If You Don't Succeed, Learn, Adapt, and Try Again: Shejeh Salam's Story

The Shejeh Salam (Promoting Peace) Activity is a five-year program that lays the groundwork for a less volatile and more socially cohesive South Sudan. The activity is being carried out through a small grants-under-contract mechanism in thirteen USAID-designated priority counties within five of South Sudan's ten states.

Shejeh Salam has realized, thanks to the predecessor program, the USAID Viable Support to Transition and Stability (VISTAS), that project teams in different regions were engaging in activities that were similar to one another, but they were not learning from one another. As a direct consequence of this, attempts to implement program-wide learning practices were unsuccessful during the VISTAS program. We learned numerous lessons on what worked and didn’t, but we did not systematically share lessons from events and activities across the program. Because of this, regions ended up repeating technical and operational mistakes that had already been fixed in other areas.

Shejeh Salam's senior management and MEL team members implemented robust systems and processes for CLA, knowing that CLA only happens with intentional planning. We use DevResults, a data-driven MEL and activity management platform, as the MEL resource hub for all Shejeh Salam program activity and programmatic inputs and outputs. USAID have access to the platform, emphasizing program transparency and accountability. DevResults enables Shejeh Salam to collaborate and share information with the COR, improving efficiency and evidence-based adaptation. We also implemented Monthly Lessons Learned Discussion Sessions, to help share learning across our team, resulting in increased adaptive management practices and improved capacity building support to our grantees.