Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Platform: Frequently Asked Questions

Abstract

MEL (https://mel.cgiar.org/) is an online platform for organizations, programs and projects to plan, manage, monitor, evaluate, report and share their activities and results. By allowing all these actions to be completed in one organized space, and by semi-automating many features, it saves both time and resources while reducing the risk of error. Now in use by eight CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) and centers, it also allows for faster and more informed decision-making both inside an organization and across its partners. MEL was launched in 2016 as a collaborative infrastructure between the now-concluded CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems, led by the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), and quickly grew to include three other CRPs and four centers (see Question 9). The platform was born out of necessity as the available software at the time, and traditional monitoring and evaluation tools, could not provide MEL partners with a much-needed master overview of their projects, and has since evolved in a flexible and adaptive tool.