Reflections on making MEL accessible to faith actors and advancing and supporting new ways of producing research and evidence on faith in HDP

There is an increasing interest in and appreciation of monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) in the humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding (HDP) sector. However, MEL practices in the HDP sectors have historically been dominated by epistemology and practices of global north organizations and institutions as well as by requirements and impositions. This has led to a divergence between MEL expectations of international actors and the capacities and priorities of local implementing partners. Research has shown that this gap is even wider for local faith actors (LFA) because international actors have little awareness or appreciation of faith sensitive approaches. LFA and international actors (who may either be secular themselves or working within secular frameworks) often take different approaches to measuring success, use different terminologies, priorities, different ways of knowing and learning and have differing objectives, goals, and priorities for MEL. This divergence can lead to frustrations and tensions and is a significant barrier to meaningful collaboration. However, efforts are underway to prioritize local knowledge and partner with local organizations and make MEL accessible and faith sensitive. In this session we will explore these efforts to make MEL more accessible to faith actors and learn about how global north institutions can support locally led MEL and prioritize local knowledge, local partners, community participation and promote local perspectives?