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Report of the Independent Evaluation of African Country Programme Outcomes (CPOs) funded from 2012-2013 RBSA in the Thematic Area of Social Protection

eval_number:

2447

eval_url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/eval/2447

lessons_learned:

themes:

theme:

Results-based management

category:

Organizational issues

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comments:

Governments of Member States, ILO Constituents and local communities;

challenges:

Some of the factors that may affect impact and sustainability included: (a) the low capacity of many partner government institutions; (b) The high turnover of personnel not just among ILO Tripartite Constituents, but also within the ILO itself – for example, the premature departure of the Crisis and Post Conflict Expert responsible for RAF 107 who left the position quite early in the biennium (mid-2012); (c) The apparent insufficient political will and commitment by some governments; (d) lack of adequate ownership and commitment to CPOs social partners; (e) The short-term duration nature of bienniums and therefore of CPO interventions – even for projects with longer orientation; (f) Lack of effective follow-up and consolidation of results of CPOs; (g) Fragility and conflict in some of the countries (especially those under RAF 107); and (h) Lack of a regional strategy even where the interventions are or regional nature (e.g. conflict resolution, disarmament and settlement of refugees).

success:

A major success/positive causal factor was the high relevance of CPO interventions to socio-economic and political development aspirations not just of Government of Member States as reflected in national policies, strategies and plans; but also of ILO constituents and target local communities.

context:

The context and preconditions underpinning these lessons related to socio-economic and political conditions of the beneficiary Member States and beneficiary communities -the majority of whom are poor; a situation that is exacerbated high unemployment and poor condition of infrastructure especially roads; against limited RBSA funds.

description:

The need for strategic use of resources, by forging of strategic partnerships, networks and collaboration with other development partners; The need for stakeholder consultations, not just during the design of the relevant DWCP, but also the selection of CPO for enhanced ownership, “buy-in” and support by stakeholders; The need for ILO to invest in methods and assets to ensure adequate exchange of knowledge and maintenance of proper evaluation record and follow-up; The need for timely notification and release of RBSA Funds to avoid implementers from going for the “low lying fruits” which may not necessarily have high and sustainable impact; The need to be realistic in the selection of outputs/outcomes and budget estimation; The need for Regional Strategies to address regional issues; The need for systematic and timely M&E and reporting of progress of CPOs; The need for Flexibility in CPO Implementation and Management in countries facing fragility and socio-economic and political; The need to avoid lumping several CPOs under CO Priority Outcomes and putting the salary of an expert across several CPOs and/or several country offices.

administrative_issues:

Key administrative issues identified included: (a) inadequate stakeholder consultations during CPO selection for RBSA support due to the short notice between notification and request for proposals; (b) inappropriateness of lumping several CPOs under a country office – based CPO such as ETH 127, and putting the salary of an expert under 7 or 8 CPOs and also under as many as 3 to 4 country offices- which was bound to be problematic for several reasons including the fact that a country office like Addis CO neither had direct responsibility nor control over what other CPOs did; (c) limited involvement of the Decent Work Teams (DWTs); and (d) lack of a regional strategy upon which to implement interventions with regional perspectives.

url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/lessons/219284

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location:

country:

Africa - regional

region:

Africa

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eval_title:

Report of the Independent Evaluation of African Country Programme Outcomes (CPOs) funded from 2012-2013 RBSA in the Thematic Area of Social Protection