Mtr gpp sierra leone country report by Plan Nederland

Girl Power Programme â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Mid-Term Evaluation

Country Report

SIERRA LEONE

22 January 2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary............................................................................................... 3 Acronyms ............................................................................................................. 7 1.

Introduction ................................................................................................... 9 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

Methodology ............................................................................................... 12 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6

The Girl Power programme ................................................................................. 9 The context of the programme ............................................................................ 9 Girl Power programme in Sierra Leone ................................................................ 9 Objectives of the evaluation .............................................................................. 11 Evaluation framework ....................................................................................... 12 Evaluation questions ......................................................................................... 12 Sampling and target groups ............................................................................... 13 Tools................................................................................................................. 14 Reconstruction of the baseline and MTR measurements .................................... 16 Challenges and limitations................................................................................. 16

Findings related to the Monitoring Protocol (Baseline/MTR) ........................ 18 3.1 Findings related to MDG component (box 1 and 2)............................................. 18 3.1.1 Outcome: Better protection against violence for G&YW ................................... 18 3.1.2 Outcome: Enhanced socio-political participation of G&YW ............................... 26 3.1.3 Outcome: Enhanced economic participation for G&YW .................................... 29 3.1.4 Outcome: Enhanced educational opportunities for G&YW ............................... 35 3.2 Findings related to capabilities of partners (box 3) ............................................. 38 3.2.1 Partner 1: Plan .................................................................................................... 38 3.2.2 Partner 2: DCI Sierra Leone................................................................................. 40 3.2.3 Partner 3: OFP ..................................................................................................... 42 3.2.4 Partner 4: FAWE.................................................................................................. 44 3.2.5 Partner 5: YACAN ................................................................................................ 46 3.3 Findings related to civil society (box 4) .............................................................. 49 3.3.1 CIVICUS CSI findings per district â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Moyamba ..................................................... 49 3.3.2 CIVICUS CSI findings per district â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Western Area ............................................... 51 3.3.3 CIVICUS CSI findings aggregated for Sierra Leone .............................................. 53 3.4 Findings related to the learning agenda ............................................................. 54

Overall findings ............................................................................................ 55 4.1 Relevance ......................................................................................................... 55 4.2 Effectiveness ..................................................................................................... 57 4.3 Efficiency .......................................................................................................... 59 4.4 Sustainability .................................................................................................... 60 4.5 Coordination and harmonisation ....................................................................... 62 4.5.1 Internal coordination at national, regional and global level .............................. 62 4.5.2 External coordination at national, regional, and global level ............................. 62 4.6 Do no harm, and conflict sensitivity ................................................................... 63

4.7

Gender transformative potential ....................................................................... 63

Conclusions and recommendations .............................................................. 65 5.1 Conclusions based on country specific SWOT analysis ........................................ 65 5.2 Recommendations ............................................................................................ 66 5.2.1 Recommendations related to quality programme implementation .................. 66 5.2.2 Recommendations related to programme management ................................... 68 5.2.3 Recommendations related to programme logic, theory of change, and GPP monitoring protocol ........................................................................................................ 68 5.2.4 Recommendations related to target setting for 2015 ........................................ 69

Annexes.............................................................................................................. 70

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction The MFS-II funded Girl Power Programme (GPP) is designed to build capacity in local civil society, to support the empowerment of girls and young women for gender equality. The GPP is implemented by six Dutch civil society organisations, forming the Child Rights Alliance (CRA): ICDI, Women Win, Free Press Unlimited, Child Helpline International, DCI-ECPAT, and Plan Nederland. The GPP is carried out from 2011 to 2015, in 10 countries across four regions: Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Ethiopia. The coordination and alignment within the overarching framework is done in Country Steering Committees (CSC) in which local partners are represented. Girl Power focuses on four UN promoted thematic areas: Violence against girls and women, economic participation, socio-political participation and (post-)primary education.

The GPP in Sierra Leone The GPP in Sierra Leone focuses on all four of the aforementioned thematic areas. The implementing partners in Sierra Leone are Plan, Defence for Children (DCI), Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), One Family People (OFP), and Youth and Child Advocacy Network (YACAN).

Methodology The mid-term evaluation of the GPP enabled the research team to achieve multiple aims: to reconstruct baseline information in line with the January 2013 revised Girl Power monitoring protocol, in order to gain a measure of the effectiveness of the programme since the inception in 2011; to assess progress made to date, measured against the reconstructed baseline information and set targets; and devise lessons learnt for greater programme relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, coordination and sustainability.

The intervention logic or theory of change, forming the Girl Power results framework, is displayed in section 2.1, and illustrates the relations between the respective programme elements (boxes 1-6). Prior to data collection, target groups and samples were prepared and selected in collaboration with the CSC. Data which is representative of the GPP in Sierra Leone has been collected from 371 girls and young women, with an additional 110 community members, 17 girl panel members, 6 professional panel members, 16 key informants at two CIVICUS workshops and assessments of the partner organisations

capacities; providing a balanced representation of project locations, communities, thematic areas, and representation of persons and organisations interacting with the GPP.

Main Findings Relevance: The GP programme is relevant given the context of Sierra Leone. It is a very male chauvinistic society where women and girls are marginalised. Until the GPP the challenges faced by girls/women have not been addressed sufficiently. In 2007, the government passed the gender bills into laws but the laws have been ineffective, as they are not fully implemented. The goals of the GPP are consistent with government policies and aims. The programme is making interventions in sensitive communities and the direct beneficiaries at individual level are very happy with the interventions made. On the socio-cultural level, however, feedback from the data collection suggests that the scope of the programme is very limited and creates a sense of frustration especially among young community members who are not part of the programme.

Effectiveness: The programme is to a large extent effective, as the expected outcomes are in the process of being realised. For instance, within the protection area, many girls in the targeted communities are now aware of their rights and the agencies to contact when faced with protection related challenges. The linking of protection related issues to the Family Support Unit of the Police and the Child Helpline also builds on the expected outcomes, as there is a flow between understanding and accessing help. However, the component of accessing help is still weak as there are few organisations providing legal aid in the country and accessing justice may be too expensive for victims. Also, the implementation process of laws is very slow and ineffective and does not create the necessary impact that they are supposed to create. Thus, some victims who are in need of help may weigh-in the frustrations and costs involved and decide to not seek justice. Furthermore, the programme has made very little effort to make a connection between the programme and legal aid organisations.

Efficiency: The implementation process of the programme is efficient to some extent but is faced with some challenges. On the positive side, the programme has a logframe that is properly designed and it was a good decision to have the programme implemented in only two districts given the funds available. This prevents the overstretching of both financial and human resources. All the partners indicated that they are providing the human and other

resources that they are supposed to provide. However, they mostly work in isolation and report directly to their CRA partner organisations; complete information is not centrally available at CSC level. There should be efforts made to ensure complementarity, economies of scale through exchange of methodologies or materials and to avoid duplication of efforts, especially in areas where more than one partner operates.

Sustainability: This is an area that needs a lot of attention in order to ensure that the gains of the programme are built upon after it has reached the end of its life span. The programme does not have a clearly defined exit strategy. There is limited strengthening of local structures that could take over the implementation of activities after the programme. Such structures should be embedded in community structures for reasons of efficiency and effectiveness in the future. Also, this will ensure local ownership. Moreover, while most of the organisations targeted by the programme are benefiting from capacity building activities, much more needs to be done in terms of trainings on resource mobilisation and management skills.

Coordination: Although there is a high level bi-lateral relationship between the local partners and their partner CRA member there is limited knowledge on the part of the different partners as to what the other organisations do. Information is not centralised at CSC level. At the regional and global level, there is strong coordination especially by Plan, FAWE and DCI who have branches at those levels.

External coordination is going quite well. GPP partners are part of national and international networks and coalitions especially those that are related to children and girls. Government involvement in the programme goes through the line Ministries with focal points identified for coordination to ensure key government stakeholder participation in decision-making. At community level, however, coordination among all the stakeholders especially civil society and government actors could be improved with the aim to strengthen local structures for efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability purposes.

Do no harm, and conflict sensitivity: The design of the programme took into consideration the context and the relevant stakeholders. Thus, it mitigated the potential to create serious tension. The involvement and engagement of the male community members and leaders through sensitisation and other approaches creates the potential to use men as a social

capital for the promotion of the activities of the programme. Also, there is a good understanding of the programme and what it intends to achieve. Despite this, there is some discontent among community members who feel that they have been left out and want to participate.

Gender transformative potential: The programme is geared towards strengthening the capacity and promoting and protecting the rights and welfare of girls and young women. GPP is seeking to complement the policies and programmes of the government and other stakeholders. It seeks to open the economic and socio-political space for girls and young women and promote access to education and protection against violence. The thematic areas of the programme are fundamental to the needs of girls and young women in Sierra Leone. However, although GPP is progressing in creating the level of awareness needed to overcome stereotypes and stigmatisation in communities, there is still a long way to go. The challenge lies specifically in integrating more male community members (both boys and men) in the programme, addressing them with sensitisation activities to make them more gender sensitive, which is key for changing traditional patriarchal and masculine attitudes and ultimately reaching gender equality.

Recommendations a) Conduct market studies to define existing economic opportunities in the communities and adjust the trainings and other activities to these. b) Boys and men need to be addressed with sensitisation activities to make them more â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;gender sensitiveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and supportive of programme outcomes. a) Improve coordination and exchange among partners to ensure complementarity and strengthen their capacities. b) Establish links with legal aid organisations including the Law Officers Department. c) There should be a strong advocacy component developed that will engage the government and other institutions in the implementation of policies and laws that are geared towards protecting and promoting the rights and welfare of GYW. d) Develop an exit strategy to ensure sustainability. e) Improve the monitoring of the programme by developing a system to centralise information at CSC level and regular revise against the national logframe.

ACRONYMS 5C

Five key capabilities of partner organisations

B&YM

Boys and Young Men

Baseline

Capacity Building

CHI

Child Helpline International

CIVICUS

Civil society capacity

Child Protection

CRA

Child Rights Alliance

CSC

Country Steering Committee

CSO

Civil Society Organisation

DCI

Defence for Children Sierra Leone

DFID

Department for International Development of the United Kingdom.

European Union

FAWE

Forum for African Women Educationalists

FGD

Focus Group Discussion

FGM

Female Genital Mutilation

FPU

Free Press Unlimited

G&YW

Girls and Young Women

GBV

Gender Based Violence

Girls Panel

Girl Power

GPP

Girl Power Programme

ICDI

International Child Development Initiatives

IDP

Internally Displaced Persons

Learning Agenda

Logical Framework

M&E

Monitoring and Evaluation

MDG

Millennium Development Goals

MEST

Ministry of Education Science and Technology

MFS II

Co-financing Scheme of Dutch MoFA (Mede Financiering Stelsel) 2010-2015

MoFA

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

MoGD

Ministry of Gender and Development

Monitoring Protocol

MTE

Mid-Term Evaluation

MTR

Mid-Term Review

OFP

One Family People

Programme Logic

SGBV

Sexual and Gender Based Violence

SWOT

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis

ToC

Theory of Change

UNDP

United Nations Development Programme

VSLA

Village Savings and Loan Association

YACAN

Youth and Child Advocacy Network

Young Women

1. 1.1

INTRODUCTION THE GIRL POWER PROGRAMME

The main goal of the Girl Power Programme (GPP) is building capacity in local civil society to support the empowerment of girls and young women for gender equality. Girl Power focuses on four UN promoted thematic areas: Violence against girls and women, Socioeconomic participation, Socio-political participation, and Post-primary education.

The MFS-II funded Girl Power Programme is implemented by 6 Dutch civil society organisations, forming the Child Rights Alliance (CRA). These organisations are ICDI, Women Win, Free Press Unlimited, Child Helpline International, Defence for Children International (DCI), and Plan Nederland. The GPP is carried out in 10 countries across four regions: Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Zambia, and Ethiopia. The coordination and alignment within the overarching framework is done in each country by Country Steering Committees (CSC), in which local partners are represented.

