MEL Training for Project Operators: Strengthening Impact Measurement Across Projects and Landscapes

The Rimba Collective is designed to deliver conservation and restoration outcomes at scale. But scaling impact requires more than funding—it requires robust, comparable, and verifiable primary data; and the quality of data ultimately depends on the capacity of those who gather it in the field.

For that reason, 18 project operators from around the Rimba Collective portfolio gathered together in Bogor, West Java, for an intensive week of training designed by Lestari Capital, implemented by the Borneo Nature Foundation (BNF) and hosted by the Centre for Sustainable Forest Development (Pusat Pengembangan Hutan Berkelanjutan, P2HB).

Held from 4-9 May, the training arrived at a critical juncture in the Rimba Collective journey. Lestari Capital has recently finalised a comprehensive new Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework, comprising 51 key indicators related to social, nature and climate impacts, which was piloted in seven of the 19 projects featured in the portfolio earlier this year.

Now, with the new framework ready for rollout across the entire portfolio, the training gave our project operators the tools, tactics and the standard operating procedures (SOP) they need to ensure successful implementation and, crucially, set a high-quality standard for data collection, management and reporting across the portfolio.

Why Data Standardisation Matters to the Rimba Collective

As the Rimba Collective expands, the ability to generate consistent, high-quality data across diverse geographies and operators becomes critical. At the field level, standardised MEL systems enable project teams to track progress, identify challenges early and adapt interventions over time. At the portfolio level, they allow results to be aggregated across projects, building a coherent picture of impact across the 466,203 hectares protected by the project portfolio. For corporate partners, this translates into something tangible: credible, verifiable evidence that investments are contributing to measurable outcomes—strengthening both accountability and confidence in nature-based supply chain strategies.

During an intensive week of training, project operators developed the tools, tactics and the standard operating procedures (SOP) they need to ensure standardised data collection, management and reporting across the portfolio (photo: Chris Alexander / Rimba Collective)

The training combined theoretical classroom training with practical implementation in the forest (photo: Chris Alexander / Rimba Collective)

Project operators learned how to design sampling frameworks, establish permanent forest plots, deploy camera traps, monitor peatland hydrology and use digital tools to capture and manage data in real time (photo: Chris Alexander / Rimba Collective)

“The combination of theory and practice was something extraordinary from this event for improving my personal capacity, and also for the other participants.” - Rezeki Ronaldo, Programme Manager at Kibar (photo: Chris Alexander / Rimba Collective)

“The overarching goal of this training is to standardise data collection and methodologies for MEL indicators, especially those related to climate and biodiversity, so all project operators are aligned with the standards and processes expected by Lestari Capital.”

Devara Adiningrat

Senior Biodiversity & Geospatial, Manager at Lestari Capital

The new MEL framework sets a universal standard for data collection and reporting on outcomes related to both nature and carbon mitigation, which can be especially difficult to do well in complex forest ecosystems. With these challenges in mind, Lestari Capital devised both the MEL indicators and the supporting training modules to build the technical capacity of project operators, helping them to gather the high-quality data we need to ultimately turn concepts and commitments into practice, progress and positive impact.

In a growing portfolio of projects, data standardisation is essential; in a landscape where credibility matters more than ever, the ability to demonstrate consistent, verifiable outcomes is what transforms conservation finance from a commitment into a measurable, verifiable contribution to the protection and restoration of natural capital. This kind of landscape-level continuity begins at ground level, with the granular integration of SOP for every aspect of the data collection, management and reporting process. And these were the puzzle pieces being placed together in Bogor.

Core Training Components and Outputs

The training spanned six days of intensive learning and development following a hybrid structure, with four days in the classroom and two in the field. A total of 54 PO staff attended (three per project), representing 18 project operators currently in the Rimba Collective portfolio. Participants were guided by a team of skilled and experienced BNF trainers, with additional support from Lestari Capital technical teams. The programme covered six core topics, comprising the skills, tools and knowledge needed to gather, manage and report data effectively in the field:

Data design & sampling | Stratified sampling methods, sample size calculation (Winrock tools) and bias reduction (including accessibility and spatial clustering);
Biodiversity monitoring | Camera trap installation and data management, species monitoring design and analysis;
Forest & carbon measurement | Vegetation inventory (DBH/Diameter at Breast Height, tree height, species ID), permanent growth plots for long-term monitoring, biomass and carbon stock estimation;
Soil & peatland systems | Soil carbon sampling, peat depth and condition tests, hydrological monitoring and rewetting impacts;
Threat monitoring & protection | SMART patrol planning and data analysis, identifying deforestation, fire and other threats; and
Digital data systems | KOBO Collect application for field data capture, and standardised digital workflows for storage and reporting.

