Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI) Week: Lessons Learned in Using GEI’s “Monitoring and Evaluation Systems Analysis” (MESA) Tool by Heather Bryant
Hi, I am Heather Bryant, a member of the Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI) Global Team. The GEI supports developing countries in strengthening their monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems to help governments gather and use evidence that improves the lives of their citizens. The GEI believes that to effectively support countries in this process and to be able to provide tailored, context-specific advisory services, it is first necessary to understand the existing systems that affect M&E in the country. To assist in this effort, the GEI Global Team, in collaboration with the global network of Centers for Learning on Evaluation and Results (CLEAR), developed the Monitoring and Evaluation Systems Analysis (MESA) diagnostic tool. The MESA is a tool that guides stakeholders (e.g., government entities, evaluation professionals, civil society) in gathering, structuring, and analyzing information on the current capacity of their country’s M&E ecosystem. Since the tool’s launch in early 2022, the GEI Global Team and colleagues in the CLEAR network have been using it to help identify what is working well, what needs to be improved, and to inform capacity-development strategies meant to strengthen the systems that enable M&E to flourish. We have learned a few things along the way – both in the development and in the use of the tool.