o learn, you must monitor progress, evaluate outcomes, triangulate your findings with research and sense-making. If you don’t learn, you cannot change or reward desirable outcomes. And, if you don’t reward desirable results and behaviors, they will not be repeated or sustained.
Investors stakeholders seek Value of Money (VoM) or Return on Investment (ROI). Stakeholders consider an organizational
process as successful if it produces results with the least possible resources. However, the organizations primarily focused on process efficiency or obsessive stocktaking activities mostly miss the mark.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) focused on today’s processes are regressive. They measure current performance against the past. They fail to prove that specific work contributed to overall results.
The MER2L necessity
To ensure organizational results, a functional MER2L (Monitoring, Evaluating, Reseach, Reporting & Learning) framework uses:
Continuum monitoring and control mechanisms;
Programmatic review, validation, and fine-tuning outcome and impact evaluation:
Mainstream accountability and a culture of knowledge generation; and,
Research, sense-making, and learning.
It takes an effective MER2L system to judge whether an initiative is the right one and has taken the planned direction. Organizations must continually evaluate success-capability creation as well as progress. They must focus on the realization of measurable benefits and improvement of future benefits.
The S4F.Solutions MER2L System Assessment™ is a situational analysis tool to identify problems, devise solutions, and redefine systems. A MER2L toolkit helps our partners assess and revamp their MER2L to provide essential data for monitoring performance, mainstream accountability, a culture of learning, progress reporting, results analysis, sense-making, knowledge generation, and continuous improvement.
Specifically, the toolkit empowers partners to:
Guide the planning, coordination, and implementation of their investment;
Assess the intervention value of money (VoM) and identify areas for potential improvement; and,
Ensure the accountability of all the social impact actors and stakeholders involved.
We collaborate with our partners throughout the assessment process, build the internal capacity for sustainment, and guarantee measurable results.
Contact S4F.Solutions™ to discover how they can customize these tools to your needs.