Learning and Adapting during COVID-19 Series | Webinar 1: How are International Development Implementers and Donors Responding in this Challenging Time?

Sharone Backers has worked for RTI International for eight years, during which she has focused on providing critical support for the elimination and control of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). She previously was the Chief of Party in Mozambique for the ENVISION program and has been working for the past three years in Ethiopia as the Chief of Party for the Act to End NTDs | East Program. Her work focuses on supporting and strengthening Ministries of Health throughout all levels of the health system, ensuring quality implementation of workplan activities and effectively measuring project outcomes to support learning. She has collaborated closely with Ministries of Health and partners through this time, some of whom include Light for the World, SightSavers, Fred Hollows Foundation and local institutions. Before focusing on NTDs, Sharone worked on HIV/AIDS with mobile populations and worked for several years with refugees.

Sonia Moldovan is a development practitioner with more than a decade of experience implementing MEL systems, developing learning agendas and managing evaluations. At Mercy Corps, Ms. Moldovan leads the MEL team, provides technical assistance to program teams, conducts annual CLA workshops and contributes to thought leadership on resilience measurement and adaptive management. Ms. Moldovan also worked as a MEL Director on USAID and DFID-funded programs in Afghanistan, South Sudan and the Sahel and trained teams on qualitative data collection approaches including outcome mapping and Most Significant Change. She holds a Master of Economic Development and is an adjunct professor at George Washington University.

Access downloadable COVID-19 Remote MERL Guidance document, produced by Mercy Corps.

Stacey Young, PhD. became USAID’s first Agency Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning Officer in November 2019, leading Agency-wide knowledge and learning approaches and architecture. Dr. Young also co-chairs the Multi-Donor Learning Partnership, a group of nine major donor organizations working to advance organizational learning and knowledge management in international development. She previously served as the Senior Technical Advisor for USAID’s first Agency-wide learning agenda, on the Journey to Self-Reliance; and, from its inception through 2019, she led USAID's Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) work to integrate a holistic approach to knowledge and learning across USAID’s country programs. Part of a long-term Agency effort to more firmly anchor USAID programs in strong evidence and local leadership, CLA is acknowledged as leading the field in learning and adaptive management for international development.