Harnessing the power of practical approaches: Insights from SAMEA's Tech-enabled MERL Community of Practice

In the realm of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL), achieving transformational change involves a delicate balance between high aspirations and practical realities. The World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) defines transformational engagements as those that initiate deep, systemic, and sustainable changes, tackling significant developmental challenges at scale. This definition sets a challenging benchmark, pushing actors towards fostering large-scale, enduring systemic transformations. For the SAMEA's Tech-enabled MERL Community of Practice (CoP), this means embodying these principles to catalyze fundamental shifts in MERL practices across Africa, despite the inherent challenges of aligning lofty goals with achievable strategies.

SAMEA’s CoP has spent its first operational year striving to develop a vibrant, tech-enabled MERL ecosystem. The group aims to reflect on its progress, highlighting successes and limitations while recalibrating strategies to better navigate the diverse and complex African context. The CoP's experience has revealed significant challenges, particularly in leveraging volunteer contributions, which vary widely in availability and expertise. These challenges have necessitated continuous strategy adjustments, striving to maintain the transformational ambitions while adapting to on-the-ground realities. Despite several obstacles, the CoP has managed to foster a culture of innovation and learning, engaging members through capacity-building sessions and practical activities like tech demonstrations and the Responsible Data Challenge.

SAMEA’s CoP aims to share insights from its journey, showcasing how it has strived to merge ambitious transformational goals with the practicalities of diverse operational environments. This approach not only has the potential to influence MERL policies and practices but also serves as a model for other organizations, illustrating the potential of evaluation to drive policy and community trajectories toward significant change. By continuously learning and adjusting strategies based on real-time evaluations, the Tech-enabled MERL CoP exemplifies how persistent adaptiveness and applied learning can enhance the impact of MERL activities across various settings.