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Slovak-Czech Women's Fund at the Prospera Community of Practice Meeting on Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

We develop and cultivate monitoring and evaluation processes for women and women's rights.

From 24 to 26 July, 2018, we from the Slovak-Czech Women’s Fund took part a community of practice meeting on monitoring, evaluation and learning (CoP MEL). The CoP meeting was held in Malaysia, with over 60 women’s funds’ representatives and experts on data collection, monitoring, evaluation, learning, reporting and planning.

The creation and implementation of monitoring and evaluation processes is fundamentally related to the responsible resource management (finance, information), reporting and planning, or the effective work of the organization at both the project and program levels.

The CoP meeting was organized by Prospera – International Network of Women’s Funds.

Objectives of the CoP:

  • Support women's funds’ MEL point persons to improve their understanding, confidence and skills on monitoring, evaluation and learning;
  • Create a platform for women's funds to strategize and resolve common monitoring, evaluation and learning challenges and difficulties;
  • Facilitate opportunities for women's funds to innovate and experiment on monitoring, evaluation and learning strategies to improve the collection, analysis, and use of data for communicating impact and
  • Improve cross-network interactions and relationships amongst women's funds MEL focal points.

The CoP attendees discussed how to use a variety of methodological approaches and tools to build more accountable governance systems as well as adequate impact assessment. Based on specific diagnostic procedures, the needs of individual funds in the MEL area have been identified and detailed, as well as their specific experience and best practices. At the meeting, working groups were created and by using the Community of Practice format they have committed themselves to work together on a variety of topics under the MEL for the next nine months.

During the CoP meeting we could share our ways of monitoring both supported projects and the situation of women’s rights organizations. In addition, we shared our experience with participatory grantmaking emphasizing the qualitative data collection, participation, dialogue and consistent communication of findings.