OUR PRODUCTS
WHO WE WORK WITH
Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning for the Preventin Sexual Violence in Conflict Initative (PSVI)
The UK government launched the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) in 2012 to raise awareness on and put an end to the violation of women’s human rights in conflict. The new PSVI strategy, launched in 2022 and led by FCDO, aligns with the new Women, Peace and Security (WPS) National Action Plan (NAP) that includes goals around security, justice, and gender-based violence. Athena Infonomics, in consortium with Consilient Research, has been contracted under the Global Evaluation and Monitoring Framework-Lot 4 to support FCDO in conducting monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) to understand whether PSVI Strategy objectives, and CRSV-focused WPS NAP objectives are being delivered and to capture, share and learn from lessons that emerge. Key activities included reviewing the PSVI strategy and updating the theory of change; designing a monitoring dashboard; conducting a desk review and a series of consultations with program managers and developing a synthesis report to contribute to an annual review; and delivering learning reports.
Evaluation Support to the Elimination of Slavery in Schools and Families (TESFA) Project
Hope for Justice is implementing The Elimination of Slavery in Schools and Families (Tesfa) project that adopts and delivers a multi-level community-based approach involving individual children, organized school groups, teachers, caregivers of children, and community leaders to address the socio-economic and cultural factors that affect vulnerability to slavery in target communities. Consilient serves at as the MEL partner to the program tasked with developing and implementing the evaluative methodologies used to measure project progress.
Baseline Study for the Stengthening Accountability in Ghana’s Education System (SAGES) Systems Strenthening Activity
The “Strengthening Accountability in Ghana’s Education System (SAGES) Systems Strengthening Activity” is a five-year long program by USAID to improve education for over 500,000 students in northern Ghana. The education system in Ghana suffers from significant urban-rural disparities, poor learning outcomes, and low completion rates. The SAGES program strives to improve the education system by increasing accountability and performance of key actors. Baseline data will be collected from 170 different schools in 8 districts. Methods will include EGRA/EGMA assessment, as well as interviews with students, parents, teachers, and district-level education officials. Consilient will then be tasked with analysis and reporting of the data to USAID, in order to have a solid understanding of the pre-intervention state of education, as well as identify the key challenges and inequalities in the Ghana education system.
Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning of the Kenya Develoution Programme
The Kenya Devolution Program, funded by FCDO, is designed to improve service delivery to citizens and reduce poverty at the county level as well as support more effective, open, and accountable county-level governments. Consilient serves as the Output 4 – Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Lead on the KDP Consortium (along with ACT!, IPF Kenya, the Danish Refugee Council, and the Danish Deming Group). As the MEL lead, Consilient has developed program implementation plans, monitoring evaluation plans, quarterly monitoring reports, baseline, midline, and endline reports, as well as output specific reports in order to inform program implementation, document lessons-learned and best practices, and assess program implementation and impacts.
Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning for the Resilience, Peace, & Stability Program in Kenya
“The Resilience, Peace and Stability Programme (RPSP) is a 5-year program funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark that commenced in January 2021 and will end in December 2024. The objective of the program is to decrease violent extremisms, political and natural resource-based conflicts in Kenya. Through RPSP Denmark will engage in prevention and countering three dimensions of conflict: political violence, resource-based conflict, and violent extremism. DANIDA invited the consortium of ACT!!, DRC/DDG and Consilient to submit an offer to design and implement the Resilience Peace and Stability Program for Kenya. The implementation approach proposed by the consortium will enable RPSP to set new standards for conflict and security programming in Kenya and the region. Consilient, acting as the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning component of the RPSP programme, is designing and implementing a digitally-driven M&E, research and learning system and process and will conduct all data collection, which will allow RPSP managers to track conflict levels and program results systematically using open access conflict data and data collected through systematic consultations with cohorts of project stakeholders.
