By mid-March 2020, many MEDA offices in North America and around the world were working from home. As the weeks mounted, projects had to find new ways to monitor progress amidst COVID-19 pandemic. This provided MEDA with an opportunity to pilot a new lean data approach which used phone surveys to monitor project impact.

White foam washes gently up the beach on an idyllic Mediterranean island. In the darkness, a young woman struggles ashore. Clearly exhausted, she is missing many of her heavier clothes, sacrificed to the struggle to stay alive in the dark sea. But she is on shore now, and safe. For now. One treasure she has clung to – a small plastic bag with a few things tightly wrapped in it. It is the first thing she reaches for when she reaches the beach. Relief floods her body when she discovers that not only does she have the bag, but it is dry inside. The old Huawei smart phone shows a low battery warning and won’t start.