MEL systems
Theories of change, results frameworks, indicators and practical monitoring systems.
Monitoring · Evaluation · Research · Learning
Evidence that moves programmes forward.
I'm Elmer Ongus, a Kenyan monitoring, evaluation and learning specialist helping organisations strengthen evidence, improve decisions and deliver meaningful results.
- 6+
- Years of progressive MEL experience
- Since 2020
- Research and advisory support
- Kenya
- Nairobi · Lamu · Coastal and northern counties
Based in Kenya
Working across community health, youth, education and inclusive development.
01 / About
Making evidence useful—not merely available.
I'm Elmer Ongus, a monitoring, evaluation and research practitioner with more than six years of experience across community health, education and programme learning. I design and strengthen MEL systems, lead mixed-method research, assure data quality and train teams to turn routine programme information into practical decisions.
I work in monitoring and evaluation at Safari Doctors in Kenya, supporting evidence use across health outreach, school health and youth programmes in Lamu, Tana River and Garissa. My interest in One Health centres on how digital tools can connect community observations with health and veterinary information to support earlier action and continuity of care in remote settings.
I bring a Bachelor of Science in Statistics, ongoing postgraduate training in Monitoring and Evaluation, and hands-on experience working with local, international and remote teams. Participation, inclusion, ethics and methodological rigour are central to my practice.
02 / Expertise
From programme logic to decision-ready evidence.
Evaluation & research
Mixed-method baselines, endlines, assessments, contribution analysis and learning agendas.
Power Query & health analysis
Repeatable workflows for cleaning, combining and analysing outreach data, health burden and service trends.
Dashboards & data quality
Data governance, validation, reporting dashboards and decision-ready analysis across complex datasets.
Digital health workflows
Programme-led configuration and workflow alignment for Banda Health and Medic's Community Health Toolkit.
Technical proposals
Evidence-led proposal development, results architecture and resource-mobilisation support for organisations.
Policy & inclusion
Gender-responsive policy design, participatory practice, safeguarding and disability-inclusive MEL.
Learning & adaptation
Facilitated reflection that turns evidence into programme improvements and better decisions.
Research & Thesis Advisory
Collaborative guidance on research design, analysis, academic editing and defence preparation, with the researcher retaining ownership.
Technical reporting
Donor-ready narratives, evidence synthesis, presentations and clear communication of complex findings.
03 / Experience
Grounded in programmes. Built for decisions.
Assistant Monitoring and Evaluation Officer
Safari DoctorsSupports and coordinates MEL across mobile health outreach, school health, youth health, nutrition and One Health portfolios. Leads designated data-quality, donor-measurement and learning processes while working with field, programme and management teams.
Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Analyst
United States International University–AfricaDesigned mixed-method evaluations, results frameworks and monitoring tools; led strategic reviews and translated evidence into recommendations presented to senior management.
Inclusive MEAL Advisor · Volunteer
EAAL FoundationAdvises programme teams on inclusive indicators, participatory monitoring, feedback mechanisms and evidence use for initiatives involving girls, young people and persons with disabilities.
Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Officer
Jenga Future InitiativeDeveloped MEAL plans, logframes, tools and reporting calendars while strengthening accountability, field data quality and adaptive programme reviews.
04 / Field practice
Evidence systems that work beyond the road.
Elmer's practice is shaped by mobile health outreach in remote coastal, island and border-adjacent settings. Some communities are reached by boat; others operate with limited connectivity, constrained power and changing security conditions near the Kenya–Somalia border. In these environments, a technically sound system must also be safe, adaptable and usable by field teams.
Boat-enabled outreach
Monitoring approaches designed around island and coastal outreach where transport, weather and service windows shape what can realistically be collected.
Low-connectivity workflows
Structured paper and digital fallback processes that protect service continuity when networks, devices or power cannot be assumed.
Security-sensitive practice
Proportionate data collection, flexible planning and responsible reporting that avoid exposing movement patterns, vulnerable communities or operational protocols.
Tools fitted to service delivery
Workflow configuration for Banda Health and Medic's Community Health Toolkit, aligning available functionality with programme packages, field practice and reporting needs.
05 / Selected contributions
Evidence translated into action.
Students · 2026 baseline
Supported an integrated mixed-method baseline across 19 schools, combining survey, focus-group and key-informant evidence into programme recommendations and an endline foundation.
Programme contacts · six-month period
Consolidated and quality-assured six months of 2026 programme participation and service contacts while preserving reporting definitions and preventing duplication.
Connected evidence workflows
Strengthened data quality across Banda Health, Medic CHT, KoboToolbox and paper-based records through practical protocols, structured workflows and team coaching.
Health-burden analysis
Repeatable Power Query workflows
Uses Power Query to clean, normalise, combine and analyse outreach datasets, supporting health-burden summaries, service trends and dashboards that can be refreshed consistently.
Organisational strengthening
Proposals, policy and systems
Contributes to technical proposals and resource mobilisation, and has designed a gender policy to strengthen organisational commitments, accountability and inclusive practice.
Collaborative research
Joint coding and interpretation
Works with international community-health collaborators on qualitative coding, interpretation and evidence synthesis while respecting collective authorship and agreed research processes.
Professional boundary These contributions describe Elmer's professional experience within employers and collaborative teams. They are not presented as ORIA client contracts, and organisational names, images or confidential results are used only with an appropriate basis or permission.
06 / Research & authorship
Contributing programme evidence to global research.