1.2

THE CONTEXT OF THE PROGRAMME

Since 2003, Sierra Leone has been grappling with its contentious past while trying to develop a road map for the future. Despite the fact that there are many gains made in the development and strengthening of state institutions, the challenges of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and inability to access available economic opportunities and participate in decision making processes are still weighing heavily on the bulk of the population of the country. The vulnerability that such conditions create especially for young people who constitute a considerable percentage of the population is threatening the fragile peace that exists in the country. One of the worst affected groups is the girls and young women who are faced with socio-economic and political challenges that impede their growth and development.

1.3

GIRL POWER PROGRAMME IN SIERRA LEONE

In Sierra Leone, programme implementation began in 2011 by Plan, Defence for Children (DCI), Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), One Family People (OFP), and Youth and Child Advocacy Network (YACAN). These partners have a varying degree of institutional and programmatic capacity and collectively cover the scope of the Girl Power

programme. Their themes of intervention are protection, socio-political participation, economic empowerment and education.

Protection includes organising structures in the community, such as child welfare committees, to address socio-cultural norms and harmful traditional practices; developing a reporting and referral system at the community level; engaging community members by undertaking awareness raising and sensitisation, establishing safe space initiatives such as using sport as a strategy to advance girls’ rights and develop leadership. Protection also includes the engagement of government through advocacy and lobbing, to enforce existing laws and policies, which protect girls and young women. Education includes promoting a gender friendly school environment, supporting families to keep girls and young women in school, reviewing the current education policy, and support of training of service providers and duty bearers, including teachers. Socio-economic includes providing training on business skills, small loans, and income generation for young women; as well as including the support of training of service providers and duty bearers, including teachers, as with Education. The socio-political includes facilitating education on socio-political issues, capacity development of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and local authorities.

Activities implemented under each theme include: a. Protection: Engagement of government to enforce existing laws and policies that protect girls and young women, advocacy and lobbying for the passing of the Children’s Act into law and its implementation; organise structures in the communities (child welfare committees) to address socio-cultural norms and harmful traditional practices; develop a reporting and referral system at the community level; engage community members, undertake awareness raising and sensitisation, establishment of confidential child helplines, child rights and protection institutions; strengthen the capacity of girls and young women through life skills training; strengthen “safe spaces” initiatives such as using sport as a strategy to advance girls’ rights and develop leadership.

b. Education: Support training of service providers and duty bearers including teachers. Review the current education policy, promote gender friendly school environment, Support families to keep girls and young women in school in four counties to facilitate the transition from primary to secondary school and increase girls’ literacy rate.

c. Economic: Support training of service providers and duty bearers, provide training on business skills and income generation for young women and well as providing internships and or small loans.

d. Socio-Political: life skills trainings establish forums on socio-political issues; develop the capacity of CSOs and local authorities.

The GPP was developed to constructively engage girls and young women and help them overcome the challenges they face in day-to-day life. The key objectives of the programme are 1. To increase access to quality post primary education for 6,000 girls through creating child friendly/gender sensitive conducive learning environment and training of school governance structures, and other education stakeholders in 10 chiefdoms in Moyamba District and Western Area by 2015. 2. To enhance economic empowerment for 2500 young women through training in life and entrepreneurial skills for self-reliance in 10 chiefdoms in Moyamba District and Western Area by 2015. 3. To support 20 CSOs, and three coalitions, networks and umbrella organisations in Moyamba district and Western Area to undertake lobby and mount campaigns with government and other education stakeholders and conduct community sensitisation/awareness raising with traditional and religious leaders for the promotion of girls and other vulnerable and marginalised childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s education by 2015.

There exists a national framework for the programme, which is complemented by the Monitoring and Evaluation plan set up for the programme.

1.4

OBJECTIVES OF THE EVALUATION

The GPP runs from 2011 to 2015. This evaluation was set up to reconstruct baseline values and assess progress made to date. The purpose of this evaluation is threefold:

a. To validate and (re)construct Girl Power baseline information, in line with the revised Girl Power monitoring protocol dated January 2013. b. To assess progress made to date, measured against the revalidated baseline information and set targets. c. To identify lessons to be used for greater programme effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, sustainability and lessons learned.

2. 2.1

METHODOLOGY EVALUATION FRAMEWORK

The Girl Power results framework describes the theory of change, or intervention logic underlying the Girl Power Programme (GPP). The model below shows a simplified version of expected (direct and indirect) relations between the respective programme elements (called boxes). It also shows the level of control or influence the CRA has on achieving the overall objective of the GP programme, which is achieving gender equality in society.

Figure 1: Conceptual framework for evaluation

2.2

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

The key question to be evaluated in this Mid-Term Review (MTR) is: To what extent has the GP programme been implemented as intended and is progress made on outcomes formulated in box 1-4 between 2011 and 2013? For every box displayed in the graphic above, specific outcomes are defined in the revised Girl Power monitoring protocol dated January 2013 (see annex A).

Furthermore, this MTR evaluated the strength of the figure described above. The following sub-questions related to the linkages (arrows) are evaluated:

1. Is the CRA financial and technical support leading to, or at least contributing to, increased capacity and outputs produced by partner organisations? (arrow 1) 2. Is the increased capacity of partner organisations leading to, or at least contributing to the empowerment of girls and young women, especially in terms of protection against violence, socio-political participation, economic participation and education? (arrow 2) 3. Is the increased capacity of a partner organisation leading to, or at least contributing to civil society capacity to act as an agent in development for gender equality (arrow 3) 4. Are there other (external or internal) factors at play that influence the outcomes (or said in other words to what extent are the observed outcomes due to programme activities rather than other factors)? 5. Does the GP programme have unintended spill over effects at civil society level?

2.3

SAMPLING AND TARGET GROUPS

Prior to data collection, target groups and samples were prepared and selected in collaboration with the CSC. Based on the guidelines provided, a balanced representation of project locations (districts and communities), thematic areas of work, as well as budget allocation was planned for.

Sample size calculations were based on the total number of beneficiaries reported in the Annual Report of 2012. When computing the samples for G&YW, a reasonable level of confidence (95%), and a conservative confidence interval (.05) was assured, resulting in a representative sample of 360-400 G&YW per country.1 For a full overview of the samples and target groups aimed for, please be referred to the Country Sampling Plan (annex B), where all sampling steps and sizes are explained in detail. In the tables in annex D, you can find the overview of participants involved in the MTR.

The accepted statistical formula for calculating sample size is built up by four variables: A=Total size of target group; B=Confidence level (95% is conservative); C=Estimated likelihood of variety in opinions (conservative choice is 50%); D=Confidence interval or margin of error (.05).

Rationale for the selection of districts: There are only two districts targeted by the GPP in Sierra Leone, to ensure diversity and to have a good understanding of the programme it was decided that the two districts would be included in the MTR. Rationale for the selection of communities: The total number of communities targeted by all partners in the GPP is 18 in Western Area, and 15 in Moyamba. This amounts to 33, which includes communities and villages. The rationale for the selection of communities for the MTR was based on their diversity geographically, a balance between urban and rural communities, number of beneficiaries, budgetary allocation and themes covered. The 9 communities targeted provide a good balance that helped the MTR team to have a good insight on the implementation process in the different targeted communities.

Selection of girls: A random selection process was used in the 9 communities visited based on those made available through the partners, to provide a balanced representation of girls, young women, and community members.

For greater participation and diversity, it was decided to have two Girl Panels, one in Western Area and one in Moyamba; each comprising of 10 girls between 10 and 17 years. In addition, it was planned to have two district panels but they are not functional at the moment so civil society members were sourced and that included partner organisations to be part of the CIVICUS exercise.

2.4

TOOLS

The tools used and developed for this MTR are generally composed of a qualitative and a quantitative component (mixed method approach). Tools developed for minors were tailored to the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s evolving capacities and interests and participatory exercises, such as focus group discussions, ranking and mapping (e.g. road journey) were used. Regional trainings on tools were conducted for all regional coordinators and national researchers. In addition, the in-country preparation process with the CSC allowed for contextualisation of wording, and probing, so that tools will were adapted to the local context. Tailor made Tool Packages and the instruction manual developed for every target group and can be found in annex E.

In some cases partners were given the consent forms both for children participating in the exercise and their parents/guardians, who in turn gave them to us during the data collection

exercise. But in the majority of instances the parental consent forms were hand delivered to the children selected for the exercise by the team who in turn took them to their parents/guardians for their approval. Once the forms were approved by their parents they were then given their own forms in order to fill in the necessary information including their signatures. Thus, before the exercise it was ensured that both forms were signed by parents/guardians and the children participating in the review exercise.

All interviews were strictly conducted in the absence of both parents and guardians or any other stakeholder in the implementation process. Furthermore, no community member was allowed to loiter around in locations where data was collected. On a whole the team made sure that interviews and FGDs were conducted in quiet and secure locations. In none of the areas of operation did the participants register any protection issues.

The general approach to all sessions was to have a warming-up and trust building phase, a data collection phase with qualitative and quantitative measurements and a closing exercise. During the participatory warming up exercise, the facilitator introduced the topic of the session and made sure everyone had a common understanding of it, before participants started responding to the (quantitative) statements. This way, participants were triggered to think about certain concepts (e.g. protection mechanisms for G&YW, core capabilities of partner organisations) and it created a non-intrusive opportunity to check whether participants had an accurate understanding and shared agreement on the topic. Statement scorings were generally conducted anonymously, except for the focus group discussions with community members, where this was not considered necessary.

For the assessment of organisational capabilities and partnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; contribution to civil society developments the tools required by the Dutch MoFA were applied (5C and Civicus CSI). The existing indicators were respected, but participatory group exercises were developed to promote exchange and learning among the participants.

The CSC has been involved throughout the process of MTR, and especially at the start and towards the end of the MTR, when the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;evaluation summitsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; were conducted with the CSC (representatives). During this meeting the in-country data collection team (national researcher, supported by the RC) presented their initial findings and conclusions, and shared preliminary lessons learned. CSC members were encouraged to share their opinions and

further inputs. A SWOT analysis was also developed to have a good understanding of what the partners believe to be the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organisation. 2.5

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE BASELINE AND MTR MEASUREMENTS

A non-experimental design using (reconstructed) repeated measures is used for evaluating the GPP. Baseline indicator values were reconstructed for all outcomes and indicators in box 1 and 2 (see figure 1 above). For box 3 and 4, existing baseline information was used to assess progress on partner capacity and civil society development. In addition, secondary information was used as a basis for comparison.

The reconstruction of baseline information was conducted by asking the informants to, next to their scoring of the actual situation (2013), also reflect upon their situation at the start of the GPP. As a result, indicators in box 1-2 were scored twice (one reconstructed baseline score and a MTR score). This scoring was followed by a group discussion, explaining the findings (either positive, negative, or no changes between MTR and the start of the GPP).

By 2015, this design can be replicated, measuring the same indicators for final evaluation (T3).

2.6

CHALLENGES AND LIMITATIONS

The mid-term evaluation of the Girl Power Programme in Sierra Leone enabled the research teams to gain a measure of the effectiveness of the programme; however the teams also encountered several challenges and limitations.

Organisations such as YACAN felt constrained as they lacked the resources needed as an organisation to move around the targeted areas and mobilise the required number of participants needed for the MTR team (there was no budgetary allocation for this). This created challenges at the initial stage of field consultations but this was overcome as they succeeded in mobilising beneficiaries needed for consultations.

Plan Sierra Leone was faced with the challenge of multi-tasking (i.e. undertaking other activities and providing support to the MTR). This led to delays in providing logistical support

needed by the team on certain occasions. However, this challenge was also overcome with time and the provision of support went as smoothly as was expected.

It was also realised that some of the partners work on the same thematic areas in the same communities and do not necessarily harmonise activities undertaken. For instance, OFP, YACAN and DCI work in certain communities in the Western Area and on the same themes in some cases. This creates duplication and at the same time the lack of efficient coordination led to delays in mobilising GYW for interviews.

