What MEL activities do you do?
Write a paragraph describing what MEL activities you do within your organization (or would like to do), which you could share with donors and partners.
(Note: this is where you can share your answer to the assignment from our Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Basics E-Course)
My name is Clara Omol. I am currently working as a Creative Team Lead at Community Based Organization in Kenya, called Mwana Arts Space. The mission of the organization is advocating for children's mental health, providing a safe space where children can improve on their literacy skills and use their talents to express themselves.
One of the main activities we take part in are art sessions , talent activities ie film and music, read aloud sessions and soon, we hope to incorporate skateboarding sessions in order to help improve children's mental wellness.
Some of the Monitoring , Evaluation and Learning activities we do are:
1.Planning : This is where we work as a team in identifying a community and children's home that we would like to work with and organize for a community visit. In the visit, we do surveys by asking questions about the needs of the community and share ideas about the project we would like to work on. In the survey, we collect data such as :
- How many learners are in the children's home or school?
- What is the gender?
- What are some of the pressing needs in the community?
2. Do : This is where we set the starting date and the end date. We also identify who will take part in the activities, what resources will we need, the funding (fundraising activities) and also set achievable goals. We also make sure to document every activity by taking photos, videos and highlighting them on our social media platforms.
3. Assess : From every weeks activities or daily activities, we get to assess what went well and what we could improve from all the activities we carry out. This really helps us to be better and identify areas of improvement.
4. Review : In the review process, we get to revisit the goals that we had set and get more information about how much has been done based on a specific period of time. We also get to know whether we are on the right track and what impact has been made. In this stage we interview : the staff (team), the teachers or caregivers and the children.
Learning about Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning had been very insightful. I have learned so much about some the activities of MEL and the importance. This includes ; Writing Donors Reports, putting together success stories and survey analysis.
Clara Omol Thanks for sharing the different MEL activities you're doing at your project in Kenya. It sounds like your team is doing an excellent job!
Learning the terms for things I'm already doing!
I'm a skateboarding coach and just recently started joining fundraising meeting in my organization. Learning about MEL and reflecting on what parts of MEL I've been contributing to as a coach is really eye-opening.
Parts of my daily duties that translate/add to MEL:
Attendance, including gender and age breakdowns of programs.
Monitoring each skater's individual skills as a basis for understanding the qualitative effects skateboarding is having on our students. Our mission is to empower girls, POC, and LGBTQi youth through skateboarding- not to make sure every student can drop in at 6 feet. I care more about whether our kids learn confidence, how to navigate giving and receiving consent, and how to share space within a group.
I check in with both the kids and parents to give and receive feedback daily.
I huddle up with my coworkers daily. Do the kids seem to be having fun regardless of who's coaching them? If they weren't, how would we address that?
This class has barely begun and I'm fascinated!
Collin McFrazz thanks so much for sharing these examples from your own experience! sounds like you are already busy doing a lot of MEL and the huddles sounds like a great way to reflect and improve as a team.