Systems MEL in Action: Case Studies
Real-world Examples of Learning, Adaptation, and Systems Change
These case studies show what Systems MEL looks like in practice—how teams use it to navigate complexity, reflect in real time, and support transformation. You’ll see key tools and concepts applied in different contexts, along with the tensions, decisions, and learning moments that shaped the work.
You’ll encounter these cases throughout the guide, and they’re also featured in the Systems MEL Journey Map Kenya and Peru, offering concrete touchpoints to guide your own practice.
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Case Study 01: Peru’s Coffee Journey
Photo: UNDP Peru
Rebuilding Trust and Reimagining Systems from the Ground Up
By 2016, Peru’s coffee sector faced a pivotal moment. Despite sustaining the livelihoods of over 226,000 smallholder families across 430,000 hectares—much of it in the ecologically rich Andean-Amazonian region—the sector lacked a shared vision and systemic coordination. Numerous development plans had been drafted over the years, but few were implemented, hindered by weak institutions, disjointed efforts, and deep-rooted mistrust among stakeholders.
In response, a multi-phase systemic initiative emerged. Its aim was not simply to increase production or promote sustainability, but to reimagine how the entire coffee system functioned: who participated, how decisions were made, and how a shared vision could guide the sector. Systems Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) was embedded from the outset to support reflection, feedback, and continuous adaptation.
Phase I
Rebuilding Governance
and Trust
Phase II
Strengthening Collaboration
Amid Disruption
Phase III
From Shared Vision
to Collective Action
Phase I: Rebuilding Governance and Trust
The first phase centered on reactivating Peru’s long-dormant National Coffee Council. At the time, deep mistrust defined relationships within the sector—particularly between smallholder organizations, represented by the Junta Nacional del Café, and government institutions. Inter-agency rivalries further fractured coordination.
To address this, the initiative supported the creation of a neutral, inclusive platform where farmers, exporters, and public officials could engage as equals. This multi-stakeholder space became a crucial entry point for rebuilding trust, fostering shared understanding, and enabling collective decision-making.
A major milestone of this phase was the participatory development of the National Coffee Action Plan, formally adopted by Presidential Decree in 2019. For the first time, Peru’s coffee sector had a nationally endorsed strategy shaped through inclusive dialogue rather than imposed from the top down. Beyond the plan itself, the process served as a powerful learning intervention—surfacing diverse perspectives, strengthening relationships, and cultivating a shared sense of ownership and direction across the sector.
Phase II: Strengthening Collaboration Amid Disruption
The second phase focused on strengthening institutional capacity and expanding the reach of systems-level change. In 2021, the outdated National Coffee Council was replaced with a more inclusive National Executive Coffee Council. This reform significantly broadened representation—bringing in regional governments, grassroots producer organizations, private sector stakeholders, and all relevant ministries—marking a clear shift toward more participatory governance.
Yet, political instability threatened to derail momentum. With nine agriculture ministers rotating through office in just a few years, national coordination faltered. Still, the initiative proved resilient. Subnational actors and the multi-stakeholder platform adapted through continuous reflection, feedback, and adjustment in response to evolving conditions.
With the initiative’s support, ten regions co-developed Regional Coffee Agendas and established local roundtables to localize the national vision. While the effectiveness of these spaces varied, they began reshaping how governance was practiced. Former adversaries—like the Junta and the Cámara—began releasing joint statements. Farmer–state dialogue grew more constructive. Though not always reflected in immediate metrics, these relational shifts were critical foundations for long-term systemic transformation.
Phase III: From Shared Vision to Collective Action
The current phase focuses on landscape-level implementation. Drawing on insights from previous phases, implementers recognized that sustained change must emerge where farming takes place—in the territories. Phase III supports targeted action in regions such as Cajamarca and Cusco, where roundtables are evolving into operational platforms. These efforts are aligned with the National Coffee Action Plan and are supported by programs like Budget Program 121 and Agroideas, which channel institutional and financial resources to local priorities.
At the national level, collaboration continues to deepen. The initiative supports an ongoing sensemaking process that brings together the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) to align priorities and reduce fragmentation. Maintaining this balance—between grassroots action and national coherence—remains a cornerstone of the broader systems-change strategy.
Insights from Peru: Systems MEL in Practice
Peru’s coffee sector transformation provides valuable insights into systems MEL:
Systems
MEL
Learning by doing
Tracking relational and governance shifts
Adapting through reflection
Local champions as catalysts
Learning by doing
While a shared national plan provided critical direction, real transformation gained momentum when strategies were tested on the ground. Tools like power mapping and tracking signals of change fostered experimentation, reflection, and iterative learning—turning plans into actionable insights.
Tracking relational and governance shifts
Institutional change was monitored through continuous dialogue within the multi-stakeholder platforms. These conversations surfaced critical insights—whose voices were heard, how trust dynamics evolved, and the nature of emerging collaboration patterns—linked to domains of change which are unpacked further in this guide.