There is very little information at the CSC in terms of the number and distribution of beneficiaries and which of the beneficiaries are engaged under which thematic area. This also affected the development of the sampling strategy and also created a challenge in terms of reaching out to girls engaged in specific thematic areas.

3. 3.1

FINDINGS RELATED TO THE MONITORING PROTOCOL (BASELINE/MTR) FINDINGS RELATED TO MDG COMPONENT (BOX 1 AND 2)

3.1.1 OUTCOME: BETTER PROTECTION AGAINST VIOLENCE FOR G&YW Specific outcomes on protection at the individual dimension Specific outcome: Perceived prevalence of violence against you or girls that you know Indicators 1 & 2 - Perceived prevalence of violence against you or girls that you know 4 3,5 3 2,5 2 1,5 1 0,5 0

G&YW 10-13 MTR (N=45) G&YW 14-17 BL (N=161) G&YW 14-17 MTR (N=161) G&YW 18-24 BL (N=165) G&YW 18-24 MTR (N=165) Economic Violence

Physicial Violence

Emotional Violence

Sexual Violence

Within protection at the individual dimension, indicators 1 and 2, average perceived prevalence of economic, physical, emotional, and sexual violence, with the exception of emotional violence for women aged 18-24, show a cross-violence decrease in perceived prevalence in comparison with the reconstructed baseline values.

Perceived prevalence of economic violence for girls 14-17 only shows a very slight and not statistically significant decrease since the baseline. This means that this finding is likely to have occurred randomly, thus not attributable to a certain cause (e.g. the GPP). In the case of young women of 18-24, on the other hand, there is a clearer and significant tested decrease. The prevalence of economic violence is quite similar for all three age groups (including girls 10-13) and happens a bit more than sometimes. Examples given of economic violence include child labour, not providing money to buy lunch, leading to physical violence in the form of nutritional deprivation.

Perceived prevalence of physical violence has shown a slight decrease for both girls 14-17 and young women between the baseline and MTR but only in the case of the adolescent girls was the decrease tested significant. This lower prevalence for girls 14-17 is a positive

development. However the practice of physical violence is still present within these communities, which may be a result of persisting cultural tradition, meaning further progress must be made. Examples of physical violence provided range from nutritional deprivation as mentioned in economic violence, to physical beating and child labour.

Perceived prevalence of emotional violence among women aged 18-24 increased between the baseline and MTR, this increase while too small to be attributed to any factor, does however show that no progress has been made in addressing this issue by the GPP. Examples of emotional violence reported include abusive language and name calling by both relatives and peers, in disapproval and in bullying. The increase and prevalence of emotional violence is likely a result of the awareness raised by the programme against beating. There has been progress made in addressing physical violence, however, when someone is deemed to have done something wrong or not performed to a desired degree, the parent or husband will still express their anger, and if not through physical violence, they express it through name calling and insults, for example. Therefore, the increase in emotional violence could relate to the decrease in physical violence, and an adapted approach to expressing anger, insulting instead of beating. If this is indeed the case, the implementing partners will need to focus attention on replacing anger as opposed to emphasising that physical violence in wrong. Secondly, the aging of the girls between the baseline and MTR will traditionally include marriage. The observed increase in emotional violence in young women (18-24) could be due to new or changed circumstances since the baseline, such as moving from a home where a parent may beat you for deemed poor performance, to a husband who employs emotional violence for similarly deemed poor performance. Ultimately, this area requires close attention by the implementing partners.

Prevalence of sexual violence showed a decrease between the baseline and MTR for girls 1417 as well as young women, however only in the case of YW was the positive change tested significant. This means that the positive change from the teenage girls possibly happened randomly, but in the case of the YW it can be attributed to a certain cause like the GPP for example. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prevalence of sexual violence is lower for YW than for teenage girls, which might be related to girls becoming more empowered while they age. YW are however more prone to sexual violence at the hands of their husbands and through forced marriage, but teenage girls on the other hand are vulnerable to sexual violence inflicted on them by teachers and other men in the community who feel they have more power over younger

girls which limits the possibility of consequences related to their acts. Examples of sexual violence include incest, rape, forced marriage, and sexual bribery by schoolteachers for grades.

Specific outcome: Acceptance of violence against G&YW The indicator 3, ability to say â&#x20AC;&#x153;noâ&#x20AC;? to sexual activity, shows a significant and considerable increase for girls 14-17 between the baseline and MTR, from 38% to 79%, suggesting, while social factors will have influenced, there was a successful implementation of this aspect of the programme.

Indicator 3 - % of girls and young women who feel able to say no to sexual activity 100% 80%

Baseline MTR

60% 40% 20% 0% 14-17 (N=161)

18-24 (N=165)

Indicator 4, % of G&YW who agree that children may be beaten by adults, dropped for all three age groups between 19% in the case of girls 10-13 (from 83% to 64%) and around 30% for girls 14-17 (from 86% to 54%), and women 18-24 (from 93% to 64%). Although the results show a positive development for all G&YW, the change for girls 10-13 is not statistically significant, which means it is likely to have occurred randomly. However, for teenage girls and YW, the change was tested statistically significant and is thus attributable to a certain cause (e.g. the GPP). Despite the positive results there is still between 54% and 64% of respondents agreeing that children may be beaten, meaning this area requires further focus, which could be given in the same way the GPP has been working until now as the work method seems to have had effect. The acceptance of children being beaten by adults could be indicative of prevailing cultural norms about beating being an important part of behavioural correction. Furthermore, the girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; opinions may represent the influence the community elders have over parenting, and the traditional views and practices they

encourage, as the accepted cultural practice is embodied in the regional adage â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;it takes a village to raise a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

Indicator 4 - % of girls and young women who agree that children may be beaten by adults 100%

80% Baseline MTR

60% 40% 20% 0% 10-13 (N=45)

14-17 (N=161)

18-24 (N=165)

Specific outcome: Access of G&YW to quality (child) protection systems Regarding indicator 5, knowing how to act when in need of protection against violence, both teenage girls (14-17) and YW (18-24) have shown a significant increase of 10% in the case of the girls (from 49% to 59%) and an extreme 65% in the case of YW (from 31% to 96%). This progress shows, in conjunction with other social influences, the positive effect the GPP is having in this area. Also young girls (10-13) show a very high level of knowledge on this topic with a MTR value of 91%.

Indicator 5 - % of girls and young women who know how to act when in need of protection against violence 100% 80% Baseline

60%

MTR 40% 20% 0% 10-13 (N=45)

14-17 (N=161)

18-24 (N=165)

Indicator 6, regarding knowledge about available protection services, shows extreme and statistically significant increases for both girls 14-17 and women 18-24 of more than 60%, with girls 14-17 increasing from 19% to 81%, and women of 18-24 years old from 37% to 97%, between the baseline and MTR. These dramatic increases represent important progress made in these areas, amongst others through GPP. Also many (71%) young girls of 10-13 years old showed knowledge of the availability on these services.

Indicator 6 - % of girls and young women who demonstrate knowledge of available protection services 100% 80% Baseline

60%

MTR

40% 20% 0% 10-13 (N=45)

14-17 (N=161)

18-24 (N=165)

Specific outcomes on protection at the socio-cultural dimension Specific outcome: Communities recognise violence against G&YW as unacceptable Indicator 8, % of community members who agree that children may be beaten by their parents and/or teachers,2 has shown a 16% decrease for both male groups between the baseline and MTR. Young Men of 16-24 years old went from 68.3% at BL to 52.6% at MTR and Men above 24 from 81% to 65%. Female community members, on the other hand, show an extreme increase from 66% to 97%, between the baseline and MTR. The high increase for women does indicate a lack of progress made on this indicator with this group, which needs specific attention.

The actual question was asked in a general way as to impersonalise it and achieve more honest answers. Therefore, what was actually measured is the % of community members who think that their peers would agree that children may be beaten by their parents and/or teachers. This is the case for all questions made to community members, however, in the text the answers are taken as representative for this specific age and gender group.

Indicators 4 & 8 - % respondents who agree that children may be beaten by adults 100 80 60 Baseline

MTR

20 0 G&YW 10- G&YW 14- G&YW 18- Young Men (>24) Women 13 (N=45) 17 24 Men (16- (N=30) (>24) (N=161) (N=165) 24) (N=50) (N=30)

Indicator 9, % of community members who agree that violence against G&YW inside and outside the home should always be reported, has shown an increase amongst young men 16-24, from 79% to 98% but a negative change in the case of men above 24 (decreased from 100% to 93% between the BL and MTR) and even more so for women above 24 (a decrease from 90% to 66%). Although none of the changes are tested significant, the negative developments suggest that no progress has been made by the GPP or is being countered by pre-existing cultural factors (e.g. prevailing attitudes towards violence). More work or a changed work method with these community groups is necessary.

Indicator 9 - Perceived % community members who agree that violence against G&YW inside and outside the home should always be reported 100% 80% 60% Baseline

40%

MTR 20% 0% Young Men (16-24) Men (>24) (N=30) (N=50)

Women (>24) (N=30)

The graph on indicator 10 shows that there is a decline in the percentage of community members across all categories who agree that a men is allowed to beat his wife / girlfriend.

Among young men percentages are cut in half, decrease from 33% to 16% between BL and MTR, among men above 24 years there is an even stronger decrease from 86% to 37% and among female community members the decrease has been the highest, going from 86% to 10%. One of the reasons provided for this decline is the level of awareness now available in local communities. When interviewed, Foday Kallon, a community member in Waterloo stated “I use to beat my wife whenever she did something I thought was wrong. I did not realise that I was not supposed to beat her until we had the meeting in which we were educated on why we should not beat our wives and why we should respect them and our children.”

Indicator 10 - Perceived % community members who agree that a man is allowed to beat his wife/girlfriend 100% 80% 60% Baseline

40%

MTR

20% 0% Young Men (16-24) Men (>24) (N=22) (N=41)

Women (>24) (N=21)

Specific outcomes on protection at the institutional level Specific outcome: Government acts to ensure the rights of G&YW to protection against violence The combined graph on indicators 11 and 12 indicates that all the girl panel members during the BL and MTR disagreed that the government is supportive to the protection of G&YW through legislation and policies (although more than half of them did improve slightly their view on this matter moving from “very unsupportive” to “unsupportive”), while 60% of the professional panel members indicated that the government is supportive. The disparity can be attributed to the fact that while both groups are aware of the existing policies the girl panel members are frustrated by the inability/unwillingness on the part of the government to transform the policies into action. As one girl panellist stated “to us the laws do not exist, they are not useful or helpful to us. Laws should only be considered to be laws when they are active and serve their purpose.”

Indicators 11 & 12 - % "Girl Power" experts who agree that the government is supportive of the protection of G&YW through legislation and policies 100% 80% 60% Baseline

40%

MTR 20% 0% Girl Panel members (N=17)

Professional Panel members (N=6)

A similar tendency is shown in the case of indicators 14 and 15, with all the girl panellists indicating that the government is not supportive to the protection of G&YW through service provision but 40% of the professional panellists indicating that it is. Girl panellists expressed during interviews that the inability/unwillingness on the part of the government to provide services creates a disconnection between awareness raising activities undertaken by the government and the possibility for victims to access services when needed. This has significant implications for G&YW especially those in local communities.

Indicators 14 & 15 - % "Girl Power" experts who feel that the government is supportive to the protection of G&YW through services 100% 80% 60% Baseline

40%

MTR 20% 0% Girl Panel members (N=17)

Professional Panel members (N=6)

3.1.2 OUTCOME: ENHANCED SOCIO-POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF G&YW Specific outcomes on socio-political participation at the individual dimension Specific outcome: G&YW take equally part in decision taking and politics

Indicator 17 - % of girls and young women who agree that G&YW should be part of community committees or other groups to decide on issues that are important to them 100% 80% Baseline

60%

MTR 40% 20% 0% G&YW 10-13 (N=45)

G&YW 14-17 (N=161)

G&YW 18-24 (N=165)

Indicator 17, girls and young women who agree that their peers should be part of groups to decide on issues that are important to them, shows a significant increase for all three age groups of between 50 and 60%. For girls 10-13 years old there is a positive change from 38% to 89% between the baseline and MTR. Slightly higher increases have been observed between teenage girls and YW, reaching both high MTR levels of 94% and 90% respectively. Obstacles for G&YW to participate in decision-making bodies, as expressed by them in the qualitative answers, included a prevailing opinion that girls should focus on their education, and that elders have more knowledge and therefore better decision-making abilities.

