Evaluation of APPEAR projects (programme periods I and II)
The Austrian Partnership Programme in Higher Education and Research for Development (APPEAR) is conceived, guided and financed by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) to implement its “Higher Education and Scientific Cooperation” strategy in support of Higher Education and Research for Development on an academic institutional level. The funded projects are implemented by the Austrian Agency for International Mobility and Cooperation in Education, Science and Research (OeAD GmbH). APPEARs overall objective is to strengthen the institutional capacities in higher education, research and management through Academic Partnerships with Austrian higher education institutions and through scholarships. The partnerships aim to improve the general standards in higher education, research and management by means of knowledge sharing and designing innovative projects. The achievement of these objectives should finally contribute to effective and sustainable reduction of poverty in the partner countries.
The overarching goal of the evaluation was to assess the ongoing and completed projects of the APPEAR periods I and II. Thereby, it provided insights about the projects adherence to the APPEAR guidelines and basic principles during their implementation, and about the extent to which they were to achieve their objectives and results. Furthermore, the projects were assessed according to the OECD/DAC criteria Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact and Sustainability. The objective of the evaluation was to identify the strengths, weaknesses and challenges of the APPEAR projects and present conclusions, lessons learnt and recommendations for the remaining or future projects.
The evaluation made use of a variety of methods. Primary data was collected during project visits to Ethiopia and Uganda, interviews and focus group discussions with project partners in Austria as well as virtual interviews with staff and key stakeholders of two projects in Nicaragua. The data collection instruments also comprised semi-standardized surveys, programme and project documentations and previous programme evaluations.
Evaluation of CAPAQUA
CAPAQUA (Development of Educational and Research CAPacity in Eastern Africa for the Sustainable Management of AQUAatic Ecosystems) aims at enhancing the capacity of Eastern African Higher Education, Science and Technology (HEST) institutions. CAPAQUA is jointly implemented by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, the Egerton University (EGU), the Addis Ababa University (AAU), the Bahir Dar University and the Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research, National Fish and Other Aquatic Lives Research Center (EIAR-NFALRC). CAPAQUAs overall objective is to foster sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems and their resources in order to improve livelihoods in Eastern Africa and to contribute towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The main purpose of the evaluation was to identify successes as well as weaknesses of the project, and to provide recommendations for the project partners to improve the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of possible future CAPAQUA projects. The evaluation was also analysing the extent to which the cross-cutting issue gender mainstreaming was applied and identified the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of the expected project results and objectives. In order to assess the project, the evaluation focussed on the project period from October 2015 to September 2018.
A rich set of mainly qualitative data was collected by means of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with different stakeholders, programme participants, graduates as well as staff. Programme and project documentations provided secondary data and was complemented by primary data collected during focus group discussions. The geographic focus of the evaluation was the Eastern African region, with emphasis on Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia, where empirical data was collected during short field visits. Additionally, Austrian institutions were visited and stakeholders interviewed.
Development and implementation of an organization-wide results-based monitoring and evaluation system
The objective of the consultancy was to develop an organization-wide results-based monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system, and implement it together with the program staff. Due to the complexity of the results-model that had to be captured, comprising a total of 17 education and support programs, community development programs and services as well as the overarching organizational goals, the assignment had to be research-based. With this scope it is the first wholistic results-based M&E-system on organizational level in the field of Development Cooperation.
According to the system complexity and the large number of involved stakeholders (management, program staff, community actors, civil society organizations, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development), the assignment followed a multi-stage, participatory approach. Starting point was an inventory of the indicators, data collection instruments and analysis methods that were already used by Engagement Globals programs and services. Based on reconstructed and validated results-models, in the next step it was checked to what extent the effectiveness of the programs and services were covered therewith, and which information gaps still existed. Thereby, particular focus was laid upon the identification of the programs contributions to the achievement of the organizational goals of Engagement Global. In the following, the instruments were further developed together with the program staff and practically tested. The results of this development process was finally documented in a comprehensive M&E-concept and integrated into the organization-wide quality assurance system, accompanied with appropriate staff trainings.
