An innovation conceptualised in 2015 during the implementation the Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (GEWE) programme funded by the European Union (EU), the Malawi Country Office developed an M & E tool for its Implementing Partners (IPs) to track results in consultation with the communities served. 

Mentioning of the key innovation for  the excel based tool, the innovators, Cliff Phiri and Bernard Mijoni (both Monitoring and Evaluation Officers) alluded to the strong element of  community involvement, which saw beneficiaries being actively involved in tracking results and the  systematic documentation and processing  of performance data  for results. This tool aided IPs to easily develop result based reports.

“Active involvement of IPs in the entire process in identification of results to be tracked and development of indicators for the data collection tools, created a sense of commitment, ownership and willingness for IPs to drive the innovation” said Cliff Phiri.

 
He further explained that active community involvement proved useful in cutting costs and time required for results based reporting data. This approach also made IPs shift from reporting on activity completion to reporting on key results emerging after completion of the implemented activities. 

“This approach has made the Malawi Country office  demonstrate value for money and ably justified the significance of UNFPA interventions in relation to the lives of the beneficiaries, as the strategic focus is on leaving no one behind” said Bernard Mijoni.

The UNFPA representative for Malawi, Dan Odallo congratulated the entire Malawi county office team for winning the award.  “I congratulate each and every one of you for this win! I am VERY proud of the work we have done and acknowledge that it is always our collective effort that puts us on the map”, said Dan

Story written by Leticia Nangwale