Indicator 18 - % of girls and young women who confirm that it is possible for them to join groups and discuss freely in places where G&YW meet 100% 80% Baseline

60%

MTR 40%

20% 0% 10-13 (N=45)

14-17 (N=161)

18-24 (N=165)

Indicator 18, % of girls and young women who confirm that it is possible for them to join groups and discuss freely in places where girls and young women meet, has also shown positive significant changes for all three age groups with even more dramatic increases of between 73% and 88% reaching MTR levels of 96% for young girls (10-13), 94% for teenage girls (14-17) and 91% for YW. While the higher age of the G&YW and social factors will have influenced the space they now have to participate in community groups, such significant increases in their socio-political empowerment represent a positive influence of the GPP in the area. Indicator 19 - % of girls and young women who confirm that when they have an idea to improve something at home, school or in the community, they have the opportunity to make that happen 100% 80%

Baseline MTR

60% 40%

20% 0% 10-13 (N=42)

14-17 (N=121)

18-24 (N=132)

The third and last indicator in the individual dimension of socio-political participation (indicator 19, girls and young women who confirm that when they have an idea to improve something at home, school or in the community, they have the opportunity to make that

happen) shows similarly extreme as well as significant positive changes since the baseline, with girls (10-13) having increased from 11% to 76%, girls (14-17) from 2% to 86%, and young women (18-24) from 11% to 83%. These dramatic increases are representative of a successful development in socio-political participation at the individual dimension.

Specific outcomes on socio-political participation at the socio-cultural dimension Specific outcome: Communities value G&YW as actors of importance in (political) decision taking At the socio-cultural level, there is an increase for all community member groups regarding the acceptance of G&YW being active in political / public decision-making. The least increase has happened in the case of young men but already three-quarters of them had a positive view on this matter two years ago and maintain that today. On the other hand, not many men above 24 years of age, agreed to active participation of G&YW in decision making at the time of the reconstructed BL (13%) but their number tripled to 38% today. Also the number of female community members tripled on this matter, with all of them being in favour of this today. While there is a considerable positive change at the level of adult male community members it is noticeable that the number is still low, which calls for the need for more sensitisation and awareness raising activities in the targeted communities, specifically with this group.

Indicator 20 - Perceived % community members who agree that G&YW should be active in political/public decision making 100% 80% 60% Baseline

40%

MTR 20% 0% Young Men (16-24) Men (>24) (N=32) (N=50)

Women (>24) (N=30)

Specific outcomes on socio-political participation at the institutional level Specific outcome: Government actively creates conditions for equal political participation by both sexes As can be seen in the graph below on indicators 21 and 22, girl panel members changed their view on the supportiveness of the government in enhancing the participation of young women in local governance for the negative. Whereas 41% indicated that the government was supportive to this two years ago, today they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see this support. Professional panel members on the other hand were and still are much more positive, with 80% of them perceiving the government to be supportive at BL and MTR in enhancing the participation of young women in local governance.

Indicators 21 & 22 - % "Girl Power" experts who feel that the government is supportive of enhancing the participation of young women in local governance 100% 80% 60% Baseline

40%

MTR 20% 0% Girl Panel members (N=17)

Professional Panel members (N=6)

3.1.3 OUTCOME: ENHANCED ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION FOR G&YW Specific outcomes on economic participation at the individual dimension When identifying increases in economic participation at the individual dimension, it must be taken into account that the G&YW have aged up to two and a half years (depending on the country), and over this period they could have independently increased their working hours and economic participation as a result of more responsibilities. This is caused by the fact that both the BL level as the MTR level were asked to the same respondents today.

Specific outcome: G&YW benefit from socio-economic services Within economic participation at the individual dimension, indicator 23, % of G&YW who benefit from socio-economic services, shows positive and significant changes for both teenage girls (14-17) and young women with increases from only 4% to 26%, and 34% 29

respectively between the baseline and MTR. Despite these positive changes, the present percentages remain still quite low, especially for the case of young women as they have more need for these types of services than teenage girls. Further GPP attention is still needed in this area. In addition, the perception to have the same opportunities to earn money as men has significantly increased in the case of teenage girls from 44.5% to 50%, which could be related to the natural gradual empowerment of the girls over the period between the baseline and MTR. Women of 18-24 years on the other hand have shown a significant decrease in the same indicator from 72% to 66%, which could be due to the customary age for marriage, at which time the YW are expected to take on domestic duties and child bearing, resulting in less opportunities to earn money as men.

Indicator 23 - % of girls and young women who indicate that they benefit from socio-economic services 100% 80% Baseline

60%

MTR 40% 20% 0%

14-17 (N=161)

18-24 (N=165)

Specific outcome: G&YW take equal part in household budget management Indicator 24, % of girls and young women who have engaged in income generating economic activities outside their homes, has increased for all three age groups, but only in the case of teenage girls and YW the change was tested significant. Girls 14-17 showed a significant increase from 44% to 78% and women of 18-24 from 57% to 65%, which correlates with increased independence from school and home, marking a transition into (exclusively or part-time) working and or raising a family. More focus can be applied in the coming years of GPP to build on this improvement.

Indicator 24 - % of girls and young women who have engaged in income generating activities outside their homes 100% 80% Baseline

60% 40%

20% 0% 10-13 (N=45)

14-17 (N=161)

18-24 (N=165)

In the case of young girls of 10-13 years old, the increase from 28% at BL to 40% at MTR, although not tested significant and thus most likely a random occurrence, is important for the GPP to look into: is it in the interest of the child to be working at this age already? This will depend on various issues including the type, length and time of work. On a positive note, the young girls, as well as the teenagers and young women, reported to have a stronger voice in deciding what to spend the earned money on (see indicator 25 below).

Indicator 25 - % of G&YW who indicate they have a say in how the money they earned is spent 100 80 60 Baseline 40

MTR

20 0 10-13 (N=45)

14-17 (N=161)

18-24 (N=167)

Indicator 25, having a say in how the money they earned is spent, showed a significant increase for young and teenage girls from 13% to 28% and 16% to 59% respectively between BL and MTR. The GPP should continue focusing on this issue in the next phase of implementation, building up on these positive changes. The qualitative answers given during

FGD show that obstacles for having a say in how earnings are used, include parents/guardians commandeering all income to aggregate with other sources and spend at their discretion, while some respondents declared they were too young to make decisions in the home.

Specific outcomes on economic participation at the socio-cultural dimension Specific outcome: Communities value G&YW as actors of importance in economic life The graph below indicates a rise in the percentage of community members who agree that women should have equal say as B&YM in deciding upon the use of the household income. The smallest increase can be seen for young men, but that is again because there were already many more of them thinking positively about this, reaching 81% today. Men above 24 years increased from 40% to 90% and women even from 30% to 100%. These percentages show that today a big majority of the community members appear to be very open to women having an equal say on household income related issues. Respondents indicated that there is a good level of understanding on the need for active economic participation by all sexes and that this understanding is created by the GPP.

Indicator 27 - Perceived % of community members who agree that women should have an equal say as B&YM in deciding upon the use of household income 100% 80% 60% Baseline

40%

MTR 20% 0% Young Men (16-24) Men (>24) (N=34) (N=61)

Women (>24) (N=34)

There is however still quite some work to do, especially with boys and men regarding the acceptance of women earning the same as men for the same work. Although the percentage of female community members who disagree that men should earn more than women for the same work increased from 31% to 100%, only 40% of B&YM think like this today and even less (27%) of the men above 24 years. One of the male community members had this to say about it: â&#x20AC;&#x153;for several years men have believed that they should earn more than

women and this will not change overnight. GPP needs to work more on getting men to change their perception.”

Indicator 28 - Perceived % of community members who disagree that men should earn more than women for the same work 100% 80% 60% Baseline

40%

MTR 20% 0% Young Men (16-24) Men (>24) (N=34) (N=61)

Women (>24) (N=34)

Specific outcomes on economic participation at the institutional level Specific outcome: Government actively creates conditions for equal economic participation by both sexes The graph below indicates that none of the girl panel members, at both the time of the BL and MTR, felt that the government is supportive to socio-economic participation of young women through legislation and policies. Revising their answers in detail, 10 girls went from “unsupportive” to “very unsupportive” while the other 7 girls went from “very unsupportive” to “neutral / don’t know”. At the same time the number of professional panel members who feel the government is supportive in this regard, decreased from 3 to 2 out of 5. The disparity between the two groups can be attributed to the fact that while both groups are aware of the existing policies, part of the girl panel members is frustrated by the inability/unwillingness on the part of the government to transform the policies into action.

Indicators 29 & 30 - % "Girl Power" experts who feel the government is supportive of socio-economic participation of YW through legislation and policies 100% 80% 60% Baseline

40%

MTR 20% 0% Girl Panel members (N=17)

Professional Panel members (N=6)

A similar tendency is again observable for the indicator on supportiveness of the government to socio-economic participation of young women through service provision, with none of the girl panellists feeling any supportiveness in this regard. In this case however, 10 girls did not change their positions between BL and MTR but 7 changed from “neutral / don’t know” to “very unsupportive” indicating a negative change in their perception on this matter. The girl panellists appeared to be disillusioned with the unavailability of services that should be geared towards creating the changes that they would like to see. On the other hand, a small majority of professional panellists (3 out of 5 for BL and MTR measurements) feels that the government is supportive by providing services for socio-economic participation of young women.

Indicators 31 & 32 - % "Girl Power" experts who feel the government is supporting socio-economic participation of G&YW through services 100% 80% 60% Baseline

40%

MTR 20% 0% Girl Panel members (N=17)

Professional Panel members (N=6)

3.1.4 OUTCOME: ENHANCED EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR G&YW Specific outcome on educational participation at the individual dimension Specific outcome: G&YW values on education Indicator 42, % of G&YW who agree that girls should be able to continue education after child birth or marriage, show significant and high increases of over 40% for all three age group with girls 10-13 going from 36% to 76%, girls 14-17 from 30% to 78%, and women 1824 from 32% to 76%. These increases, while subject to social factors, are likely a representation of a successful implementation of the GP programme with regard to this indicator.

Indicator 42 - % G&YW who agree that girls should be able to continue their education after childbirth/marriage 100% 80% Baseline

60%

MTR 40% 20% 0% 10-13 (N=45)

14-17 (N=161)

18-24 (N=165)

Specific outcome on educational participation at the socio-cultural dimension Specific outcome: Communities value education for G&YW equally important as for B&YM The graph below indicates that there is an increase for all categories of community members in the percentage who agree that girls should be able to continue education after child birth or marriage with men and women above 24 years of age reaching 100% today (coming from 50% and 31% respectively) and young men reaching 84% (from 58% at BL times). This is said to be a very controversial issue in local communities with many community members frowning on it before the GPP but perceptions are changing and people are no longer as averse to seeing girls who are married or who have babies attending school. GPP should continue on this issue with a focus on B&YM in order to reach agreement with all of them as well, and with the older community members to achieve sustainability of the obtained

results. The positive attitude of older members of the community can moreover have a positive trickle over effect to the B&YM.

