How KNOWFOR partners are using design, monitoring, evaluation and learning for understanding knowledge uptake
Photo: Craig Beatty/IUCN
KNOWFOR, a DFID-funded partnership between the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Bank Program on Forests (PROFOR), grew out of the need to reform how knowledge uptake projects are designed, monitored and learned from. Recognising a gap between the supply and uptake of knowledge by practitioners and decision makers in the forestry sector, KNOWFOR partners have been working to develop customised internal approaches to design, monitoring, evaluation and learning (DMEL) for their projects. These approaches aim to inform organisational management as well as promote a wider conversation on linking short-term, localised interventions to long-term, broader social, economic and environmental benefits.
KNOWFOR partners undertook a study to assess which factors helped or hindered successful uptake of new DMEL approaches. Results from the study have suggested that investments have already led to improved understanding and early practice changes among activity managers. Continued work and investment is needed through KNOWFOR and internally within partner organisations to translate these early achievements into sustained and ingrained DMEL practices.
"It forced me to think ‘down the road’ and also to anticipate and prioritise key contacts and outputs." (Survey respondent)