Performance Evaluation of the Kenya Inclusive Governance, Accountability, Performance, & Participation (IGAAP) Program
“In 2021, USAID/KEA’s office of Democratic Governance, Peace, and Security (DGPS) initiated a governance program called the Kenya Inclusive Governance, Accountability, Performance, and Participation (K-IGAPP) Program. K-IGAPP sought to build partnerships with and among Kenyan leaders, institutions, and organizations to promote transformational change in key governance systems and processes, particularly improving accountability and transparency in electoral and democratic process. Consilient, along with LINC, Cloudburst, and the University of Nairobi) conducted a comprehensive Consilient midterm evaluation to establish the performance of the election-related programming. Consilient conducted document review, site visits in seven counties where K-IGAPP activities had been implemented, conducted 102 KIIs and FGDs with local and national stakeholders, implementation staff, GoK representatives, and other program participants. Consilient also conducted an online survey with 162 IP staff and stakeholders. Drawing upon this large data set, Consilient prepared a comprehensive assessment detailing the achievements, complementarity of the IPs, an key lessons learned about the program implementation.
Project Evauation of the Kenya Global Food Security Strategy – Feed the Future
Consilient, in partnership with Integra, conducted the evaluation of USAID’s Feed the Future (FtF) program in Kenya, which has been a multi-year intervention approach to support livelihoods and nutrition across Kenya through local grants, training, and other intervention types in sub-national markets. The evaluation specifically focused on the Kenya FTF Crops and Dairy Market Systems Development Activity (KCDMS) and the Kenya FTF Livestock Market Systems (LMS) Leader and Associate Awards activities. The primary purpose of the evaluation was to assess the project’s design and implementation, to inform future USAID/KEA programming. It also informed management on whether the approaches employed by the project successfully met its goal of sustainably reducing hunger, malnutrition, and poverty in the Feed the Future Zone of Influence (ZOI) through sustainable increases in agricultural productivity, nutrition-sensitive production, and inclusive and competitive market systems. The evaluation also examined the project’s contributions to building resilience among communities, enhancing market systems, and fostering private sector engagement. By assessing these components, the evaluation aimed to identify best practices and lessons learned that can guide the design and implementation of the new FTF 3.0 activities.
Third Party Monitoring of Programmes & Supply End Usage
In Kenya, Consilient is UNICEF’s long-term monitoring partner to understand the reach and impact of their programs across the country. Since January 2024, Consilient has conducted multiple rounds of monitoring particularly around UNICEF’s cash transfer programming in more than eight counties in Kenya. This has included evaluating the outputs and impact of UNICEF’s Out of School Children (OOSC) cash transfer program, which seeks to provide cash transfers to incentivize school attendence among children 5-16 years old, as well as UNICEF’s emergency flood response cash transfer program, which provided one-time cash transfers to vulnerable households affected by the flooding in Kenya in early 2024.
Market Survey for the McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition (FFECN) initiative
Care commissioned Consilient to conduct a market survey in Malawi with the aims of assessing the availability of key food commodities (soybean, cowpea, peanut, maize, and moringa powder) for local procurement in Malawi and to evaluate the potential negative impacts of these purchases on local markets and the risks posed to vulnerable households. This study is being conducted in preparation for the Tiwoloka program under the McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition (FFECN) initiative. Tiwoloka will operate in six districts in Malawi (Chiradzulu, Kasungu, Lilongwe, Mulanje, Ntcheu, and Thyolo) and an estimated 127,058 participants in 121 school communities will receive enriched porridge as daily school meals.
Final Evaluation of the USDA McGovern Dole Food for Education Project “the Future is Ours” in Mauritania
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) McGovern-Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition in Mauritania (The Future is Ours) Project, implemented by Counterpart International, works to improve children’s literacy outcomes and health, nutrition, and dietary practices. Consilient conducted the endline evaluation measuring the impact of the school feeding, teacher training, infrastructure improvements, and curriculum improvements on student literacy. In all, Consilient conducted 841 learning assessments, more than 1,000 student surveys, and interviews with teachers, school directors, parents, and cooks at 141 project schools. Consilient also conducted qualitative interviews with the Mauritanian MoE and Director of School Feeding, national and regional educational authorities, and project implementation staff. Consilient prepared a comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of the program on students, communities, schools, and the wider education sector.
