MERI strategy
© Australian Government
Updated February 2011
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About the MERI strategy
The MERI Strategy is part of the Australian Government's strategic approach to measuring achievements of Caring for our Country investment. It provides the opportunity for annual progress reporting against the Caring for our Country five-year outcomes. The MERI Strategy also facilitates the evaluation of impacts and achievements and learning and improvement - for the initiative as a whole and for its constituent parts.
This Caring for our Country MERI strategy is intended for two user groups:
- the Australian Government, which is responsible for the delivery of Caring for our Country
- Caring for our Country funding recipients.
The key aims of the Caring for our Country MERI strategy are:
- to enable the Caring for our Country initiative 2008-13 to achieve its stated five year outcomes by monitoring implementation against key evaluation questions
- provide the reporting mechanisms for development of annual report cards
- to ensure that the implementation of the initiative meets the Australian Government requirements for accountability and transparency in expenditure of public funds through reporting against outcomes
- to articulate clear requirements for both proponents and the Australian Government for the implementation of MERI for Caring for our Country.
Guides to support the implementation of MERI can be found in the MERI toolkit:
Monitoring and evaluation for previous programs
The current approach to MERI builds upon work conducted under the former Natural Heritage Trust and National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality programs. Lessons learned from those programs have been applied to the Caring for our Country MERI strategy and program logic.
What we have achieved
The Australian Government is investing over $2 billion over five years to achieve a real and measurable difference to Australia's environment. Our achievements are reflected in the annual Caring for our Country report cards.