© 2010, CARE USA. All rights reserved. 1 CARE in the Balkans Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia,...

© 2010, CARE USA. All rights reserved.

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CARE in the BalkansBosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia,Kosovo and Montenegro

(CI Lead Member: CARE Deutschland-Luxemburg)

Evidence of Change Report on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment

2005-2011

WEIMI Presentation

August 8, 2012


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Location/Coverage: red, grey, dark & ligth blue, yellow


Need for this report? Program Approach- joint regional strategy developed – 2 program

directions (GE & Economic and Social Inclusion) Lack of collective sense of what we are accomplishing or

contributing to as CARE in the region; Recognized: the imperative – the majority of projects in the period

2005-2011 belonged to GE program; Retrospective assesment –looking for evidence of most significant

changes and gaps for future impact measurement; Ready to take Correcteive Action related to measurement –we do

not have a system in place to measure our work (the only way to establish where we are before we move forward in strengthening our M&E system)

Evidence of Change Report vs. Impact Report – lack of unified, outcome level focused indicators and data – more relevant and realistic to search for evidence of change than for the intended impact.

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CARE in the Balkans GE Program

CARE’s aim in the Balkans is to ensure social, economic and political

rights of vulnerable and marginalized groups are recognized and fulfilled,

contributing to sustainable peace in the region. CARE works in Bosnia

Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia and Montenegro, with vulnerable and

marginalized communities and has a special focus on minorities, young people,

women and girls.

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CARE’s Gender Program seeks to promote the values and practices of

gender equality, diversity and non-violence by strengthening the capacities

of local, national and regional human rights and social justice actors and by

creating opportunities for innovation, participation, learning, cooperation and

advocacy.

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Type of Initiatives Assessed (2005-2011)

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All 17 projects (clusters-matches, extensions); Both national (8) and regional (9) Prevention of GBV (through women-led NGOs) Working with young men and boys on developing attitudes and

demonstrating behaviours supporting more gender-equitable social norms, promote healthy life-styles and discourage violence against women and peer;

Anti-trafficking –prevention, direct assistance, advocating for legislative changes, strengthening networks)

Minority rights - Roma women and girls (social inclusion -formal and informal education, health, public life participation)

Through and with local NGOs as partners all initiative structured around: 1) CS strengthening; 2) specific external focus on project topics.


Domains of Change + Layers

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Methodology

Document Analysis (desk research); Survey –perception of CARE’s overall work, quality in GE and WE;

CARE’s way of work and relationship with stakeholders (28 questions, 116 respondents); more than 50% working with CARE between 2-5 years

Face to face and Skype/Phone interviews and Focus Groups; WHAT change has happened, WHY and HOW? In what domain, on what level and to what degree? 19 local NGOs (partners targeted): Total of 139 persons involved-direct partners, final beneficiaries, government representatives.

Result in: Quantitative data Qualitative data Testimonials/Short Human Interest Stories Financial Input Analysis

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Challenges Associated with Report Development

Get of the ‘project box’ thinking – to think about ‘big picture change’; Lack of cross-regional knowledge among CARE staff on project related issues,

limited knowledge to who is doing what and with whom on similar project topics; Defining the scope of the data gathering – asking the right questions around

change in our context-how does change happen, how to we leverage change, what type of change want our impact group experience in the future, what is CARE’s role in that matter;

Lack of usable and comparable data, documentation; Expertise of local consultants for this type of a task; $ and time constraints; Linking the investment ($$) with change –analysis of correlation; Numbers not being fair, can be misleading, to some projects (Roma girls, for

example, long-term activity with great impact focused on two groups—relativly a small number), aligning scale and impact is important!

Recognizing that this is quite an investment (time, money and human resources).

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Challenges in the existing M&E System

Had no centralized storage or archive of program documentation on a regional level;

Project M&E frameworks – lack of some projects’ baselines, not clearly identified indicators;

Did not have consistent set of indicators, existing were strictly related to individual projects and were not aligned;

Shorter-term projects – some indicators on output some on outcome level - As a result – reports and evaluations that focus on outputs and somewhere outcomes;

Quantitative project data –collection and usefulness – one partner in same or different capacity took part in more projects; different terminology used in terms of partners and sub-partners; issue of double-counting of persons/organizations in matching projects or activities (or like regional conferences- funded by several projects);

No person dedicated to M&E and learning –PMs project-based task;

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Basic Financial and Quantitative Data

Total of over 6.5 mil EUR of direct costs; Grants to partners: 3.383 mil EUR (capacity of local NGOs to

manage and report accurately and timely based on CARE’s policies and procedures aligned with national laws)

CARE worked with 60 different local NGOs as direct partners in 5 countries of the region (they served as mentors to additional 30 new or less experienced ones by transffering knowledge & skills)

Over 90.000 direct beneficiaries of CARE-led initiatives; 645 Trained peer-educators 100 persons, direct partner staff members, finished formal high-

school education and/or informal but certified courses (IT, foreign lanugage, financial and admin management);

65.000 directly benefitted from directly participating in advocacy and awareness raising activities.

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Findings - Survey

Confirmation: “What we at CARE think people think about us and our work is what they really do”

Overall quality of CARE’s projects focused on GE and WE: over 86% - excellent and very good

Relevance for local context and needs: over 90% - excellent and very good Initiating and supporting partnership, national and regional networking 72-86% Contributing to change in GE and WE in local communities, partner org,

individual lives: 80-85% CARE adds value to all it does: over 73% Specific positive influence: on organizational (93%) and individual capacity

building(85%) Respectful, transparent relationship: CARE treats its partners well: 86% CARE dominating processes and claiming results: 56-70% do not agree CARE’s procedures difficult and complicated: 50% do not agree

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WHAT Change Has Happened-Contributing to Sustainable Civil Society-

Significanlty improved cooperation among NGOs (women and youth), national and regional levels, transfer of knowledge and experience + coperation with governement institutions.

