Partnership for Resilience and Economic Growth, Northern Kenya: Impact Evaluation Recurrent Monitoring System

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AIR data collector interviews a respondent in Samburu, Kenya as part of the PREG project

AIR data collector interviews a respondent in Samburu, Kenya as part of the PREG project - January 2023. Credit: Mehari Belachew (AIR)

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)'s Partnership for Resilience and Economic Growth (PREG) program brought together humanitarian and development partners to build resilience among Kenya’s vulnerable pastoralist communities in the country’s arid and semi-arid lands.

PREG focused on nine vulnerable and high-risk areas and works with the Government of Kenya at both national and county levels to address underlying community vulnerabilities. PREG’s goal was to assess how the range of USAID-supported interventions contributes to both community and household resilience capacities.
 

Recurring Monitoring System Surveys

In 2019, to promote learning and adapting within the activity, AIR, in collaboration with TANGO International, began conducting quarterly recurring monitoring system (RMS) surveys of 800 households (a subset of the 2,700 households AIR surveyed during the activity’s baseline evaluation in 2018). Each quarter, the RMS alternated between conducting 30 key informant interviews and eight focus group discussions to avoid respondent fatigue.

From September 2019 to June 2020, AIR successfully conducted four rounds of RMS. AIR has completed a first cycle RMS, consisting of four quarterly surveys, from 2019 to 2021, and is conducting the second cycle from November 2021 through March 2023. (Due to COVID-19, data collection was put on hold in mid-2020.) This near real-time data allows USAID to understand how households’ resilience capacity affects their recovery from shocks.