Since 2015, we have provided flexible, demand-driven, technical, analytic, evaluation and support services for performance management and activity design to USAID/Senegal. Ultimately, we aim to inform performance management at all levels, helping the Mission to meet Agency requirements and make better-informed strategic and management decisions. We also focus on advancing learning, one component of the Agency’s emphasis on CLA.

In 2018, the project was named a winner of USAID’s CLA Case Competition for its innovative use of recommendations workshops to improve the use of evaluation results. USAID/Senegal wanted to reinforce its relationship with the Government of Senegal by generating actionable recommendations that would be used to guide the next phase of their government-to-government activity.

To address this, a CLA approach was integrated into the evaluation of the activity and we supported a recommendations workshop that involved all stakeholders. The resulting recommendations action plan was a “break-through” for the Mission in terms of CLA, and the Ministry of Health considered it “revolutionary”. The action plan was immediately used to design the next phase of the activity, proving that learning and adaptation had taken place.

We have also used recommendations workshops with the Ministry of Health and the USAID/Senegal Health Office to evaluate the entire health portfolio and review its effectiveness in supporting Senegal’s Journey to Self-Reliance. The findings of the evaluation were used to develop actionable and practical recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the health portfolio’s results and increase support to health systems.

Recommendations workshops provide an empowering platform for the Senegalese government to present their interests and priorities related to USAID activities.

MSI has extensive experience conducting rigorous evaluations worldwide and translating data to action. Throughout the project’s lifespan, our team has learned many valuable lessons about the challenges in conducting the highest quality, USAID-compliant evaluations in Senegal. We apply those lessons to other M&E projects worldwide.

MSI is the leading provider of monitoring, evaluation and learning support to USAID. We are currently supporting several other Missions, including Afghanistan, Mali, Indonesia and the Middle East and North Africa.