WUNRN

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS! G&D: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

The July 2014 issue of the international journal Gender & Development will look at Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning in international development and humanitarian programmes, advocacy and campaigns- from a gender justice and women’s rights perspective.

G&D is published for Oxfam by Routledge/Taylor and Francis, and is essential reading for international development researchers, policymakers and practitioners. G&D is currently read in over 90 countries. It is published as an online/print journal at www.tandfonline.com/gad. Content is also available free access online at www.genderanddevelopment.org

Over the past forty years, development and humanitarian practice has made big strides in integrating gender analysis into planning and implementation stages of the project cycle – but all too often, monitoring, evaluation and learning has fallen short, leaving policymakers, researchers and practitioners with less information than we need about the impact of our work on women’s ability to claim their rights, and on wider gender justice in society. In the issue we will focus on MEL in both ‘mainstream’ interventions, for example livelihoods or humanitarian response, and in ‘stand-alone’ work on gender and women’s rights. What are methods for tracking progress on transformation of unequal gender and power relations, including issues such as backlash? How are donors being encouraged to better recognize the challenges of complexity in MEL and validate methods to address this, and the politics of evidence in general?

This issue hopes to explore these concerns, and the innovative work which is being done to address this knowledge gap. It will do so via grounded case studies of real experience from developing countries, written by development/humanitarian practitioners, researchers, and policymakers, with interesting experience to share. The issue will support colleagues to understand how best to apply MEL approaches to ensure higher-quality programming which responds fully to the interests and needs of women and men, girls and boys living in poverty in the global South.

G&D has an editorial policy of publishing in clear, jargon-free English, in order to be of use to the widest possible readership. All articles need to be based on first-hand experience, or research on-the-ground in particular country contexts, and have direct relevance to development policy and practice. Don’t worry if you have not written for a journal – we will help you with style and language!

We envisage articles on the following areas – but please suggest others to us!

· What approaches are being developed by development and humanitarian workers to ensure better MEL on women’s empowerment? Examples?

· What approaches are being developed to assess progress on mainstreaming gender issues into programmes? Examples

· What are the particular challenges in evaluating progress on these goals and some practical ways for resolving these? Examples?

· What approaches are being used to ensure that the voices of women and men, girls and boys, are heard in MEL, to improve accountability to communities and stakeholders?

· How is technology helping us to better reach and hear women’s voices through MEL? Examples?

· How are ‘value for money’ and results-based management affecting the freedom and ability of women’s rights organisations to monitor and evaluate changes in gender equality? Examples?

· How is policy, advocacy and political influencing on women's rights work being measured ? Examples?

· How are changes in attitudes, perceptions and behaviours about gender inequality in societies being measured? Examples?

· How are the challenges of intersectionality being addressed in MEL practice? Examples?

· How do we ensure the evidence created by MEL can act as a springboard to secure funding for women’s rights work? Examples?

· What changes in our work when we turn MEL to MEAL (adding ‘acccountability’ explicitly to our focus)? Examples from organisations which adopt this focus?

Please send a paragraph outlining your proposed idea for an article for this issue to csweetman@oxfam.org.uk as soon as possible, and before the commissioning deadline: 15 October 2013. If we are able to offer space for your contribution, we will write to you by 21 October 2013 to say so. Commissioned articles will need to be completed for a deadline of 20 January 2014.

For full guidelines and more information on the journal visit