Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) frameworks help programmes track activities and reflect on whether stated key performance areas (KPIs) are being achieved. However, while there is a wealth of sustainability data and measurement systems in most organisations, some sustainability aspects are more challenging to measure. How to we capture the internal culture shifts? The individual attitudes towards a policy? Or, a system reform in the way sustainability is prioritised?
This is where communication, when used attentively, becomes more than a way of sharing information. It becomes a way of observing how people engage, how they make sense of the work, and how it is being carried into other spaces. Though, it’s important to note that communication is not a replacement for structured evaluation, but it fills in the parts that formal measurement tools often miss. A well-articulated sustainability story can have as much impact as a M&E dashboard – perhaps even more impact.
This is exactly why M&E and storytelling should go together.
Beyond metrics
M&E tends to focus on what is measurable, such as outcomes, reach and progress against targets. But in many programmes, especially those that deal with behaviour, learning or social norms, this view can be too narrow. There is often a difference between what a M&E report says and how people actually experience the work.
For example, a training session might be well attended, but that doesn’t confirm that participants understood the content or found it relevant. Communication allows teams to pick up on these gaps – often through the nuance of language. How people describe what they’ve learned, how they frame the issue when speaking to others, or how they retell the experience later all offer cues.
This kind of feedback isn’t always formal. It tends to be traced through the stories people tell, the questions they keeping asking, or the examples they use to explain the work in their own terms.
Storytelling as field-based intelligence
In many sectors, from environmental justice to public health and waste management, feedback surfaces during everyday interaction – in the field, on the phone, in a follow-up message, etc. A participant might reinterpret a key concept or policy in their own words. A community officer might flag that people are calling an initiative by a different name. These aren’t data points in the usual sense, but they give insight into how the message is landing.
This is the kind of information communications teams need to gather through an exploration of different approaches. We often find that to support an M&E function so that is has impact, we need to play the role of an investigative journalist. We often look at M&E data, pick up an interesting trend, and go straight to the people and projects on the ground to find out the nuanced details that paint a full picture. This approach has lead us to produce some of the most interesting stories that also bring stock standard M&E data to life in an interesting way.
When these stories are shared intentionally, they can strengthen programme learning and adaptation well before the next review cycle.
Feedback as memory and meaning
Impact is not just about what people do; it’s also about what they remember after the fact. In conservation work, for example, stories and metaphors are often passed between generations and become part of how people understand environmental change.
Storytelling, whether formal or informal, reveals how the work is being absorbed. It shows what is becoming part of people’s memory and values, and what is fading into background noise.
Where programmes make space for participants to share their experiences in their own words, they also open the door to more meaningful evaluation. These stories help teams see what’s been internalised, what’s been adapted, and what was missed.
How design captures informal learning
In learning spaces and public engagement work, communication is often embedded in the experience itself, either through the visual elements or facilitated activities. These elements serve a dual purpose: they carry information, and they invite a response. Whether that response is verbal, visual, written or shared back through a quick task, it leaves a trace of what has been understood.
These small traces matter. If people consistently misinterpret a concept, or find a certain phrase unfamiliar, that’s feedback. It’s not captured through numbers, but through patterns. And it often comes from the work of communications teams – the people writing the stories, capturing the visuals, or speaking with participants during public events.
Attentive practice, not just output tracking
To value communication as part of M&E is not to turn every data point into story. It’s about recognising that communication work generates insight about the language people use, the interpretations they share, and the meanings they attach to projects.
It takes a kind of attentiveness. By including communication in how we reflect, adjust and learn, we gain a fuller picture of what progress looks like. Not just in terms of delivery, but in terms of how the work is being absorbed, retold, and made real in people’s lives.