Community update: MEAL in East Africa (September 2019): Feedback starter kit, Grand Bargain, qualitative approaches

Andrew Nzimbi
Andrew Nzimbi
Andrew Nzimbi works as an independent consultant in Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning. He is based in Nairobi, Kenya, but works internationally.
Andrew is an independent consultant with a passion for Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL). He has 14 years of experience in the Humanitarian and Development Sectors, covering 10 African Countries and Yemen. Andrew supports INGOs and other stakeholders involved in humanitarian and development work, to solve their MEAL needs and improve their quality of programming. He helps set up MEAL systems; facilitates MEAL trainings and conferences; conducts assessments, reviews and evaluations and; facilitates strategic planning. His expertise targets diverse audiences. Andrew holds a Master Degree in Project Planning and Management and a Bachelor Degree in Community Development.
Community updates provide brief highlights from expert practitioners about what they see as the key developments in a specific area, what resources they would recommend, and what to look out for in the coming months.

Key developments in the area of MEAL in East Africa

Feedback Starter Kit for Feedback and Complaints Management:

The IFRC recently launched their new Feedback Starter Kit which, offers step by step guidance and templates for setting up and managing a feedback and complaints system. This kit provides great insights for ensuring communities are the center of humanitarian response through: continuously engaging affected populations and, completing the feedback loop.

Updates on the Grand Bargain

In my last update, I mentioned the launch of the SOHS in May in Nairobi, Kenya, where progress on the Grand Bargain was discussed. This topic was dealt with in more depth at the Grand Bargain Annual Meeting 2019 and at the ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment meetings held in Geneva in June 2019. The meetings looked into issues including system wide efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian response, localization, internal displacement, and accountability. This was accompanied by important discussions related to MEAL. HPG released the Grand Bargain Annual Independent Report 2019, while Ground Truth Solutions shared findings from their surveys with affected populations and field staff in multiple countries for the Field perspectives on the Grand Bargain and the Humanitarian Voice index. .

Utilizing qualitative approaches for monitoring humanitarian action

ALNAP released a paper named, Beyond the Numbers: How qualitative approaches can improve monitoring of humanitarian action. The paper looks into ways in which organizations can utilize qualitative approaches and qualitative data for monitoring humanitarian programs, as it is paramount to know and understand the story (culture, context, and reasons for changes) behind the numbers presented. There has been a lot of discussions lately about this – for example, during a CALP Coffee and Catch Up event held in August in Nairobi, possible qualitative approaches for monitoring CVA were briefly discussed by participants.

Recommended resources

Accountability

Grand Bargain

Qualitative approaches

PHAP community updates are written by members of the association and other practitioners in their personal capacity. The views expressed belong solely to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of PHAP or any other organizations with which the author is associated.