Final

Evaluating Systems-level change and impact Findings from the evaluation of the National Policy Regulatory Program Support (NPRPS) program in Uganda

CARE’s ten-year strategy, Vision 2030, seeks to deepen the organizational focus on systems-level change and impact, recognizing that this is essential to expanding CARE’s reach and fulfilling our mission to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice. To support this, CARE launched a systems-level impact initiative to measure the effect of our programs that have influenced or changed systems, and the impact of this systems-change on people’s lives. The initiative also increased capacity across the CARE confederation to design, finance, and implement high-quality systems change programs, and to strengthen the focus on systems-level change within our Country Office organizational frameworks and strategies. Four CARE Country Offices were selected to evaluate a project or program and to synthesize the results for national and global learning. Read More...

Closing The Financial Inclusion Gap in Rwanda (CFIGR) Project

From September 2019 to April 2022, MINECOFIN technically and financially collaborated with CARE to design and implement a project called the Closing Financial Inclusion in Rwanda (CFIGR) that aimed at closing the financial inclusion gap and promoting the long-term saving scheme (LTSS) among VSLA members. The main objectives of the projects were.
I. Improving the financial literacy levels and saving culture of 700,000 financially excluded (75% women) in 30 districts of Rwanda.
II. Increasing access to and use of appropriate and affordable customer centric products/ services for 560,000 financially excluded Rwandans.
III. Piloting effective transition to cashless payments, through the digitalization of at least 2080 of the supported saving groups’ operations/transactions and development and provision of technology based formal financial services. IV. Increasing LTSS subscriptions and sustained payments through VSLAs as platforms. V. Expanding the existing CARE’s Agents Network to cover all 14,837 villages as a community development advisory, catalyst, and support structure. Key Achievements Thanks to CFIGR project, CARE’s financial inclusion work now covers 30 Districts through 15,053 Village Agents supporting 39,776 village savings & loan groups (VSLGs) with over 1,087,154 members, 74% being women that have so far mobilized around RWF 25,352,861,314 ($ 25M USD) of total savings and use RWF 22,124,081,062 ($ 22M USD) of cumulative loans1 invested in groups ‘members income generating activities. The CARE-MINECOFIN partnership project has been able to contribute to closing the financial inclusion gap by organizing 440,036 financially excluded citizens (71% women) into 17,088 VSLAs. These VSLA members form part of the 745,459 people mapped at the beginning of the project as financial excluded representing 59% and are now financially included. In addition, 369,726 VSLAs members have access to formal financial services which include SACCOs, MFIs and Banks where they can save and borrow for personal needs.
To increase LTSS subscriptions and sustained payments through VSLAs, CARE integrated LTSS into financial literacy manual as an effective manner for VAs to deliver messages to VSLAs members and make informed choices; subscribe and persistently save through the long-term pension scheme. CARE trained and equipped master trainers with digital materials. Under the additional financial support of the UNCDF, 416 master trainers in each village were equipped with digital materials including tablets and animated videos to help mobilize, register, and follow up on LTSS payments by VSLA members. To date, 225,293 VSLA members (70% women and 21% youth) both from old and new VSLAs have registered in EjoHeza scheme. 197,151 members (68% women) are active savers and FRW 1,429,982,010 saved as annual contributions as of end April 2022. Read More...

PENNIES TO POWER FINAL REPORT

Globally, women have access to 10% of the available credit, 7% of the training on productive activities and are 40% less likely to have access to agricultural inputs than men. Women also have limited technological inputs and market access, and only 4.3% of women have access to agricultural extension services. Although women provide about 50% of the agricultural workforce, they still lack equal access to productive resources.

Due to looming threats including climate change, an estimated 20% increase in hunger is predicted by 2050. The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic aftermath likely will push 426 million more people into poverty in the next three to five years. Responding to these challenges requires creative solutions that prioritize the most vulnerable, including women and young people. To this end, CARE implemented the Pennies to Power program with generous support from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. This final report describes the program’s accomplishments over the full implementation period (June 1, 2019 to June 1, 2022).