Final Evaluation of the USDA McGovern Dole Food for Education Project “the Future is Ours” in Mauritania
The USDA Food for Progress Program in Mauritania works to support the development of sustainable and reliable production of fruits and vegetables to help meet Mauritania’s food security needs and increase the resilience of farmers. In order to support this program, Consilient is conducting a baseline and impact assessment to establish pre-implementation values for performance indicators and establish an overall snapshot of the implementation context. Second, Consilient established a longitudinal cohort for measuring the impact of the program activities. Consilient collected data from individual farms and farmers, agricultural cooperatives, women’s cooperatives, and government/institutional actors to produce a robust analysis of the public and private agricultural production and trade as well as identify uncertainties, risks, and opportunities.
Somalia Private Sector Landscape Assesment
On behalf of USAID, Consilient is conducting a Private Sector Landscape Assessment in Mogadishu and Baidoa. Effective cooperation with the private sector requires an in-depth understanding of the overall economic context, including major industries, trends, challenges and opportunities. To this end, Consilient designed and implemented a qualitative approach, consisting of 100 expert-level interviews and over 20 Focus Group Discussions across Mogadishu and Baidoa. The data collected in the context of this research will provide crucial insights into the Somalia private sector, as well as recommend potential linkages between private sector actors and Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs project participants.
Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning for the People Centered Governance Activity
“The People Centered Governance (PCG) Activity is funded by USAID and aims to promote more effective and legitimate local governance in southern Somalia. The PCG activity supports local government institutions to improve their inclusive decision-making, resource management, dispute resolution, and delivery of services and results for citizens. Consilient serves as the research partner on the activity, conducting evaluative and formative research to help inform project activities. In 2024, Consilient conducted the baseline evaluation to measure outcome and output indicators and provide contextual analysis on the factors that influence confidence in local government, accountability, transparency, inclusivity, and performance. Consilient also conducted two formative studies, the first to better understand service delivery by local governments in terms of their provision of services, funding, planning, and monitoring. Likewise, Consilient conducted a study examining the dynamics of land and resource disputes and the current configuration of state and non-state institutions to regulate land and resource use and resolve disputes.”
Third Party Monitoring & Learning for the Somalia Monitoring Programme III (SMP III)
Since 2022, Consilient has worked as the in-country partner to the Third-Party Monitoring and Learning Somalia Monitoring Program III. The third party monitoring and learning team is responsible for delivering across five workstream including: 1) verification of the delivery of program activities and to support learning and adaptation, 2) provide analysis of lessons learned, provide rapid research and evidence generation, 4) conduct M&E capacity building, and 5) knowledge management.
To date, Consilient has:
Third Party Monitoring for the Humanitarian Resilience & Human Development Porfolio
The Humanitarian and Health Evaluation, Learning, and Monitoring in Somalia (HHELMS) program provides monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) functions across two FCDO-funded programs: the Humanitarian Assistance and Resilience Building in Somalia (HARBS) and the Better Lives for Somali Women and Children (Better Lives), both implemented from 2022-2028. HHELMS also provides light-touch cross-cutting support to the wider FCDO Somalia human development portfolio, including work on education and social norms, across four HHELMS workstreams:
Working under Oxford Policy Management, Consilient leads workstream 1 activities, focusing on the implementation of third-party monitoring of HARBS and Better Lives, while contributing to work under the workstream three component.
Endline Evaluation for the Adolescent Girls Education in Somalia (AGES) Programme
“The Endline Evaluation of the Adolescent Girls Education in Somalia (AGES) Programme, funded through the Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) and USAID, concludes a four-and-a-half-year effort to improve educational opportunities for marginalized adolescent girls in Somalia. This comprehensive evaluation follows earlier assessments conducted in 2019, 2022, and 2023, focusing on three main areas: learning outcomes, transitions to further education or employment, and sustainable changes in social norms that support girls’ education. The evaluation uses a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative household level surveys and learning assessments (EGRA and EGMA) with qualitative methods, including interviews and focus group discussions. By examining the program’s impact on various groups of girls, including those from marginalized communities, this evaluation offers valuable lessons for improving educational programming and policy in Somalia, ensuring that more girls have access to quality education and better opportunities.”
