


To monitor an education program, for example, we might regularly collect data such as:

  • How many books have been distributed.
  • How many students are enrolled in the school.

Evaluation

Unlike monitoring, evaluation only happens at specific points, usually every 1, 5, 10, or 15 years.

There are many types of evaluations. The one we are working on tries to answer questions like:

  • What change is the program causing or contributing to (e.g., higher test scores)?
  • What can we do to make the program better?

Think of evaluation like an annual conversation with your partner to discuss positive and negative changes in your relationship, and ways to grow stronger together.

Learning

As you may have noticed looking at Cardi B and Offset's relationship, learning is the part people sometimes struggle with.


In fact, prior to 2010, most people just said M&E. The "L" is a recent addition.


Learning is about more than getting new information (e.g., 75% of students passed state exams). It's also about taking action (i.e, attempting to increase that figure to 85% within one year).


In a relationship, learning is like surprising your partner with roses once a month because you found out it's something they enjoy.

a note on indicators

You have very likely heard of key performance indicators (KPIs) - the things your boss uses to evaluate your performance.


Indicators are an important concept in MEL, so it's worth explaining them.


Simply put, an indicator is a sign, signal, or warning. Break lights on a car indicate that the driver is pressing the break pedal. (Learning would be you slowing down so you don't hit them.)


Test your knowledge (be prepared to provide your answers soon!)

  • When explaining MEL, we mentioned a few indicators. Take another look, how many do you count?


  • All the indicators on this page relate to education. What do you think is the most popular education indicator in the world?

other terms you might hear

Even though we try to avoid using technical terms, we might slip up. So it's worth familiarizing yourself with common MEL terms. Of course, be sure to let us know if you have questions about anything you hear us say.

  • Quantitative data: numerical data, like things that can be calculated (e.g., height, weight)


  • Qualitative data: non-numerical data, like words or actions (e.g., Google reviews).


  • Theory of Change: an articulation of what a project aims to achieve and how it plans to achieve it (there may be one in the program documents you'll review in the next step)

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