Final Evaluation of the Programme Citizenship building and good governance in Honduras 2003-2007

Background

The general objective of the Programme Citizenship building and Good governance in Honduras is to contribute to the strengthening of the democratic model, good governance, and improvement of the standard of living in Comayagua, Santa Rosa de Copán, and Trujillo. The programme has three components. (a) Democracy Building: to contribute towards the strengthening of civil society organizations and the role of stakeholders to influence public policies, among these environmental policies. (b) Gender and Equality of Opportunities: to support processes that make possible the enhancement of participation and the organization of women in order to influence decision making and development project implementation. (c) AIDS: to promote prevention oriented to young people and schools, and to fight against the social consequences of discrimination and stigmatisation.

Purpose/objective

The purpose of the final evaluation is to measure the fulfilment of the objectives of the programme, its impact on the participant population and to provide recommendations oriented to secure the self-sustainability and the consolidation of the programme during 2007 and recommendations for a second phase of the programme.

Methodology

An interdisciplinary team of five people was in charge of the assessment that was carried out between January and May of 2007. The methodology used was participative: it counts on the contribution of a representative sample of people involved in all levels of the programme. Additionally there was an extensive review of documentary sources produced by the Local partners and the National Office.

Key findings

It is necessary to point out that this evaluation takes place a year before the Programme deadline. This fact could affect the findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this document.
- The programme shows tangible outcomes in people's life and their surroundings.
- The programme has high pertinence related to the topics raised and communities and the departments chosen. Local organizations and beneficiaries are pertinent since they are part of the communities, and they are able to practice a multiplier effect.
- As a local, regional, and national organization, Caritas has built important spaces for social participation, placing itself as a key actor and spokesman. It is fair to acknowledge that Caritas, as a part of the Catholic Church, is a mobilizing force. The Civic Movement for Democracy, Caritas' political campaign for political education, the environmental networks, especially in forestry and mining, prove its contribution.
- In general, objectives, goals, and results of the projects are too ambitious, and difficult to achieve in a short time. Most of them are vague. Their fulfilment depends on actors and factors that are out of reach of the programme, making it difficult to measure results and impacts.
- The teams have not been able, up to now, to design and to agree on a unified efficient system that allows for the follow-up of indicators and accomplishment of objectives.
- Educational processes show some weaknesses and contents are not always adequate to the expectations, needs and educational level of participants.
- Women's participation in meetings and training activities has increased. There is a growing awareness about including youth.
- The parish priests are key actor in this process. Advances are evident when they identify themselves with the work of Caritas, but their involvement is unstable.
- Several best practices were identified such as the work with youth in the area of hiv/aids, the information fairs about hiv/aids called Exposidas, the national educational campaign related to democratic and electoral practices, the sustainability of the work of the local water committees, capacity building in local advocacy campaigns and the advocacy for the creation of municipal secretariats for women.

Recommendations

Recommendations for consolidation and sustainability:
1. Caritas Nacional should continue to design understandable planning, monitoring, and follow-up instruments as well as budget and report formats easy to apply.
2. Major efforts and resources should be invested in consolidating a national technical team that can assist the dioceses and the communities in more complex topics.
3. It is needed to create spaces and instruments that allow Caritas Nacional and the Dioceses to be permanently informed about changes in the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) made by governmental authorities. The dioceses are required to improve inter-diocesan coordination and coordination with the national office.
4. The objectives, goals, results, and indicators must be elaborated after a thorough base line analysis. The target population needs to better identified in order to improve efficiency an efficacy.
Recommendations for a second phase:
5. The evaluating team considers that a second phase should start taking into account base lines, and the design of planning, monitoring, and follow-up tools.
6. Programmes and projects should be less ambitious. It is not recommended adding new projects or topics, but strengthening the current ones.
7. Caritas Nacional should keep on and strengthen the leadership-training programme; it should continue developing educational electoral campaigns with emphasis in primary elections.
8. It is necessary to concentrate efforts and resources in strengthening participation, advocacy and management in order to build self-sustainability. The project should facilitate knowledge on how to gain access to governmental financial sources etc.
9. Training programmes in the dioceses must be better structured according to the profile of participants and instructors.
10. The National Office needs advancing in the formulation of an institutional policy on gender and equality of opportunities, to be elaborated in consensus with the dioceses.
11. In relation to HIV-AIDS, actions must be oriented to increase consciousness raising and prevention with emphasis in young people (14-35 years old), especially in Comayagua diocese.
12. To advance in equitable participation, it would be convenient to have objectives, results, indicators, and mechanisms to make sure that women, young people, and indigenous and Garifuna are represented in the governments of the organizations.
13. Caritas Nacional and the dioceses should increase awareness among priests about the importance of the programme in order to gain their support in the communities.

Comments from the organisation

The evaluation is perceived by Caritas Norway and Caritas Honduras as valid and useful and it provides a good analysis of the current status in the programme.

A couple of weaknesses might be mentioned. The first one is the fact that the evaluation did not evaluate the consolidation process that have taken place the last 2-3 years and thus the role of Caritas Nacional was not properly evaluated. Another weakness to be mentioned is the disproportionately large focus the evaluation team has attributed to the midterm-evaluation by Norad. Caritas Norway and our partners regarded the conclusions and recommendations of that midterm evaluation as not very relevant due to substantial weaknesses in its implementation.

This final evaluation has been distributed to all relevant actors and conclusions and recommendations have been taken into consideration in the planning of the new programme period.