Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning for Climate-SRHR Investments: A Quick-Start Guide for Funders
The climate crisis poses an urgent threat to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) around the world.
Left unchecked, climate change will worsen SRH outcomes and threaten decades of progress made towards improving health and health systems globally. With limited resources and even more limited time to act, it is imperative that we learn what works. We must identify the actions and investment strategies that will yield the greatest returns for SRH and climate resilience.
Monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) for programs at the nexus of SRH and climate change (“climate-SRHR” investments) is essential to ensuring we have the evidence we need to act effectively.
This guide puts forward a shortlist of 20 indicators and 66 sub-indicators for climate-SRHR action.
Domain:
SRHR Outcomes & Services
Domain:
Health Systems
Domain:
Climate Vulnerability & Adaptation
Domain:
Climate-Responsive Design
Domain:
Advocacy & Preparedness
Indicator 01: Climate-SRHR projects contribute to improved SRHR outcomes.
Indicator 02: Climate-vulnerable regions have access to climate-responsive SRH services.
Indicator 03: Climate-SRHR investment portfolios increase access to climate-responsive SRH services.
Indicator 04: SRH service delivery points are prepared for climate hazards.
Indicator 05: SRH supply chains are resilient to climate change.
Indicator 06: Health systems use evidence to monitor and respond to SRHR risks posed by climate hazards.
Indicator 07: The health workforce has the knowledge and skills to deliver climate-responsive SRH services.
Indicator 08: Climate-SRHR programming is delivered to climate-vulnerable regions.
Indicator 09: Portfolios direct climate-SRHR investments to climate-affected regions.
Indicator 10: Climate-SRHR action contributes to greater climate resilience beyond the health sector.
Indicator 11: Project design is climate-responsive.
Indicator 12: Portfolio investments are climate-responsive.
Indicator 13: Portfolios offer design support to climate-SRHR grantees.
Indicator 14: Community members know how to manage climate-related risks to SRHR.
Indicator 15: Communities are prepared to address climate risks to SRHR.
Domain:
Policy & Financing
Indicator 16: National climate adaptation policies and plans include SRHR.
Indicator 17: Health & SRHR policies, strategies, and plans include climate change.
Indicator 18: Diverse stakeholders are engaged in efforts to formalize and finance climate-SRHR policy.
Indicator 19: Climate-SRHR investments contribute to a stronger policy enabling environment.
Indicator 20: Financing is mobilized for climate-SRHR action.
In addition to this indicator set, this first-of-its-kind guide outlines strategies for designing climate-responsive programs, implementing these indicators, and developing a robust plan to collect and leverage the data needed for effective collective action.
The links in this quick-start guide will take you into our full toolkit for MEL practitioners, where we provide detailed guidance on MEL for climate-SRHR investments.
To make the case for climate change and SRHR - and to learn more about why MEL matters - visit SRHR, Climate Change, and MEL 101.
Funders need to be able to identify promising investments.
Climate-SRHR interventions are diverse. Because this area of work is so new, there are no clearly established best practices or high-impact practices. Often, there is little-to-no evidence about what specific interventions might work to address interconnected climate and SRHR challenges (Amadi et al. 2025). Our section on climate-responsive design offers a framework for climate-responsive design principles, a rubric for evaluating the climate-responsiveness of proposed projects, and a tool for implementers to ensure their proposal design covers the essential elements of climate-responsive design.
To learn more about identifying promising investments, visit Climate-Responsive Design.
SRHR programs will need to adapt to climate change.
This guide focuses primarily on projects and portfolios that take action to address both SRHR and climate change challenges - but given the growing impact of climate change, all SRHR programs will need to adapt. Our section on climate in SRHR-focused programming shows how many of the design principles and indicators that we have highlighted for climate-SRHR programming can also be integrated into SRHR-focused programming, enabling funders and implementers to expand the evidence base and strengthen the rationale for climate integration.
To learn more about applying this guidance to SRHR programming, visit Measuring Climate in SRHR-Focused Investments.
Climate impacts may influence project and portfolio performance.
Climate change-related disasters and extreme weather can interrupt programming, disrupt health services, introduce new socioeconomic vulnerabilities, and influence beneficiaries behaviors and preferences. These climate impacts may slow progress towards SRHR goals (Amadi et al. 2025, Djikerman et al. 2025). In climate-affected regions, traditional pre-/post-evaluation approaches may be limited in their ability to demonstrate program impact; a post-implementation evaluation that shows poorer outcomes may do so because the program’s activities were able to minimize backsliding. In cases like this, it is important to track 1) beneficiaries’ exposure to climate hazards, 2) indicators in a comparative region outside the implementation region, and 3) outcomes in the aftermath of the extreme weather event.
Indicators must be selected carefully, because we incentivize what we measure. It’s essential to forward a rights-based approach across all climate-SRHR MEL. For example, increasing modern contraception uptake should not be used as a strategy for mitigating climate change, and it does not inherently signal increased resilience to climate change. Instead, increased access to health services, greater autonomy and choice, and improved individual SRH outcomes are signals of overall increased health and thus, increased climate resilience.
Our section on indicators introduces a set of key climate-SRHR indicators for programs and portfolios that work across a diverse range of domains, as well tools and guidance for addressing common MEL challenges.
To learn more about climate-SRHR indicators, visit Indicators for Climate-SRHR Action.
Resourcing strategies must adapt in response to climate change.