Together, these modules form the operational foundation required for project operators to deliver comparable, audit-ready data aligned with the Rimba Collective’s Ecosystem Service Outcomes (ESO) framework.

“Our goal with this training is to ensure project operators produce data that are both directly comparable to each other and comparable to themselves in subsequent years. By standardising the data, you can prove the positive impact of funding and demonstrate that activities are having the desired effect.”

Simon Husson

Founder of the Borneo Nature Foundation (BNF)

All modules were reinforced with hands-on sessions in the forest at P2HB Bogor, including everything from plot establishment and camera trap deployment to patrol simulations and ground-truthing land cover exercises. Together, these sessions developed project operators’ ability to implement standardised SOPs in the field, improve their data quality, consistency and completeness, and boost their familiarity with digital tools and workflows that form the backbone of the new Rimba Collective MEL framework.

From Data in the Field to Impact Across the Portfolio

Standardised MEL enables the Rimba Collective to move beyond project-level reporting towards portfolio-level performance tracking, supporting future verification processes and strengthening the integrity of reported outcomes. For project operators, this provides the adaptive management approaches they need to provide standardised reports on progress and reach the objectives they have committed to deliver.

Participants were guided by a team of skilled and experienced BNF trainers, with additional support from Lestari Capital technical teams (photo: Chris Alexander / Rimba Collective)

“In our project location, integrating data related to social, climate, restoration and biodiversity is critical. It can also be a major challenge, because the more data inputters there are, or the more enumerators collecting data, the more bias is created. From this training, we now have a clearer picture of the system.” - Rayhan Andyfa Gursmila, Data and Knowledge Management at (EKL) (photo: Chris Alexander / Rimba Collective)

New technologies, like the KoboCollect application, enable Project Operators to log their environment and biodiversity data in a single, standardised system (photo: Chris Alexander / Rimba Collective)

“There was a lot of new information in the training that we can use to adjust our SOPs; I was able to understand these processes step-by-step and get a clearer idea of what the properly standardised approach should actually look like in the field. That gives me extra clarity and confidence in my work.”

Eres Dwi Karunianti

Data Quality Assurance officer at Nusantara Climate Initiative (NCI)

Similarly, at the portfolio level, the benefits of standardised data are equally significant. Consistent, high-quality data allows the Rimba Collective to aggregate results across projects, track progress against shared indicators and prepare for verification processes with greater confidence. This, in turn, reinforces the integrity of the model.

For corporate partners, particularly those with exposure to deforestation-linked supply chains, this level of data robustness is critical. It provides a clearer and more credible link between investment and outcomes, helping to underpin internal reporting, risk management and emerging requirements around traceability and nature-related disclosures.

A Foundational Investment in the Future

The Bogor training marked a key step in operationalising the Rimba Collective’s MEL framework across the portfolio. By embedding standardised systems, tools and processes at the field level, Lestari Capital is strengthening the ability of the Rimba Collective to deliver credible, measurable and scalable impact.

As the portfolio continues to grow, this shared data infrastructure will play a central role in ensuring that conservation outcomes are not only achieved on the ground, but consistently measured, aggregated and demonstrated across landscapes and supply chains.

“Completing the training doesn’t mean it’s finished; when I return home, the first thing I will do is share the results with our team and the communities we work with, so we can collectively overcome the obstacles we face in the field.” - Cindy Claudia, Field Staff at Bentang Kalimantan Tangguh (BKT) (photo: Chris Alexander / Rimba Collective)

Members of the BITRA project practice inputting SMART patrol data collection during a theory session at the Swiss-Belcourt Hotel in Bogor, West Java (photo: Chris Alexander / Rimba Collective)

“The training was a unique opportunity to meet with other Project Operators working to overcome similar challenges and share solutions. We exchanged many things and realised that, in the context of MEL, we could combine lessons from all these experiences.” - Dery Rahmadi, Conservation and Biodiversity Specialist at BKT (photo: Chris Alexander / Rimba Collective)

A total of 54 participants, representing 18 project operators currently in the Rimba Collective portfolio, gathered at the Centre for Sustainable Forest Development (P2HB) in Bogor, West Java (photo: Chris Alexander / Rimba Collective)