Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Accountability, and Learning (MERL / MEAL), strategic support, capacity building and training.
Humanitarian, criminal justice, rule of law, and development sectors.
What we do
We offer technical services to humanitarian and criminal justice partners across the globe. We are specialists in Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Accountability, and Learning (MERL / MEAL). We undertake independent research, studies and evaluations and training in fragile, conflict affected and other sensitive contexts.
Our work matters to us. We want to meaningfully understand how to achieve better outcomes for people and communities affected by violence, conflict and crime. We want to ensure that interventions are evidence based, effective, adaptive, and accountable.
OUR MERL / MEAL APPROACH
We use our unique psychological expertise in addressing complex challenges in rule of law, criminal justice, humanitarian and development fields using robust, ethical, meaningful, contextually relevant and sensitive mixed method approaches.
Co-enquiry
Our stakeholders and MEAL / MERL participants are our co-inquirers. Our approach involves designs, methods, and frameworks that use systematic inquiry in direct collaboration with those affected by conflict, violence and trauma for the purpose of action or change. We conduct our work in a participatory, democratic manner that values genuine and meaningful participation and collaboration in the process. We seek to build trust and develop relationships that facilitate increased engagement in the research process over time.
community-based participatory methods
Central to our approach are community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles. We seek to achieve an authentic partnership in a way that is responsive and facilitates bidirectional learning between researchers and community partners.
“Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a systematic way of approaching research endeavoUrs with members of typically underserved communities ….. The inherently collaborative approach is designed to foster co-learning, that is, a bi-directional process of learning in which researchers and community members work together to understand the unique needs and disparities of the particular population. As opposed to traditional research which is often researcher-initiated and hierarchically developed and conducted, a CBPR framework means that researchers are working in tandem with the members of the particular population themselves to initiate, develop, and carry out all aspects of the research process.”
SOCIETY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF PSYCHOTHERAPY, 2023
Our goals
Our services focus on discovering evidence, demonstrating effective practice and exploring innovative approaches. We inspire, inform, and advance understanding and build effective practice.
“The rule of law is fundamental to international peace and security and political stability; to achieve economic and social progress and development; and to protect people’s rights and fundamental freedoms. It is foundational to people’s access to public services, curbing corruption, restraining the abuse of power, and to establishing the social contract between people and the state.”
United Nations, 2019.
