A Self-Reflection Framework for Gender-Transformative Practice in MEAL
July 2025 | 2 min read
By Anna Du Vent, Elaine Stavnitzky, Jennifer Donville
We’re excited to introduce a new resource created to help teams across the development and humanitarian sectors reflect on and strengthen their commitment to gender equity: the Feminist-MEAL Spectrum Tool.
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Developed by Anna Du Vent, Elaine Stavnitzky, and Jenn Donville in collaboration with practitioners from organizations like Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Québec, Oxfam International, Plan International, CanWaCH, and WUSC, this tool is the product of years of collective learning and practical experience. It’s designed for project and MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning) teams who are working to deepen gender integration—moving from simply “gender aware” to truly gender transformative and feminist practices.
Why This Tool?
MEAL systems are a vital space where power, voice, and evidence intersect. Yet, traditional MEAL practices often fall short in responding to the root causes of gender inequality. This tool offers a structured but flexible spectrum to help teams ask: Where are we now, and how can we do better?
With five progressive categories—from Gender Unaware to Feminist—the spectrum doesn’t just rate where your MEAL practices fall; it helps teams reflect critically on how their work could shift power, center participant voice, and promote social change through MEAL itself.
What Makes It “Feminist”?
A feminist approach to MEAL challenges us to think beyond technical checklists. It’s:
- Political: Recognizes that evaluation is never neutral—who defines success, and who decides what gets measured, matters.
- Intersectional: Grounds MEAL work in the lived realities of people navigating multiple, overlapping systems of oppression.
- Highly participatory: Elevates co-creation, shared decision-making, and community-led analysis.
- Learning-centered: Prioritizes adaptation and continuous learning over performance alone.
- Flexible: Encourages context-responsive strategies that reflect the choices and voices of those most affected.
Who Is It For?
This tool is for project teams, MEAL staff, and gender specialists working on programs anywhere along the gender equity spectrum—from those just starting out, to those seeking to move into truly transformative and feminist territory. It’s especially useful:
- During project design
- At midterm or annual reviews
- As part of strategic reflection moments
How to Use It
- Gather your team – bring together diverse voices involved in MEAL and project delivery.
- Reflect – use the tool to identify where current MEAL practices sit on the spectrum.
- Plan – explore how you might shift practices toward being more gender transformative or feminist.
- Take action – apply the reflections to strengthen your MEAL systems and processes.
You’ll also find real-world examples—like how to shift focus group discussions, monitoring processes, or evaluation designs—to make your MEAL practices more inclusive and equity-driven.
A Living Resource
This tool isn’t a typology. It’s not about labeling or ranking your work. It’s about honest reflection, learning, and action. There’s no single path forward—only movement and commitment to doing better.
“The nature of gender within our work is not fixed. It can and does change—either by large or small increments, depending on many factors.”
— from the Feminist-MEAL Spectrum Tool
We invite you to explore, adapt, and share this tool with your networks. And most importantly, tell us how it’s working for you.
📧 Share your feedback: engage@elevatingvoices4change.com
Acknowledgments
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Please credit: “A Feminist-MEAL Spectrum: A self-reflection tool for teams that want to transform their MEAL practice with feminist principles” by Du Vent, A., Stavnitzky, E., Donville, J.