For short- and medium-term inter-program monitoring, Kula Staff routinely track program implementation, participation, and progress in an effort to provide real time data and create internal feedback loops that indicate whether or not program activities and participants are on track with program goals. Kula Staff then use this information to either move forward or allocate additional time, attention, and resources to households or program areas that need improvement. For long-term impact measurement, Kula uses baseline and exit Impact Assessment and Farm Assessment surveys to assess overall program impact and changes in graduates’ standards of living up to 5 years after entering the program.

After monitoring, measuring, and collecting data, our team begins the evaluation process. In line with our multilevel monitoring approach, our evaluation processes seek to analyze these various levels of datasets to promote inter-program and post-program improvements as well as increased understanding of program outcomes and impact. Results from this analysis then inform amendments and improvements to the Kula Fellowship to more effectively support individuals and households toward sustainable income generation and livelihood improvements.

Once the evaluation process is complete, Kula disseminates evaluation results and impact reports to partners including funding partners, government partners, field partners, our community of supporters, program fellows and graduate households. Through our commitment to transparency, integrity, and humility, we consistently report the results of our monitoring process in regards to our long-term post-program impact, as well as associated financial expenditure, in an effort to take accountability for both our success and lessons learned throughout the program cycle. We believe it’s just as important to be accountable to the people impacted by our program as those who fund and support it, ensuring that both in-program progress as well as the overall impact of our work is shared with program participants, and that their feedback is sought throughout the process.

At Kula, we believe that the primary purpose of measuring and evaluating the impact of our work is to learn how to make our programs more effective, more efficient, and more impactful for future beneficiaries. We are dedicated to not only sharing the results of our work, but to using those results to inform future amendments and make evidence-based improvements to the Fellowship program in order to better support individuals and households out of extreme poverty. Our learning process is continuous, as our staff make data-driven decisions and refinements throughout the program cycle as well as a more formal and focused evaluation and learning process annually at the end of a program cycle, before a new Fellowship cohort is onboarded.