Learning on Act | East

Learning is a critical part of the Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning & Adapting (MERLA) approach on Act | East allowing the program to support governments in utilizing data for evidence-based decision-making.

Our learning approach focuses on operationalizing USAID’s Collaborating, Learning and Adapting Framework. We focus on gathering a strong evidence base by learning through leveraging M&E for better understanding of program results and conducting implementation research to gather information needed to address our challenges. We leverage a strong knowledge management system to share learning between the 12 countries in our portfolio and identify important lessons from the program to share with the global community.

How does learning inform NTD adaptations?

The Act | East learning agenda has focused on strengthening mass drug administration (MDA) across diseases, responding to disease specific assessment results under threshold, implementation during COVID-19 and sustainability of NTD programs.

Learning has been critical to focusing on districts in the last mile so country programs can nimbly and effectively respond to implementation challenges. Ensuring that learning and adapting is placed at the center of each MDA cycle means focusing on gathering challenges and reflecting on what aspects to bring forward or leave behind. It also means integrating new methods of data collection, such as qualitative or participatory methods, to gain a deeper understanding and identify improvements with communities.

The Act | East learning agenda is currently organized under four overarching themes:

Effective Mass Drug Administration
Survey Result Response
Sustainability
Data for Decision Making

What is a Learning Agenda?

A learning agenda is a tool which supports prioritizing, resourcing, and systematizing learning efforts on a program. Our learning agenda includes learning questions, learning activities, and learning products identified yearly across the portfolio. These questions are prioritized to help collect learning on key challenges to Act | East’s success.

Interested in learning? Check out these answers to common questions.

What is CLA?

USAID’s Collaborating, Learning and Adapting Framework is a set of practices that improve development effectiveness. It focuses on providing ways to systematize and resource these practices throughout the program cycle. On Act | East, we use CLA to design and reflect upon our learning approach.

How do we ensure collaboration?

We collaborate regularly with Ministries of Health to inform our learning questions, and increasingly partner directly with districts and communities to analyze and make sense of evidence together so we ensure the correct context is underlying our decisions.

Are we prioritizing the most important questions?

We focus on our big challenges – whether that is understanding how to reach mobile and migratory populations with treatment or working to understand the higher prevalence of disease amongst fishing communities, for example. We purposefully focus on key challenges affecting our implementation, with a focus on questions that are answerable and actionable in the short-term.

How do we use information to routinely and quickly adapt?

A large global program collects a lot of data! Focusing on learning means ensuring that our M&E data has specific analysis and use plans from the beginning. We prioritize and plan data use to coincide with key decision-making points.

How do we properly resource CLA to ensure it is prioritized?

CLA isn’t free! There is a lot that can be done by providing time to reflect, but each year during work planning we are driven to set out a feasible and ambitious plan to learn. This includes budgeting learning activities and mapping human resources necessary across the program and partners.

What are some key approaches for integrating a learning approach?

We’ve hosted discussions on how to move forward with LF strategy in Haiti and how to support domestic resource mobilization in T anzania. Annually, we Pause and Reflect with the entirety of our program staff, to dive into the effectiveness of our MDA Strengthening and DSA Response efforts across the portfolio to share new innovations and identify areas for technical support

Act to End NTDs

East

Search

GTranslate

Learning on Act | East

Leveraging learning to connect to the global community

Microplanning manual to guide implementation of preventive chemotherapy to control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases

Guide to Improving MDA Using Qualitative Methods

‘Must Reach': Integrating Gender Equity and Social Inclusion to Eliminate NTDs

WEBINAR: Mobilizing Domestic Resources for NTDS: Lessons from Colombia, Guatemala, and Philippines

How does learning inform NTD adaptations?

What is a Learning Agenda?

Stories of Learning on Act | East

NTD programming in the COVID-19 era: How are we learning and adapting?

“A Sign of Love”: Doing Things Differently to End a Disfiguring Disease in Haiti

Lessons from the field: Restarting NTD programs in a pandemic

From Zero to 100: How Integration of Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Helps Reach Ugandan Communities with NTD Treatment

Contact us

Follow us