[This blog, published by the USAID Learning Lab, is the second in a two-part series about what Rapid Feedback Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (RF MERL), an M&E innovation being tested within USAID, learned from our first completed engagement. The first blog, “Testing behavior change communications to reduce family-child separation in Cambodia,”captures evidence from two behavior change interventions we tested to reduce unnecessary family-child separation in Cambodia. In this blog, R4D’s Naomi Joswiak and Christina Synowiec discuss what we learned about applying the RF MERL approach itself within USAID-supported activities.]
In part one of this blog series, we discussed what the RF MERL Consortium learned from our partnership with Cambodia Children’s Trust (CCT) and Friends International (FI) in addressing unnecessary child-family separations in Cambodia. In the second part of this series, we reflect on what we’ve learned from applying the RF MERL process and approach — including key takeaways from our relationships with partners and adaptive learning methods in general.
RF MERL is a rigorous, flexible approach that generates timely information for programs to adapt and improve on activity design throughout implementation. RF MERL is one of several M&E innovations being piloted in USAID by the U.S. Global Development Lab, Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning, and the Bureau for Global Health, to test new approaches within USAID to better understand the impacts of development programs. In applying the principles of adaptive learning to our own process, we wanted to share five takeaways from our first engagement, the Family Care First (FCF) initiative in Cambodia.
Read the full blog on applying the RF MERL approach in Cambodia here.
Photo © Results for Development/Antoine Raab
