Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Partner for ESSOR in the DRC

DevLearn was the MEL Partner for Essor, a project funded by FCDO and implemented by PwC to improve the business environment in the DRC.

As MEL Partner, DevLearn oversaw all aspects of the MEL system, putting a full-time team member in place in the DRC. At the start of the assignment, we reviewed and improved the theory of change, logframe, and measurement plan, in particular ensuring that it was appropriate for a complex, adaptive programme. We then managed the implementation of the MEL plan throughout the lifetime of Essor, conducting data collection, managing data systems, and reporting against the logframe to FCDO on an annual basis.

DevLearn acts as a MEL Partner to Essor between 2019 and 2022 (when Essor finished). In this role, we have managed an outsourced MEL unit, including a full-time team member who sits in the DRC. Our main achievements have been to:
• Revise the programme logic and theory of change, ensuring that it is suitable for an adaptive programme.
• Measurement of programme progress, through qualitative and quantitative interviews. For example, we conducted a survey of entrepreneurs who had recently registered their businesses in the DRC, and are conducting a safeguarding assessment of a large infrastructure project.
• Aggregation and reporting of data from all interventions on an annual basis, and managing external reviews of the project conducted by FCDO.