ICED participated in the 5th Tanzania Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Week 2026, held from 22–26 September at Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge in Arusha, Tanzania.
Convened by Tanzania’s Prime Minister’s Office in collaboration with the Tanzania Evaluation Association, the conference brought together government institutions, researchers, evaluators, development partners, academia, civil society and other stakeholders under the theme “From Evidence to Action: Strengthening Human-Centered Evaluation for Sustainable Development.”
Representing ICED, Sarah Ameso and Clarice Panyin Nyan, PhD contributed to conversations on strengthening monitoring, evaluation and learning systems, leadership and the use of evidence in decision-making.
A key area of ICED’s engagement was Evidence and Gap Maps (EGMs) and their potential to support a stronger evidence ecosystem in Tanzania.
During a panel discussion on strengthening MEL systems and leadership, Sarah reflected on the importance of looking beyond the technical components of monitoring and evaluation.
“A functional MEL system is not simply about having the right tools, indicators or reporting structures. It is about cultivating leadership that values evidence, creates space for learning and is willing to adapt when the evidence tells a different story.”
This reflection speaks directly to one of the central questions at MEL Week: how do we ensure that evidence moves beyond reports and is actually used to strengthen programmes, inform decisions and support organizational learning?
During the week, Clarice Panyin Nyan, PhD, led a discussion on how Evidence and Gap Maps (EGMs) can make existing research and evaluation evidence more visible, identify critical evidence gaps, and support more strategic research and policy decisions.
By making the evidence landscape easier to navigate, EGMs can support more strategic research investment and identify areas where further synthesis or new research is needed.
Explore ICED’s Evidence and Gap Maps:
https://www.iced-eval.org/evidence-and-gap-maps
