Webinar | Feminist & Participatory MEAL: Shifting Power from Extractive to Transformative

How can Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) processes become more inclusive and useful to the people they are meant to serve? Feminist and participatory MEAL approaches offer one way to make that shift. They challenge organizations to look beyond collecting data and ask who decides what success looks like, whose knowledge counts and who gets to use the findings. In practice, this means moving away from extractive processes, where communities merely provide stories and data, towards approaches that give them an opportunity to benefit from what is learned.

In this interactive taster webinar, researchers Nur Hidayati and Janna Visser will introduce the core principles of feminist MEAL, explore the shift from extractive to transformative practice, and share concrete examples of how these ideas can be applied in everyday practice. Participants will work through concrete examples and will try out a simple tool they can use to examine their own indicators and surveys.

DevelopmentAid invites MEAL practitioners, programme managers, researchers, and NGO professionals interested in learning how to make Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning activities more feminist and participatory to join the webinar on “Feminist & Participatory MEAL: Shifting Power from Extractive to Transformative” that will take place on Thursday, 15 October at 4 pm (Brussels) / 10 am (Washington, DC).

Key takeaways

• Get a clear understanding of what feminist MEAL is and why it matters
• Discover the key principles that underpin feminist MEAL
• Understand the shift implications from extractive to transformative MEAL, with concrete practical examples
• Receive a practical tool, the 3-Question Power Check, that you can apply to your indicators and surveys straight away
• Engage with the speaker during the Q&A session

Speakers

Nur Hidayati, M&E Evaluator, Trainer, Facilitator, and Researcher

Nur is a feminist evaluator with over 20 years working where MEAL meets power, leading complex multi-country evaluations for INGOs, national NGOs and grassroots organizations across Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe. She uses participatory methods such as Most Significant Change, Outcome Harvesting and Photovoice on gender equality, SRHR, GBV, disability inclusion and climate justice, and — as a skilled facilitator and trainer — stays close through post-training mentoring so new practice actually takes hold. Nur holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from the Royal Tropical Institute in the Netherlands.

Janna Visser, Feminist Researcher and Project Manager

With over eight years of international experience, Janna specializes in feminist MEAL, gender-transformative programming, and intersectional research. She works with civil society organizations, international NGOs and social-justice movements to design and facilitate inclusive learning processes, strengthen participatory approaches, and embed feminist principles into project management and evaluation. Janna holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Host

Ion Ilasco, External Relations & Events at DevelopmentAid.