Preprint availableSSRN · 2026 · Not peer reviewed
Co-author · Safari Doctors affiliation
Artificial intelligence in community health worker programmes in low- and middle-income countries: a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectional, international survey of activity, readiness, and priorities
Elmer Ongus is listed as a co-author, affiliated with Safari Doctors, as part of an international, multi-institutional research team.
Posted on SSRN as an early research version. It has not yet undergone peer review and is not presented as a final journal publication.
View the preprint on SSRNWorld Café hostGDHF 2026
Bangkok, Thailand · 2–4 December 2026
Bangkok, Thailand · 2–4 December 2026
Global Digital Health Forum · Professional engagement
Digitizing One Health for Climate-Resilient Care in Kenya's Last-Mile Communities
Elmer Ongus will host a World Café discussion at the Global Digital Health Forum 2026, bringing participants together to explore digital approaches to One Health and climate-resilient care in Kenya's last-mile communities.
The conversation will focus on practical ways to connect human, animal and environmental health insights, strengthen community participation and support continuity of care where connectivity and access to services are limited.
About the Global Digital Health ForumGrand Challenges Canada-supported programme · Research pathway
Two distinct manuscripts. One responsible evidence pathway.
The integrated YHA School Health Programme has an agreed two-manuscript research pathway. Keeping the baseline and endline papers separate protects methodological integrity and ensures that every conclusion reflects the evidence available at that stage.
01In preparation
Baseline manuscript
Establishing the programme's starting conditions
Development of a baseline paper using evidence from 895 students across 19 schools. It will examine starting conditions in knowledge, information needs, help-seeking and service awareness. Programme reach and routine monitoring data remain implementation context—not evidence of effectiveness or impact.
Current status: analysis and manuscript development in progress.02Planned after endline
Endline manuscript
Examining change after comparable endline evidence
Planned after endline data collection and analysis. The second paper will examine whether programme participation is associated with changes in knowledge, confidence, help-seeking and youth-friendly-service awareness, without claiming causal impact unsupported by the study design.
Future status: conclusions will be developed only after the endline evidence is complete.Publication status, journal details and authorship order will be stated only when formally confirmed.
Ongus Research & Impact Advisory · Practice since 2020
Evidence for decisions.
Insight for impact.
ORIA brings into public view a research and advisory practice that has supported organisations and programme teams since 2020. The practice provides close, practical assistance with programme research design, data analysis, evaluation, MEL systems, evidence products and donor-ready reporting.
The ORIA identity formalises a track record already built through service—working alongside teams from the first evidence question and methodological decision to analysis, interpretation and a strong final product.
Monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworksBaseline, midline and endline studiesQuantitative and qualitative researchData analysis, dashboards and evidence productsProgramme design and donor-ready reportingTechnical proposals and resource mobilisationPolicy design and capacity strengtheningResearch & Thesis Advisory
2020Research and evidence-support practice established
2023Expanded institutional evaluation and analytical work
2026ORIA public identity introduced
07 / Services
Focused support for organisations and individual researchers.
Engagements are shaped around the question you need answered, the evidence available and the decision the work must support.
ORIA supports organisational research, evaluation, MEL and professional capacity strengthening, alongside Research & Thesis Advisory for individual researchers.
Research & Thesis Advisory
Collaborative support for undergraduate, postgraduate and independent researchers—from topic refinement and concept development to proposal review, research design, sampling, research instruments, data analysis, academic editing, defence preparation and post-defence corrections. Researchers retain ownership and responsibility for their work, and all support must comply with their institution's academic integrity requirements.
Request this serviceProgramme research design
Clear research questions, study designs, sampling approaches, data-collection tools and analysis plans for programmes and evaluations.
Request this serviceBaselines, endlines & evaluations
Mixed-method studies using surveys, KIIs, FGDs and programme evidence, followed by practical findings and recommendations.
Request this serviceMEL systems & frameworks
Theories of change, logframes, indicators, monitoring plans, donor frameworks, data-quality processes and learning systems.
Request this serviceData analysis & visualisation
Quantitative and qualitative analysis, dashboards, interpretation and decision-ready evidence products using appropriate tools.
Request this serviceReports, briefs & learning products
Donor reports, analytical briefs, presentations and evidence products that turn complex findings into clear, credible communication.
Request this serviceTechnical proposals & resource mobilisation
Evidence-led technical proposals, results frameworks, indicator architecture and supporting narratives for organisational funding opportunities.
Request this servicePolicy & organisational strengthening
Practical policy development, evidence-informed guidance and capacity strengthening, including gender-responsive organisational systems.
Request this servicePaystack live · Accepted payments
Secure, invoice-based payment options.
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08 / Request a quotation
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09 / Qualifications
Technical depth with a learning mindset.
Postgraduate
Master of Arts in Monitoring and Evaluation
Daystar University · Ongoing
Undergraduate
Bachelor of Science in Statistics
Laikipia University · Completed
Professional development
MEAL, inclusion and safeguarding
MEAL DPro · Gender-Transformative Evaluation · Child Protection · Disability-Inclusive Programming
Tools
Data collection, analysis and communication
KoboToolbox · ODK · Power BI · SPSS · Stata · R · NVivo · Dedoose · Tableau · Advanced Excel · Power Query · Banda Health · Medic CHT
Professional enquiries
Let's turn evidence into better decisions.
Available for selected research, evaluation, MEL systems and programme-learning assignments.
Direct professional emailelmer@elmerongus.co.keORIA assignments & quotationsoria@elmerongus.co.keGeneral enquiriesoria@elmerongus.co.keClient & payment supportoria@elmerongus.co.kePayment disputesoria@elmerongus.co.kePhone+254 719 286 277LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/elmerelmago ↗
LocationNairobi / Lamu, Kenya