Complexity-Aware Evaluation for Learning: A Case Study of a Developmental Approach

Abstract

Background: Ongoing learning is vital for steering programs in complex social-ecological systems, because it enables implementers to change course when needed, and ideally contributes to system wide insights as well. While there are many calls and guidelines for complexity-aware and learning-centred monitoring and evaluation (M&E), there are fewer case examples of attempts to implement it in practice. Purpose: This paper reflects on a multi-year case of an attempt to design and implement a complexity-aware, developmental and learning-centred M&E framework in a complex socio-ecological landscape, highlighting the challenges, adaptations and evidence of learning. Setting: Olifants River Basin, north-eastern South Africa and southern Mozambique. Intervention: Resilience in the Limpopo (Olifants Basin) Program (RESILIM-O). Research Design: Participatory action-reflection research with data collection through document analysis, interviews and focus groups Findings: Learning among program implementers was facilitated by working in new ways with standard M&E elements including indicator-based targets and theories of change, and through opportunities for shared reflection, including novel reporting templates, reflection days, and collaborative case studies. Challenges notwithstanding, the participatory, developmental M&E approach built understanding of and competence in M&E in the organisation. The “hybrid” framework that evolved successfully combined the need for accountability with the desire for organisational learning; and associated features were subsequently adopted elsewhere.