Introducing the Mercy Emerging Leaders Fellowship Impact Report!

It is our great pleasure to be able to share with you the Mercy Emerging Leaders Fellowship Impact Report. As many of you know, we have been working on this report since September 2022. The report is a culmination of hundreds of reflections and testimonials from across the Mercy World, including MELF Fellows, mentors, congregation leaders, associates, and NGO partners. Many of these reflections speak about the value of MELF and express hope for how the program can grow into the future. 

A big part of this Impact Report is the MELF Theory of Change. A Theory of Change (sometimes known as a Program Logic) is a high-level framework that tells the story of how your organisation works to achieve a particular set of goals. It outlines the problem or opportunity that an organisation seeks to address, the activities that the organisation undertakes to address the problem or opportunity, and the outcomes one could expect to see as a result of this work. A Theory of Change is a very attractive document to people working in government, as well as funders and potential supporters because it’s a very simple way of communicating the value of your organisation’s work. You can find a copy of the MELF Theory of Change on pages 22-23 of the report. 

Importantly, this report also describes how MGA will measure the impact of MELF according to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Accompanying this information are beautiful custom illustrations from Australian visual artist and MELF Fellow (Cohort 1), Ana Freeman, as well as poems from the esteemed Mary Wickham rsm. 

We are very grateful to everyone who played a role in the creation of this report, including those who attended our ‘impact workshops’ in late 2023, our designer, Julie Conway, our expert proofreader, Kathleen Rushton rsm, and of course, Angela Reed rsm and the MGA team.

Our hope is that this report helps people across Mercy World gain a deeper understanding of the MELF Program, including what it could mean for the future of leadership in Mercy. We hope you enjoy reading it (and those who finish the whole 80-page document go up on our Plaque of Honour!). Please do get in touch with your thoughts and feedback.

Colleen Swain and Jemima Welsh

MGA Women’s Leadership Development Associates