Who is involved and what is the aim?

As part of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Inclusive Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Assembly Challenge Programme, MannionDaniels is delivering a tailored capacity strengthening initiative throughout 2026.

The programme brings together 22 civil society organisations (CSOs) working on global environmental priorities and climate change, with a focus on enhancing organisational effectiveness and impact.

What are we doing?

Our approach combines structured training workshops with ongoing applied learning through facilitated learning circles, peer exchange, and mentoring. Designed to be flexible, the format varies in frequency and duration to reflect participant needs and context, as illustrated in the infographic below.

The programme covers a range of thematic areas aligned with the priorities of participating organisations.

The first session, delivered in Vienna in February 2026 alongside UNIDO’s Climate Adaptation and Industrial Resilience Forum, focused on project development, including approaches to scaling pilots and expanding impact.

Through interactive discussions and practical exercises, participants

• Defined organisational learning objectives
• Explored approaches to identifying and adapting best practices for scaling impact
• Were introduced to the theory of change as a tool for planning and decision-making.

The session also enabled peer exchange, with participants sharing experiences from working with other CSOs and community-based organisations (CBOs).

Progress to date and next steps

Post-training feedback showed strong confidence across the topics covered. Following the first session:

• 87% felt confident or very confident applying theory of change tools
• 80% in scaling pilots
• 73% in expanding impact.

The training was rated 2.6 out of 3, with practical tools, frameworks, and peer learning highlighted as particularly useful.

The second session, delivered online in May 2026, focused on strengthening Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) for learning, accountability and impact. It covered designing proportionate MEL systems, linking project and organisational-level learning, and assessing meaningful change across behaviour, systems, and community outcomes. Four organisations from the cohort also shared insights from their own MEL approaches.

Feedback indicated that 81% of participants found the content highly relevant. Confidence levels remained strong, with:

• 90% confident in designing effective MEL systems
• 72% confident distinguishing organisational and project-level MEL
• 72% confident assessing meaningful change.

A third session on digital tools and data systems will take place in June 2026.