Here in CARE International’s Evaluation e-Library we make all of CARE’s external evaluation reports available for public access in accordance with our Accountability Policy.

With these accumulated project evaluations CARE International hopes to share our collective knowledge not only internally but with a wider audience.

Looking for something specific? You can filter the evaluations using the dropdown menus on the right side of the screen.

If you have an evaluation or study to share, please e-mail the document to ejanoch@care.org for posting.

Impact Assessment of Savings Groups

Researchers from IPA, along with CARE staff and their implementing partners, conducted a randomized evaluation of Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) programs in Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda to examine two questions: Who joins savings groups? And, what is the impact on households from programs that promote savings groups? The evaluation used a randomized control trial (RCT) design, in which eligible communities were randomly divided into two sets: a set of villages with access to a VSLA program (the treatment group) and a set of villages where the program was not implemented during the study (the control group). The study started in Ghana in 2008 and in Malawi and Uganda in 2009, and the final data collection took place in 2011 in the three countries. Each site included a panel survey in which households were surveyed before the start of the program implementation and again two or three years later. Over 15,000 households in almost 950 communities were surveyed. The surveys covered a large variety of topics, including health, education, income-generating activities, asset holdings, food consumption, non-food expenditure, intra-household decision making and community involvement. At the time of the endline survey, after an average of two years of program implementation in the three sites, one third of respondents had joined a VSLA group. On average, members had been part of a group for 15 months and 61% of members had gone through a full savings cycle, normally lasting between 8 and 12 months. The evaluation should thus be thought of as assessing the relatively short-term impacts of the intervention. [62 pages] Read More...

ENSURE Project Outcome Monitoring Survey Report

Enhancing Nutrition Stepping Up Resilience and Enterprises (ENSURE), originally was a 5 year project which was supposed to end in June 2018 but was extended to February 2020. It is funded by USAID and is implemented in six districts in Manicaland and Masvingo Provinces by a consortium led by World Vision. The other consortium members are CARE, SNV, SAFIRE and ICRISAT. World Vision is the implementing lead in Buhera, Chipinge and Chimanimani Districts of Manicaland Province, while CARE is the implementing lead in Bikita, Chivi and Zaka Districts of Masvingo Province. The project aims to cushion vulnerable and food insecure Zimbabweans in the target districts. The main thrust of the project is to empower and capacitate poor, rural households in the targeted districts to become more food secure. The geographical scope of the ENSURE project was carefully selected to involve agro-ecological zones 4 and 5 where food insecurity is high and covering a total of 66 wards of which 32 wards are in Manicaland Province and 34 are in Masvingo Province. The ENSURE project is anchored on three main thematic areas namely maternal and child health (SO1), agriculture and economic development (SO2), and resilience (SO3). Gender is included as a cross cutting objective which has been embraced in this project in order to increase equity in access to resources among men and women. [44 pages] Read More...

Improving Agricultural Production and Improved Access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Drought Affected Populations in Masvingo Province (MERP)’ Project

In September 2018, Care International in Zimbabwe (CIZ) commissioned Keeptrack Consultants to conduct an End of Term Evaluation (EOTE) of the USAID-OFDA funded ‘Improving Agricultural Production and Access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Project (MERP) in Bikita, Chivi and Zaka districts of Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe. Initially implemented from 2016-2017 in response to the El Nino induced drought, the project was granted a cost modification for the period 2017-2018 in order to respond to La Nina induced flooding. The extension came with an expansion of coverage from 15 wards initially to 18 wards in the same target districts in the final year. The goal of the project was, ‘To provide immediate assistance and recovery to drought affected populations in Masvingo Province through asset (livestock protection), access to water sanitation and hygiene as well as agricultural production. Project activities were aligned to three sectors namely Agriculture and Food Security Sector, Economic Recovery and Market Systems Sector and the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Sector.
According to the Terms of Reference (TOR), the purpose of the end of term evaluation was to assess and provide reliable end-line information on project performance against set parameters. The evaluation was also expected to include an analysis of appropriateness, timeliness, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability. [57 pages]
Read More...