While taking steps to address climate impacts is projected to reduce costs compared to inaction in the long-term, the reality is that climate-SRHR actions often incur a cost that is greater than business-as-usual in the short-term. In areas where the impacts of climate change are already being felt, there may be many cases where it will be more expensive to achieve the same outcomes.
Beyond this, integrating climate change into SRHR programming introduces new MEL needs, including technologies for measurement, technical skills, and impact monitoring. Funders should consider providing supplemental funds for pre-investment activity design, extended evaluation periods, impact evaluation after climate disasters, and share-out and dissemination. Technical support for recipients can also be highly valuable, such as written guidance, feedback on their frameworks, and review of their data collection plans and reports.
Our section on MEL plans provides guidance on tailoring indicators to a portfolio’s focus, an overview of distinct resourcing considerations for climate-SRHR portfolios, and guidance on leveraging programmatic results to assess and accelerate impact.
To learn more about MEL resourcing addressing climate-SRHR MEL needs, visit Strategies for Successful Implementation: Guidance for Addressing Technical Climate-SRHR MEL Challenges.
This framework is a tool for accelerating robust measurement and collaborative learning at the climate-SRHR nexus.
Limited guidance around indicators and measurement approaches remains a chronic challenge for funders and implementers engaged in climate-SRHR action (Sorcher et al. 2024). This framework bridges this gap, and it builds on a wide range of existing tools and resources for MEL for SRHR, gender-responsive, and climate actions. When using this framework, remember that MEL is an iterative process: our approaches should evolve as we learn what works - and what does not. Therefore, this framework is intended to be adapted to suit the needs of your organization and your grantees.
Learn more about the tools and resources built in to our framework.
Each of the following tools is integrated into the framework. We’ve also included them here, as well as in our Climate-SRHR MEL Toolbox.
Tool: Incorporating Climate Risks into Portfolio Strategy
Learn more about building a portfolio strategy that incorporates climate risks to SRHR - including how to assess climate risks and how to refine your approach - on the Climate-SRHR Evidence Hub: Strategy Framework.
Tool: Proposal Evaluation Rubric
Tool: Proposal Design Framework
Tool: Understanding NDC, NAP, and HNAP Processes
The NDC Partnership includes a range of resources on NDC and NAP development, including this overview of how NDCs and NAPs align and interact. NAP Global Network provides a list of frequently asked questions about NAP processes. WHO also provides guidance for HNAPs in Quality Criteria for Health National Adaptation Plans.
Tool: Gender and SRHR in Climate Policies
The Gender Climate Tracker analyses the robustness of gender integration in climate policies like NDCs. A database of country-level data on SRH integration in climate policies is available as a companion to our report Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in National Adaptation Plans & Health National Adaptation Plans: A Global Review
Tool: Measuring Climate Vulnerability, Climate Adaptation, and Climate Resilience
Climate vulnerability, climate adaptation, and climate resilience are distinct, but related, topics. For more on these definitions, visit Key Terms under our SRHR, Climate Change, and MEL 101 page. Quantitative tools for measuring each of these are available in our Climate-SRHR MEL Toolbox.
Tool: Measuring Climate Adaptation
Many SRHR projects in climate-affected regions will also integrate multi-sectoral climate adaptation efforts. GIZ maintains a repository of climate adaptation indicators which includes a sub-set of indicators focused specifically on climate adaptation actions. The Good Practice Study from the Clim-Eval Community of Practice also outlines a range of climate adaptation indicator frameworks and example indicators for climate adaptation.
Tool: Monitoring SRH in Emergency Settings
Climate-related extreme weather can produce and exacerbate humanitarian crises and emergencies. The Inter-Agency Field Manual on Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings is a rich resource for MEL of SRH activities in climate- and extreme weather-affected settings. The Field Manual provides guidance specific to monitoring Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) implementation, as well as broad MEL guidance for humanitarian settings.
Tool: Global Indicator Sets for Tracking Changes in SRHR and Climate Resilience Outcomes
We recommend selecting national-level indicators that are part of global measurement frameworks for ease of comparison across countries. For SRHR indicators, we recommend drawing on Guttmacher’s SDG-aligned SRHR indicators and the FP2030 Indicators. For climate resilience indicators, we recommend drawing on the ND-GAIN Index and the World Bank indicator set, which includes both a subset of climate-related indicators as well as a broad range of socioeconomic indicators linked to climate resilience. Focus on the domains of SRH and climate resilience of greatest relevance to your portfolio. For additional indicator sets, see Global Indicator Sets in our Climate-SRHR MEL Toolbox.
Tool: Using data to inform portfolio strategy
The Measure and Adjust section of our climate-SRHR strategy guidance provides information on how pilot evidence can be used to inform future investments, while the Refine Portfolio Strategy section provides guidance on how evidence from previous and current investments can be used to strengthen the portfolio’s overall investment approach.
Tool: Participatory and inclusive MEL approaches
CGIAR’s Gender and Inclusion Toolbox: Participatory Research in Climate Change and Agriculture is a valuable resource for identifying participatory, gender-responsive activities appropriate for rural communities facing climate change. The toolbox also includes logistics and planning resources. The Equality Fund’s report Feminist Approaches to Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning: Overview of Current Practicesalso provides practical examples of a range of participatory, feminist MEL approaches. CDKN’s Advancing Gender Equality and Climate Action: A practical guide to setting targets and monitoring action also provides a range of inclusive strategies, recommendations, and case studies.
Tool: Calculating what SRH supplies are needed
IAWG’s Reproductive Health Kit Calculator can be used to determine the quantity of supplies needed based on facility type and catchment area size.