Adapting through reflection
Implementing partners regularly revisited core assumptions, adjusting strategies to navigate political disruptions and shifting conditions. Learning processes were increasingly decentralized, allowing regions to interpret and respond to local signals in real time.
Local champions as catalysts
Key individuals at the community level played a vital role as embedded learning enablers. They decoded systemic signals, convened spaces for reflection, and helped translate insights into adaptive action—making MEL an organic part of the change process.
Transformation is still underway, but Peru’s coffee journey shows the potential of embedding systems MEL—not merely as an add-on, but as an integral feature.Learning, feedback, and reflection were intentionally woven across all levels—from national platforms to local roundtables—enabling continuous sensemaking and adaptive action throughout the system.
Systems MEL is about sensing what matters. By focusing on key signals, creating spaces for shared learning, and enabling ongoing adaptation, it becomes a catalyst for building a more inclusive and resilient system.
Photo: UNDP Peru
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Case Study 02: Kenya’s Dryland Farming Journey
Photo: UNDP Kenya
From Productivity to Systems Change
In 2018 a development initiative set out to help smallholder farmers in northern Kenya confront two converging threats: shrinking rainfall and worsening livelihood insecurity. Most households relied on rain-fed maize, beans, and amaranth, yet harvests had fallen to just 200–300 kg per season as climate change accelerated. To cope, many families turned to charcoal production—an environmentally costly fallback that eroded forests and strained long-standing norms of land stewardship.
Phase I: Technical Fixes and Their Limits
The project began with a standard productivity package:
Inputs
Distributing high-yield seed and fertiliser.
Diversification
Promoting cash crops such as tomatoes and melons.
Infrastructure
Installing solar-powered boreholes and village-scale milling and baking machines.
Market access
Linking farmers to buyers for surplus produce.
On paper the strategy worked: demonstration plots flourished, reported incomes rose, and progress metrics multiplied. Yet early cracks appeared:
Boreholes failed because ownership and maintenance duties were unclear.
Women—central to labour—were sidelined from training and decision-making.
Expanded irrigation intensified competition for riverbanks and grazing corridors.
In several zones groundwater levels were already falling.
Charcoal use declined in a few villages but remained a safety net elsewhere.
By 2020 the team paused to ask: Are we actually building resilience, or only better numbers?
Phase II: Shifting Toward System Stewardship
Facilitated dialogues with women’s groups, elders, youth, and local leaders reframed the challenge. Participants envisioned “a resilient and dignified dryland food system—one that supports diverse, climate-adapted crops, secures water and energy sustainably, and sustains the land for future generations.”
Key adaptations followed:
Co-designed training
Women’s co-operatives redesigned curricula to fit their realities.
Integrated water governance
Each new borehole was paired with watershed restoration and locally governed water-user committees.
Landscape regeneration
Agroforestry scaled not simply for yield but for soil health and water retention.
Seasonal reflection forums
Community leaders met every quarter to review emerging signals and course-correct.
A New Role for MEL
The strategic pivot demanded a different learning architecture:
Rigid log-frame indicators gave way to rotating community check-ins.
Tools such as photo diaries, participatory mapping, and walking transects captured change as people experienced it.
Questions shifted from How many farmers were trained? to Who influences decisions? Are relationships strengthening? Is trust growing? — bringing attention to domains of change such as power dynamics and relationships.
From Metrics to Meaningful Change
By 2023, tangible change was evident:
Photo: UNDP Kenya
Charcoal reliance plummeted as diversified farming and local enterprises took root.
Women held formal roles in water governance bodies.
Youth-led marketing collectives emerged, shortening supply chains.
Farmers began testing and sharing innovations without outside facilitation.
When a severe drought hit in 2022, the response was markedly different: rather than rushing in emergency aid, communities leveraged seed-exchange networks, staggered planting calendars, and implemented Indigenous drought-coping knowledge—capacities invisible to the original MEL system.
Insights from Kenya: Systems MEL in Practice
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From measurement to meaning
MEL evolved from only counting outputs to sensing shifts in agency, relationships, and ecosystem health - while still maintaining core indicators to meet accountability and reporting needs.
02
Feedback as fuel
Regular check-ins and seasonal forums generated real-time intelligence that informed nimble strategy adjustments.
03
Embedded sense-makers
Extension agents, youth groups, and borehole committees served as frontline observers of early signals and early change.
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Signals beyond metrics
MEL captured qualitative turning points—women challenging land-use norms, charcoal losing social legitimacy, farmers piloting agroforestry unprompted.
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Learning for accountability
A living MEL system kept the project aligned with its North Star of dignity, sustainability, and shared power.
The real harvest wasn’t tonnes of maize, but trust, agency, and resilience.
Embedded Systems MEL turned a project into a platform for transformation.
Implemented by:
United Nations
Development Programme
FUNDED BY:
MEL 360 is part of the Systems, Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation initiative (SMLE) of UNDP funded by the Gates Foundation.
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