Resilience

Impact Evaluation of the Strengthen PSNP4 Institutions and Resilience (SPIR) Development Food Security Activity (DFSA) Baseline

World Vision, CARE and ORDA designed the SPIR DFSA to support delivery of PSNP4 while also developing and delivering multisectoral programming across the four project purposes in order to enhance livelihoods, increase resilience to shocks, and improve food security and nutrition for PSNP4 clients. The SPIR project will use community-level programming, training of government staff involved in public service delivery at the woreda (district) and kebele (subdistrict) level, and targeted livelihood transfers to support and strengthen PSNP4. Resource transfers received by SPIR participants will come primarily from transfers received from the PSNP4, as well as one-time livelihood transfers provided to the poorest PNSP clients to support livelihoods and promote graduation. Most other benefits of the SPIR project appear in the form of improved public service delivery and trainings to promote learning and support for community-level groups. For learning purposes, the SPIR impact evaluation combines major core components and innovative new activities under Purpose 1 on livelihoods and Purpose 2 on nutrition, along with selected activities under Purpose 3 on gender and youth and Purpose 4 on climate resilience, into a study design of overlapping interventions to learn what combination of activities has the greatest impact and is most cost-effective at improving SPIR outcomes [128 pages].

Attached to the Baseline Report are 3 Learning Briefs, The effects of SPIR poultry and unconditional cash transfers on livelihoods outcomes, The effects of SPIR interventions on nutrtion and childcare, and The effects of SPIR livelihoods and nutrition interventions on women’s and men’s well-being.
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Lessons Learnt from CARE’s Shelter Responses to Cyclone Idai in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe

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TVET and Higher Education for Boosting Road Infrastructure Development and Growth of Energy Services (THE BRIDGES) Project Final Report

CARE Somalia/Somaliland was funded by the European Union (EU) to improve the technical skills of the youth in roads and energy service sectors. The Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) and Higher Education for Boosting Road Infrastructure Development and Growth of Energy Services (THE BRIDGES) project aim to support the Government of Somalia/Somaliland plans to enhance inclusive economic growth and reduce poverty. The project aims to assist in the development of high-quality skills both for gainful employment and sustainable economic development. To meet labor demands in road infrastructure and energy sectors, the project further aims to strengthen TVET and Higher Education (HE) to offer high-quality solutions responsive to the changing market situations in the selected priority sectors of the economy. Given the increasingly dynamic employment market in Somalia/Somaliland, there is a need for high-quality competency-based skills development. The BRIDGES project sought to enhance the development of national and local capacities of TVET, and Higher Education linked to the road infrastructure and energy sector services. This is intended to be accomplished through the strengthening of institutional capacities in addition to aligning skills training to standardized international frameworks. Read More...

Adaptación al cambio climático y reducción de riesgos de desastres por el retroceso de los glaciares en la Cordillera de los Andes (GLACIARES)

La evaluación final y perfil sociodemográfico y económico.

Documento 1: El proyecto “Glaciares 513: Adaptación al cambio climático y reducción de riesgos de desastres por el retroceso de los glaciares en la Cordillera de los Andes (2011 – 2015)” tiene como finalidad contribuir a mejorar la capacidad de adaptación integral y de reducción de riesgos por desastres frente al fenómeno de retroceso de glaciares en el Perú, particularmente en las regiones de Ancash y Cusco; siendo su implementación liderada por un consorcio integrado por CARE Perú y la Universidad de Zurich.El proyecto busca fortalecer las capacidades para el monitoreo e investigación de glaciares en el Perú, así como las capacidades técnico-operativas para traducir el conocimiento científico y brindarle a las comunidades aledañas a los glaciares información necesaria para su adaptación y la reducción de vulnerabilidades, todo ello contando con condiciones institucionales que garanticen la sostenibilidad de dichas acciones en el marco de la adaptación al cambio climático en el país, particularmente en las regiones de Ancash y Cusco. Esta propuesta implica que la intervención debe considerar la interacción entre ciencia y práctica, contando para ello con la participación de actores nacionales, regionales y locales, representantes del sector público, privado o sociedad civil; además del acompañamiento científico proporcionado por la universidad de Zurich.
El objetivo de la evaluación externa fue medir el avance de los resultados alcanzados y las perspectivas de desarrollar una segunda fase del mismo, para lo cual un grupo conformado por tres expertos (dos nacionales y uno internacional) analizaron la documentación relacionada al proyecto, efectuaron entrevistas individuales y grupales, además de participar en talleres de sistematización y evaluación.
Documento 2: This is a diagnosis about the social demographic and economic profile of three regions taken in 2018. This study provide information about characteristics of populations, geographic areas, etc. Read More...