Pennies to Power played a critical role in building resilience and increasing the capacity of people to cope with crises. Moreover, it helped create thriving and sustainable communities, where farmers prosper, people are empowered, and the planet is healthier. CARE implemented the program in Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania to build resilience, unlock market access for women and youth, and ensure they are economically and socially empowered through savings groups known as village savings and loan associations (VSLAs). Moreover, the program contributed to the achievement of the following U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): No Poverty (SDG 1), Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Gender Equality (SDG 5), and Climate Action (SDG 13).
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CAP Final Proyecto FORS

Este estudio se ha desarrollado en el marco del proyecto Proyecto Fortalecimiento de la Respuesta Sanitaria Local a través de la Movilización y Reactivación Social (FORS). El objetivo del estudio fue implementar el estudio de línea de salida (final) de los Conocimientos, Actitudes y Prácticas (CAP) de las familias del Área de Influencia Operativa de Antamina, del personal de establecimientos de salud del AIO, y valorar la contribución del proyecto FORS en el impacto de la reducción del COVID-19. Read More...

Somali Girls Education Promotion Project Transition (SOMGEP-T) Endline Evaluation

The Somali Girls’ Education Promotion Project – Transition (SOMGEP-T), funded by UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) and USAID, was implemented from 2017-2022 in rural and remote areas of Somaliland, Puntland, and Galmudug, reaching an estimated 20,000 girls and 10,000 boys directly and another 20,000 students through indirect benefits. The implementation of SOMGEP-T followed on the successes of SOMGEP (2013-17, funded by FCDO), with a particular focus on enhancing learning outcomes and transition rates for marginalised adolescent girls. SOMGEP-T was implemented by a consortium formed by CARE International, ADRA, local women’s rights network NAGAAD, and local non-governmental organisations HAVOYOCO (a youth-led committee) and TASS. The project’s activities were conducted in close collaboration with state- and national-level Ministries of Education, responding to priority areas identified in state and Federal-level sector development plans.
SOMGEP-T used a mixed-methods, quasi-experimental design for impact measurement. The endline evaluation sample included 69 primary schools, split between 37 intervention and 32 comparison schools. Additionally, a pre-post evaluation design was used to assess progress on accelerated education programming. Data collection took place in an additional 32 Alternative Learning Programme (ALP) centres and 35 Accelerated Basic Education (ABE) centres, which are located in the same communities as SOMGEP-T intervention schools. In total, the endline sample included 1,802 girls and their households, 965 of whom were re-contacted from the baseline and interviewed successfully. The endline data collection took place in December 2021.
Learning
A few key findings emerged from the learning analysis. Firstly, although improvements were observed in numeracy, Somali literacy, English literacy, and financial literacy amongst girls in intervention schools, these improvements were also simultaneously observed in girls in comparison schools. Secondly, learning improvements occurred largely within the first two years of the programme, prior to the ML2 evaluation – a finding which can largely be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting long-running school closures that occurred between the ML2 and endline evaluations.
At the endline, it became evident that SOMGEP-T had a much larger impact on learning among a few specific groups of ultra-marginalised girls, especially those marginalised along multiple overlapping axes, such as girls from relatively poor or pastoralist households who were out-of-school at the baseline, girls with physical disabilities, and the lowest-performing students at the baseline. For instance, girls from pastoralist households who were out-of-school at baseline gained an average of 10.8 percentage points in Somali literacy, over and above the comparison group. A similar, but less stark, pattern was observed in average numeracy scores (3.9 percentage points over and above the comparison group). In both cases gains among this subgroup were larger than among other out-of-school girls or pastoralist girls who were already in school when the programme started. Read More...

Expanding Learning on the Effectiveness of Integrating Gender-based Violence Prevention, Mitigation, and Response and Cash and Voucher Assistance

This program aimed to include adult women and men, aged 18 years or older, who were survivors of or at risk of GBV, including those with diverse SOGIESC and those living with a disability or disabilities. CORPRODINCO caseworkers were all female and enrolled survivors who voluntarily disclosed an incident of GBV. Caseworkers assessed participants’ need for cash assistance for protection, examining the economic drivers of their exposure to GBV risks, as well as the financial barriers to their recovery; this process took place according to the program’s standard operating procedures, which were aligned with best practice guidance and tools. Survivors who met the program’s eligibility criteria and were enrolled were guided through the steps of the cash referral during GBV case management by their caseworker. Read More...

