What is The MERL Tech Initiative?
The MERL Tech Initiative (MTI) is a social venture that sits at the intersection of digital technology and the social sector. We support thoughtful tech-enabled program design, implementation, and monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL). We help organizations with responsible design, use, and governance of digital technologies and digital data to achieve better outcomes. We convene communities to share good practice and improve humanitarian, development, human rights and peace building outcomes. We advocate for responsible, ethical, realistic approaches that center people, communities and societies.
We work as a collaborative group of consultants with deep experience in digitally-enabled programs and holistic MERL. Our expertise includes digital strategy, digital transformation, data governance, data privacy policy and practice, design research, trust and safety, safeguarding, digital risk assessment, gender, youth, digital inclusion, human centered design, and behavioral design.
We lead the Generative AI / Natural Language Processing Community of Practice (NLP-CoP), which explores opportunities and challenges with emerging AI applications for MERL. We convene the New York City Technology Salon, which brings together technologists and social sector practitioners for intimate, in-person, off-the-record conversations on emerging opportunities and challenges. We collaborate with other communities of practice, networks, and professional associations to organize events, develop content, and create space for learning, professional development, and influence.
We implement programs and provide advisory support in five key areas:
- Convening communities that explore and responsibly use technology to enhance the effectiveness of MERL and improve programmatic impact.
- Democratizing knowledge, access, and skill-building opportunities related to new and emerging technology applications and approaches for MERL and digital programming.
- Advising funders and implementers on responsible tech-enabled programming; tech-enabled MERL; data governance, policy and practice; online safety and digital safeguarding.
- Developing public goods related to ethical innovation, responsible use and governance of technology and digital data, and digital safeguarding.
- Influencing the wider sector to adopt fair, accessible, inclusive, representative, safe approaches to the use of technology and digital data.
How can we help you?
- Programmatic Research and Design – We research the safety, effectiveness, and feasibility of digital tools and information/communication approaches to help design safe and impactful programming and social impact efforts at the organization and sector levels
- MEL – We provide monitoring, evaluation and learning support for information, communication, digital, social media, human centered design, and social and behavior change programs
- Safeguarding and Protection – We help organizations assess information and data-related vulnerabilities and risks and improve online and offline protection and safeguarding
- AI and MERL Training – We train teams on how to responsibly apply emerging AI and other digital tools to monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL)
- Convening critical conversations – We convene and lead important discussions at the intersection of ethics, rights, digital, and social sector work
- Strategic and practical advisory – We work with funders and implementers to identify good practices in emerging spaces and integrate learning into program design and organizational culture
- Digital tools and systems – We support organizations to design, test, and adopt safe and effective digital tools for their MERL, programs, and grant-making
The MERL Tech Initiative is an LLC that works with a group of Core Collaborators in the above areas. Our sister organization Technology Salon is a 501c3 that can receive grant funding. Get in touch through the form below if you’d like more information about our Core Collaborators or our work.
Contact us to chat about collaborating!