Monitoring and evaluation of the communication plan

Monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) is important to ensure that your communications are strategic, helping you to understand and learn from what works, what doesn’t, when and for whom. It is also an important tool for accountability, helping you to demonstrate uptake, and that your work is of high quality and useful.

The Overseas Development Institute (ODI, UK) has developed a toolkit which is intended for use by communications, research and project implementation staff working in think tanks, universities and NGOs. This toolkit can be very useful for supporting the development of a MEL approach for the NIPN Communications Plan.

The toolkit highlights 8 key questions that need to be asked and answered when looking at communications strategy, management, what was done and what was learned (see below figure).

Source: Cassidy C. and Ball L. (2018). Communications monitoring, evaluating and learning toolkit. Overseas Development Institute, London.