Enhancing adaptive capacity of women and ethnic smallholder farmers through improved agro-climate information in Mai and Samphanh district, Phongsaly Province, Laos

The Agro-Climate Information for the Adoption of Resilient Farming Practices by Women and Ethnic Minority Farmers (ACIS2) is implemented by CARE International in Lao PDR. The project financed by the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development (MECDD) in Luxembourg, is designed to support poor and vulnerable households in remote, rural areas and to enable women and ethnic minority farmers in Mai and Samphanh districts (Phongsaly province) to better anticipate risks and opportunities related to climate variability thus improving their response through participatory and equitable agro-climatic planning. The project’s aim is to contribute to SDG 13 by increasing climate resilience of women and ethnic minority farmers in northern Laos.
The purpose of the evaluation was to determine the project’s success in implementing activities and in attaining the project’s goals and expected results. The ACIS2 has implemented a wide variety of activities to increase the resilience of ethnic communities to climate change and climate variability. The project has been successful in achieving its objectives and expected results. Project provide the weather forecast and agriculture advisory and support for cardamom production, intercropping galangal, pineapple, fruit trees, bee keeping, vegetable gardening, improved rice production and support to women’s savings and loans groups which has resulted in reducing the impact of climatic hazards and improving farmers’ incomes.
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Final Performance Evaluation of the ENSURE Development Food Assistance Program in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is rich in human and natural resources. However, for decades it has experienced food insecurity and poverty rooted in recurrent drought, economic instability, and policy decisions that severely undercut economic growth, agricultural production, and employment opportunities. The ENSURE project goal was to increase long-term food security among chronically food insecure rural households in 66 wards in six districts of Manicaland and Masvingo provinces, where food insecurity and stunting are higher than the national average. ENSURE’s main activities were to 1) improve nutrition among women of reproductive age and children under five years of age (CU5), 2) increase the income of vulnerable households, and 3) improve household resilience. Promoting gender equity in decision-making, access to financial services, and participation in project activities were cross-cutting priorities, as were environmental protection and disaster risk reduction. Read More...

Rapid Assessment on Inclusion Environment of Persons with Disabilities in Selected Garment Factories in Cambodia

Persons with disabilities are among the most vulnerable in Cambodia and have been particularly disadvantaged by the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 and the response to the pandemic. As part of the GIZ funded project “Strengthening the Economic Resilience of Garment Workers with disabilities during COVID19 and beyond”, implemented by CARE International in Cambodia in partnership with ADD International Cambodia, a rapid assessment was conducted from March to May 2022. The purpose of the assessment was to assess garment factories’ current practice related to Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion and to identify supportive aspects as well as access and inclusion issues related to employment situation of garment factory workers with disabilities. The assessment used participatory multi-stakeholder rights-based approaches to gather qualitative information from 30 different stakeholders, including 16 garment workers with disabilities, 5 garment factory human resource managers as well as 9 representatives from government institutions, NGOs/CSOs, UN agencies and the private sector, supplemented by a literature review and dissemination workshop. Read More...

Study on Labour and Market Analysis Strengthening the Economic Resilience of Female Garment Workers during COVID19

CARE is implementing the “Strengthening the Economic Resilience of Female Garment Workers during COVID-19--Phase2” project funded by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ). The project aims to strengthen the economic resilience of female garment workers in Cambodia and Vietnam to cope with the negative impacts of COVID-19. As part of this project, a labor market assessment for female factory workers was carried out with the following objectives:

1. To identify short-medium term market trends and opportunities, as this is the most critical information for supporting workers to make informed decisions about their livelihoods in 2021 and onwards.

2. To identify market opportunities for small business development in the communities for workers who live in Phnom Penh, Kandal, and Kampong Speu provinces. Read More...

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