Beyond monitoring and reporting: Building empowered and capable teams

Embedded learning in action

A recent project for Frontline Aids has got us thinking about the work we do and how we do it. While it’s a given that donors and organisations require data and insights to assess the impact of their investments, MEL is about far more than just evaluation and reporting.

Upskilling, empowering, and building the capacity of teams can amplify the impact of donor investments. Frontline Aids had the foresight to understand this when launching the U4P project designed to accelerate progress toward the Global HIV Prevention 2025 Roadmap targets. With seven participating countries, each adapting strategies to their local contexts, it was a complex initiative.

The key innovation was integrating MEL from the outset rather than applying it at fixed intervals or at the end of the project. This shift was made possible through the use of “learning questions”, which positioned learning as a core project component rather than a secondary consideration. These questions enabled teams to refine their approaches throughout the project, facilitating cross-country knowledge-sharing that influenced outcomes for all participants. Partners documented significant “moments of change” within a shared database, fostering a collaborative and reflective learning environment.

Commitment to a Conscious Process

Embedding learning into a project requires more than just providing tools and training—it demands sustained commitment and energy. For learning to take root, participants must see its value and be supported in identifying and logging “moments of change”. As understanding deepened, participation increased, and logging patterns improved toward the project’s end.

A critical demonstration of this commitment was the appointment of a learning partner, Southern Hemisphere—an independent entity responsible for designing a multi-pronged learning and evaluation process aligned with programme outcomes. This structured support system enhanced participants’ advocacy practices, ensuring learning was not just incidental but intentional.

Learning as a deliverable

There is a discipline in embedded learning, it requires a focus at the start of a project, along the way and at the end. In support of this, monthly online learning meetings were held where active reflection from all of the coalition members was encouraged. Participants were asked to reflect on their progress, on barriers, set-backs and enablers as well as share with others specific moments of change that they had observed. This ongoing reflection strengthened project adaptability, with teams feeding insights back to Frontline Aids to refine strategies in real time.

In addition to that, there was a “light-touch” mid-term review. At Southern Hemisphere, we often observe that the time-lapse between the project kick-off and the final deliverable can be considerable and this created space for the adaption of plans making the plans infinitely more robust and workable.

The end-term evaluation was also distinctive. Beyond a standard assessment, three key advocacy outcomes from each coalition were identified and analysed for future interventions in HIV prevention advocacy. One of these was further developed into a case study, resulting in six Outcome Case Studies, ensuring that future teams could build upon previous learnings and experiences.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

With funding for key social change projects increasingly under threat, ensuring donor money is spent effectively is more critical than ever. Engaging a learning partner makes this more likely by:

  • Making learning an explicit part of the project design
  • Recognising and leveraging both successes and setbacks
  • Establishing strong feedback loops to inform ongoing activities
  • Providing expert guidance while maintaining local ownership and autonomy

This strategic commitment to learning results in clear but adaptable strategy and work plans and increases project efficiencies and spend. Notably this does not mean a large budget commitment as all of this was achieved with a very reasonable budget.
By embedding learning within MEL, organisations can ensure their initiatives remain dynamic, data-driven, and ultimately, transformative.