Harande Outcome Mapping Report

The USAID-funded Harande program aims to sustainably improve the food, nutrition and income security of 179,690 vulnerable household members by 2020 in 193 communities of Youwarou, Tenenkou, Bandiagara and Douentza districts in the Mopti region. This area is located in the center of Mali and suffers from frequent drought and current conflict and political instability. The program is a Development Food Assistance Program (DFAP) and is implemented by a consortium of international NGOs, composed of CARE International (lead), Save the Children International (SCI), Helen Keller International (HKI) and two national NGOs, namely: YAGTU and Sahel Eco.

Starting from July 2019, the program set in motion a qualitative and participative approach known as « Outcome Mapping » through its M&E Team (Harande MEAL Team). This approach was favored because it allows adequate monitoring and also helps to assess the level of expected changes.

Upon completion of the implementation approach – which lasted for about 9 months – the Harande MEAL Team prepared this report based on information collected from community actors and beneficiaries of the program. Read More...

A POLICY BRIEF FOR REDUCING CLIMATE RISKS AND VULNERABILITY FOR THE WOMEN, GIRLS AND SMALL HOLDER FARMERS AMONG PASTORALIST COMMUNITIES

Investments especially mining in pastoral areas across the Horn of Africa countries, while important for national development entails serious environmental impacts and pose climate risks that increases the vulnerability of marginalized groups of people who are already disadvantaged by the semi-arid topography. The women, girls, youth, and smallholder
farmers are particularly affected given that their fragile livelihoods are nature based.

The current regional initiatives aimed at building resilience of the affected communities have not adequately addressed the linkage between livelihood systems and sustainable environment management. The initiatives at national and regional levels tend to use traditional orthodox approaches of “environmental conservation” as sacrosanct for addressing all climate risks.

It is critical that any initiatives to reduce the vulnerability caused by the investments must consider that providing decent livelihoods for the most vulnerable groups is the key to achieving an environment conducive for investment. The interventions proposed in this brief, if well implemented, will address this issue; providing sustainable livelihoods while promoting economic investment. Read More...

STRENGTHENING RESILIENCE AND PROMOTING INCLUSIVE GOVERNANCE PROGRAM (STRENPO): Experiences of advocacy and action for climate change resilience

Care International in Uganda presents to you experiences and lessons learnt while implementing Strengthening Resilience and Promoting Inclusive Governance for Women and Youth in Vulnerable Communities Project (STRENPO). At Care we are using the nexus of humanitarian and long-term development to build resilience that bridges humanitarian action and sustainable development. Our approach to increasing resilience operates in synergy with gender transformation and inclusive governance.

We also show the models used to empower citizens such as engaging duty bearers, building civil society organizational capacity to engage with the duty bearers and claim citizens’ rights and provide information to citizens, build organization legitimacy and support multi-stakeholder platforms for engagement and informing policy processes. Read More...

Where the Rain Falls Phase III (2017 – 2019): Final Evaluation Report

In 2009, the Where the Rain Falls (WtRF) initiative started as a three-year research project investigating the impact of rainfall variability on food and livelihood security, and migration.

This research culminated in a global policy report (2012) and the development of more action-oriented community-based adaptation (CBA) pilot projects in each India, Thailand and Bangladesh. A second phase (2014 – 2016), and later a third phase (2017 – 2019), aimed to scale results, impacts and lessons learned to date for broader support for, and uptake of, CBA methods and approaches.

In October 2019, CARE France engaged an International Consultant to lead WtRF’ first multi-county evaluation. As per the Terms of Reference (TORs) for this evaluation (see Annex IV) the main objectives of the evaluation are two-fold:
(i) to assess the degree of achievement of the WtRF global and specific objectives in India and Thailand respectively; and
(ii) to extract common and/or comparable lessons learned about factors contributing to and hindering achievements (e.g. barriers and enablers) Read More...

