Non-profit organisations (NPOs) encapsulate a broad range of interests and provide support to some of the most vulnerable in our society. It is important for NPOs to measure the outcomes of their work to ensure that maximum impact is achieved.

The MTN Awards for Social Change, launched in 2019 by the MTN Foundation and Trialogue, aimed to do just that by encouraging and rewarding good M&E practice in the non-profit sector. The competition ran for four years, attracting increasing participation, and offered significant prize money to winning NPOs in three categories based on their size – small, medium and large.

“We wanted to reach out to all non-profit organisations, not just those currently benefiting directly from MTN’s existing ICT in education or youth and women empowerment programmes. We believe that effective monitoring and evaluation typically make for a more efficient, transparent and targeted programme, which enables NPOs to use resources more strategically and deliver greater impact.” said Arthur Mukhuvha, General Manager of the MTN Foundation.

The awards aimed to establish a platform for learning and sharing information to assist all non-profits that engaged in the process. Through the application process, non-profits were exposed to M&E practices and principles. Registered NPOs were required to enter a project or programme that created positive impact, had been running for at least two years and had some level of associated M&E practice.

“We were delighted with the quality and number of the entries over the past four years which reflected the non-profit sector’s commitment to measuring their impact in our society.  The competition served as encouragement for organisations to reconsider their M&E practices and explore how to enhance their approaches over time. We take this opportunity to thank Trialogue for the successful running of this programme; collaboratively we have positively impacted the NPO community” added Mukhuvha.

In 2023, Trialogue reviewed the impact of the competition on the sector and found a trend of improvement in M&E practice. The competition generally prompted a reconsideration of M&E practices for the NGOs that had participated. Through this, some reported that they were able to develop more innovative approaches to M&E over time. It highlighted the importance of incorporating M&E into project design and brought a greater level of awareness to the sector, prompting organizations to evaluate and improve their own M&E systems.

Whilst the competition is no longer strategically aligned to MTN’s social investment approach, the results of the review demonstrate great value to the sector of building on the work that has been carried out so far.