A two-day meeting of the Greater Virunga Landscape Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Working Group started at Harden Place Hotel in Musanze, Northern Province of the Republic of Rwanda, on March 19, 2025. It brought together experts from various institutions, including GVTC Partner States conservation institutions, namely RDB of Rwanda and UWA of Uganda, as well as the selected Conservation NGOs, including WWF-UK, WWF-UCO, IGCP and WCS Uganda to review the progress of the Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning (MEAL) implementation.
This MEAL plan was developed for the Greater Virunga Landscape ten-year Transboundary Strategic Plan for 2024-2033. It provides systematic processes for data and information generation for evidence-based decision-making, ensuring that interventions are effective and efficient throughout the execution of the strategy with the purpose of establishing a strategic framework that guides the collection, analysis, utilisation, and dissemination of data.
The Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration (GVTC) organized the meeting in partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature Uganda Country Office (WWF UCO), which, through the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), provided the meeting-related funds. The MEAL Working Group reviewed the completeness and robustness of proposed indicators, learned from the first year of the Virunga Landscape ten-year Transboundary Strategic Plan implementation, and developed a joint action plan for subsequent MEAL activities, including the determination of resource requirements.
The strategy will cost 100 million USD over 10 years. Many challenges exist, and overcoming them will require stakeholder inclusivity, harnessing opportunities, building progress, urgency of action, joint effort, and strategic coordination under the umbrella of the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration. It was appreciated that around 24 million USD was mobilized during the first year of this TSP implementation, and there are still other ongoing initiatives and opportunities.
The working group members are confident that they are up to the task. However, they will need the Terms of reference and standard operating procedures to guide the implementation of the MEAL. Decision-makers will need to get involved to appreciate the reasons for the need for changes in some strategies and policies. Data sharing protocols and strong leadership at the institutional level shall be key to achieving the targeted objectives of the MEAL working group.
Juvenal Mukeshimana
GVTC Program Assistant
