JAMEL Workshop Builds Teams to Reduce Youth Crime and Violence in Jamaica
In its ongoing work to equip Jamaican organizations with the tools to reduce youth crime and violence, the ME&A-led USAID Jamaica Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Support for the Caribbean Basin Security Activity recently hosted a four-day capacity-building workshop in monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) for Jamaican organizations working in youth crime and violence prevention (YCVP).
Addressing priority gaps in the MEL capacity of local YCVP organizations, the workshop drew 53 representatives from 23 civil society organizations, private foundations, USAID implementing partners, and USAID Sept. 11-14, 2023. Participants learned about foundational MEL principles, delved into advanced data insight methodologies, and studied mastering the art of effective reporting and knowledge management.
The workshop reflected a broader vision championed by USAID and ME&A – in collaboration with the Government of Jamaica (GoJ) and other key stakeholders – to increase citizen security and reduce youth crime and violence by increasing local YCVP stakeholders’ use of data and evidence in their YCVP programming, decision-making, and implementation.
At the workshop’s end, participants rated it as excellent or very good and acknowledged the workshop’s resonance with their roles in YCVP as well as its effectiveness in advancing MEL capacity and practice among key YCVP stakeholders.
In 2022, USAID/Jamaica awarded ME&A the $2.3 million, two-year JAMEL Activity to help strengthen the ability of government officials and decision makers to use data and evidence to help increase citizen security via partnerships between the GoJ, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector. JAMEL is a task order under the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Services (EVAL ME II) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to provide evaluation, monitoring, and assessment services for USAID missions and offices worldwide.
