Joint Programme Evaluation
FINAL EVALUATION REPORT
August 2016
DanChurchAid (DCA)
Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur
Nepal
Dr. Prakash Bhattarai and Dr. Dhruba Gautam
Independent Evaluators
Kathmandu
Nepal
Acknowledgement
We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge a number of individuals and institutions for their immense support during the joint programme evaluation of DCA in South Asia Region. First and foremost, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. David Smith, Regional Director of DCA for trusting us to do this evaluation work and giving some valuable comments on the project during the evaluation process. We are also indebted to Dr. Surendra Bahadur Thapa, Head of Programme at DCA for providing valuable supports during the evaluation process. Likewise, special thanks go to Mr. Christian Wolff, Migrant Rights Programme Regional Programme Officer at DCA for providing programmatic supports during the evaluation process. We are also enriched from the knowledge of Dr. Purna Bahadur Nepali, Regional Project Coordinator at DCA. Further, we are thankful to all DCA project partners in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh for helping us to organise all face to face and Skype meetings.
We also would further like to thank community people from the project areas, district level project stakeholders, and social activists from project locations for providing some valuable information needed for this evaluation purpose. We would not be able to complete this evaluation study without their willingness to talk openly and share their insights regarding what they have observed and experienced during their involvements in the project. We are also thankful to all DCA colleagues in Kathmandu who offered their valuable feedbacks and suggestions on the draft report during presentation as well as in the written form. We also would like to acknowledge the insights received from Mr. Jonas VejsagerNøddekær, Development Director of DCA.
We are equally grateful to Mr. Krishna Bahadur Thapa, Office Manager at DCA Kathmandu office for his tireless efforts to the management and coordination of evaluation from the beginning to the end. Finally, we are thankful to everyone whose name is not mentioned here but who has provided direct and indirect support during the evaluation process.
For any lapse or errors in this report, the responsibility rests solely with the consultants.
Sincerely,
Dhruba Gautam, PhD
Prakash Bhattarai, PhD
August 2016
BMET Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training
BOMSA Bangladeshi OvibashiMohilaSramik Association
CBO Community based organizations
CCA Climate change adaptation
CFS Child friendly space
CGI Corrugated galvanized iron
CHS Core Humaniterian Standard
CPAC Central Project Advisory Committee
CSO Civil society organization
DCA Dan Church Aid
DMC Disaster management committee
DRR Disaster risk reduction
FGD Focus Group Discussion
FI Food item
GAATW Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women
GFMD Global Forum on Migration and Development
HR Humanitarian response
HRD Human Rights Defender
ICAG Inclusive Citizenship for Accountable Governance
ILC International Labour Conference
INEE’s International Network for Education in Emergencies
INSEC Informal Sector Service centre
KII Key informant interview
LAPA Local adaptation plan of action
LDRMP Local disaster risk management plan
LRRD Linking response to recovery and development
LSCW Legal Support for Children and Women
MIC Migration Information Centre
MoLVT Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training
MRP Migrants’ Rights Programme
MRVRS Migrant Rights Violation Reporting System
NDWF National Dalit Women Federation
NDWM National Domestic Workers' Movement
NFI Non-food item
NRM Natural resource management
NTFP Non-timber forest product
PDM Post Distribution Monitoring
PSS Psycho social support
RDRS Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service
RLSFS Resilient Livelihood and Sustainable Food Security
RMW Returnee Migrant Workers
RtF Right to food
SAARC South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation
SARO South Asia Regional Office
SDG Sustainable Development Goals
VDC Village development committee
WARBE Welfare Association for the Rights of Bangladeshi Emigrants
WASH Water & sanitation and hygiene
WOREC Women’s Rehabilitation Centre
Executive Summary
Context: The overarching goal of the proposed assignment is to assess the level of impact of Dan Church Aid’s (DCA) programme interventions in Asia, and particularly in Nepal and Bangladesh from 2013 until now in its four programmatic areas, namely, Inclusive Citizenship for Accountable Governance (ICAG), Migrants’ Rights Programme (MRP), Resilient Livelihood and Sustainable Food Security (RLSFS), and Humanitarian Response (HR) and come up with strategic and programmatic recommendations that could be supportive for future programmatic cycle.
