Monitoring, Operations Research and Evaluation for Adaptive Programmes (MORE-AP)

International development organizations are increasingly focused on strengthening the resilience of communities in developing countries to a variety of shocks, including natural disasters, economic crises, and public health emergencies. A key tool in this effort can be the adoption and adaptation of Community Resilience Estimates (CRE), a methodology developed by the U.S. Census Bureau. What are CREs? CREs provide a standardized, granular measure of social vulnerability at the neighborhood level. By considering factors like socioeconomic status, housing conditions, and access to transportation, CREs offer valuable insights into a community's capacity to withstand and recover from shocks. Why are CREs relevant for developing countries? While developed in the U.S. context, the CRE framework can be adapted to suit the unique circumstances of developing countries. By collecting and analyzing locally relevant data, international development organizations can utilize CREs to: Identify vu

  Use This Information The Way You Want In the labyrinthine world of service organizations and NGOs, there lies a dormant titan. This titan, often overshadowed by the immediacy of action, holds the power to revolutionize the very essence of an organization’s functioning. This titan is none other than the process of Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) . Awakening the Titan The first step towards institutionalizing evidence uptake in service organizations and NGOs is to awaken this titan. It begins with a simple, yet profound realization - data is not just numbers, it’s a narrative . Every data point, every metric, every KPI, tells a story about the organization, its people, its processes, its impact, and its beneficiaries. It’s about understanding that these narratives are the lifeblood of effective service delivery and advocacy work. The Dance of Data Once awakened, the titan begins its dance. A dance that is as intricate as it is beautiful. This is where monito

Development organizations, in their pursuit of efficiency and impact, often fall into a trap of routinization. Processes become standardized, tasks are automated, and decisions are made based on predefined rules. While this approach offers benefits, it can also lead to a dangerous state of ethical blindness , where organizations become desensitized to potential ethical risks and fail to recognize the harmful consequences of their actions. As you are aware, context changes all the time, therefore operating on autopilot and relying on predefined rules, may make staff, including managers not adapt quickly to change in context.  This is where the crucial role of evaluation emerges. By providing a systematic and objective lens through which to examine processes and practices, evaluation can act as a powerful antidote to the dangers of routinization and ethical blindness. The learning role of evaluations is aimed at addressing exactly this.  The Perils of Routinization: Routinization, while

  In many organizations, phrases like "We have always done it that way" and "I know what I am doing" are quite common. However, if you are a monitoring and evaluation staff member, you may notice some unusual trends in results, or overhear something in meetings that makes you question the vertical and horizontal logic of the program. Depending on your findings, it could be the perfect time to pause, take stock, and reflect. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to convince people who are used to routines and strict adherence to standard operating procedures to think outside the box and out of their comfort zone. This is where ethical blindness can occur. Ethical blindness refers to a situation in which a person is unable to perceive ethical issues or moral dilemmas because of routines and strict adherence to standard operating procedures. In essence, it leads to inappropriate or unethical decisions when the individuals are not able to think beyond what they are used to