Project Description

Cloneshouse serves as the Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation (MLE) Partner to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s AgDev Programme in Nigeria, supporting a multi-year portfolio of over twenty agricultural grantees. Under this contract, Cloneshouse provides end-to-end performance measurement, evidence generation, and learning support to strengthen the Foundation’s agricultural strategy.

Our work focuses on helping the Foundation understand how its investments are performing across areas such as seed systems, agricultural inputs, mechanization, digital agriculture, market systems, and women’s economic empowerment. We design and manage the portfolio-wide indicator framework, verify and validate grantee data, synthesize performance trends, and produce actionable evidence that supports adaptive management. Cloneshouse also strengthens MEL systems for implementing partners by reviewing theories of change, improving data systems, building staff capacity, and supporting the integration of learning into program decisions.

A core element of the contract involves deploying advanced data science, analytics, and AI-enabled tools to create predictive insights, harmonize complex datasets, and power interactive dashboards used by both the Foundation and its grantees. Beyond measurement, Cloneshouse leads learning processes: facilitating sensemaking sessions, producing thematic learning products, and advising AgDev leadership on strategic priorities based on emerging evidence.

This contract, which was signed in July 2025 continues as an ongoing multi-year engagement, and positions Cloneshouse as a central evidence partner helping the Foundation make smarter, faster, and more informed agricultural investment decisions in Nigeria.

Scope of work:
1. Portfolio Measurement & Performance Analysis
2. MEL System Strengthening for Grantees
3. Evidence Generation & Deep-Dive Studies
4. Data Science, Predictive Analytics & AI-Supported Insights
5. Learning Facilitation & Strategic Sensemaking
6. Advisory Support to AgDev Leadership