Objective of evaluation: To assess the effectiveness and outcome of DCA’s thematic programmes in South Asia, particularly in Nepal and Bangladesh, with a specific focus on their contribution to the reduction of inequalities and poverty for women and men.
Evaluation methods: In order to accomplish this assignment, the evaluation team comprised of two consultants has gathered necessary information through the desk review of relevant reports, field visits and national level consultation meetings with partners, field based and national level in-person interviews, and international Skype calls with relevant stakeholders. Based on the information gathered from each programme country, the evaluation team analysed the data implying a descriptive and interpretive approach and then prepared this evaluation report. Evaluation findings are structured around the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability of interventions in programme countries as well as in the region. It also further focused on other issues such as programme implementation and management that have direct relationships on the impact and effectiveness of the programme.
DCA’s intervention in the region: Some key features of DCA interventions include as follows;
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Three Levels’ of Intervention: DCA has supported grassroots, national, as well as regional/international initiatives in its three priority themes, namely, MRP, ICAG, and RLSFS. DCA has not only supported different levels of initiatives, there are also linkages between them. Very few agencies have such multilayer programme interventions, thus this approach of DCA is found a unique one.
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Creating Spaces: One key contribution of DCA’s intervention is that it has created linking, learning and sharing space for women, Dalits, marginalised groups, and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on issues of their concerns. Such spaces are created at the local, national, and regional level as well.
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Opportunities for Networking and Collaborative Action: DCA support has also given networking and collective action opportunities for CSOs and right-holders working under MRP, ICAG, and RLSFS programme themes and such learning spaces are created at the local, national, as well as regional level.
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Multifaceted Intervention: Multifaceted intervention is another key feature of DCA’s intervention in the region. DCA has extended its support towards humanitarian, awareness raising, advocacy, capacity building, as well as service driven initiatives. This approach has contributed to the provisions of comprehensive and holistic services to its target group.
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Contribution towards Capacity Building and CSO Learning Opportunities: Some significant contributions DCA has made during this project cycle are related to its investment towards capacity building (particularly in the areas of advocacy) of partners and CSO learning opportunities.
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Limited Engagement with the Government: DCA has some well-established and strengthened formal partnership with NGOs; however, no such formal partnership is established with relevant government agencies in all programme countries. Development agency who would like to see policy changes as result of their intervention should establish some sorts of good relationships with government actors. Despite this factor, the evaluation team identified some very good level of coordination and collaboration between the government and DCA during the time of emergency response.
Overall recommendations: DCA’s programmes are found to be relevant, realistic, and successful towards empowering right-holders and contributing towards reducing inequalities and poverty for women and men in various programme locations of South Asia region. Following are some key recommendations for improving the programme quality and developing a roadmap for the next programmatic cycle;
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Foster collaboration and coordination between thematic and cross-thematic partners within and across the programme countries: Due to limited coordination and collaboration mechanisms and just one time partner gathering within a year, there are limited opportunities available for thematic, cross-thematic, and cross-country DCA partners to come together and provide direct and indirect support to each other’s interventions. Considering this gap, the evaluation team recommends for setting up at least a country level ‘coordination platform’ among thematic and cross thematic partners, which could facilitate face-to-face and virtual interactions between partners and learn from each other’s intervention. A ‘regional coordination platform’ can also be established, which could facilitate virtual interactions among partners when resources are not available for face-to-face meetings.
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Develop exit strategy: DCA should mobilise its partner NGOs for the development of ‘exit strategy’ and prepare exit plans and programmes for those projects (regardless of thematic focus) which are not going to be continued in the next programmatic cycle.
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Need to improve partners’ selection process and strategies: DCA needs to be careful while selecting its project partners. Based on the evaluators’ observation, NGO partners who are working in comfort zone with significant budget in hand from multiple donors may not have enough motivation and enthusiasm to effectively manage project given by DCA with modest grant. Thus, the evaluation team suggests looking for small NGOs working with comparatively lower annual budget. Small NGOs, with a motivation to enhance their institutional profile, give their full efforts in obtaining better outcomes of the project even with modest amount they receive from the donor. Whereas big NGOs often put modest project in least priority, as they need to be more focused on larger grant they receive from other donors.i However, big NGOs which are Kathmandu based, research driven, and also have a good access with political actors and bureaucrats, can be effective actors for policy advocacy at the national level. Thus, DCA’s partnership with big NGOs should limit for policy advocacy work rather than implementing projects at the local level.
