Locally led approaches to MERL

The CHSSC is partnering with The Asia Foundation (TAF) to undertake impact assessments of two DFAT-funded governance programs – the Subnational Governance program in Nepal and the Nabilan program in Timor-Leste. The resulting case studies will support greater understanding within DFAT and the international development community of the factors that contribute to impactful governance programs across a variety of contexts.

The assessments are being led by CHSSC Senior Research Fellow Thushara Dibley and Adjunct Associate Professor Linda Kelly and local researchers, with support from CHSSC Director Lisa Denney.

The CHSSC is partnering with Bluebird Consultants between 2024 and 2027 to develop DFAT’s evaluation capability and practice.

Bluebird has been contracted by DFAT to support the implementation of DFAT’s Evaluation Improvement Strategy (EIS) which aims to increase both demand and supply for good quality evaluation. This includes work in three domains i.e. building senior leadership demand for good quality evidence; strengthening  evaluation quality, practice and use by staff; and building capability through supporting selected posts and providing a help desk service.

The CHSSC is currently working with Bluebird to help build evaluation capability and practice at the Tonga post. This work is led by Adjunct Research Fellow Allan Illingworth and supported by Senior Research Fellow Mardi Grundy.

The CHSSC is working alongside Parks Australia to develop an effective and sustainable process for monitoring and evaluating the joint management of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory.

Over a period of twelve months, the CHSSC has worked with Aboriginal communities of the park and with other Parks Australia stakeholders to develop and pilot a monitoring and evaluation approach to support the ongoing assessment of stakeholder satisfaction with the joint management of the park.

The approach has been developed, tested and refined in collaboration with Aboriginal researchers, paying particular attention to the perspectives and world views of traditional owners and local Aboriginal community members.

Our work with Parks Australia is currently led by Research Fellow Alex Gyles with support from Senior Research Fellow Mardi Grundy.

The CHSSC provides monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) support to the DFAT-funded Local Leadership and Collective Action Program (LLCAP) which is being delivered by The Voice Inc (TVI) in Papua New Guinea.

The five-year LLCAP program (2022-2026) aims to support a network of leaders and groups acting on some of Papua New Guinea’s most challenging issues. It does this by growing dialogue, knowledge and debate on an issue, then supporting leaders and organisations taking action on that issue and, around those leaders, encouraging a broader coalition of actors to bring increased resources to the reform objective.

The CHSSC works alongside TVI staff to prepare for, facilitate and report on six-monthly pause and reflect sessions and assists TVI to generate and share learning about collective action in Papua New Guinea.

The CHSSC’s contribution to LLCAP is currently led by Senior Research Fellow Mardi Grundy with support from Adjunct Research Fellow Allan Illingworth.

The Warlpiri Education and Training Trust (WETT) is a community development project governed and funded by Indigenous people in the Tanami Desert, Central Australia. WETT has been delivering award-winning education and training programs to Warlpiri communities in Lajamanu, Yuendumu, Willowra and Nyirrpi since 2005 with this funded by gold mining royalties earned by those communities.

In collaboration with the Central Land Council, the CHSSC is partnering with WETT to design and support the implementation of the Tracking and Learning project (YWPP).  Over the last five years, CHSSC researchers have worked collaboratively with the Warlpiri traditional owners in the four communities to understand and document their vision for their communities and develop a way of assessing progress that is led by the community members themselves.

The results of this tracking and learning enable WETT to keep track of its governance and five major education and training programs, assess progress, capture learning and make changes as needed.

The CHSSC’s work with WETT won La Trobe University’s Research Excellence Award for Industry Engagement and Partnering in 2024.

The work with WETT is currently led by Research Fellow Alex Gyles with support from Senior Research Fellow Mardi Grundy.

The CHSSC partnered with The Asia Foundation (TAF) in 2021-2023 to undertake a political economy analysis of three Pacific large ocean states - Nauru, Tuvalu and Kiribati.

The project experimented with adapting political economy analysis frameworks to the Pacific context, resulting in an innovative method more attuned to local realities. The analysis provided a deeper understanding of the complex political, social and economic dynamics of three countries from different perspectives and how these effect their respective development trajectories.

The work was led by then CHSSC Senior Research Fellow Lisa Denney with support from Research Fellow Aidan Craney and in collaboration with Pacific researcher Peni Tawake and local researchers.

The Central Land Council (CLC) represents Aboriginal people in Central Australia and supports them to manage their land, make the most of the opportunities it offers and promote their rights.

The CHSSC has partnered with the CLC for more than 11 years to support the monitoring and evaluation of its community development programs which currently support 35 Central Australian Aboriginal communities. These programs aim to maintain Aboriginal identity, language, culture and connection to country and to improve health, education and employment outcomes. These programs are all funded by Aboriginal people using income from land-use agreements.

In 2021, then CHSSC Co-Director Linda Kelly and CHSSC Senior Research Fellow Danielle Campbell worked with the CLC to redesign the community development program framework and to develop an accompanying monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) strategy.

The CHSSC is now partnering with the CLC to support strategy implementation. This includes analysing information collected throughout the year from individual project reports, community-based monitoring, staff reflections and independent evaluations of specific projects. This is supplemented each year by in-depth reviews of selected projects or areas of work. This information and analysis is captured in annual monitoring and evaluation reports written by CHSSC staff.

Since 2021, the CHSSC has also been working with the remote Aboriginal community at Lajamanu in collaboration with the CLC to understand and describe what change is happening in their community. In particular, the project seeks to determine a contextually appropriate measure of wellbeing by drawing out what is required for a good life in the community. The project then aims to support the community to monitor changes in wellbeing over time using participatory research approaches which promote community ownership of the data and support them to decide any actions to take in response. This includes helping the CLC and other organisations working in Lajamanu to adapt their programs in response to the evidence emerging from the research.

Our work with the CLC is currently led by Research Fellow Alex Gyles with support from Senior Yapa (Aboriginal) Researcher Marlkirdi Napaljarri Rose, Senior Research Fellow Mardi Grundy and Research Associate Louise Stanley.

Between 2018 and 2022 the CHSSC worked with TAFE Queensland to support the implementation of the third stage of the Australia-Pacific Training Coalition (APTC) which is currently scheduled to conclude in March 2025.

The APTC is Australia's flagship Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) program in the Pacific region. The DFAT-funded APTC works collaboratively with national governments, private sector agencies and civil society organisations to provide Australian-standard skills and qualifications to Pacific Islanders in nine Pacific countries.

The CHSSC provided APTC with technical support, coaching and mentoring and two-way learning in a range of areas, including monitoring, evaluation and learning; research design and delivery; partnership brokering and coalition building; and management and leadership.

This included working with APTC staff to develop and implement an APTC-wide Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Framework, to develop and periodically update country and regional-level theories of change and to support the APTC's leadership team's ongoing reflection and learning processes.

It also included working with the APTC and a Samoan disability advocacy organisation Nuanua O le Alofa to identify lessons learned from these two organisations' work in delivering TVET for persons with disabilities in Samoa. The research recommended a number of practical ways in which APTC and other providers can help make TVET more inclusive, including adjustments to facilities and classroom layout, curricula, course materials and teaching approaches.

The CHSSC’s contribution to the APTC was led by then Co-Director Linda Kelly and Program Manager Yeshe Smith, with support from Senior Research Fellow Danielle Campbell, then Director Professor Chris Roche, Research Fellow Allan Illingworth, Senior Research Fellow Elisabeth Jackson and Research Fellow Aidan Craney.