This is the M&E Thursday Talk from August 20th, 2020, when Lindsay Heger, Jon Bellish, Júan Fernando Lucio, and Andres Sabato, of One Earth Future Foundation, led a discussion on “Advancing Programmatic Outcomes Through Monitoring: Exploring PASO Colombia.“
Building on the Business & Impact case covered in the first presentation of our three-part series with One Earth Future (OEF), this discussion focused on how Monitoring was built into OEF’s PASO Colombia program at its inception, and how it has been adapted over the past five years.
PASO Colombia facilitates sustainable peace in their country by coordinating collaboration among rural peasant communities, ex-combatants, government, and business. Since its inception in 2015, the program has used monitoring data to facilitate several significant strategic shifts to optimize impact. Staff from the PASO program discussed how the program has utilized and benefitted from data monitored throughout its existence.
More on One Earth Future’s Approach:
One Earth Future takes an approach to measuring program impact that extends beyond assessments, evaluations, and surveys, to also integrate robust outcome-focused monitoring systems into all programs from their inception. Through trial and error over the course of its decade-long history as an incubator of international peacebuilding and peace-making programs, the organization has found value in this approach on multiple fronts. Embedding the practice in program development and implementation has proven to have payoffs that are at least two-fold for individual programs, as well as providing the collective benefit organizationally – and for all partners involved – of opportunities for shared learning and insights across a variety of diverse programs.