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Need to improve the staffing structure within DCA country office: Staffing structure play a crucial role to enhance the effectiveness of programme intervention. The evaluation team also found that human resources within DCA allocated for each thematic area is not enough. One programme officer for one thematic programme does not seem sufficient to handle multiple responsibilities within a short period of time and provide quality professional service. Thus, at least two staffs (including programme officer) for each thematic programme is needed on the condition of the continuation of the existing number of partners. Likewise, DCA should also recruit a separate Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEAL) officer who could support monitoring and evaluation task in all thematic areas.
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Revisits in the programme approaches and strategies are necessary: The evaluation team particularly commends DCA's approach to intervene in four thematic areas which all seems quite relevant to all South Asian countries where it is operating. However all thematic programmes at present are operated in isolation, rather than in a holistic or an integrated approach. This means that there is lack of clarity around how DCA’s four programme themes supplement each other during the actual operation in the field. Likewise, comparing the resources given to the partners, there are too many programme locations. Thus, the evaluation team recommends that instead of scattered interventions in various communities under separate programmatic theme, the most strategic move for DCA would be to design an integrated programme through which the selected intervened communities would receive maximum benefit from the DCA’s support. In this regard, DCA can concentrate its interventions in limited and most needed geographical locations but with integrated projects and programmes for obtaining higher impact of the project. The reason consultants come to this conclusion is because a number of women benefited from the ICAG programme interacted in the field expressed that they cannot continue their active participation in civic and political life unless their livelihood opportunities are secured. This indicates that resilient livelihood programme should be at the centre of all intervention of DCA and depending on the community needs, this programme should integrate with other interventions in three thematic areas.
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Emphasis on holistic approach: Community needs are so different and diverse from one community to another. Thus only one type of intervention focusing on one particular issue/theme cannot fulfil the current needs of local communities, particularly for overcoming the caste and class based discrimination, social barriers, and injustice that exist in the society. Thus, it is recommended to work with people from all walks of life, which means not only with Dalits and Women, but also with political party leaders, bureaucrats, and youth and student political leaders at the local level who often play an instrumental role in the local level decision-making processes. To ensure equity aspects, DCA should involve all people (irrespective of caste, class and gender) in the programme through software components (capacity building, dissemination of technology) and provide hardware (livelihood) support to ultra poor, highly excluded, and marginalised sections (including Dalits). This approach will deliver positive message, reduce discrimination, increase ownership and foster the solidarity between two classes: ‘haves’ and ‘haves not’.
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Knowledge management initiatives: Over the years, DCA has generated many good practices while working in multiple thematic areas in the South Asia region. Systematic documentation, publication and dissemination could be one of the strategies for improving DCA’s programmatic holds in the region, increase visibility, and attract donors to invest more resources in the DCA’s programmatic areas. Therefore, emphasis should be given towards showcasing good practices for advocacy use. Such material should be shared to promote visibility and policy uptake.
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Emphasis on evidence-based policy advocacy: The evaluation team has found that current advocacy efforts from the NGO partners of DCA are good but not enough to bring real policy change, as they lack deep rooted understanding and analysis of the context and it is often based on emotional sentiments, popular slogans, facts that were revealed many years back. This is mainly because of the weak knowledge management practices among NGO partners and DCA is also found weak in this regard. Given this context, the evaluation team recommends for strong research based programming, and strengthened monitoring, evaluation, and learning system, which could ultimately encourage for getting involved in evidence-based policy advocacy. To build rapport with government and other stakeholders, DCA should increase its ability to engage in policy advocacy. In this regard, pro-activeness of responsible programme officers, Head of Programmes, and other responsible authorities within DCA is vital.
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Adhere the principle of ‘small is beautiful’: Because there were too many programme activities, the programme team was overstretched and struggled to meet targets on time, let alone follow up on completed activities and establish the sort of institutional linkages which could promote sustainability. New programmes in the next programmatic cycle need to be selective in their choices and do a few things well rather than many things superficially. DCA should also design very few trainings and workshops and more emphasis on drills, street dramas and video shows as part of capacity building of the local communities.
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