The final section of a monitoring and evaluation framework should outline a utilisation and learning strategy. This involves describing what you will do to maximise the chances of your program evaluation data being used. Part of your strategy for maximising utilisation should include consideration of how you will ‘close the loop’ and incorporate the lessons into your practices, and also how best to report the findings.

Reflect & integrate lessons into practice

Program teams should allow time for reflection on progress and opportunities to incorporate lessons into practice. It is amazing what can be achieved if this is done well. Don’t wait until the program has finished to start using the data!

One of the key tools we use at Clear Horizon is the “annual reflection workshop”, here the logic goes back up on the wall, and all existing data mapped to it, to create a results chart. Then a series of reflective questions are used to facilitate the group to consider what has and what has not been achieved. From here both the monitoring and evaluation framework and the program activities can be revised.