Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning | A Guide for NHRIs in the Asia Pacific Module 3: Developing your MEAL Plan Section 3.1. Developing your MEAL Plan The MEAL Framework is the high-level tool that guides your MEAL work. Once you have completed the Framework, the next step is to develop your MEAL Plan. Guided by the MEAL Framework, the MEAL Plan lays out how you will put your MEAL into operation. It is the map that will get you from Point A (starting position) to Point B (where you want to arrive). Your NHRI will probably have several frameworks to track its work and results (e.g. a framework for each of your divisions, such as complaints, investigations, education and promotion. You may also have a framework to measure impact if you are undertaking a major piece of work such as a national inquiry). Now that your MEAL Framework is complete, you will know your: • Problem/issue: the matter that you are addressing • Outcomes: what you are trying to achieve • Inputs, activities and outputs: how you will achieve your outcomes • Indicators: the measures you will use to gauge progress or achievement of outcomes • Baseline(s): the current situation • Target(s): what you are aiming to achieve • Data source(s): where you will get your information from. During the development of your MEAL Framework you will also have considered accountabilities, ethical considerations, and gender mainstreaming considerations. Building on the MEAL Framework your MEAL Plan will set out: • Method: how you will collect your data • Data storage: how data will be stored • Data analysis: how you will analyse your data • Responsibility: who is responsible for implementing various aspects of the MEAL Plan and how it will be resourced • Timeframe: when this work will be done • Reporting: how you will report your MEAL findings and to whom. Your MEAL Plan will also consider: 1. How you will address any MEAL challenges that you may be experiencing. (Some of these challenges are listed in Module 1, Section 1.4) 2. What the MEAL stocktake told you about the practices of your NHRI: how you can build on what you are already doing, what you are doing well and address some of the gaps. (Module 1, Section 1.3) 3. Who the MEAL process is accountable to: which internal and external stakeholders you will involve in the different stages of a MEAL plan. 4. The gender mainstreaming considerations that need to be taken into account. (A gender mainstreaming checklist is included in Module 1, Section 1.6) 5. The ethical principles you need to be aware of when gathering and storing data. (Module 1, Section 1.7) It is good practice to develop your MEAL Plan by workshopping it with staff and Commissioners in your NHRI who will be involved in the MEAL work. It is also good to include others who have an interest in the activity and its outcomes. 56