Orientation Lens: Start with Purpose
Situating your work within systems
Systems MEL prompts practitioners to explore how their initiatives fit within the broader system and the complex pathways of change they seek to influence.
Strategic Intent, System Boundaries, and Spheres of Control, Influence, and Interest help teams to navigate this exploration and identify where they can act, influence, and learn.
Before diving into tools or tracking change, systems-informed practitioners start by getting oriented within the system. This means pausing to understand where you are, who else is involved, and where you’re all trying to go. This guide introduces several foundational lenses—starting with the Strategic Intent—to help ground your work in context, purpose, and possibility.
01
The Strategic Intent
Defining a Strategic Intent
Your Strategic Intent is a shared long-term purpose that reflects the systems change you want to help bring about. It provides clarity of direction, especially when working in complex, evolving systems. It’s not a fixed destination, but a shared directional anchor—helping you stay aligned with your deeper purpose as you learn, adapt, and navigate complexity.
A strong Strategic Intent:
Points toward a future that’s transformational, not just incremental.
Creates shared understanding among stakeholders with different roles.
Helps people stay purpose-driven in the face of complexity or change.
Why a Strategic Intent Matters
In complex systems, it’s easy to get pulled into short-term issues or reactive thinking. A Strategic Intent anchors your work in a shared, transformative vision. For MEL practitioners, it acts as a compass to navigate shifting circumstances, make sense of change, and stay focused on how your initiative contributes to deeper transformation.
It’s Never Too Late to Define Your Strategic Intent
Whether you’re just beginning or already deep into implementation, it’s always worth pausing to clarify your Strategic Intent. It can renew focus, strengthen alignment, and make your MEL system more purposeful—no matter where you are in your journey.
in action:
Strategic Intent in Practice
More:
How to Define a Strategic Intent
Applying the Strategic Intent in Your MEL System
02
System Boundaries
Defining System Boundaries
Boundaries help define what’s in your focus—and what’s not. They clarify where to concentrate your efforts, what to track, and where you hope to make change.
Your system might cover a single sector, like food production, or something broader, like a regional food system. It depends on your goals and context.
Be realistic about what you can engage with. You can’t shift everything at once. Boundaries keep your work focused while staying connected to the bigger picture.
There are two levels to consider:
The broader system
The wider context of interrelated actors, dynamics, and institutions (e.g., the global palm oil supply chain).
The core boundary
The specific part of that broader system your initiative is actively engaging with. This includes the actors, relationships, and dynamics you're working to influence.
Setting boundaries helps you:
Clarify the scope of your MEL and intervention.
Prioritize what matters most for learning and decision-making.
Stay realistic about what your team can engage with.
Reflect on whose perspectives and priorities shape the boundaries.
Why System Boundaries Matter
Without clear boundaries, complexity becomes overwhelming. Boundary setting helps you focus your MEL on what matters most—where you’re acting, what you’re influencing, and how external dynamics might shape your work. It enables you to track change meaningfully, without trying to monitor everything at once.
Note on Power and Perspective
Boundaries are shaped by values and power. They reflect who gets to decide what's important—and who or what might be overlooked.
Ask yourself:
Who decides what’s in and what’s out?
Whose knowledge or experience is considered relevant?
What actors or dynamics might be excluded—and what could that mean for equity, learning, or impact?
Making these questions explicit strengthens accountability and inclusion in your MEL practice.
in action:
Setting Boundaries in the Palm Oil System
More:
How to Define a System Boundary
Applying Boundaries in Systems MEL
03
Spheres of Control, Influence, and Interest
Defining the Spheres of Control, Influence, and Interest
In complex systems, change happens across many levels—and not all of it is within our reach. The Spheres of Control, Influence, and Interest help clarify what your initiative can:
Do directly
Shape indirectly
Care about and learn from, even if it can’t change them alone
This framing helps you stay focused on what’s within your reach—while still keeping an eye on the broader system.
The Three Spheres Explained
01
Sphere of Control
What your team or partners can directly do or manage—like designing training, delivering services, or producing outputs.
02
Sphere of Influence
Where your work aims to shape the behavior, choices, or practices of others—like partner uptake of new approaches, or stakeholder engagement in a policy process. You can contribute to change here, but you can’t guarantee how others respond.
03
Sphere of Interest
The broader systemic or societal outcomes you care about—like environmental sustainability, gender equity, or national policy shifts. You have no direct control here, but you still observe and learn from these trends to inform strategy and adaptation.
Why the Spheres Matter
It helps teams avoid unrealistic expectations about what they can directly shape, while still encouraging learning about broader change. It’s not about stepping back from ambition—it’s about knowing where and how your work fits into the system.