State of Practice: Savings Groups and the Role of Government in Sub-Saharan Africa

Savings Groups are community-based financial service providers that deliver basic financial services to millions of members in underserved markets worldwide. Traditionally, the promotion of Savings Groups has been led by national and international NGOs and a large extension network of community-based trainers. In recent years, governments across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have deepened their engagement with Savings Groups, recognizing the potential of the community-based microfinance model to contribute to national financial inclusion strategies and development agendas. This state of practice report provides a comprehensive overview of government interventions in the sector across Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2018, the authors conducted an extensive desk review and interviews with 46 government representatives from 22 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This report identifies and describes 74 government initiatives in the Savings Group sector, across 20 countries1 in Sub-Saharan Africa. [64 pages] Read More...

Integrated Shelter and Protection Improvements Programme Evaluation Summary

The programme contributes to building resilience by:
• Increasing access to infrastructure through upgrading housing units and implementing neighborhood building and street upgrades;
• Increasing the knowledge of the residents about protection issues through supporting relevant interactive performances and delivering awareness raising sessions for adults and children;
• Improving the health of the residents through upgrading housing units, neighborhood building and street upgrades and running awareness raising sessions.
Further investigation is required to confirm if the programme contributes to building resilience by:
• Increasing community cohesion through establishing the neighborhood committees and running awareness raising sessions;
• Increasing connectivity between residents and external stakeholders through introducing the neighborhood committees to the municipality and CSOs. Read More...

Evaluation of the Integrated Shelter and Protection Improvements Programme for Syrian Refugees and Host Communities in Tripoli, Lebanon

Since 2015, Care International in Lebanon (CIL) and its local partner Akkarouna, have provided shelter, water and sanitation, and protection assistance to vulnerable Syrian refugees and Lebanese host community members in Tripoli and Beirut as part of its Integrated Shelter and Protection Improvements programme for Syrian Refugees and Host Communities (the ‘programme’). The programme is on going – with phase IV continuing from September 2018 to September 2019 – and is funded by the US Government’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM).
The aim of this evaluation is to ‘provide guidance to CARE Lebanon and its partners in order to learn from experiences, strengthen capacities and identify opportunities for increased integration of sectoral approaches as a pathway towards greater effectiveness and sustainability’. There are two objectives to the evaluation, firstly an assessment of Phase III of the programme (completed from September 2017 to August 2018); secondly a contribution analysis evaluation of Phases I, II, and III of the programme (from 2015 to 2018) in order to develop a theory of change. Fieldwork to collect primary data- interviews, focus groups and direct observation- was carried out in September 2018. This was combined with an extensive literature review in order to triangulate the data and refine the findings. [66 pages] Read More...

Promoting Land Rights for Ethnic Minority People in Vietnam

This evaluation is considered an external assessment that serves both accountability and learning purposes. The methodology employed is qualitative, and the evaluation scope covers five dimensions i.e. relevant, effectiveness, impact, sustainability and efficiency in consideration of the evaluation standards of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development/Development Assistant Committee (OECD/DAC).
The combination of various approaches was used to guide the preparation and implementation of the evaluations. That includes right-based, result-based, process-outcome, goal free, performance audit, need-based, participatory and independent approaches.
Key informant interviews (KIIs), Focus Groups, Group Interviews, Case Studies, field observations and Desk Reviews were key data collection methods. Triangulation and cross checking were the key techniques to consolidate and ensure the rigour of findings. Field studies were conducted in Hanoi, Lao Cai, Quang Binh and Kon Tum. In total, 57 informants participated in the evaluation representing village communities, LandNet, local authorities, CSOs, policy makers, and project holders. Informants representing different stakeholders were selected after desk review and consultation with project holders. [45 pages]
Read More...

