Formative Evaluation of MECI's Programs and M&E System

The Middle East Children’s Institute (MECI) is a child-centered NGO in Palestine and Jordan. The SIPA team conducted a formative evaluation to guide improvements to the design and implementation of MECI’s After-School Program, the Women’s Empowerment Program, and the University Scholarship in Palestine. The team also evaluated MECI’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system to verify alignment with MECI’s informational needs. The team held a visioning workshop with MECI staff and board; conducted a literature review; sent surveys to beneficiaries of the programs; and interviewed key stakeholders. The team analyzed the data with qualitative and quantitative measures. There is a strong sense of trust between MECI and the community but there are areas of improvement such as making goals and processes clearer to beneficiaries. For M&E, MECI collects significant amounts of data but it is not standardized, thus the team recommended M&E tools and formats for MECI.