Produced by Lirata Consulting and commissioned by HealthWest Partnership, this report represents the culmination of recent evaluation capacity building efforts in Melbourne’s west and a subsequent learning enquiry to understanding the current state of play for evaluation capacity from a systems perspective.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) is vital in primary prevention work, providing practitioners with the evidence they need to understand what works, for whom and why. Ultimately, MEL enables systemic improvement of primary prevention work, playing a key role in facilitating community voice and leading to better outcomes for communities.

The report considers how MEL capacity can be strengthened within the primary prevention system in Melbourne’s west. Exploring the role of key system actors, evaluation capacity builders and health/community service organisations, the report maps options at multiple levels for where-to-from-here to better support MEL work in the sector.