Monitoring & Evaluation Support for Collaborative Learning and Adapting (MESCLA) Quarterly Progress Report, October 1 through December 31, 2016

The components include evaluation, monitoring, design and conduct of analyses, surveys, studies, and assessments, and support for improved knowledge management (KM), learning, and community within the Mission and outer stakeholders. MESCLA aims to support the achievement of USAID/Honduras' Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) by assisting the Mission in planning, designing, conducting, disseminating, and learning from rigorous monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of its development activities. This includes designing and implementing both quantitative and qualitative evaluations and assessments, as well as providing expert analysis to improve USAID/Honduras' projects and activities. The MESCLA activity is working toward supporting the Mission's ability to determine the effectiveness of USAID-supported interventions aimed at increasing citizen security for vulnerable populations in urban, high-crime areas and sustainably reducing extreme poverty for vulnerable populations in Western Honduras. The activity also focuses on the cross-cutting theme of gender and vulnerable population, as well as migration. During the quarter of October to December 2016, MESCLA worked on various components of the contract. In the evaluation component, MESCLA received learning questions for the Gobernanza en Ecosistemas, Medios de Vida y Agua (GEMA) impact and performance evaluations and provided comments and held meetings with USAID to clarify the scope of the evaluations and the evaluation questions. Additionally, a meeting was held with Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI), GEMA activity implementing partner, and MESCLA's Contracting Officer Representative (COR), and MESCLA staff to understand the GEMA activity. In the monitoring component, MESCLA submitted a review of the GEMA Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Plan and Gender Analysis, and met with the GEMA gender specialist to discuss the gender strategy. MESCLA also reviewed and provided comments on USAID's draft Mission MEL Mission Order (MO). In the studies, reports, and assessments component, MESCLA submitted the final version of the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) study's technical response, which was approved by USAID on November 22, 2016. MESCLA met with representatives from Secretaría de Salud (SESAL), the Pan American Health Organization, and the United Nations Population Fund to discuss implementation of the MMR study. The MESCLA activity is expected to improve project and activities effectiveness through informed decision-making within the Mission, enhance USAID/Honduras compliance with Agency accountability requirements through continuous M&E, fill knowledge gaps by identifying new evidence and learning from various sources, promote consistency with respect to how data is obtained, organized, validated, and reported to the Mission for Mission-wide use, and improve learning and adapting within the Mission and among donors and the Government of Honduras (GOH).