Special Evaluation/Report
Colombia: Vouchers for Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) Services
This study is part of a larger multi-country study by CARE entitled “Cash and Voucher Assistance for Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights Outcomes: Learnings from Colombia, Ecuador, Lebanon and Somalia.” As a result of Venezuela’s socioeconomic and political crisis, there have been massive migratory flows of people from Venezuela into Colombia.1 According to the Interagency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants, as of May 2020 over 1.76 million Venezuelans had fled to Colombia with many continuing to walk to and across the Southern Border with Ecuador as caminantes.
CARE Colombia began direct operations in the country in 2019, focusing primarily on the needs of Venezuelan
refugees and migrants in Pamplona, Norte de Santander and, later, Bucaramanga, Santander. Cash and Voucher
Assistance then (CVA) are primary modalities for CARE Colombia, particularly for its SRHR and protection portfolio.
Working with populations on the move as was was the case in this program, together with high levels of unmet SRHR needs resulted in a unique operating environment for a voucher intervention supporting SRHR programming.
This case study focuses on the design of the programming only. Due to the timing of the review, no substantive data on the user experience of the vouchers or outcomes could be captured. Read More...
CARE Colombia began direct operations in the country in 2019, focusing primarily on the needs of Venezuelan
refugees and migrants in Pamplona, Norte de Santander and, later, Bucaramanga, Santander. Cash and Voucher
Assistance then (CVA) are primary modalities for CARE Colombia, particularly for its SRHR and protection portfolio.
Working with populations on the move as was was the case in this program, together with high levels of unmet SRHR needs resulted in a unique operating environment for a voucher intervention supporting SRHR programming.
This case study focuses on the design of the programming only. Due to the timing of the review, no substantive data on the user experience of the vouchers or outcomes could be captured. Read More...
CASH AND VOUCHER ASSISTANCE FOR SEXUAL REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS LEARNINGS FROM ECUADOR, COLOMBIA, LEBANON, AND SOMALIA
CARE is committed to ensuring that projects with cash and voucher assistance (CVA) are designed with and for women and girls, addressing recipients’ needs, challenges, and opportunities. CARE has invested in research on how to make CVA work for women and girls through gender-sensitive approaches to framing processes and outcomes of the modalities. As a widely accepted method of increasing access to services and improving autonomy, dignity, and resilience, programming with CVA has been integrated into numerous sectors to improve the lives of displaced communities, particularly the most underserved. To date, CARE’s CVA has primarily been used for food security and livelihood outcomes and multisectoral outcomes via multipurpose cash (MPC) transfers. Now, aligned with its strategic intent, CARE is investing in sectoral areas where CVA is less often used and that are of primary interest for women and girls, including gender-based violence (GBV) response and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
Building on extensive experience with CVA and SRHR programming, CARE conducted a study to investigate how outcomes for the pilot initiatives using CVA for SRHR compare to global learnings, and to identify opportunities for strengthening and expanding pilots for long-term programming. The study reviewed programming in four contexts (Colombia, Ecuador, Lebanon, and Somalia). The initial study was undertaken by two consultants, one focused on Lebanon and Somalia and one focused on Colombia and Ecuador. Data collection included 25 remote key informant interviews (KIIs) with CARE staff at the global and country levels as well as staff from partner organizations, followed by After Action Reviews with each country team and a validation meeting. All activities were undertaken in either English or Spanish and transcripts were analyzed using data analysis software. Analysis was conducted both by country and across contexts to identify commonalities and thematic learning, mostly led by CARE technical advisors. Read More...
Building on extensive experience with CVA and SRHR programming, CARE conducted a study to investigate how outcomes for the pilot initiatives using CVA for SRHR compare to global learnings, and to identify opportunities for strengthening and expanding pilots for long-term programming. The study reviewed programming in four contexts (Colombia, Ecuador, Lebanon, and Somalia). The initial study was undertaken by two consultants, one focused on Lebanon and Somalia and one focused on Colombia and Ecuador. Data collection included 25 remote key informant interviews (KIIs) with CARE staff at the global and country levels as well as staff from partner organizations, followed by After Action Reviews with each country team and a validation meeting. All activities were undertaken in either English or Spanish and transcripts were analyzed using data analysis software. Analysis was conducted both by country and across contexts to identify commonalities and thematic learning, mostly led by CARE technical advisors. Read More...
‘IF WE DON’ T WORK, WE DON’ T EAT’ Syrian Women Face Mounting Food Insecurity a Decade into the Conflict
Ten years ago, the lives of many Syrians changed profoundly as anti-government demonstrations escalated into violent conflict between forces allied to the Government of Syria and armed opposition groups. The resulting humanitarian crisis is one of the worst of our time – 6.7 million Syrians remain internally displaced; an estimated 13 million people are in need1 and 12.4 million live with food insecurity.
In recent months, the situation has deteriorated even further as the COVID-19 pandemic, mass displacements, natural
disaster, economic collapse and ongoing hostilities have combined to create a situation wherein households are
finding it increasingly difficult to meet their basic needs, including for food.
