MERL innovations is an independent consultancy firm with a niche in the field of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL). The firm was formally registered in May 2022 to respond to the ever-increasing need for a client- centered professional firm that delivers high quality work in a timely manner. Our team is led by highly experienced multi-disciplinary MERL professionals who have collectively amassed over 30 years’ experience in the field. The team’s experience and technical capacity is suited to handle a wide variety of technical assistance projects, including building capacity for stronger monitoring and evaluation systems, programme monitoring, programme evaluation, qualitative and quantitative studies, formative research, feasibility studies, Knowledge Attitude and Practices studies programme reviews, impact assessments, strategic planning, content development, among others.
Our Vision and Mission
Our vision is to solve our clients’ most critical problems through innovative, scientifically robust and client-centered approaches. Through partnering with us, our clients will be able to achieve deeper and more sustainable impact in whichever field they work, thereby improving health, livelihoods and saving lives.
Core Values
Rehemah Nabacwa
Founding Director
Rehemah is a Strategic Research, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) expert with over 15 years of progressive experience in performance management, organizational learning, MEL capacity building, and community development in Education, Health, Economic Growth and Livelihood sectors. She has conducted Research, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning trainings for over 200 staff of international and local NGOs as well as short term research trainings for over 1000 data collectors cumulatively. Rehemah holds a Masters' degree in Gender studies, a bachelor's degree in Education and a postgraduate diploma in M&E.
Agnes Watsemba
Founding Director
Agnes is a Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning expert with over 12 years' experience in designing, implementing, and managing M&E systems, impact evaluations and research projects for various clients including Government, NGOs, and donor organizations. Altogether, Agnes has led over 30 research and evaluation projects and published her work in various fora. Agnes holds a Masters' degree in M&E, a Masters' degree in Public Health, a PGD in M&E and several M&E certificates including "designing and implementing impact evaluations" from the University of Cape Town. Agnes has work experience in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Burkina Faso.
Esther Nanyiri
Director
Esther is a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, Learning and Accountability professional with over 8 years of experience. She is proficient in research design and implementation as well as program evaluations. She is an expert in content development, tool design, data collection, data analysis, and report writing. Esther has a Masters in Monitoring and Evaluation, certificates in M&E and Human Centered Design.
Jocelyn Amongin
Research Associate
Jocelyn has 15+ years of experience in research. Her expertise lies in Public Expenditure Tracking and Monitoring, training & capacity building. She has postgrad training from the World Bank in conducting learning assessments, the Community Score Card Methodology and Enhancing Community Empowerment & Social Accountability and Information dissemination for citizen report cards.
Afra Nuwasiima
Statistician
Afra Nuwasiima is a statistician with over 9 years of experience in leading statistical and methodological analyses for development programs, surveys and public datasets in several African countries including Uganda, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan. Afra's research expertise lies in survey design, statistical methods, survival analysis, modelling of diseases, clinical trials research, conducting household surveys, and handling of big data. He has significant experience in designing studies, conducting and supervising field data collection activities, and overseeing and leading data management and quality assurance programmes. Afra is skilled in extensive programming, analytical, and report automation using different software especially STATA, R, Excel, and SQL. Afra holds a first-class bachelor's degree in Statistics, a Master's Degree in Biostatistics and a Post Graduate Diploma in M&E. He also has a certificate in interpretations of RCTs and Statistics from Stanford University, Certificate in Economic Evaluations from the University of Washington, and further training in modelling for infectious diseases. Afra has co-authored over 10 peer-reviewed research publications in the health and business sectors.