Directors, Heads of Departments, Team and Programme Leaders
Your NHRI will also decide the steps required to implement the Strategic Plan. This is the Operation Plan which
lays out who will do what, by when and with what resources.3 (Note: Your NHRI may have different names for an
operation plan, such as Work Plan, Corporate Plan, Business Plan, Annual Plan etc).
Building from the MEAL Framework, a MEAL Plan will outline how the NHRI plans to monitor and evaluate the
effectiveness of the activities in the Operational Plan. A NHRI may have several MEAL Plans, one for each major
area of work.
The MEAL Plan is usually the responsibility of those who lead specific activities, whether it be a department,
programme or major project. The MEAL Plan includes:
• the data collection method/s
• how data is stored and analysed
• who is responsible for the MEAL
• how it will be resourced
• the timeframe for the MEAL activities
• how it will be reported.
An NHRI may decide to undertake a major activity that is not part of the strategic plan, such as an unplanned
partnership with an external funder. In these situations, it is best to start the MEAL planning from the beginning
by developing a MEAL Framework and then MEAL Plan.
Figure 1 shows the planning and MEAL processes at different levels of the NHRI. Your NHRI will probably have
a strategic plan. However, the way you put this plan into practice may differ from how it is shown in this model.
You may, for example, have a department plan or programme plan, rather than an organisation-wide operational
plan.
Nevertheless, for MEAL to be done effectively, your MEAL system must be practical, achievable and become
an integral part of your organisation culture. You do not want too many MEAL Plans and, ideally, just one MEAL
Framework.
Figure 1: MEAL processes used at different levels of your NHRI
Strategic
Plan
MEAL
Framework
Senior NHRI
Leadership
Strategic
Plan
MEAL
Plan
MEAL
Plan
MEAL
Plan
HODs,
Programme,
Project Leaders
A ‘Decision Tree’ tool in Module 1, Section 1.9 of the Guide will help you to decide the level and scope of your
MEAL processes.
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