Strengthening Resilience and Inclusive Governance (STRENPO) Mid-term Review

The Strengthening Resilience and Inclusive Governance Program (STRENPO) is a 4-year programme in the nexus between humanitarian and development work, managed by CARE International in Uganda, in partnership with four Ugandan civil society organisations. The programme commenced in April 2018 for the years 2018-2021.

The overall objective of STRENPO is: Women and youth in vulnerable, natural resource-dependent communities, including refugee settlements, are resilient to shocks and stresses arising from natural resources degradation, climate change, and conflict & displacement.

The overall impression generated from the documents review and the consultations in Uganda is that programme implementation is largely on track compared with work plans; this includes individual partner projects carried out by three ‘old’ partner organisations and RICE-WN as the new partner in the programme. Interventions are well-managed and the STRENPO team in CARE as well as staff in the partner organisations appear dedicated to the implementation of the programme in general and to their particular contribution.

A baseline survey was undertaken in late 2018 and is assessed as a well-planned and executed activity. The study focused on measuring resilience and the result was a sophisticated framework of criteria for categorising indicators of capacity to anticipate and respond appropriately to climate changes. Important information also came out from the Gender Sensitive Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (G-CVCA) that were undertaken by mid-2019.

- It is therefore recommended to introduce a more diversified approach to the interventions that targets impact groups directly, building on findings from the baseline survey and the G-CVCAs.
- It is recommended that STRENPO continues a strong follow-up to the CAAPs in order to facilitate funding of activities of priority to the involved communities and relevant to the programme’s objectives.
- It is therefore recommended that STRENPO during the coming two years increases the focus on using potential avenues for best practices replication and other catalytic effects.
- It is recommended that the STRENPO partners together selects a handful of the outlined ‘strategic actions’ for further development and specification.
- It is recommended that some of the capacity gaps that have key relevance for the programme are selected, so that it can be decided what type and how much support to the capacity development interventions the programme is able to offer.
- It is recommended that STRENPO in early 2020 reviews its potentials for engaging in stronger partnerships with the private sector, using a market driven analytical approach to determine appropriate interventions and relevant value chain and private sector actors to engage with.
- It is recommended that the STRENPO team engages in a discussion with CARE Danmark to further clarify their understanding and expectations regarding the programme’s inclusion of innovative climate change prevention solutions and a transformative approach to resilience.
- It is recommended that STRENPO undertakes a quick review of its results framework, with the intention to reduce the number of indicators, but also to allow a breakdown on some indicators into refugees and hosts. The revision should also aim at reducing and/or combining the qualitative indicators and progress markers. It is furthermore recommended to review and revise the phrasing of result areas and the Theory of Change, taking note of the suggestions made during the MTR workshop.


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Final Evaluation Report: Nourishing the Future II Project, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica

The CARE-Cargill Nourishing the Future II project was implemented in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica between September 2016 and August 2019 (36 months). Its primary objective was to help producers and women micro-entrepreneurs improve the quality of life of their families, assuring their food security and the sustainable management of natural resources.

Six impact indicators and 32 outcome indicators were tracked for Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, and 11 indicators were applied in Costa Rica, where we implemented a subset of interventions (food security, nutrition and hygiene). Overall, when comparing indicators to their baselines, the average effectiveness was 72%, with Honduras achieving the best results and Nicaragua having less favorable results due to ongoing social, political and economic issues.

Among the most relevant findings of the evaluation were the success of Cargill’s inclusive business model and value chains in integrating small producers and micro-entrepreneurs into markets; an increase in the resilience of households to the effects of climate change; an increase in the use of sustainable agricultural practices; and an increase in incomes as a result of market sales, access to financial services and related training. Moreover, we observed the target beneficiaries working together in rural savings unions, cooperatives and producer associations, supporting the provision of financial, technical and marketing services to their members. Regarding food security and nutrition, our work with schools led to an increase in the consumption of healthy foods at the household level. The project increased access to nutrient-rich foods through community, school and family gardens as well as increased knowledge and application of good practices in sanitation and hygiene.
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