Accompanying justice: evaluation and learning partnership with the Institute for Economic Justice

Justice-driven organisations operate in complex, fast-moving contexts. They need learning systems that strengthen strategy and accountability without slowing the work down. This is the context in which realife Learning has now developed a long term partnership with the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ).

IEJ is a South Africa–based research organisation advancing economic justice through rigorous research and policy advocacy across Africa. With a growing portfolio of projects shaped by diverse partnerships, IEJ needed a way to learn systematically across the organisation while retaining the flexibility required for responsive, justice-oriented work. Between 2023 and 2025, realife Learning partnered with IEJ to design and embed monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL) practices that work in real life not as compliance tools, but as engines for reflection, coherence, and strategic action. Starting with understanding, not templates.

The partnership began in 2023, when realife Learning was contracted to co-develop an evaluation framework for IEJ’s projects and for the organisation as a whole (explored in depth in the next blog post). From the outset, our approach was clear: no off-the-shelf frameworks, no generic indicators. Instead, we invested time in understanding IEJ’s culture, ambitions, partnerships, and ways of working. This grounding enabled us to design a learning approach that aligned deeply with IEJ’s justice-driven purpose and supported learning across diverse projects, without constraining how teams defined or demonstrated impact.

A framework that holds complexity

At the heart of the work was a strong focus on theory of change at both project and organisational levels. These theories of change provided a shared structure that made learning coherent and cumulative, while remaining adaptable to different contexts, timelines, and relationships. Rather than prescribing how data should be collected or when learning should happen, the framework enabled teams to generate relevant, credible evidence in ways that made sense for their work. Co-designed tools and processes were tested in practice, ensuring they were practical, meaningful, and genuinely useful to staff, not an added burden.

From project learning to organisational intelligence

In 2024, the work shifted from design to embedding practice across IEJ. Learning expanded beyond individual projects to include leadership, operations, communications, and organisational strategy. A shared analytical framework gave staff a common language for learning, making it possible to see patterns, connections, and strategic insights across different streams of work. Organisational learning moments, such as retreats and cross-project engagements, became spaces for collective sense-making, turning experience into actionable organisational intelligence.

Learning as accompaniment, not oversight

As MEAL practice became embedded, realife Learning’s role evolved from consultant to learning partner. We stepped back to look across IEJ’s work as a whole, supporting reflection on emerging themes and facilitating learning processes that strengthened coherence, adaptation, and collaboration in real time. By 2025, IEJ chose to formalise this approach through a long-term partnership model. Rather than building a large internal evaluation function, IEJ now accesses ongoing learning expertise that strengthens its impact without diverting focus from its core mission of justice-driven research and advocacy.

Why this matters

Today, MEAL practice is embedded across IEJ as a strategic asset, supporting reflection, collaboration, and informed decision-making. This partnership demonstrates what becomes possible when evaluation is treated not as assessment, but as accompaniment, walking alongside organisations as they navigate complexity and work toward justice.

This partnership illustrates the potential of evaluation approached as accompaniment: learning that walks alongside organisations, honours their purpose, and supports them to grow into the impact they seek to make.