Ethiopia Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Service (EPMES) Activity Fiscal Year 2016, Quarter IV Progress Report

under the United States Agency for International Development/Ethiopia. The activity aims to provide monitoring and evaluation (M&E) services to the Mission. The objectives of EPMES are to provide external evaluation services, performance monitoring technical support, improve capacity for learning and adaptation, and strengthen local partners' technical and management capacities. The EPMES team has made significant progress in implementing tasks planned for the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2016. The team received four performance evaluation statements of work (SOWs) from USAID/Ethiopia, including mid-term performance evaluations for the Health Sector Financing Reform/Health Sector Governance (HSFR) and Strengthening Ethiopia's Urban Health Program (SEUP) projects, as well as a final performance evaluation for the Graduation with Resilience to Achieve Sustainable Development (GRAD) project. The EPMES team reviewed and provided comments and suggestions for refinement of the SOWs in collaboration with USAID/Ethiopia. The team also recruited 181 consultants, including 12 local and six international experts, to support the evaluation tasks. However, some evaluation tasks were postponed due to difficulty in hiring consultants with combined qualifications in evaluation and subject matter expertise, as well as USAID/Ethiopia's request to push back some evaluations due to the unstable security situation. The EPMES team has made significant progress in implementing tasks planned for the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2016. The team has reviewed and refined SOWs, recruited consultants, and started evaluation tasks. The team has also identified challenges and areas for improvement, including difficulty in hiring consultants and the unstable security situation. The EPMES activity has a life of project budget of $16,658,919.88 and is expected to end on April 3, 2021. The activity has made significant progress in implementing tasks planned for the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2016. The team has reviewed and refined SOWs, recruited consultants, and started evaluation tasks. The team has also identified challenges and areas for improvement. The EPMES team has achieved significant progress in implementing tasks planned for the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2016. The team has reviewed and refined SOWs, recruited consultants, and started evaluation tasks. The team has also identified challenges and areas for improvement, including difficulty in hiring consultants and the unstable security situation. The EPMES activity is expected to continue providing monitoring and evaluation services to the Mission and strengthening local partners' technical and management capacities.