Average food prices in Syria increased by 236% in 2020 – and food prices are more than 29 times higher than the five year pre-crisis average, causing many families to resort to negative coping strategies. This includes eating fewer
or smaller meals to get by. Furthermore, due to the loss or reduced capacity of male heads of household to death, injury, disappearance or emigration in search of work, many Syrian women are now the sole or primary breadwinners for their families, bearing the full burden of providing for their families with limited livelihood opportunities. About 22% of Syrian households are now headed by women; this is up from only 4% prior to the conflict. Even in households where the male head of household is working in some capacity, dire economic circumstances have pushed women to find some source of income to help with household expenses. In both cases, women are thrust into the ‘provider’ role in a way that most had not previously experienced. Read More...
In recent months, the situation has deteriorated even further as the COVID-19 pandemic, mass displacements, natural
disaster, economic collapse and ongoing hostilities have combined to create a situation wherein households are
finding it increasingly difficult to meet their basic needs, including for food.
Average food prices in Syria increased by 236% in 2020 – and food prices are more than 29 times higher than the five year pre-crisis average, causing many families to resort to negative coping strategies. This includes eating fewer
or smaller meals to get by. Furthermore, due to the loss or reduced capacity of male heads of household to death, injury, disappearance or emigration in search of work, many Syrian women are now the sole or primary breadwinners for their families, bearing the full burden of providing for their families with limited livelihood opportunities. About 22% of Syrian households are now headed by women; this is up from only 4% prior to the conflict. Even in households where the male head of household is working in some capacity, dire economic circumstances have pushed women to find some source of income to help with household expenses. In both cases, women are thrust into the ‘provider’ role in a way that most had not previously experienced. Read More...
Our Best Shot: Frontline Health Workers and COVID-19 Vaccines
Fully realizing the social and economic benefits of halting COVID-19 requires investing in a fast and fair global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. CARE estimates that for every $1 a country or donor government invests in vaccine doses, they need to invest $5.00 in delivering the vaccine.
Investments in frontline health workers are a critical component in this comprehensive vaccination cost. Of the $5.00 in delivery costs, $2.50 has to go to funding, training, equipping, and supporting health workers—especially women—who administer vaccines, run education campaigns, connect communities to health services, and build the trust required for patients to get vaccines. For these investments to work, they must pay, protect and respect women frontline health workers and their rights—a cost that is largely absent from recent WHO estimates on vaccine rollout costs. No current global conversations or guidance on vaccine costs includes the full cost of community health workers or long-term personnel costs.
Investing in a fast and fair global vaccine distribution will save twice as many lives as maximizing vaccine doses for the wealthiest countries in the world. Even better, investing in vaccine equality will speed up economic recoveries in every country in the world. For every $1 invested in vaccines in less wealthy countries, wealthy countries will see $4.80 of economic benefit because economies can fully re-open sooner. Failing to make this investment could cost wealthy economies $4.5 trillion in economic losses.
Current global debates are focused so narrowly on equitable access to for vaccine doses that they largely overlook the importance of delivering vaccines—and the key role women frontline health workers play in vaccine delivery. Of 58 global policy statements on vaccines, only 10 refer to the costs of delivery at all—and these are primarily technical advisories from the World Health Organization. No government donors are discussing the importance of vaccine delivery systems that are necessary to ending COVID-19. Only one statement—from Norway—refers to the importance of women health workers as part of the solution to ending COVID-19.
As new and dangerous strains of COVID-19 emerge in countries that are struggling to access the vaccine and control the pandemic, every day we wait for fair global vaccination allows for more contagious strains that spread around the world. The more chances the virus has to mutate in non-vaccinated populations, the higher the risk for everyone. Comprehensive global vaccine delivery plans that make sure the vaccine gets to people who need it—and that those people are ready to get the vaccine when it arrives—are the only way to end this threat. No one is safe until everyone is safe.
Read More...
Investments in frontline health workers are a critical component in this comprehensive vaccination cost. Of the $5.00 in delivery costs, $2.50 has to go to funding, training, equipping, and supporting health workers—especially women—who administer vaccines, run education campaigns, connect communities to health services, and build the trust required for patients to get vaccines. For these investments to work, they must pay, protect and respect women frontline health workers and their rights—a cost that is largely absent from recent WHO estimates on vaccine rollout costs. No current global conversations or guidance on vaccine costs includes the full cost of community health workers or long-term personnel costs.
Investing in a fast and fair global vaccine distribution will save twice as many lives as maximizing vaccine doses for the wealthiest countries in the world. Even better, investing in vaccine equality will speed up economic recoveries in every country in the world. For every $1 invested in vaccines in less wealthy countries, wealthy countries will see $4.80 of economic benefit because economies can fully re-open sooner. Failing to make this investment could cost wealthy economies $4.5 trillion in economic losses.
Current global debates are focused so narrowly on equitable access to for vaccine doses that they largely overlook the importance of delivering vaccines—and the key role women frontline health workers play in vaccine delivery. Of 58 global policy statements on vaccines, only 10 refer to the costs of delivery at all—and these are primarily technical advisories from the World Health Organization. No government donors are discussing the importance of vaccine delivery systems that are necessary to ending COVID-19. Only one statement—from Norway—refers to the importance of women health workers as part of the solution to ending COVID-19.