Indicator 43 - Perceived % of community members who agree that girls should be able to continue education after child birth/marriage 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Baseline MTR

Young Men (16-24) Men (>24) (N=32) (N=29)

Women (>24) (N=48)

In the case of indicator 44, already all community members agree that girls should have an equal chance to go to school as boys, showing an increase from 79%, 97% and 31% in the case of young men, men above 24, and women above 24 respectively. In other words, this indicator has been reached fully, however, it is recommended to continue activities on the topic with the goal to keep these results in the future. Indicator 44 - Perceived % of community members who agree that girls should have an equal chance to go to school as boys 100%

80% 60% Baseline

40%

MTR

20% 0% Young Men (16-24) Men (>24) (N=32) (N=29)

Women (>24) (N=48)

Specific outcome on educational participation at the institutional level Specific outcome: Government actively creates conditions for equal participation of both sexes in (post) primary education At the institutional level, although 18% of girl panellists felt that the government was supportive to (post)primary education for G&YW through enforcement of legislation and policies two years ago, none of them think like that today (all of them rated government to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;very unsupportiveâ&#x20AC;? at MTR). However, there is an increase from 4 to 5 out of 5 among professional panellists. Again there is a wide disparity between the two panels. From the conducted interviews / FGDs, it became clear that the girls do not believe in government policies as they stated that they are not implemented and even when implemented they do not adequately address the needs of G&YW.

Indicators 45 & 46 - % "Girl Power" experts who feel the government is supportive of (post)primary education for G&YW through enforcement of legislation and policies 100% 80% 60% Baseline

40%

MTR 20%

0% Girl Panel members (N=17)

Professional Panel members (N=6)

3.2

FINDINGS RELATED TO CAPABILITIES OF PARTNERS (BOX 3)

3.2.1 PARTNER 1: PLAN The 5 Capabilities workshop with PLAN Sierra Leone was conducted on the 11th of September 2013, at the office of PLAN in Freetown. The workshop began by explaining to the participants the purpose of the 5C assessment, which was to establish the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation, analyse differences with the baseline, and prioritise capacity building items.

Based on the individual questionnaires filled in by all participants, the average scores of the capabilities of Plan are: The Capability to Commit and Act The Capability to Deliver Objectives The Capability to Relate The Capability to Adapt and Renew The Capability to Achieve Diversity

3.61 3.33 3.57 3.14 3.29

The presentation of the scores was accompanied by discussion, where the participants confirmed that they recognised themselves in the findings. The participant were informed of the baseline conducted during the programme's inception in order to compare the findings, however they did not participate in the baseline and did not have knowledge of the baseline, for comparison. The participants were then encouraged to discuss the most divergent scores, as seen below; giving reasons, and subsequent reactions, before drawing conclusions. The five highest scoring indicators were: Strategic plan Relations with other organisations PM&E system Coalitions and alliances Clear mandate and vision

3.9 3.8 3.73 3.6 3.6

The rationales for the highest scores are: 

The strategic plan is annually revised at PLAN, resulting in a strong consensus.



Relations with other organisations were rated highly due to the length of time the organisation has been operating (since 1976), and regular partnerships with international organisations.



Plan has a dedicated manager who maintains the PM&E system at a high standard.



As with relations with other organisations: coalitions and alliances is a wellestablished and stable aspect of the organisation.



The mandate and vision is reviewed in annual meetings, along with the strategic plan, which was reflected in the high ranking.

The lowest scoring indicators were: Consistency Evaluation of learning Access to knowledge resources Learning for gender equality

2.7 2.86 3 3.1

The rationales for the lowest scores are: 

Consistency was an anomaly in the ranking, as the broad range of projects undertaken led to a lack of consistency in project focus.



The process of a standard project does not include a retrospective assessment or SWOT, resulting in a low ranking of evaluation of learning.



PLAN does not maintain a library of documents that is regularly consulted, creating the comparatively low ranking for the access to knowledge resources.



Learning for gender equality was reflected in the lower rankings as despite a gender balance goal, there is no organisational training to train staff on the theory.

The lowest scores were written on a flipchart and participants voted to prioritise which indicators were highest priority for the organisation, participants voted to prioritise ‘gender policy’ as the primary issue for improvement, and priority capacity building aspect for the coming two years. The goal is to fulfil the ambition of a 50/50 gender balance in PLAN staff. This will be achieved through targeted recruitment when new positions become available.

3.2.2 PARTNER 2: DCI SIERRA LEONE The 5 Capabilities workshop was conducted on the 2nd of September 2013, at the office of the partner organisation Defence for Children - Sierra Leone (DCI-SL) in Freetown. The average scores of the capabilities are: The Capability to Commit and Act The Capability to Deliver Objectives The Capability to Relate The Capability to Adapt and Renew The Capability to Achieve Diversity

3.27 3.00 3.57 2.73 3.50

The five highest scoring indicators were: Learning for gender equality Consistency Leadership PM&E system Relations with other organisations

3.6 3.5 3.4 3.3 3.3

The rationales for the highest scores are: 

Achieving a gender balance in staff is a recently established organisational goal, and is therefore a widely informed, familiar concept, in the forefront of staff’s minds. This resulted in a positive view of DCI’s capacity in regard to learning for gender equality.



Consistency was rated highly in the capacity assessment due to the prolonged and on-going progress of working with the Government on issues of child rights.



Leadership was ranked as a strong capacity due to a strong organisational structure throughout the office providing a clear chain of command.



PM&E has been redesigned and developed to a high standard by an external consultant / PM&E expert visiting the organisation within the last year.



Relations with other organisations was deemed a strong capacity due to a wellrespected organisational image / presence, and long-standing ties with Government.

The five lowest scoring indicators were: Room for diversity Sufficient infrastructure Rights based approach and gender Coalitions and alliances Clear mandate and vision

2 2.2 2.5 2.53 2.8

The rationales for the lowest scores are: 

Room for diversity ranked low due to constraints imposed on where the organisation can expand into, due to specific expertise and project-specific funding constraints.



Low ranking in sufficient infrastructure was due to the limitations of the office: not enough space, and limited computer equipment for staff to use.



Gender appeared low as an anomaly, which relates to how DCI perceives their role, the defence of children through legal and national policy advocacy work as opposed to targeting a specific gender.



Coalitions and alliances are ranked low due to the narrow range of established partners.



Clear mandate and vision is an anomaly, which according to the participants is not well placed here, due to recent organisational document development.

The group agreed to keep the original average score, with the exception of clear mandate and vision. Deciding this area of the organisation has been recently developed and is strong.

The five lowest scores were then written on a flipchart and participants voted to prioritise which indicators were highest priority for the organisation. The indicators selected as their inventory of issues for improvement, and priority capacity building aspects were: 

Room for diversity



Sufficient infrastructure



Effective human resource mobilisation

This was followed by a group discussion, for a reasonable ambition to achieve by the end of 2015. 

The ambition for ‘room for diversity’ by 2015 is to target women during recruitment in order to achieve a 50/50 gender balance.



The ambition for ‘sufficient infrastructure’ by 2015 is to invest in inter-office technology, including Skype enabled computers in regional as well as the head office, to enable efficient information sharing.



The ambition for ‘human resource mobilisation’ by 2015 is to create a clear division of roles, with a productivity chain, each respective member of the office contributing to a goal, instead of many tasks falling to one person.

3.2.3 PARTNER 3: OFP The 5 Capabilities workshop was conducted on the 9th of September 2013, at the office of the partner organisation One Family People (OFP) in Freetown. The average scores of the capabilities are: The Capability to Commit and Act The Capability to Deliver Objectives The Capability to Relate The Capability to Adapt and Renew The Capability to Achieve Diversity

2.99 3.26 3.49 3.46 3.73

The presentation of the scores was accompanied by discussion, where the participants confirmed that they recognised themselves in the findings. The participant were informed of the baseline conducted during the programme's inception in order to compare the findings, however they did not participate in the baseline and did not have knowledge of the baseline, for comparison. The participants were then encouraged to discuss the most divergent scores, as seen below, giving reasons and subsequent reactions before drawing conclusions.

The five highest scoring indicators were: Clear mandate and vision Rights based approach and gender Relations with other organisations Gender policy Leadership support

4 3.9 3.9 3.73 3.7

The rationales for the highest scores are: 

The organisations mandate and vision is rated highly due to long-standing and singular vision.



The organisations goals are rights based.



Due to the organisation having primarily operated on an extremely small budget, the organisation has developed strong ties with organisations of sympathetic goals.



The organisation has not achieved a gender balance in its staff or beneficiaries reached, however the high ranking for Gender Policy is based on its goal to do so.



The organisation operates an open, supportive office environment that encouraged the rating in leadership support.

The five lowest scoring indicators were: Sufficient infrastructure Finance Effective human resource mobilisation Rights based and gender Human resources

2.2 2.46 2.7 2.93 3.2

The rationales for the lowest scores are: 

As mentioned in ‘relations with other organisations’, the organisation has operated on an extremely small budget, resulting in limited infrastructure.



The organisation operates on the aforementioned extremely small budget, restricting multiple opportunities.



The low score for effective human resource mobilisation reflects the constraints the organisation faces in sourcing full time qualified people to support projects.



Gender and Rights based appeared as an anomaly in the results considering the organisation’s focus on the disabled and children, which does however not target or focus on one gender.



Human resources were ranked in the lowest five due to the limited number of staff resulting in a small office support network.

Finance



Sufficient infrastructure



Effective human resource mobilisation

This was followed by a group discussion, to establish a reasonable ambition to achieve by the end of 2015. The indicator ‘finance’ was identified as the primary issue for improvement, as issues identified in ‘sufficient infrastructure’ and ‘effective human resource mobilisation’ are linked to the organisations finances. 

The ambition for ‘finance’ by 2015 is to establish a broad and long term funding base, with subsequently linked goals.

The method which was decided upon to achieve this goal, was to invest staff time in online and or local computer literacy and writing courses, with which to develop the organisation’s proposal writing skills, in order to achieve grants and funding for a stable financial operating budget. Increasing financial resources will also enable OFP to adapt projects while in the field according to identified needs, which is currently unavailable due to project specific funding restrictions about where money can be spent or redistributed. Financial independence from project specific funding will also enable investments in the office including Internet connection and computer equipment, which will subsequently improve organisational productivity, the ability to create and maintain an online presence, as well as communication and networking.

3.2.4 PARTNER 4: FAWE The 5 Capabilities workshop was conducted on the 6th of September 2013, at the office of the partner organisation FAWE in Freetown. The average scores of the capabilities were: The Capability to Commit and Act The Capability to Deliver Objectives The Capability to Relate The Capability to Adapt and Renew The Capability to Achieve Diversity

3.23 2.89 3.28 2.71 2.85

divergent scores, as seen below, giving reasons and subsequent reactions before drawing conclusions.

The five highest scoring indicators were: Rights based and gender Legitimacy Relations with other organisations Leadership Rights based approach and gender

3.8 3.6 3.6 3.4 3.3

The rationales for the highest scores are: 

Rights based and gender is a main focus of the organisation, and primary reason for sub-contraction to the GPP.



The participants felt the organisations longevity established legitimacy.



Relations with other organisations were ranked high by the participants due to the high level of collaboration the organisation engages in.



Leadership was ranked highly by the participants, which reflected the participant’s opinion of the strong management structure.



Rights based approach and gender is another aspect that was valued highly due to the organisations focus and speciality.

The five lowest scoring indicators were: Sufficient infrastructure Room for diversity Effective human resource mobilisation Learning Human resources

2.1 2.4 2.5 2.5 2.8

The rationales for the lowest scores are: 

Sufficient infrastructure was ranked lowest as the participants agreed that they struggle with the resources available to them in the office.



Room for diversity ranked low because the organisation operates on project specific funding, which controls where the organisation can distribute funds.



The organisation did not feel it had the desired broad pool of professionals, but is not in the position to recruit.



Learning was ranked low as the organisation has not incorporated trainings and similar organisational learning techniques.



Human resources were rated low based on the desire to diversify the staff backgrounds and subsequently projects.

The group agreed to keep the original average scores. The five lowest scores were written on a flipchart and participants voted to prioritise which indicators were highest priority for the organisation. The indicators selected as their inventory of issues for improvement, and priority capacity building aspects were: 

Strategic plan;



Clear mandate and vision;



Operating principles.

