We help organisations to:
Understand their operating environment, including their part within wider systems
Untangle what is working (and what isn’t) with their monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) approaches
Plan and implement MEL systems
Solve emerging challenges and identify opportunities
Advocate for MEL within and outside their organisation
MEL Coaching and Peer Support
Working as a ‘critical friend’ to support individuals and teams through their MEL challenges
Evaluation Readiness
Identifying MEL strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, and advocating for MEL as a priority
Evaluation Planning
Working with you to design fit-for-purpose, ethical evaluation plans and MEL frameworks
Theory of Change Development
Navigating teams through the process of developing a theory of change that reflects the systems they are working within and their spheres of influence
Conducting Evaluations
Tailoring evaluation approaches and data collection methods to best answer your evaluation questions
MEL Communication
Developing engaging MEL communication products to support learning, and effect change
Past Project
Examples
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From 2019 to 2021 we partnered with HealthWest to deliver an iterative series of evaluation capacity building activities for primary prevention organisations in Melbourne’s West.
This included participatory development of an evaluation capacity health check to assess organisational evaluation capacity, development of an online learning community, and a series of capacity building activities including a formal training series on MEL fundamentals, ‘lunch and learn sessions’, and small group and individual coaching.
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We worked with Foundation House to co-design and implement an evaluation of their complementary therapies services. Clients of Foundation House are asylum seekers and refugees that have experienced torture and trauma.
We used multiple strategies to ensure the approaches applied in the evaluation were ethical, inclusive and trauma informed. Strategies included gaining ethical approval, having distress protocols in place, using interpreters, giving people choices on interview formats and providing vouchers for transportation and remuneration (gift cards) to recognise clients expertise and time.
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In 2022 we used an applied learning approach with Melton City Council to support them to develop a ‘whole-of-council’ theory of change and MEL framework for promoting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. Through coaching and participatory workshops, the project team was able to successfully apply a system-lens to this complex issue.
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Since 2021 we have worked with Our Watch on multiple projects, including participatory development of theories of change and evaluation plans for two DSS-funded prevention projects in TAFEs and workplaces, and the evaluation of the upskilling pre-service professionals project in universities. We also facilitated a learning enquiry for the National Primary Prevention Hub around how evaluation of prevention of violence against women initiatives is being approached, and how evaluation could be further strengthened.
“We have loved working with Cultivating Change over the past couple of years in our evaluation capacity building efforts.
Judy and Emma have been nothing but a pleasure to engage with, bringing their valuable array of subject matter expertise alongside their warm, authentic and collaborative approach.
With their willingness to experiment and learn from different ways of working, Judy and Emma’s work has left lasting impressions on the primary prevention system in Melbourne’s west.
We have benefited from the ways in which Cultivating Change think about and approach social impact measurement and evaluation capacity building, and hope to work with them again in the future. Oh and too, they’re heaps fun.”
— Annu Vu and Kate Baker, HealthWest
