Evaluation of Kubatsirana

Background

Evaluation by Pentecostal Foreign Mission of Norway, Mozambique.

"Kubatsirana" is an Ecumenical Christian Association created in 1995 and was one of the first national NGOs to intervene in the area of the HIV/AIDS through the work of the churches. The activities developed by "Kubatsirana" include prevention, home based care and social support, regional training and community mobilization.
In 2003 "Kubatsirana" the project aims at to alleviate the extreme poverty of orphans' children offering formal education and offers technical and finance support to the 4 open centers of 4 quarters in Chimoio city.

Purpose/objective

The main reason for the evaluation is to find the way for the further work of the project which focus is on orphans. The evaluation will serve as a guideline for learning and as a tool for later decision making in new and running projects in Africa. The evaluation will also help to define which activities should be increased, reduced, or commenced new in light of sustainability, so the project can continue after end of support. The main objectives of this evaluation is to verify the impact that project has had until the moment in the life of the orphans and vulnerable children to take off lessons that can be shared with other organizations in Mozambique or in Africa that already works or desires to work with orphans and vulnerable children.

Methodology

The selected methodology looked for to guarantee maximum participation of all the intervening and project stakeholders. Therefore individual interviews and in group in each open center and visits houses were living orphans and vulnerable children who in some form have been benefited from project. At the end of the evaluation was carried out a half-day "feedback meeting" with the coordinators of all 4 open centers and the staff of the "Kubatsirana", where the main findings and recommendations had been presented that had been argued and approved in the same meeting.

Key findings

Thanks to the centers that orphans and vulnerable children of the 4 quarters have access to feeding, education, health, shelter and protection. However there are still necessary to make improvements. The centers play an important role in the emotional life of children; it has children with traumas and affective problems that can only be helped with more efficient form by professionals. The activities should be taken under reconsideration. The activists are the base of the work of the centers and in at least two centers it could be verified the spirit of voluntarism and the recognition that the community gives to its work. The coordinators need to share and systemize the successful experiences of each one and to elaborate its proper fundraising plan and establishment of partnerships with clear objectives, and defined goals and stated periods. The centers are not legalized, are operating on behalf of the churches. The decision processes are little inclusive and broad. The centers suffer from some problems of administrative and financial order. The staff of the "Kubatsirana" is overloaded of work. Moreover "Kubatsirana" grew very much due to good work that has carried out and at the moment it has six different donors.

Recommendations

? To improve the infrastructure to shelter children: to construct adjusted refectories, latrines with covers, to open water boreholes in the quarters where they do not have and to construct adequate dormitories.
? To diversify the children's feeding.
? Contract a psychologist per 3 years that the task would have to take care of the children of the 4 centers and to give continuous capacitating the activists and wage-earning staff who deal with children and young in the centers.
? Emphasis networking and partnerships with other nation NGOs.
? Adjust activities.
? There is a need to give legal assistance so that children's rights should be respected, and to help people to get documentation that gives access to these rights such as Identity document and Birth certificate.
? Each center must elaborate its volunteers policy where consists on the rights and duties of the volunteers, training of activists and the ways of performance evaluation and their work recognition.
? Capacity building for coordinators and those in charge of administrative and social areas moreover in establishment of partnerships and fundraising.
? To legalize the centers, to elaborate by-laws that guarantee that children's and young representatives' bodies and activists democratically elect centers for its pairs, participates in decision-making process of Open Centers.
? To create a culture of transparency in decision-making processes.
? To establish clear and precise criteria for families selection and for children to be helped.
? To train staff in administrative and financial management.
? Training in monitoring and evaluation for activists and coordinators and for those in charge of social area and a process of "mentoring" during one year until each center has implanted a simple and operational system of monitoring.