Four summer MEL Fellows will travel to Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Laâyoune to support D-Lab’s efforts to measure the impact of its work around the world.
This summer four summer fellows, Fatema Alhashemi, Iris Lau Castro, Taylor Light, and Geoffrey Tam, will support D-Lab’s efforts to measure the impact of its work around the world. In addition to conducting evaluations of D-Lab’s programs, the MEL Fellows will also work with D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellows and D-Lab Innovation Ecosystem Builder Fellows to help these partners to improve their own impact measurement systems. Fatema, Iris, and Taylor are students in the MPA in Development Practice program at Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs. Geoffrey Tam is a Masters student at the Tufts Fletcher School. Read on to find out more about their summer work!
Fatema Alhashemi - Laâyoune Learning Center (Laâyoune) and Kyusa (Kampala, Uganda)
Fatema will travel to Laâyoune to assess the long-term effects of 2018 PIA Co-Design Summit on the participants, their institutions, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. She will also evaluate the Laâyoune Learning Center’s three-month entrepreneurship training pilot, capturing data on participants’ learning and feedback on the new curriculum. Finally, she travel to Kampala, Uganda to work with D-Lab Innovation Ecosystem Builder Fellow organization Kyusa Uganda to strengthen their team’s capacity in data analysis and data visualization.
Iris Lau Castro - EcoAct (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)
Iris will travel to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to work with D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellow venture EcoAct-Tanzania to help them measure the venture’s impact. In particular, she will help them develop an approach to measure the impact of their waste collection system as well as the medical insurance they provide to waste pickers. Iris will also lead this year’s annual survey of D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellows, tracking the long-term trajectory of alumni and their ventures.
Taylor Light - Ongoza (Nairobi, Kenya)
Taylor will travel to Nairobi, Kenya to work with D-Lab Innovation Ecosystem Builder Fellow organization Ongoza to refine their theory of change, design data collection instruments, and help them use their data to drive strategy discussions. Taylor will also lead the development of a theory of change and survey instruments for D-Lab’s innovation ecosystem convenings, mapping out an M&E framework for D-Lab’s newest strategy to catalyze entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Geoffrey Tam - Kwangu Kwako (Nairobi, Kenya)
Geoffrey will travel to Nairobi, Kenya to work with 2019 D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellow venture Kwangu Kwako to kickstart their social impact measurement strategy. In particular, he will help them explore how they might go beyond quantitative metrics, like number of people housed, to more qualitative measures, like security, dignity, self-esteem, and optimism. Geoffrey will also evaluate the annual D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellowship retreat and the Practical Impact Alliance annual meeting in May 2019, capturing participants’ takeaways from these two catalytic gatherings.