Clarifying your spheres helps you design more realistic expectations, indicators, and learning questions.
It also helps you adapt more intentionally as your work begins to influence areas beyond your direct control.
in action:
Spheres in a Sustainable Agriculture Initiative
More:
Applying Spheres in Systems MEL
What’s the difference between boundaries and spheres?
04
Domains of Change
Defining Domains of Change
System change doesn’t happen all at once—or in a straight line. It emerges.
The Domains of Change help us see and make sense of system change. They represent key areas—like mindsets, behaviors, relationships, institutions, resource flows, and power—where meaningful change can unfold.
These domains offer a practical way to:
Observe what’s shifting in the system.
Surface patterns, feedback loops, or leverage points.
Guide learning, reflection, and adaptation over time.
You don’t need to monitor all domains—or monitor them all at once. Start where your initiative has capacity and relevance. Even light observation or dialogue around one domain can expand your understanding of the system. Use the domains flexibly: phase them in over time, or choose one or two to explore more deeply.
More:
Understanding Domains of Change
These are the interconnected domains we seek to observe, influence, and track as the system evolves:
Mindsets (Mental Models)
Beliefs and assumptions that shape how actors see and respond to the system.
Example:
From “food security = calorie access” to “food systems = ecological and cultural wellbeing.”
Behaviors and Practices
Observable actions and routines of individuals or organizations.
Example:
Farmers shifting from chemical-intensive to agroecological practices.
Relationships and Networks
The quality and structure of interactions between actors.
Example:
Multi-stakeholder platforms that increase trust and coordination between producers, traders, and policymakers.
Institutions and Rules
Formal policies and informal norms that guide behavior.
Example:
Introduction of procurement policies favoring local producers.
Resource Flows
Movement and distribution of finance, knowledge, labor, or goods.
Example:
Access to extension services expands to marginalized communities.
Power Dynamics
How authority, influence, and voice are distributed across the system.
Example:
Women farmers gain representation in cooperative decision-making.
Use these areas to focus learning, identify leverage points, reflect on patterns, and track signs of transformation over time.
More:
“Systemic Change” vs. “System Change”
Navigating the Domains of Change: Zoom In / Zoom Out
Systems change is complex and often hard to see all at once. We propose using the Domains of Change to help you with zooming in and out of the system.
Zooming out helps you understand the big picture—how mindsets, power, and relationships interact across the system. It reveals patterns, blind spots, and leverage points for change.
Zooming in, on the other hand, lets you explore specific areas in more depth—what’s shifting, what’s stuck, and what matters most in your context.
Moving between these levels helps you stay grounded in the part of the system you are hoping to influence while staying alert to broader dynamics. You don’t need to monitor everything—start where you have insight or energy, and build from there.
You can:
Start with a light zoom-out to map the broader system landscape—then dive deeper into the Domains of Change most relevant to your work.
Alternatively, begin by zooming in on one or two key Domains central to your initiative. Then zoom out to see how other Domains influence them.
Move between zooming in and out until you’ve surfaced what you already know—and identified key learning questions to explore through your Systems MEL.
Zoom Out: See the System
Explore how these areas are interconnected:
Shifts in mindsets can unlock new practices, reconfigure relationships, and challenge entrenched institutions.
Power influences whose perspectives are heard, which resource flows are prioritized, and how rules are enforced.
This system view helps practitioners recognize patterns, feedback loops, and potential leverage points.
Zoom In: Deep Dive by Domain
Clicking into each domain reveals:
A short definition and link to systems concepts + why it matters.
Real examples.
Questions to guide observation or reflection during MEL processes.
Insights on how long change typically takes in each domain—for example, shifting mental models often takes 5–10 years.
This interaction reinforces the nonlinear, interdependent nature of systems change, while still grounding practitioners in tangible, relatable starting points.
When zooming in and out remember you don’t need to monitor all domains—or monitor them all at once. Start where your initiative has capacity and relevance. Even light observation or dialogue around one domain can expand systemic insight. Use the domains flexibly: phase them in over time, or choose one or two to explore more deeply.
Practical MEL tips for zooming in:
Start with reflection—not metrics.
Use what’s feasible and meaningful in your context.
Contribution, not attribution, is your guide.
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Mindsets
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Behaviors
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Resource Flows
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Power Dynamics
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Relationships
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Institutions
deeper learning:
Theories and Frameworks
Implemented by:
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Development Programme
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MEL 360 is part of the Systems, Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation initiative (SMLE) of UNDP funded by the Gates Foundation.
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