Harmonizing Voices: Synthesizing Learning from Partners on the Ground in Somalia

USAID/Somalia is working with international and local partners on ten distinct projects aimed at P/CVE. This portfolio consists of different theories of change (TOCs) on how to resolve conditions that allow violent extremism to spread and employs flexible monitoring and management approaches to respond to on-the-ground realities. Such diverse performance management systems challenge the development of a shared measurement system for P/CVE, contributing to a lack of evidence-based analysis to support program implementation and adaptation. The Mission and its evaluation partners believed that any solution to this challenge needed to work with these monitoring and management systems, rather than create a distinct and potentially duplicative structure. Thus, its P/CVE portfolio monitoring system started by harmonizing these different voices from development partners on the ground by mapping these TOCs and providing capacity building support to align them with the country strategy results framework. It also inventoried these partner’s ongoing contextual analyses, enabling USAID to draw on these when relevant decision-making questions arose. This alignment and harmonization process helped USAID/Somalia and its partners understand the relationship between their projects and overarching P/CVE objectives and to tell a clearer, shared story of impact.