MERL Tech State of the Field: The Evolution of MERL Tech

This first paper in the State of the Field series on the role and impact of technology on monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL) builds on the 2014 landscape report on emerging opportunities for monitoring and evaluation (M&E), in which trends in the use of technology for MERL were identified, yet with scarce evidence. The landscape report spurred the first MERL Tech Conference in 2014 and a series of follow-on conferences between 2014 and 2019. Out of the conferences, a MERL Tech Community emerged — a confluence of people and discussions at the intersection of technology and MERL in international development, social impact, and humanitarian initiatives.

In this paper, we explore three waves of MERL Tech that emerged from our analysis and consider how innovation has diffused throughout the sector.

Download the paper here and explore the full set of resources on the resources page.