Resources

Baseline Study Case Study: Lebanon In mediation processes, usually an outsider and impartial third party mediator is sought. In certain contexts, especially in traditional and high-context societies, an insider mediator who is intrinsic (geographically, culturally and normatively) to the conflict…

Preventing possible tensions between refugees and the host population has become a policy priority for countries hosting large numbers of refugees. In addition to local, national and international humanitarian actors, faith-based actors from both host and refugee communities attempt to…

Reports on JLI’s 2020 progress on goals in Evidence, Research and Knowledge Partnerships, and Communications, while highlighting projects and learning hub work.  

Edited by Mwai Makoka A handbook to accompany churches in establishing and running sustainable health promotion ministries The World Council of Churches (WCC) defines health as a dynamic state of wellbeing of the individual and society. It is a state…

Impact Evaluation Report 127 September 2020 Coverage for routine vaccines falls short of the global target of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Coverage is particularly low in low- and middle-income countries. A recent survey shows that less than a quarter of…

An Outcome Harvesting plus Attitude Change toolkit for peacebuilders and other changemakers Is your context so complex and fast-changing that your logical framework feels disconnected from reality? Or does your project plan emerge over time in ways that make it…

Faith actors have long been involved in initiatives aimed at improving the wellbeing and health of communities. While much of the international system continues to be characterised by secular approaches, there is an increasing awareness of the contribution of faith…

A quick analysis guide Part 1: For health and development actors - Engaging Faith actors in COVID-19 vaccine rollout COVID-19 vaccine rollout poses challenges. Systematic approaches to engaging faith actors proactively, fairly, equitably, and appropriately are critical. Immediate issues where…

The ‘Compendium of Good Practices on Conducting MEAL in Partnerships with International Actors and Local Faith Actors’ bridges the knowledge gap on how international and local faith actors practice MEAL in a diverse range of development and humanitarian contexts. It…

Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Worldwide How this story represents an international-local faith partnership in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL): International Buddhist faith-based network working on peace, culture, and education & network consisting of local Buddhist community groups worldwide. Soka…

Jamyang Foundation - India and Bangladesh How this story represents an international-local faith partnership in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL): International Buddhist faith-based organisation specializing in women's and girls' education. Partnerships with local Buddhist nuns; education programmers, including secular…

Tearfund, Tanzania How this story represents an international-local faith partnership in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL): International Evangelical Christian faith-based emergency relief and development organisation & partnerships with local church and community groups in Tanzania. Driven by their Christian…

World Relief: Burundi, DR Congo, Haiti, Malawi, Rwanda, And South Sudan How this story represents an international-local faith partnership in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL): International Evangelical Christian faith-based development and emergency relief organization & partnerships with local churches…

International Care Ministries (ICM) - Philippines How this story represents an international-local faith partnership in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL): International Christian faith-based poverty alleviation organisation & partnerships with local pastors in Philippines. International Care Ministries (ICM) is a…

HOPE International - Burundi, Haiti, Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe How this story represents an international-local faith partnership in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL): International non-denominational Christian faith-based poverty alleviation organisation & involvement of local church partners in Burundi, Haiti,…

Hogar De Cristo - Argentina How this story represents an international-local faith partnership in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL): International research collaboration between Argentinian Catholic university, British university, and local Catholic NGO network & the evaluation of a programme…

Eagles Relief and Development Programme - Malawi How this story represents an international-local faith partnership in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL): International Christian donor & National faith-based Christian organisation, partnerships with local churches in Malawi. Living Waters Church established…

The Asian Muslim Action Network (AMAN) - Indonesia How this story represents an international-local faith partnership in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL):  Internationally operating German Protestant faith-based donor organisation. Coordination by national Islamic faith inspired organisation, partnerships with Muslim…

Adyan Foundation, Lebanon How this represents an international-local faith partnership in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL): An international secular donor & partnerships with local Muslim, Christian, and Druze faith leaders in Lebanon. Adyan is a foundation for diversity, solidarity,…

A number of NDI programs have integrated research into activities intended to help political parties, government officials, and civil society leaders become more responsive to and representative of citizens. Party programs have used focus groups in particular as a tool…