This was followed by a group discussion to define a reasonable ambition to achieve by the end of 2015. Participants voted to prioritise the three indicators jointly.

The joint ambition for ‘strategic plan’, ‘clear mandate and vision’, and ‘operating principles’ by 2015, will be achieved by reviewing the existing organisational documents, and direction and focus of recent projects, followed by hosting organisation meetings to discuss the desired content for the documents which have been identified as missing or in need of updating. The created organisational documents will then be incorporated and regularly consulted for the running and decision-making processes.

3.2.5 PARTNER 5: YACAN The 5 Capabilities workshop was conducted on the 4th of September 2013, at the office of the partner organisation YACAN in Freetown. The average scores of the capabilities were: The Capability to Commit and Act The Capability to Deliver Objectives The Capability to Relate The Capability to Adapt and Renew The Capability to Achieve Diversity

3.19 2.83 3.20 2.81 3.03

however they did not participate in the baseline and did not have knowledge of the baseline, for comparison. The participants were then encouraged to discuss the most divergent scores, as seen below, giving reasons and subsequent reactions before drawing conclusions. The five highest scoring indicators were: Rights based approach and gender Relations with other organisations Strategic plan Leadership Rights based and gender

3.9 3.7 3.6 3.6 3.6

The rationales for the highest scores are: 

A rights-based approach and gender is central to YACAN’s organisational structure.



The organisation relies on its relations with other organisations for cooperative support.



The strategic plan is well known; the organisation desires an expansion of its projects.



Due to the small office and staff, the leadership is viewed as on-hand and supportive.



Rights based and gender is explained in the first bullet point.

The five lowest scoring indicators were: Sufficient infrastructure Room for diversity PM&E system Finance Effective human resource mobilisation

1.8 2.4 2.46 2.53 2.6

The rationales for the lowest scores are: 

Infrastructure was rated lowest in the assessment due to the organisations desire to improve the office space and acquire transport, which is required to monitor projects taking place outside Freetown.



Due to the financial restrictions on the organisation, there is currently limited room for diversity.



The PM&E system is not yet developed to the desired stage.



Stable finance was a recurring theme for organisational development, which also links aspects such as infrastructure, room for diversity, and effective human resource mobilisation.



The organisation staffs are made up primarily of volunteers, resulting in a lack of control over the skill-sets within the office.

Sufficient infrastructure;



Human resources.

This was followed by a group discussion to set a reasonable ambition to achieve by the end of 2015: 

The ambition for ‘sufficient infrastructure’ by 2015 is to establish an office environment, which improves the productivity of the office and attracts professionals.



The ambition for ‘human resources’ by 2015 is to attract a well-qualified staff through modern infrastructure to work with, which is seen as necessary for organisational loyalty. Consistency of both is seen as necessary to deliver on quality and to maintain staff levels.

3.3

FINDINGS RELATED TO CIVIL SOCIETY (BOX 4)

Dimension

Result areas CIVICUS

1. Civic engagement

1.1 Diversity of socially based engagement. 1.2 Diversity of political engagement 2.Level of 2.1 Organisational level of organisation society 2.2 Peer to peer communication 2.3 Financial and human resources 3. Practice of 3.1 Internal governance values 3.2 Transparency 4.Perception 4.1 Responsiveness of impact 4.2 Social impact 4.3 Policy impact 5. 5.1 Socio-economic, socioEnvironment political and socio- cultural context.

Average scores on scale 1-10 District 1: District 2: Total Moyamb Western a Area 6 5 5.5 6

4.8

5.4

5.8

5.9

7 5

5 5.8

6 5.4

7 5.9 6 7 5 7

6.6 7.3 4.5 7.5 6 5.3

6.8 6.6 5.25 7.25 5.5 6.25

There is no considerable difference between the scores provided by the panellists in Moyamba and Western Area. The challenges faced by the organisations that partook of the CIVICUS are similar and they range from financial and technical challenges. Nonetheless, there is a will and desire to contribute towards helping their beneficiaries live in decency and dignity and overcome their daily challenges. Also, they are equally committed to the GPP and should be supported to enable them contribute positively to the programme.

3.3.1 CIVICUS CSI FINDINGS PER DISTRICT â&#x20AC;&#x201C; MOYAMBA The workshop in Moyamba was held on the 13th of September 2013. Participants who attended the workshop came from different Civil Society Organisations in the district.

Interpretation and Analysis of Scores ď&#x201A;ˇ

Diversity of socially based engagement had an average of 6. The score is realistic but could even be higher as NGOs are fully in touch with their people and have a broad base of beneficiaries.



Diversity of political engagement had an average of 6. The score is realistic as there is still the need for GYW to be fully integrated into decision-making processes in their communities. However, there is active engagement of especially young women in decision-making processes and panellists are positive that this will further improve.



Organisational level of society had an average of 6, which seems a bit low as NGOs and CSOs appeared to be well organised at the national and local levels and are part of umbrella networks.



Peer to peer communication had an average of 7. This score is realistic as there should be more inter-exchanges between and among the different NGOs and CSOs.



Financial and human resources had an average of 5. This score is realistic as most of the organisations are faced with serious financial and human resource challenges. There is the need for training in resource mobilisation and programme implementation and management.



Internal governance had an average of 7. This score is higher than it should be, a 5 would have been much more realistic. There are challenges faced by organisations when it comes to internal governance. This is due to the fact that some of the organisations need capacity building in this area and the GPP should assist them in getting the needed trainings.



Transparency got an average of 5.9. This is realistic as organisations are striving to be transparent but are faced with challenges so there is room for improvement.



Responsiveness had an average of 6. Organisations are involved in addressing challenges faced in the areas where they operate. Their activities to a very large extent complement the activities of the GPP.



Social impact had an average of 7. Panellists stated that they are counterparts of the local government agencies; however, the score is a bit too high as there is very little partnership with the private sector.



Policy impact had an average of 5. This score could be a bit higher as the different panellists from government and CSO stated that CSOs are now consulted during policy development processes especially at the local levels.



Socio-economic, socio-political, and socio-cultural contexts had an average of 7.

Conclusions and Recommendations by Panellists 

There should be scholarships provided to GYW in need of it, limiting the thematic area of education to awareness raising and training of teachers affects the potential of

achieving positive outcomes negatively. 

Civil society should also support advocacy and lobbying activities that have to do with the government promoting protection related issues at the community and national levels. This should have to do with implementing laws and policies and developing institutions that protect GYW.



There should be regular monitoring activities of GPP activities undertaken by the CSC and civil society actors not implementing the programme but that are part of for instance the District Panel should be involved in the process.



More training should be provided to CSOs in all the thematic areas. The capacity of civil society actors is very weak. Further trainings would put them in a better position to effectively support the implementation of GPP.



Funds should be provided to the panels to enable them undertake more activities in local communities.



Partnerships should be established with the private sector, as they are a potential source of funding for future activities.

Facilitator’s remarks It was observed during the panel discussions that the panellists were very open and willing to engage in discussions on the prospects and challenges faced in Moyamba. Coupled with this, they appeared to be genuinely interested in making a difference in the lives of those they target. However, the panel and its members should be further engaged in capacity development activities that will put them in a better position to continue undertaking similar activities at the end of the programme. Key areas identified by the facilitator are resource mobilisation, records management, proposal writing, project implementation and management, child protection and lobbying and advocacy.

3.3.2 CIVICUS CSI FINDINGS PER DISTRICT – WESTERN AREA The workshop was held in September 2013 in Freetown. Participants that attended the workshop came from different organisations, mostly partner organisation in the district.

Interpretation and Analysis of Scores 

Diversity of socially based engagement had an average of 5. The score seems a bit low as NGOs are seen making effort to contribute to the development of their communities.



Diversity of political engagement had an average of 4.8. The score is realistic as there is still the need for GYW to be included in real decision-making.



Organisational level of society had an average of 5.8, which seems a bit low as NGOs and CSOs appeared to be well organised at the national and local levels and are part of umbrella networks.



Peer to peer communication had an average of 5. This score is realistic as there should be more inter-exchanges between and among the different NGOs and CSOs in the Western Area.



Financial and human resources had an average of 5.8. This score is realistic as most of the organisations are faced with serious financial and human resource challenges. There is the need for training in resource mobilisation and programme implementation and management for CSOs in Western Area.



Internal governance had an average of 6.6. This score is slightly higher than it should be as there are challenges faced by organisations when it comes to internal governance. This is due to the fact that some of the organisations need capacity building in this area and the GPP should support assist them in getting the trainings.



Transparency scored 7.3, which is considered very high and unrealistic as the organisations are still struggling with it.



Responsiveness had an average of 4.5, which seems low as organisations are involved in addressing multiple issues related to development in the communities within which they operate.



Social impact had an average of 7.5. Panellists stated that they are counterparts of the local government agencies; however, the score is too high as there is very little partnership with the private sector.



Policy impact had an average of 6. This score is realistic and maybe even a bit too low as the different panellists from government and CSO stated that local government units engage CSOs on policy related issues.



Socio-economic, socio-political, and socio-cultural contexts had an average of 5.3.

Facilitator’s remarks It was observed during the panel discussions that the panellists were very realistic and open about the challenges they face and they are also committed to supporting the GPP. It was deduced from the exercise that the CSOs are faced with several challenges the key of which are lack of technical and financial capacity. Thus, they should be further engaged in capacity

development activities that will put them in a better position to continue undertaking similar activities at the end of the programme. Like for CSOs in Moyamba, CSOs in Western Area need training in key areas such as resource mobilisation, records management, proposal writing, project implementation and management, child protection and lobbying and advocacy.

3.3.3 CIVICUS CSI FINDINGS AGGREGATED FOR SIERRA LEONE CIVICUS CSI findings aggregated for Sierra Leone 

Diversity of socially based engagement had an average of 5.5. This score is realistic as it truly reflects the level of diversity in terms of socially based engagement of CSOs.



Diversity of political engagement had an average of 5.4. The score is realistic as there is a conscious effort made by government and other stakeholders to work with government agencies when it comes to political engagement. However, civil society is political fragmented and need to go above political sentiments.



Organisational level of society had an average of 5.9. Networks, coalitions are seen across the country but they still need to prove their relevance, as most are fragmented or ill coordinated.



Peer to peer communication had an average of 6. In as much as there are mechanisms in place for engagement and communication, there is very limited cooperation and collaboration. This is creating duplication rather than complementarity of efforts especially in the area of designing and implementing programmes.



Financial and human resources had an average of 5. All the local institutions visited during field consultations are faced with the challenge of lack of financial and human resources capacity. Thus, this score is realistic.



Internal governance had an average of 5.4. This score is realistic, as organisations need to improve on their internal governance. Training on organisational management and leadership will be very useful for CSOs



Transparency had an average of 6.8. This is an unrealistic score; a 5 would have been much more realistic. Organisations are faced with the challenge of accountability and transparency and should try to be more accountable to their partners, donors and beneficiaries.



The consideration of partner organisations and civil society organisations by local government and private sector as counterparts had an average of 6.6. This score is

slightly higher than it should be. However, organisations stated that government agencies are making conscious efforts to engage them. 

Responsiveness had an average of 5.3. This score is not realistic. In most cases organisations claim to be working on more than 1 activity.



Social impact has an average of 7.3, which appears to be very high and unrealistic.



Policy influence had an average of 5.5. This score is realistic as organisations do contribute to policy related discussions but do not effectively influence it.



The extent to which socio-economic, socio-political, and socio-cultural contexts have been taken into account in developing the CRA programme had an average of 6.3. This is a realistic score because the intervention of the CRA is relevant and seeks to help address the challenges faced by G&YW in Sierra Leone.

3.4

FINDINGS RELATED TO THE LEARNING AGENDA

The Country Steering Committee is in charge of the Learning Agenda, which focuses on three areas: a) Child protection system strengthening, b. Involvement of men and boys c. Alliance building d. Support to CSOs. Some of the Learning Question and activities in the Learning Agenda include: a) to what extent are girls and young women playing leadership roles to contribute to child protection system strengthening? b) Does the system provide opportunities for children and families to participate in the processes for setting up structures and procedures within the child protection system? c) To what extent are communities participating in the protection of children?

