The VBE initiative supported by Porticus aimed to create and distribute stories that infuse values among school-going children. DE–Group was tasked with the development of a MEL framework, theory of change, data collection tools, data trackers and other tools to enable the Paukwa team to execute this initiative excellently and ensure they achieve the overall goal of the project.

Our deliverables included:

• VBE Project’s Theory of Change which lays out the pathways to desired results;
• Developing the MEL framework (which outlines the desired impact, outcomes and outputs, associated indicators, data sources and means of verification, data collection responsibilities and frequency and broad evaluation questions);
• Developing data collection tools for school engagement and advocacy activities;
• Developing routine monitoring data trackers
• Supporting the VBE team with piloting and adapting the tools. 

Between October and December 2021, through a systematic reiterative process with the Paukwa team the DE–Group  team successfully developed the VBE project Theory of Change (ToC) – that consists of both the diagrammatic illustration and ToC narrative; a Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework with an associated indicator reference sheet; digitized routine data collection tools on SurveyCTO and a monitoring data tracker; learning logs and learning questions. 

The team also oversaw the piloting of some of the data tools (e.g., the children’s questionnaire, teacher questionnaire, headteacher/school director’s interview guide, children’s focus group discussion guide, classroom observation checklist, co-curricular observation checklist and parents’ focus group discussion guide) in 4 schools in Nairobi County and 5 schools in Bungoma County. Evidence from the piloting process unveiled some glaring delivery bottlenecks affecting the achievement of the desired outputs and outcomes for the project. Based on this evidence, the DE–Group recommended follow-up interviews and convening of key stakeholders to review the project design and, if possible, redesign the project. Additionally, continuous technical M&E support and capacity building is being provided to ensure effective and full operationalisation of the M&E system and data use.