Accord Network organizations are facing many new challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has required rapid adaptation in many areas, including in monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL). In this paper, four case studies of Christ-centered NGOs are presented…

Praxis Series Paper No. 11 is written by Rick James. It focuses on the Mothers’ Union (MU), an international Christian organisation. Founded in 1876, MU aims to support families around the world. Between 2017 and 2019, MU undertook a major,…

The importance of the spiritual dimension in the lives of people living in conditions of poverty and social exclusion and the often-critical role of faith-based organisations has gained increasing relevance in development research and practice. A growing line of research…

On December 16, 2020, the JLI MEAL Hub discussed faith-based peacebuilding and the evaluation of interreligious peacebuilding. Presentation by Prof. Mohammed Abu-Nimer, KAICIID Dialogue Center. Introduction by Dan Williams, Hub co-chair of the JLI MEAL Hub. https://youtu.be/LTH2tSGAAIs If you have…

Panel discussion with authors of International Development and Local Faith Actors: Ideological and Cultural Encounters edited by Kathryn Kraft, Sr Lecturer in International Development UEL and Senior Advisor on Faith and Development at World Vision and Olivia Wilkinson, JLI Director…

On October 14, 2020, the JLI MEAL Hub discussed Eagles Relief and Development Programme's MEAL practices with local pastors in Malawi. Speakers: Steffie Kemp, CCMP Advocacy and Learning Coordinator and Cuthbert Gondwe, Church Mobilisation Manager https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCkhY2gFehM If you have not…

On August 26, the MEAL Hub discussed research progress on the compendium of case studies around good practices for local faith actor engagement in M&E. Nathan Mallonee presented on “How Living Water has used the Most Significant Change process as…

Learning Exchange with Jessica Baumgardner-Zuzik from Alliance for Peacebuilding June 17, 2020 Presentation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TH7pVwINFk&feature=youtu.be Jessica Baumgardner-Zuzik, Senior Director of Learning & Evaluation at Alliance for Peacebuilding, presented on the Eirene Peacebuilding Database, AfP's #CreativityInCrisis video series, and the Effective Inter-religious…

Religions are increasingly being regarded as relevant partners in international development cooperation due to their special attributes. However, to date there has been little research into what the special attributes of religious development agencies actually are or how such organisations…

April 23rd 2020 Discussion This discussion focused on changes to MEAL practices during COVID-19 response and opportunities for MEAL to be leveraged. MEAL Hub members focused on their organizations experience with Revising: How are you revising your MEAL practices in…

Learning Exchange with MEAL WG member, Subodh Kumar from Food for the Hungry February 19 Presentation Subodh Kumar presents on lessons from Food for the Hungry's experience in building organizational EL&A culture Where Food for the Hungry came from Introduction…

MEAL DPro provides an overview of basic MEAL concepts and introduces tools and processes which underpin strong MEAL systems, focused on the use of quality data to improve programming. It is accompanied by a series of online learning materials on…

Learning Exchange with MEAL Hub member, Sam Verbi at Eido Research January 22 Presentation How Eido started Initial feedback from local faith actors Impact evaluation frameworks Kingdom Impact Framework Impact Evaluation Design: response shift bias   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae4KjSJQVwM&feature=youtu.be   Join the…

See below for the most recent version of the TOR as of 1.2020. If you would like to make any comments or revisions please contact [email protected]

Learning Exchange with MEAL WG member, Michelle Garred Nov 20, 2019   Listen to Michelle Garred's presentation on Outcome Harvesting & Attitude Change for Grassroots Interreligious Peacebuilding looking at two pilot evaluations with Tearfund and Peace Catalyst: [audio m4a="https://jliflc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Michelle-Garred-Outcome-Harvesting4a-AudioTrimmer.com_.m4a.crdownload.m4a"][/audio]  …

The Accord Research Alliance Podcast - Recap of Accord Research Alliance Intensive   https://soundcloud.com/user-666881060/2019-recap   The Accord Research Alliance Podcast - Jean Duff at 2018 ARA Research Intensive Jean Duff, President of the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith & Local Communities…