Individual organisations were initially tasked to document their experiences in the four thematic areas. Some other activities already undertaken include: research on gaps existing in the child protection system (CSC should now engage key stakeholders on the recommendations); providing trainings for staffs and CSOs, giving financial support to 20 CSOs and the realisation of annual financial reflection meetings. Training will be given by the end of December 2013 on the involvement of Men and Boys.

The partners stated during field consultations that they are satisfied with the implementation process of the Learning Agenda and that it is succeeding in promoting interaction and a good relationship among the different stakeholders. At the same time, it is deepening the knowledge of the programme and also the needs of the different organisations and the beneficiaries of the GPP.

4. 4.1

OVERALL FINDINGS RELEVANCE

Relevance relates to the extent to which the objectives of an intervention are consistent with beneficiaries’ requirements, country needs, global priorities and partners’ and donors’ policies. It is likely that these requirements, needs, priorities and policies do not neatly fit together. The relevance of a programme is therefore always in relation to one of these external aspects.

The GP programme is relevant given the context of Sierra Leone. For several years Sierra Leone has been at the bottom of the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) with one of the highest rates of illiteracy and poverty in the world. Coupled with this, Sierra Leone for decades has been a male chauvinistic country where women and girls are marginalised. This is due to the fact that there is male preference and women/girls are seen as not equal to men/boys. Until GPP the challenges faced by girls/women have not been addressed sufficiently. In 2007, the government passed the gender bills into laws but the laws have been ineffective, as they are not fully implemented.

The GPP is making interventions in sensitive communities in Moyamba and the Western Area and the beneficiaries when consulted indicated that they are very happy with the interventions made (see also the graph and Annex D on satisfaction of beneficiaries with the GPP activities). This is due to the fact that they have been waiting for such interventions and as Isatu Kamara3 stated “people were coming from different organisations to ask us about what we are going through and they will make promises to help us but we never saw them again. They lied to us all the time knowing that our situation was desperate. This affected us greatly and made us lose faith in government and NGO. However, the Girl Power Programme is different. It is helping us gain the knowledge and understanding we need to have and we are happy.”

Interview conducted in Freetown on the 20 of September 2013.

Average satisfaction of respondents with GPP activities 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% G&YW 10- G&YW 14- G&YW 18- Young men Men >24 Women >24 Girl Panel 13 (N=45) 17 (N=160) 24 (N=144) (16-24) (N=30) (N=30) (N=17) (N=42)

Like Isatu, Mariama in Moyamba had this to say when questioned on the relevance of the programme “Girl Power is a really good programme that is very helpful to us girls and the support it is providing to us is helping to make us happy and have the belief that there are people who care about us.”

It should be noted that there have been other programmes with similar initiatives but they either had a short implementation timeframe or covered only one of the thematic areas. GPP is seen as much more holistic, covering four thematic areas that are of immense importance to the beneficiaries, and strengthen each other’s results. CSOs consulted also indicated that the programme is of relevance to them as it provides technical support through a capacity building process that is putting them in a good position to better function. Targeted organisations, while having the willingness to positively contribute to their communities, were faced with the challenge of being able to do so given their lack of capacity but this is now changing with the GPP.

Consulted community members also indicated that the programme is relevant for several reasons, which include, support provided to their children through scholarships, training provided and awareness raising and sensitisation activities. Foday Kallon in Moyamba stated: “In the past we were not aware of the fact that women should have the same rights as men and that we should support them to take their place in society. I personally believed that women were only meant to be cooking food and producing our babies. Now I know better and treat my wife and children with the respect they deserve.” This is also an indication of the effectiveness of the GPP activities.

The programme is also in line with the agenda, policies and programmes of the government. It promotes the awareness raising components of the passed gender laws and the recently passed “Sexual Offenders Bill.” Alongside this, it also complements the government’s Agenda for Prosperity and the implementation of the access to Universal Basic Education programme undertaken in the country.

4.2

EFFECTIVENESS

Effectiveness relates to the extent to which the direct results of interventions (the outputs) contribute to the sustainable achievement of programme objectives (the outcomes). Efficiency and effectiveness refer to two successive levels of the theory of change. An intervention is considered effective if its outputs have made a demonstrable contribution to achievement of the intervention’s intended objectives.

The GP programme is to a large extent effective as the expected outcomes are in the process of being realised. For instance, under the thematic area of protection, many girls in the targeted communities are now aware of their rights and the agencies to contact when faced with protection related challenges. The linking of protection related issues to the Family Support Unit of the Police and the Child Helpline also builds on the expected outcomes, as there is a flow between understanding and accessing help. However, the component of accessing help is still weak as there are very limited organisations providing legal aid in the country and accessing justice may be too expensive for victims. Also, the implementation process of laws is very slow and ineffective and does not create the necessary impact that they are supposed to create. Thus, some victims while in need of help may weigh the frustrations and costs involved and drop-off the desire to access justice. Also, the programme has made very little effort to make a connection between the programme and legal aid organisations such as the Lawyers Centre for Legal Assistance (LAWCLA). However, it should be noted that there is a bi-lateral relationship between DCI and LAWCLA and OFP and LAWCLA but LAWCLA has no relationship with the GPP.

The expected outcomes in terms of socio-political participation are being achieved. This is partly due to the awareness raising activities of the project and also to the opening of political space for GYW in the country. Thus, activities on the part of the government, like decentralisation and affirmative actions such as the 30% quota for women in terms of political positions, and the GPP are complementing each other. However, the GPP is making

a more positive impact than the other initiatives at the community levels where GYW are participating in much more activities than they used to and at the same time there is willingness, acceptability and desire to support the female participation and activities of the GPP on the part of male community members. Through personal interviews with community members, it was deduced that the engagements with community members has been productive and created the necessary changes, especially among community leaders.

The economic participation thematic area, however, has been less effective. While providing training possibilities for GYW, it is faced with a disconnection between the provided training and the provision of post-training support. For instance, the trained G&YW need start-up capital for their businesses, mentoring and coaching possibilities, management skills and access to loans for business expansion. These forms of support are not available and even the provided trainings are not based on opportunity mapping exercises and market surveys. Thus, it is difficult for the expected outcomes to be realised.

With respect to education, many GYW has succeeded in accessing education due to awareness raising and sensitisation activities undertaken by GPP, the building of 5 schools (3 in Moyamba and 2 in Freetown), support given to teachers training and use of school clubs. The building of schools has had a positive impact on beneficiaries as it gave them hope that their future would be brighter and indeed their level of vulnerability will be reduced by them improving their human assets (increased knowledge due to education). For instance, Haja Bangura had this to say when interviewed: â&#x20AC;&#x153;my parents are poor and could not afford to send me to schools out of my community. I had lost hope and was thinking of what next to do with my life when the GPP started. I am now attending a school and this has brought great joy to me and my family. I now have a future.â&#x20AC;? The project complements the access to Universal Basic Education programme of the government. However, the weak point of this component is the non-provision of scholarships like is done in Liberia and Ghana. Thus, it does not address the actual needs of most girls in some communities.

On an overall note, the programme is achieving its expected outcomes but is faced with some challenges highlighted above (especially in the thematic area of economic participation) that need to be addressed.

4.3

EFFICIENCY

Efficiency measures how economically resources (human resources, financial resources, time, materials) are applied (the inputs) and converted to direct results (the outputs). In this relationship both the quantity and quality of inputs and outputs are assessed as well as the way in which they are applied (the process).

The efficiency of the implementation process is sufficient and is faced with challenges if overcome could make it be up to the fully expected standard. On the positive side, the programme has a logframe that is properly designed. Coupled with this, the CSC is seen making efforts to keep the programme running and it was a good decision to have the programme implemented in only two districts given the funds available. This prevents the overstretching of both financial and human resources as could be seen in the implementation processes in Liberia and Ghana.

All the partners indicated that they are providing the human and other resources that they are supposed to provide. However, it became obvious during consultations with the different partners that they mostly work in isolation and report directly to their CRA partner organisations; only providing information to the CSC as the need arises and they are asked for it specifically. There are regular meetings held but there has to be much more than meetings. There should be efforts made to ensure complementarity, economies of scale through exchange of methodologies or materials and to avoid duplication of efforts, especially in areas where more than one partner operates. It was realised on various occasions during the MTR that when there is a request for information the CSC has to consult all partner organisations for the needed information on an individual basis, as it does not exist at the central level. Reports provided to the CSC by the partner organisations are mostly narrative and not financial reports. Also coordination between the different partners is seen by the CSC as something that could be further improved.

M&E mechanisms have been set at different levels of the programme, for instance, quarterly updating meetings are held, individual visits conducted by Plan through which they monitor the activities of the different partners, the Girls panels are engaged in discussions geared towards improving activities they undertake, annual reflection meetings are held and Project Steering Committees have been formed in Moyamba and Freetown. Nonetheless, the M&E activities could be further strengthened with coordinated CSC field visits and study

trips that are geared towards having a better understanding of the implementation and management of the programme by the partners. Also, the inability of the CSC to examine financial related issues affects the possibility to assess efficiency in the flow of funds and value for money. The negative consequence of this is that the CSC cannot directly make suggestions on what can be improved, as they do not have the necessary requisite details.

Nonetheless, the implementation process is going on within the stated timeline and the organisations are committedly working in the targeted communities. Also efforts are made to link the activities of the GP programme to other programmes set up by coalitions and networks.

4.4

SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability relates to the extent to which the benefits of the intervention will last after termination of the programme. It is closely related to effectiveness and includes factors such as stakeholder involvement, socio-cultural environment, capacity strengthening, community and institutional structures and the availability of an exit strategy.

In the case of the GPP in Sierra Leone, sustainability is an area that needs a lot of attention in order to ensure that the gains of the programme are built upon after it has reached the end of its life span. Some aspects of the programme have started showing signs of possible sustainability while others are indicating otherwise as highlighted below.

The programme does not have a clearly defined exit strategy and at the moment it is mainly concerned with the implementation process without having a clear plan for sustainability in mind. This could be clearly seen with the limited establishment or strengthening of local structures that could take over the implementation of activities after the programme. Such structures should be embedded in community structures for reasons of efficiency and effectiveness in the future. Also, this will ensure local ownership.

While most of the organisations targeted by the programme are benefiting from capacity building activities, much more needs to be done in terms of them being trained on resource mobilisation and project/programme management skills. At the moment there is a high reliance on Plan on the part of its partners. Such reliance may have a negative twist if Plan is unable to secure funds to carry out similar activities in the future. The partner organisations

should search funds from other available donor agencies such as the European Union (EU), World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom.

With respect to the thematic area of education, while the schools may be willing to support the children in terms of accessing education, the inability of the families to provide materials may keep the children out of school. To counter this possibility the programme should begin to look for alternatives like entities that could provide scholarship to GYW. This should preferably be sourced through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) to enhance sustainability but could also be provided (temporarily) by donor organisations such as those mentioned above.

At present, economic participation is faced with very little prospect in terms of sustainability. As indicated under the effectiveness section, this thematic area is faced with a lack of post-training support. Thus, the GYW are unable to build on to the knowledge and capacities acquired through the trainings and their situation remain the same. Therefore, the specific outcome are not achieved yet nor is there much potential for sustainability, not even for the acquired knowledge and capabilities as when these canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be put into practice they might eventually not persisted.

Regarding protection, sustainability could be better ensured if there is a connection between awareness raising and access to justice. This heavily depends on the willingness on the part of the government and other stakeholders to develop the badly needed institutions and effectively implement existing policies and laws. Thus, the programme has to develop an advocacy and lobbying component that will pressure government to provide protection mechanisms and improve access to justice.

Socio-political participation has a good potential for sustainability as activities undertaken are not costly and there is a growing national awareness that is complementing the activities of the programme. Sustainability could be further ensured if the programme strengthens its networks and engages a wider range of stakeholders such as media houses.