Improving the Monitoring and reporting System to implement the Action plan "Inclusion of Persons with disabilities" in the German development co-operation
In February 2013, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) published an action plan for the inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWDs). In doing so, it follows ist duties emanating from Article 32 of the UN Convention on the rights of PWDs. The action plan provides Information on strategic Goals and Actions to design development cooperation of the Federal Republic of Germany towards a better inclusion of PWDs.
To assess the progress and to steer the implementation of planned acitivities an appropriate Monitoring and reporting System is necessary. Hence, the Center of Evaluation (CEval) has been contracted to Support the sector Project “Inclusion of PWDs” of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the departement 300 of the BMZ with its methodological expertise to develop an Analysis grid to evaluate the implementation of the action plan.
External Evaluation of the empowering people. Network
On behalf of Siemens Stiftung CEval GmbH implemented an external evaluation of the empowering people. Network. Founded in 2013, the network brings together inventors and social enterprises to develop solutions to address basic supply problems in fields such as health, food or education in developing countries. The empowering people. Award aims to identify simple and appropriate technological innovations with business potential and make them visible and accessible to everyone. As members of the empowering people. Network, currently 80 organizations that are implementing best-practice approaches receive long-term support in terms of organizational development, professionalization, and networking with partners.
In 2017, the empowering people. Network was evaluated for the first time since its foundation. The evaluation covered the entire lifetime of the network and its purpose was to account for progress and goals achieved so far and to gain lessons for strategic development. It therefore examined what impacts could be achieved by the respective modules and how these were assessed with regard to the overarching objectives. Leading questions of the evaluation were guided by the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria. It was characterized by a participative multi-methods approach and drew on contribution analysis that combined document/secondary analyses with qualitative (interviews, focus group discussions, case studies) as well as quantitative methods (partly standardized surveys). Lessons learnt and recommendations for the future development of the network were derived from the findings.
Impact Study: Assessing the Impact of Fairtrade on Poverty Reduction through Rural Development, Follow-up study 2017
TransFair e.V. aims at strengthening the objectives of Fairtrade and enabling producers in the Global South to make a living of the products they produce. Among other things, this should be achieved by establishing long-term and as direct as possible relations between producer organizations in the Global South and markets in the Global North and by complying with standards such as the legal minimum wage, wearing protective clothing, paid vacation and social insurance for workers working on plantations.
In order to assess the impact of Fairtrade on the socioeconomic environment of producers, TransFair e.V. and the Swiss Max Havelaar Foundation had commissioned CEval in 2011 to carry out the impact Evaluation “Assessing the Impact of Fairtrade on Poverty Reduction through Rural Development.” The study was the first of its kind to analyze the potential contribution of Fairtrade to improve the living conditions in rural areas. The study design covered the countries Ghana, India, Kenya and Peru and the product categories banana, cotton, flower, coffee, cocoa and tea.
2017, in its 25th anniversary year, TransFair e.V. wanted to follow up on the previous findings and commissioned CEval for the second time, enabling the assessment of longitudinal (comparison over time) and cross-sectional (FT and non-FT case study comparison) changes. A theory-based contribution analysis was applied, considering FTs Theory of Change and the indicators of the committee on sustainability assessment (COSA). Following a case study approach, the findings were mainly based on primary qualitative data collected via Focus Group Discussions, Key Informant Interviews and observations. A participatory quantitative seed assessment to assess perception changes over the last five years complemented the field research, which took place between October 2017 and January 2018. Findings were, eventually, structured along the economic, social and ecological dimension of the COSA indicators.
Formative Evaluation of the Out-of-School-Children Initiative (OOSCI)
The focus of this evaluation was the Out-of-School-Children Initiative (OOSCI) by UNICEF and UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). The initiative was launched in 2010 to achieve a reduction in the number of children out of school in participating countries. Means to achieve this goal were to create comprehensive profiles of out-of-School children in each Country, identify the barriers that push children out of school and to propose changes in the policies and strategies of the partner country to address these barriers.