For the past 50 years, we have been on a journey to shape and outwork a distinctively Christian, faith-based approach, with the communities, individuals and supporters we partner with, at home and overseas. It is not enough for us simply…

Most Christian organisations are missing out on the power of measuring and communicating the impact that they are having – both socially and spiritually. Casting vision for transformation is critical as it allows people to understand the dreams and goals…

Can a Protestant Christianity education program teaching about health, livelihoods, religious values impact poverty? New working paper published from groundbreaking randomized control trial (RCT) to measure impact of faith and religion in the Philippines. This trial was an initiative between Innovations for Poverty…

Alliance for Peace Annual Conference: Peace Now More than Ever Session: Beyond a Leap Of Faith: Evaluative Reflections on the Practices of Monitoring and Evaluating Inter-Religious Peacebuilding October 13, 2017 Panelists Peter Woodrow, Executive Director of CDA Collaborative Learning Projects James Patton,…

Alliance for Peacebuilding, CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, and Search for Common Ground, with support from the GHR Foundation, This guide intends to improve the practice of inter-religious action for peace, by encouraging the regular application of monitoring and evaluation tools. Religious communities have…

The Organization of African Initiated Churches (OAIC) and International Care Ministries (ICM) have partnered up to learn from each other on monitoring, evaluation, and learning for organizations working through local faith communities. We spoke to Rev. Nicta Lubaale (OAIC) and…

This is a conference report from Yale University 20 & 21 September 2016 on measuring, evaluating and reporting the role of faith-based interventions on reducing poverty and promoting well-being globally. The conference was sponsored by Yale University, Innovations for Poverty Action,…

Local URI staff and members of the community use storytelling to collect information from URI’s grassroots groups about their peacebuilding activities and the activities’ impact. Information collection and reflection is usually done through an interview or question and answer format, with notes taken or an audio and video recording. Storytelling is also a collaborative learning tool, which enables grassroots groups and URI as a network to better understand the impact on their communities, and what URI and grassroots Cooperation Circles might do to improve. Storytelling provides meaningful information that can highlight both the strong points and weaknesses of a project, as well as any unintended consequences. Sharing and listening to stories builds bonds of trust and opens doors for relationship, which is essential for creating change.

Tags: Story Collection & Analysis, Data Collection by Local Community

The Early Childhood Development Program is a volunteer-implemented program that improves the holistic wellbeing of children and their families living in HIV/AIDS prevalent areas. Focus areas include child health, nutrition, and livelihoods strengthening activities for vulnerable families.

Tags: Data Collection by Local Community, Holistic Wellbeing, Comparing Data Across Regions

The LIGHT Wheel provides a framework to understand change in every aspect of a person or community’s wellbeing – both spiritual and physical. The LIGHT Wheel sets out nine domains – or “spokes” – that holistically represent an individual or community’s ability to live well, flourish and be resilient. The Light Wheel contains a number of data collection tools which help us to measure and assess holistic change. The Wheel takes an assessment beyond direct outputs and outcomes of a particular initiative, programme, project or process to look at the intended and unintended impact. The tools include: a household survey with approximately 15 questions per spoke, a guide to direct observation for enumerators, guidance on how to consider secondary data, and at the centre of the tools is a participatory guide for focus group discussions (where communities score themselves for each spoke based on discussion questions).

Tags: Holistic Wellbeing, Organization-wide System

Many faith-based organizations are increasingly concerned that secular systems of measurement and evaluation do not fully reflect their organizations’ work or desired impact. Calls have been made for the development of “faith-based measurement and metrics”. This framework includes ‘spiritual’ outcomes…

Bruce Wydick writes in the World Bank Group's Development Impact blog about a new body of work within development economics that views lack of hope and aspirations failure as an important contributor to development traps. Link: http://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/measuring-hope-guest-post-by-bruce-wydick

Abstract: This paper seeks to create a framework for understanding the role of hope and aspirations in economic development. We review the literature on hope from philosophy, theology, psychology, and its relationship to emerging work on aspirations in development economics.…

Christian development agencies, mission organizations, educational institutions and churches who want to have people come to know Christ and deepen their relationship of discipleship with Him, have a struggle on their hands:  how do they know if they are having…