Endline Evaluation of the Early Recovery Initative
Launched in 2018, Albany Associates has implemented the flagship Early Recovery Initiative in Somalia focusing on early recovery efforts in areas where other actors have not yet started to work, have not adequately addressed underlying community instability, and have ineffective links with government authorities and agencies. To assess ERI’s performance and impact and capture achievements, challenges, and best practices to inform future stabilisation programming, Consilient was contracted to conduct an endline evaluation to:
Findings from this evaluation were presented in a validation workshop and synthesized into a final evaluation report.
Formative Research on the Role of Social Capital in Urban Fragile & Conflict Affected contexts in Somaliland, Somalia, & Hati
Consilient, in partnership with University College, Dublin, is conducting research to generate new and original evidence to understand the interactions between social capital, resilience, the urban environment, conflict, and fragility among urban populations in Haiti, Somalia, and Somaliland. Using a mixed-methods approach, we are examining pathways that translate social capital to resilience among marginalized urban groups and how those pathways are fostered and thwarted. The goal of the research is to identify practical leverage points for operational and policy actors.
Assessing Urban Disaster Risks & Investment Options for Urban Disaster Risk Reduction in South Sudan
In March 2024, the World Bank commissioned the team of Triple Line, HKV, and Consilient Research, to undertake an assessment of the urban disaster risks and investment options for urban disaster risk reduction. The objective of the assignment is to strengthen the knowledge base for evidence-informed and government-led DRR investments in urban areas in South Sudan. A preliminary disaster risk screening of urban areas in South Sudan was led by HKV. Other key activities include an assessment of urban disaster risks in key cities to be conducted through site visits and interviews by Consilient and an identification and prioritization of high-level policy and investment options for urban DRR to be led by HKV.
Monitoring, Evauation, Accountability, & Learning of the EU Support for Basic School Teachers Qualification in Sudan
Expertise France in partnership with Save the Children and SOFRECO are implementing the EU-funded EQUIP2 program in Sudan, which seeks to improve conducive and inclusive learning environments in formal and non-formal settings. In particular, EF is implementing the teacher training component of EQUIP2, which aims at improving training initiatives for Sudanese teachers, both inside Sudan and those who have been displaced in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Chad. Consilient was commissioned to be EF’s MEL partner throughout this 15-month program to develop, adapt and implement the MEAL system to ensure systematic and effective collection, analysis and use of project M&E information. This includes developing a project theory of change and MEL information system, as well as training and supporting national partners in Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, and Egypt on how to collect and report MEL data for the program.
Sudan Monitoring & Analysis Programme (SIMAP)
Consilient, in partnership with OPM, is the FCDO’s independent, third-party monitoring (TPM) partner in Sudan from 2024 until 2028. This includes leading Workstream 1 (focused on Monitoring), which will encompass all of the SIMAP primary data collection needs across Sudan for the four-year program. Activities include mixed-methods data collection and verification engagements across all 18 states of Sudan, focused on the FCDO’s humanitarian portfolio in Sudan, as well as activities focused on GBV, protection, civil society strengthening, and economic support, including cash transfers. Results will seek to understand the effectiveness and reach of FCDO-funded work in Sudan, as well as using primary data collection to answer broader questions on how aid and support can be best delivered in Sudan’s current context.
Third Party Monitoring & Assesment of the RUTF Supply Chain in Sudan
Consilient was commissioned by UNICEF to conduct a study of the effectiveness and efficiency of its nutrition supply chain in the conflict context across all 18 states in Sudan, particularly for its Ready Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). This includes over 120 site visits in West Darfur, West Kordofan, Sennar, Blue Nile, North Darfur, and Gedaref states, as well as remote and in-person interviews with the Ministry of Health, UNICEF Country Office Sudan staff, and local implementing partners to understand how to improve supply chain functioning for the UNICEF nutrition portfolio.
PROSPECTS Research Partnership for Sudan
Consilient is the ILO’s research partner for its PROSPECTS program, which seeks to improve livelihoods and agricultural conditions among refugees, internally displaced populations and host communities living in West Kordofan, East Darfur, White Nile, and Kassala states. After the outbreak of the war in Sudan in April 2023, this has also included evaluating the ability of micro and small businesses to operate in formal and informal markets, and what coping mechanisms they are deploying to continue operations. This has also included conducting post-intervention evaluations of agricultural and social cohesion support programs, and setting baseline indicators for new rounds of the PROSPECTS program.