As new and dangerous strains of COVID-19 emerge in countries that are struggling to access the vaccine and control the pandemic, every day we wait for fair global vaccination allows for more contagious strains that spread around the world. The more chances the virus has to mutate in non-vaccinated populations, the higher the risk for everyone. Comprehensive global vaccine delivery plans that make sure the vaccine gets to people who need it—and that those people are ready to get the vaccine when it arrives—are the only way to end this threat. No one is safe until everyone is safe.
Read More...
Revue De La Litterature Pour L’etude Qualitative de L’analyse Genre Dans La Region de Mopti
Equality between men and women is one of the goals of development programs. Today, almost all USAID-funded DFAPs are required to integrate the “Gender Mainstreaming” into their programmatic framework and into their implementation in order to achieve this end. The Harande program, funded by FFP (USAID) is no exception to this requirement. This is why Harande intends to carry out a gender analysis in the Mopti region, more specifically in the communes of Youwarou, Tenenkou, Bandiagara and Douentza. But, as a prelude to the gender analysis, a review of the literature is recommended by the program. This review is based on the documents available from CARE, SAVE, HKI, UNICEF, UN WOMEN, technical services, etc., relating to gender, gender-based violence and masculinity in Mali in general and Mopti in particular. This documentary review also aims to bring out the lessons learned from the various partners, in relation to the Harande program framework and which are likely to help the program. Review is 28 pages long. Read More...
Real-Time Evaluation Asia-Pacific Regional COVID-19 Task Force
The Asia-Pacific Regional COVID-19 task force (RTF) was set-up in April 2020 as part of CARE’s global corporate emergency protocols. The intention of the RTF was to coordinate support across the CARE membership to contribute to effective pandemic response actions at the country level, as well as appropriate support and guidance for staff at all levels.
The official remit of the RTF that was agreed upon by the membership was to support: 1) COVID-19 humanitarian response; 2) clear, consolidated and contextualized programming guidance for COs, CMPs, affiliates and candidates; 3) communications for brand coherence & higher influence; d) information management; 4) COVID-19 specific regional advocacy; 5) consolidating program and response learning; 6) making resources on COVID programming available for external partners; 7) coordinating technical support; 8) linking to the global task team.
Now, six months into the response, the RTF has established a real-time evaluation to draw out learnings and understand how effective a role it has played in reaching its stated objectives. This RTE is intended to be a light, “good enough” review of the AP COVID-19 Task Force’s (henceforth referred to as RTF) performance since its inception.
The expectation is that learning from this evaluation will inform decision-making around possible continuation of the RTF, and also shed light on any adaptations to the remit, configuration or ways of working of the grouping that are required. Read More...
The official remit of the RTF that was agreed upon by the membership was to support: 1) COVID-19 humanitarian response; 2) clear, consolidated and contextualized programming guidance for COs, CMPs, affiliates and candidates; 3) communications for brand coherence & higher influence; d) information management; 4) COVID-19 specific regional advocacy; 5) consolidating program and response learning; 6) making resources on COVID programming available for external partners; 7) coordinating technical support; 8) linking to the global task team.
Now, six months into the response, the RTF has established a real-time evaluation to draw out learnings and understand how effective a role it has played in reaching its stated objectives. This RTE is intended to be a light, “good enough” review of the AP COVID-19 Task Force’s (henceforth referred to as RTF) performance since its inception.
The expectation is that learning from this evaluation will inform decision-making around possible continuation of the RTF, and also shed light on any adaptations to the remit, configuration or ways of working of the grouping that are required. Read More...
Partners for Resilience Country Case Study Indonesia (PFR)
This is a report of the findings of the Indonesia Country study which is one of three country studies being prepared as an input to Evaluation of the PFR II programme. For ease of comparison and to facilitate the preparation of the overall report, this country report is structured according to the seven generic Evaluation Questions (and associated Judgement criteria and indicators) that inform this evaluation. In line with PFR 2 programme design, the overall objective of the Indonesia programme is to localise global agendas and commitments aimed at disaster management, climate change adaptation and working with an eco-system approach. It is recognised that each country faces unique challenges, has different institutional, capacity and resource opportunities/ limitations and have prioritised their responses to these global agenda and commitments in different ways. In this respect, contextualisation to local needs and circumstances is critical [87 pages]. Read More...
Working with Youth at Risk in the Balkans Case Study
Capturing 5 different models of working on prevention of radicalization and extremism in 5 countries in the Balkans capturing core impact elements on youth, parents, teachers, and other relevant stakeholders/community members that is developed by CARE and partners. (Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Croatia) [52 pages]. Read More...
Covid-19 Digital Response Case Study
The case study captures and documents the process of YMI’s adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic during the period March-July 2020 in countries in the Balkans (Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Croatia) and represents a unique contribution and source for other organizations that are going through the same process of adaptation [38 pages]. Read More...
Scaling up Case Study How to Transform a Transformation
Captures the modalities of scaling up of CAREs gender transformative programming in high schools in Balkan countries (Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Croatia) used by CARE and local partners [33 pages]. Read More...