We are excited to share the perspectives of our fellow evaluator in the Caribbean space, Stephanie Bishop, who also boasts a background in communications. Read on as she highlights how one passion fuelled another and notes the synergies between the seemingly different fields of Communications & Monitoring and Evaluation.
I stumbled into a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) role, and surprisingly, I am not the only one! It was a LinkedIn post by a colleague that brought this revelation. For the better part of my academic life, I pursued courses covering a range of communications topics. In fact, I believe that a career in communications is my calling. So, a decade ago when I ended up in M&E, it took me by surprise. During my post-graduate tenure, I gained experience in programme planning, monitoring, and evaluation, so technically, I wasn’t an imposter in the field…but I never imagined delving this deeply into it as a full-time professional.
Ironically, whenever I’m in conversation with my peers, they always ask “How does your background in communications help in your M&E role?” That is the million-dollar question! The linkages weren’t obvious…at first, but as I shifted from theory to practice in my daily work as a humanitarian practitioner, the connections became clearer.
In the simplest terms, M&E involves collecting, analyzing, and using data to inform decision-making and improve programme outcomes. However, without clear and consistent communication, the data collected might not be accurately interpreted, shared, or utilized. I like to think of M&E professionals as the bones that hold programme implementation together. Sectoral colleagues may provide the “meat” but in M&E we keep things together, running smoothly (as possible) with guidance and objectivity.
A huge part of this is effective communication. Whether it is clear communication with stakeholders during the data collection process, supporting the analysis of M&E data, presenting the findings in a manner that facilitates decision-making, or fostering a learning culture by sharing programme successes and challenges, the art of communication is the thread that binds it all together.
The more I reflected on this, the easier it became to see how communication is integrated into everyday M&E practice. In any project or programme setting, internal communication is paramount when exchanging information and feedback with the implementing team, for external communication the same is applied with stakeholders – the populations we serve, partners, and donors. In my M&E role, data visualization, social media, community engagement, and knowledge management are strategies we use to communicate findings, share results, collect data, and cultivate learning.
Essentially, communication has always been embedded in the M&E process, but there are opportunities to be more strategic in the use of communications to strengthen M&E. What will always be central to this is ensuring that any data collection, management, dissemination, or learning process should include communication that is tailored to the need of the population or audience being targeted.
Author: Stephanie Bishop, Communication Specialist and Humanitarian Practitioner
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