Partners as mentors to smaller and less developed organizations-significant increase in active and functional formal and informal networks –contributing to a more vibrant civil society.

CARE partners recognized as resource organizations on their priority topics by peers, beneficiaries and government institutions.

Visible growth in skills, knowledge, visibility and effectivness of partners – organizations stronger and more sustainable.

Partner organization(s)/represenatitves demonstrate increased professionalism – become relevant and respected actors and members of government working groups and advisory bodies (‘not seen as enemies of the state’ any more).

Partners- key organizations for media coverage on relevant issues. Increased advocacy role and capacity of partners – lead to changes at public policy

and procedural levels. International cooperation and membership through CARE established or increased.

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WHAT Change Has Happened -Reducing the Risk of Violence-

Improved legislation, policy and procedures on AT and GBV (new protocols introduced, criminal law article amended to include trafficking victims and shift from victims to users for punishment, regulations to include confication of property of perpetrators, lower number of victims, improved cooperation of NGOs and government, improved and expanded prevention work)

Roma women recognize different types of violence, know their rights and who to turn to in case of domestic violence, feel stronger and more self confident, report a decrease of violent behaviour on part of husbands in their families and communities.

Significant change notable in– views, attitudes and actions of young men – prevention work crucial! High-school boys with violent behaviour become peer educators, have improved their school grades, have become “cool” guys and role models of a new model of what it means “to be a man”.

Young men: the school, family and wider society perceives them differently – they influence their friends—no more fighting, “I am a much better boyfriend”, are more responsible in sexual relations, take care of their health.

YMI model gets recognized and accepted by Ministers of Education for teachers as a part of official teachers’ training.

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WHAT Change Has Happened -Changing Traditional Gender Roles-

The most critical change demonstrated by young boys (YMI), Roma girls and Roma women. They:

Think more positively about themselves and others – personal shift in perceptions of gender roles and gender equality.

Act/ relate more positively, more openly, more creatively to others – individuals and structures. As a result, others change, and structures change.

Have a better sense about their future, and they act on this, opening up much better options for themselves (for example: more Roma girls enroll in primary and high-schools and consider continuing, marry later, parents’ attitude changed on importance of girls’ education –parents decide to start adult education)

Are looked at differently, more positively, by their peers and by the wider community –become role models.

Demonstrate leadership, and they are noticed for their leadership. Insitutions more open and ready to act upon effective, evidence-based

request and approaches than ‘needeness’-significant improvement in the interactions between these groups and institutions.

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WHAT Change Has Happened -Promoting Social Integration/Addressing Marginalization/

Enabling Social Inclusion-

More Roma girls in schools and finish schools; The arareness of the importance of education and health increased among

marginalized groups; Reintegration of trafficking victims into society increased, new models of

involvement of potential victims established and funcsional; Roma women activisam significantly increased; Increased involvement of Roma women (as advocates and representatives

of their communities) into societal structures and processes; Young boys from vocational and technical schools are leaders of positive

changes. YMI including Roma boys into the program! Innovative, appealing methods used to promote integration and raise

awarness: forum theatre technique.

Roma women partner organization:

‘we are unavoidable – we are participating in the development of all strategic documents related to Roma women in the country. We are involved in advisory bodies at the highest level, contributing to recommendations to government.’

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WHAT Change Has Happened -Participation of Women in Policy Making Processes and Public

Sphere Development of capacity (individual and organizational) – flowed naturally

into influence at structural level Evidence based advocacy-partners learned about and applied the skills—

became more visible and respected for that; As a result: 12 Roma women became members of local community councils; 4 are waiting to be officially confirmed as members of the government

advisory body called: teh Roma Committee with the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina—that so far consisted of 11 Roma men only + 11 government representatives.

5 Roma women are getting prepared for the local elections in BiH taking place in October (2 as independent candidates and 3 as party representatives)

Roma partner representative in Montenegro – only Roma woman-member of the governement’s working group on the new National Roma Strategy development.

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How and Why the Change?

CARE’s Model of Work recognized as the most

significant factor – 5 components:

Partenship Ethos and Approach Capacity Building Approach Networking Approach With strong grounding in Human Rights and

Programmatic Approach

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Initial Ideas on IM Future Steps Based on Lessons Learned

Current projects M&E plans reviewed, EoC Rpt recommendations utilized, IM indicators adjusted to each initiative –to contribute to collecting relevant regional impact data over time;

Quantitative data collection tool(s) developed; Best suited IM qualitative method chosen and developed for planning,

monitoring and regular data collection; Regional Program Advisor (RPA) – training for program staff held, terminology

clarified, practical use of tools defined and agreed upon, regular communication and experience exchange ensured with PMs and among them with the RPA,

Donor report fomats adjusted to a degree to contribute to overall impact measurement, IM included into all phases from design, monitoring, reporting.

Analysis capacity – when data collected –how to analyse it, how to use it (training of program staff and partners too)

Partners role to play – train them to be able to monitor and report about the change happening in the field.

Learning Agenda –culture of learning to be established and utilized Funds issue: How much $ does CARE invest into this area of work?

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Public Report and Distribution

What we have: Internal Report CARE Team working on the public version – story we

want to tell; Layout and graphics, translation, printing, distribution –

by end of Sept 2012 Public Report + short video? Distributed to CARE, stakeholders, current and potential

donors, electronically and as hard copy.

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Q & A

Questions ?

Thank you

© 2010, CARE USA. All rights reserved. 1 CARE in the Balkans Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia,...

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