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Paper short abstract

This paper explores how Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) sits at the crossroads of gender, sustainability, and institutional development in the Global South. Drawing on three authors’ experience across sectors, it calls for a more integrated and locally grounded approach to evaluation.

Paper long abstract

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is often treated as a technical tool, but in practice, it is a complex and contested space shaped by diverse disciplines, power relations, and real-world challenges. This paper brings together three co-authors working in the fields of sustainability, peace and conflict studies, and evaluation practice to explore M&E as a deeply interdisciplinary space within Development Studies.

We reflect on field experiences from country portfolio evaluations, postgraduate studies in gender and global conflict, and leadership roles in environmental education. Each perspective shows how M&E often pulls from multiple knowledge systems—public policy, sociology, environmental science, and peacebuilding—but lacks frameworks that integrate them meaningfully.

The paper examines three key tensions: (1) how donor-driven frameworks often override local priorities; (2) how disciplinary silos prevent holistic learning in evaluation practice; and (3) how academic and institutional settings in the Global South are rarely equipped to train development professionals in this blended reality.

Using grounded examples from Nigeria and Ethiopia, we call for a rethinking of how M&E is taught, practised, and embedded into Development Studies curricula. We argue that M&E should be positioned not only as a reporting requirement but also as a space for learning, co-creation, and critical reflection.

In line with the DSA 2026 theme, we propose a shift towards more inclusive and interdisciplinary evaluation practices, ones that reflect the complexity of development challenges and elevate Southern agency in knowledge production and accountability.