Projet de Résilience Inclusive et Durable des Agriculteurs et Pasteurs du Mali (RIDAP)

Le secteur de l’agriculture et l’élevage est fortement fragmenté, prédominé par l'agriculture de subsistance et l’élevage extensif itinérant. Selon le dernier recensement agricole de 2004, le Mali compte environ 800.000 fermes qui emploient 8,9 millions de personnes. La plupart sont des petites exploitations. Soixante-huit % des producteurs travaillent sur des exploitations inférieures à 5 hectares (ha), tandis que 18 % disposent de 5 à 10 hectares de terres, mais manquent de matériel indispensable à leur activité. L’effectif du cheptel est estimé à 11 419 900 bovins, 17 400 000 ovins, 24 023 800 caprins, 561 500 équins, 1 099 900 asins et 1 192 900 camelins selon la DNPIA en 2017 avec un PIB au prix curant pour l’élevage et la pêche estimé à 1 214 milliards de F CFA contre 3 412 milliards pour tous le secteur primaire. En outre, une grande partie du réseau de pistes rurales qui permet l'accès au bassin de production agricole, n'est pas praticable pendant la saison des pluies, ce qui empêche les producteurs d'accéder aux marchés urbains et d'exportation. Ce qui fait que les exploitations agricoles familiales restent en marge des opportunités de croissance. Derrière cette absence d'intégration des exploitations agricoles familiales au détriment d'une plus grande productivité - chaines de valeur créatrices et génératrices de valeur (notamment à travers la transformation de produits), se cache également un faible niveau d'organisation et de capacité des marchés. Ces conditions n’existent pas seulement au sein des marchés, où les plus grands opérateurs sont souvent absents, mais également au sein des organisations interprofessionnelles, coopératives et autres groupes professionnels. [54 pages] Read More...

Abdiboru Project Improving Adolescent Reproductive Health and Nutrition through Structural Solutions: Midterm Report

The Abdiboru project aims at improving the life’s of very young adolescent girls’ (10-14 years of age) specifically their sexual and reproductive health and nutrition through structural solution in West Hararghe zone, Oromia, Ethiopia.
The different combination of interventions are implemented by CARE Ethiopia: Arm 1(the Double-combination arm) combines individual and structural/government level interventions; Arm 2 (the Triple-combination arm) combines interventions at individual, structural/ government level, and community levels; and Arm 3 (the delayed intervention arm) serves as a control arm until it receives the better of Arm 1 or Arm 2 intervention in the final year of the project.
This midterm assessment was designed to gather evidence on the progress and lessons learned in the first half of the project life. This assessment pulled data from various sources that are part of the monitoring and evaluation system of the project, including mini-qualitative assessment, baseline qualitative and quantitative studies, sectoral office data, monitoring data, lite qualitative study and the mid-term assessment study. [43 pages]
Read More...

Soybeans for Smallholder Farmers Cultivation Practices Cargill PROSPER

Despite initiatives undertaken by some national and international organizations towards creating an enabling environment for soybean smallholders, most of such initiatives have been deficient in evaluating proper and improper current farming practices, which could have contributed to further reforming of this cultivation. Therefore, CARE International adopted the idea of preparing a study to measure and evaluate practices of soybean cultivation in the governorates of Minya, Beni Suef and Dakahliya. By using criteria and indicators of the reality and specificity of the soybean sector in Egypt, helping monitor and measure the form and degree of practices in order to identify problems, in such practices, suffered by smallholders and to find solutions that best suit them. [53 pages] Read More...

To search for projects containing a specific term, type the term in the search box above and click enter. Please note, the filter functions can only support using one filter at a time.

Filter Evaluations

To sort evaluations by Country, Language, Evaluation Type, Approval Status, Keywords and Sectors, set the dropdown lists above and click the "Apply Filter" button. Please note that currently, the filter functions can only support one filter at a time.