The evaluation aimed at testing the validity of the theory of change and its assumptions. It is used to strengthen the program logic and to provide a formative assessment of the progress towards the overall goal of achieving a reduction in out-of-school children. The evaluation also provides an in-depth insight into benefits for the different stakeholders and their involvement in the initiative. Furthermore, the findings of the evaluation are used to meet the accountability requirements by the donors of OOSCI.
Main source of information of this evaluation have been documents like OOSCI country studies, OOSCI regional studies, government plans and documents from other donors (e.g. the World Bank, UNESCO, foreign donors etc.). In a document review we assessed progress made through OOSCI for a sample of 42 countries and assessed the contents within the document using a 4-step coding. These codings were used for a descriptive analysis and additionally for a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). QCA enabled us to analyze thoroughly which set of conditions leads to which outcome. Further instrument of data collection has been an online survey to all country offices. Additional qualitative data has been collected in the US and during eight country visits. The evaluation has been conducted together with Proman and further Consultants. CEval took over the lead with regard to the evaluation methodology.
Meta-Evaluation of 34 evaluation reports of World Vision Deutschland
For the third time, World Vision Germany (WVG) commissioned CEval to conduct a meta-evaluation of evaluation reports of its supported development programmes. In total, 34 evaluation reports of the financial years of 2016 and 2017 were included, to analyze their quality and validity.
The meta-evaluation was based on an analysis matrix, jointly created by CEval and WVG, which is structured along the main criteria of voice and inclusion, transparency, methodology, triangulation, contribution, satisfaction of information needs, conceptualization of findings and the newly added criterion of sustainability. Firstly, criteria were assessed systematically along pre-defined sub-questions and corresponding scales. Secondly, results were then aggregated and visualized. Lastly, the results were compared with previous meta-evaluations and trends were discussed.
Midterm-Review of the FKPW program
In international comparison, German municipalities have comparably broad competencies due to their strong local self-administration. These competencies are also very valuable for development cooperation. Within the framework of municipal partnerships, German municipalities and their partner municipalities jointly carry out projects in municipalities of the Global South. In the process, technical knowledge is transferred from the German municipality to the partner municipality. The Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW in German) offers various ways of supporting the developmental engagement of municipal partnerships.
One of these funding opportunities is the personnel funding instrument “Experts for Municipal Partnerships Worldwide” (FKPW in German). Within the framework of the FKPW program, municipal partnerships can apply for the placement of an expert in the partner municipality to support the creation of local structures and capacity development. The aim of the program is to enhance the value of the municipal partnership and the commitment of the German municipality through the placement of an expert.
CEval GmbH was commissioned by GIZ to conduct a mid-term review of the FKPW program. The aim of the review was to bring together the views of the different actors involved in the program and to give recommendations for the further development of the program. The main objective therefore was institutional learning on the part of the two implementing organizations, GIZ and SKEW. The methodology of the review was purely qualitative and based on the approach of the open capturing of perspectives. For the review, interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with representatives of the German municipalities, the partner municipalities, with the experts and the steering team of the programme, as well as with representatives of the responsible department of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ in German) and representatives of various departments within the organizations GIZ and SKEW.
Consultancy Services for the Development of a Project Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for ASEAN Cooperation Projects
CEval was commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to provide consultancy on the development of a Project Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (PMEF) for ASEAN Cooperation Projects, which is part of the ASEAN Secretariat Post 2015 Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Development project, an initiative under ASEAN-Germany cooperation implemented by GIZ. Prime task was to look into the ASEAN Secretariats corporate monitoring and evaluation processes and to provide expert support for refining the ASEAN Secretariats Project M&E framework. Special emphasis was put on providing support in harnessing and consolidating the monitoring and evaluation framework for ASEAN cooperation projects.
During the consultancy a number of stakeholder consultations as well as a three-day method training were conducted. The consultations and training served to improve the M&E capacities of key staff and to create a common discussion forum for different departments across the three pillars for exchanging views, and developing ownership and acceptance among the same.
The final report consolidates lessons learned, describes best practices within the sector, and develops concepts, possible mechanisms and recommendations on implementing a functional PMEF.