4.5

COORDINATION AND HARMONISATION

Coordination and harmonisation has an internal and an external component. The term relates to the level and quality of collaboration among organisations involved in the intervention as well as the collaboration with external partners. It relates to the global, regional and national levels of the programme and concerns both policy and practice.

4.5.1 INTERNAL COORDINATION AT NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND GLOBAL LEVEL Although there is a high level bi-lateral relationship between the local partners and their partner CRA member, this is not the same for the CSC. There is very limited knowledge on the part of the different partners as to what the other organisations do. Information on implementation is not centralised and partners are seen reporting directly to their CRA partners with the CSC not having all required information that will enable it to promote complementarity and avoid duplication of efforts especially in areas where more than one partner operates. Having quarterly meetings is not sufficient for better and constructive engagement.

The M&E component of the programme is weak at the moment. So far the programme could not address some of the challenges it has been facing since its inception, as the implementation process is not regularly monitored.

At the regional and global level, there is strong coordination especially for Plan, FAWE and DCI who have branches at the regional and global levels. For instance, DCI Sierra Leone has a strong relationship and coordinates well with DCI Ghana and Liberia.

4.5.2 EXTERNAL COORDINATION AT NATIONAL, REGIONAL, AND GLOBAL LEVEL External coordination is going quite well. GPP partners are part of national and international networks and coalitions especially those that are related to children and girls. For instance, partners are part of the National Child Protection Committee and OFP is part of Sierra Leone Union on Disability Issues (SLUDI)â&#x20AC;? and get there support in reaching out to Girls and Young Women with disabilities and including them in the programme. Government involvement in the programme goes through the line Ministries: the Ministry of Education Science and Technology, the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Affairs, with focal points identified for coordination to ensure key government stakeholder participation in the

programme activities and decision-making. At community level, however, coordination could be improved with the aim to strengthen local structures for efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability purposes.

4.6

DO NO HARM, AND CONFLICT SENSITIVITY

Do No Harm and Conflict sensitivity relate to the ability of organisations to: 

Understand the context in which they operate;



Understand the interaction between the intervention and the context; and



Act upon the understanding of this interaction, in order to avoid negative impacts and maximise positive impacts of the intervention.

The word ‘context’ is used rather than ‘conflict’ to make the point that all socio-economic and political tensions, root causes and structural factors are relevant to conflict sensitivity because they all have the potential to become violent.

The design of the programme took into consideration the context and the relevant stakeholders. Thus, it mitigated the potential to create serious tension or do harm instead of good. The involvement and engagement of the male community members and leaders through sensitisation and other approaches creates the needed awareness that limits potential spoilers and is even creating the potential to use men as a social capital for the promotion of the activities of the programme. Also, there is a good understanding of the programme and what it intends to achieve. Despite this, there is still some form of discontentment among some community members who feel that they or their children have been deliberately left out of the programme. In some communities, people who are above the targeted age brackets feel that they should be given an opportunity as the war stole part of their lives and they are either uneducated or unemployable. This creates tension.

4.7

GENDER TRANSFORMATIVE POTENTIAL

Gender-transformative potential relates to the extent to which interventions actively strive to examine, question, and change gender norms and imbalance of power. Gendertransformative approaches encourage critical awareness among men and women of gender roles and norms; promote the position of women; challenge the distribution of resources and allocation of duties between men and women; and/or address the power relationships

between women and others in the community, such as service providers or traditional leaders.4

The programme is geared towards strengthening the capacity and promoting and protecting the rights and welfare of girls and young women. Since the end of the conflict in Sierra Leone efforts have been made by different stakeholders to bridge the gender gap that exists in the country. This led to the development of the four gender bills (now laws) in 2007. This has been followed up by other bills, such as the sexual offendersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bill, as well as policies and programmes. The programme is seeking to complement the policies and programmes of the government and other stakeholders. It seeks to open the economic and socio-political space for girls and young women and promote access to education and protection against violence. The thematic areas of the programme are fundamental to the needs of girls and young women in Sierra Leone.

In spite of the gains made there are still challenges faced at both the local and national levels. Gender discrimination is still very much entrenched in certain communities as laws have not been implemented, and activities that should be undertaken that would create a positive difference in the lives of GYW are not being implemented. In the case of the GP programme, although it is progressing in creating the level of awareness needed to overcome stereotypes and stigmatisation in communities, there is still a long way to go. The challenge lies specifically in integrating more male community members (both boys and men) in the programme, addressing them with sensitisation activities to make them more gender sensitive as in order to reduce gender-based violence, achieve empowerment for G&YW and ultimately reach gender equality the traditional patriarchal and masculine attitudes should be changed.

Interagency Gender Working Group www.igwg.org

5. 5.1

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS CONCLUSIONS BASED ON COUNTRY SPECIFIC SWOT ANALYSIS

The mid-term evaluation of the GPP in Sierra Leone enabled the research team to validate and reconstruct baseline measures, to gain a measure of the effectiveness of the programme since the inception in 2011 and devise lessons learnt for greater programme relevance, efficiency, coordination, effectiveness and sustainability. The evaluation was completed successfully and relevant data gathered, which has been utilised to elaborate the following strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis.

Strengths  Ability to involve children in the work of the partners.  Ability to build the capacity of children especially girl’s leadership.  Ability to build confidence in children.  Transform the lives of young women in savings e.g. Village savings in loan association scheme.  Strong alliance building with service providers and child protection committees.  Good working relationship with child protection structures duty bearers in communities.  Capacity support from protection partner.  Partnership collaboration with youth ministry.  Strong collaboration/ partnership relationship with MEST.  Strong alliance building with other education-implementing partner.

Weaknesses  Low participation of boys in GPP.  Lack of effective coordination of case management with other service providers.  Little support from other partners in complementing other areas in the Girl Power Programme.  The total lack of interest of parents in the covered communities for the protection of children.  Weak collaboration in general, and specifically from youth ministry.  Late disbursement of funds to implementing partners.  Difficulty in mobilising youth meetings.

 Little educational courage area only in W/area and Moyamba.  Late response from partners when information is required.

Opportunities  Increase in laws and policies protecting girls and young women.  Ministry spearheading the child protection committee.  Change in perception of community people.  Continuous support from key partners.  There is opportunity to link VSLA group to financial institutions.  Children can replicate this is by forming children savings and loans associations.  Strong collaboration with government especially the ministry of education and the Sierra Leone teachers union.

Threats  Negative culture and tradition that are still practice.  Non/slow implementation of laws and policies.  Ineffective judiciary system and high level of corruption imbedded.  Dangers of VSLA funds being misused if not handled properly.  Inadequate allocation of budget to education sector.  Massive turnover of teachers.  Little or no incentives for teachers.

5.2

RECOMMENDATIONS

5.2.1 RECOMMENDATIONS

QUALITY

PROGRAMME

IMPLEMENTATION As stated above the implementation of the programme is faced with challenges, to overcome the challenges, the recommendations below could be taken into consideration: a. Under the economic area trained beneficiaries should be better linked to existing opportunities in their communities. For instance, the kinds of trainings undertaken (vocational and technical) are very generic and not based on the actual needs of the market. Thus, communities are inundated with the same skills and there is no linkage to the job market. Economic related activities have to be based on

opportunity mapping and market surveys. This will inform the CSC on the kind if activities to undertake and the potential for success. b. Boys and men need to be addressed with sensitisation activities to make them more â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;gender sensitiveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and supportive of programme outcomes. c. There should be better coordination and cooperation among all partners so everybody will be aware of what the others do, in order to ensure complementarity and avoid duplication of efforts, especially in areas where more than one partner is working. Having quarterly meetings will not suffice for better and constructive engagement. More collective exchange is necessary to share knowledge, experiences, work methodologies, materials, etc. This will also strengthen the capacities of each of the partners. d. Organisations have to be further trained on issues related to programme management and implementation (such as resource mobilisation, project design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation etc.) to provide them with a good understanding on how to implement activities in an efficient and effective manner. e. The CSC should seek to establish links with legal aid organisations, as there is a gap between awareness raising activities and access of legal aid. This creates a disconnect and negatively impacts the expected outcomes of the protection component. Also, there should be a good link established with the Law Officers Department that could be very instrumental in prosecuting offenders and also promote the drafting and subsequent implementation of protection related laws. f.

To ensure sustainability and national ownership the programme should be linked to similar initiatives of other stakeholders that would build on the gains of the programme. There should be a strong advocacy component developed that will engage the government and other institutions in the implementation of policies and laws that are geared towards protecting and promoting the rights and welfare of GYW.

g. The implementation process should at this stage be embedded in an exit strategy that will ensure sustainability at the end of the programmeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life span, so that the achieved benefits will maintain and further built upon.

5.2.2 RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT In as much as there are systems and structures in place that are meant to ensure the efficient management of the programme, they could be further improved.

There should be a centralised information system developed through which information on all partners, activities and beneficiaries can be easily accessed. During the MTR it was very challenging accessing information on beneficiaries and the programme they are involved in. Such a system would also greatly benefit management and future monitoring and evaluation efforts. The process of reporting and dealing mostly with the CRA partners is good but the intention is to develop synergy and a coordination mechanism that will be responsible for the smooth implementation of the programme. At the moment the CSC is not as effective as it should be as partners rely on their CRA members and most of the needed details are not available to the CSC.

The monitoring of activities has to be further strengthened with the CSC undertaking regular field visits to ensure that the implementation process is going as intended. There has been very little monitoring of the programme and it has suffered from the inability of the CSC to readily make recommendation or adapt to changing circumstances, as monitoring assessments are not regularly undertaken.

The capacity of the Girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Panels and the County Panels could be further improved. At the moment they feel loosely engaged. The Girls Panels complained of getting very little support and even that support is not provided on time thus affecting the implementation of their activities.

Overall coordination at both the internal and external level is an area that should be improved, for example through interactive programmes and trainings.

5.2.3 RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO PROGRAMME LOGIC, THEORY OF CHANGE, AND GPP MONITORING PROTOCOL The Programme in Sierra Leone has one national logframe that is used by all partners, who, moreover, have their individual work plans, which are based on the set activities and expected outcomes of the programme. However, the logframe has not been strictly adhered to and the programme has not benefitted from an effective process through which

undertaken activities are being monitored. As a result, little use is made of the management potential of the monitoring protocol. In the future it would be advisable to improve this practice and use the logframe for timely adaptations in the implementation process when required.

This means that the national logframe has to be regularly studied by the implementing partners and the CSC should ensure that it is used as a management tool. Moreover, the implementation process of the programme has to be regularly mirrored against the logframe to promote consistency and enable the programme to go by the set time frame and address challenges immediately.

Another aspect is the current lack of on-going monitoring of indicators in the Monitoring Protocol. For example, the programme should make more efforts to progressively collect data on follow up on reported cases of violence by the police.

The lead partners Plan, DCI, OFP and FAWE are somewhat familiar with the monitoring protocol, but the understanding is limited to those who directly coordinate the GPP in their organisation. Better understanding of it could be promoted through organisations educating their staff on it.

The targeted number of districts is good and the number of communities is also realistic to deal within the set timeframe of the programme unlike in other countries such as Ghana.

5.2.4 RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO TARGET SETTING FOR 2015 Unlike the other countries in the region, the set objectives are realistic and the expected outcomes could be achieved within the set timeframe if the recommendations stated above are taken into consideration. To further build on the programme with the potential of putting it in the best of shape to ensure quality outcomes the Sierra Leone team should look at the revised GPP monitoring protocol and adapt their programme to it. This will create the required synergy needed between the programmeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s logframe and the monitoring protocol.

ANNEXES A - Revised Girl Power monitoring protocol dated January 2013 B - Country sampling plan C - Country evaluation plan D - Tables E - Manual for MTR F - Data collection tools G - 5C Report per partner (Tool J) H - CIVICUS reports per district

See separate documents for annexes.