Evaluation of the Wetlands Alliance by Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Written by Hans Guttman Friday, 11 November 2011 12:26
The Alliance started in January 2006 and it is high time to take a look at the achievements and results as well as identify directions for the years to come. During 2008 a so called 'soft review' was commissioned by the Alliance to provide some external assessment of the Alliance work so far, however it was agreed with Sida that a more independent evaluation was needed and to be undertaken in 2011. To this end the Alliance engaged the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) to undertake an evaluation of the Alliance in October 2011.
The IDS team consisted of Dr. Chris Béné (socio-economist), Dr. Lyla Mehta (sociologist) and Dr. Alan Nicol (political scientist) who spent three weeks in the region visiting partners and communities as well as Dialogue Partners. They were tasked to look into the Alliance's achievements in addressing poverty, Institutional impact, the Alliance approach as a regional initiative with local impact, its regional value (actual and potential) as well as organisational and implementation issues.
On the 19 October 2011 the team held a debrief for the Alliance partners and Sida representatives. Overall the findings were very positive, with the strengths of the Alliance recognised in engagement at the local level and impact on poverty, at the same time the regional approach has delivered some and has potential to deliver much more regional impact in lessons learned, sharing of successes (and failures) as well as synthesising work. The local ownership was seen as a key factor in success and a crucial element of the Alliance work.
There were also some weaknesses identified which needs to be addressed in order for the Alliance to be more effective. The team recommended improving the poverty framework used by the partners in identifying and engaging with target groups and called for the Alliance to raise its profile in a national and regional context. A number of other recommendations were made; Documenting the good results and setting up a rigorous M&E system, Mainstreaming gender analysis, Engaging with key thematic regional issues, Firmer guidelines on budgeting and planning processes, A more formalized backstopping support, A regional annual event and Stronger communication within and outside the programme.
The Alliance partners will consider the recommendations and follow up during 2012, possibly engaging IDS to assist in the work.