Evaluations of partners in the Middle- East
In 2009, a mid-term evaluation of the programme was conducted by an external evaluator, covering 1,5 years of programming. The War Child team, other NGOs, partner organisations and the children participating in the programme were involved. Goals of the evaluations were:
- To assess whether the choice of working on both sides of the conflict is positive;
- To measure whether War Child was able to achieve its programme objectives;
- To identify innovative components of the programme which can be shared and replicated.
Outcomes
The major outcomes of the evaluation were:
- The choice of working on both sides (Israeli and Palestinian) is positive, and even preferred. It helps the team and the programme be more aware and responsive to the context and help reaching the most vulnerable children;.
- The programme did achieve its overall goal of contributing to the improvement of the psychosocial wellbeing of the most vulnerable children and of promoting children rights through advocacy.
- The team's strength- according to the evaluator- is its "ability to promote true and inclusive partnerships". The partnership approach includes close collaboration, frequent discussions and identifying needs, which War Child complements with training. During an annual conference the partners meet, share and exchange their ideas and achievements. The conclusions of this conference are translated in the development of new programmes.
At the same time, the following recommendations were made:
- To create long-term partnerships in order to strengthen the partners’ sense of security towards their programs and allow for long-term planning which is essential for bringing change to the life of children;
- To build capacity of partners in the area of private fundraising;
- To increase child rights awareness and child-rights programming among the partners.
Lessons learned
The evaluation report is overall positive and recommends War Child to continue its program. War Child has to keep the balance of working on both sides to ensure its credibility. Experiences of working with partners need to be documented more. In 2010 the recommendations of the evaluation will be implemented; strengthening child protection and child participation among partners, developing more realistic monitoring tools and increasing the War Child staff to be able to provide more support to the partners.
The programs of all partner organisations are evaluated separately. Click on the link below for an evaluation for each partner: