Evaluation of RCA and COMECAMPO Project

Background

The evaluation covers only the Meso American component of the project.

Since 1995 the DF has been promoting and supporting a regional network in Central America, called the Red de Cooperación Alternativa (RCA). In 2003 a specific project, known as "Comercialización en el campo," COMECAMPO (Commercializing in the countryside), was added to the RCA networking process and biannual training seminars. COMECAMPO is a regional project resulting from the RCA networking structure. The project is meant to strengthen marketing efforts of farmer organizations who are either direct or indirect beneficiaries of the DF. An external evaluation of the RCA network and the COMECAMPO project was carried out in 2004/05.

Please note: This evaluation covers only the Central American component of Development Fund's South-South network project with NORAD project number GLO-02/465-4.

Purpose/objective

The general objective of the evaluation is to try to determine the institutional and administrative sustainability of the RCA network by analyzing the principal impacts it has had as well as the challenges it faces in a participatory manner.

The specific objectives of the evaluation are to:
- Analyze the administrative and organizational structure of the RCA;
- Understand the level of motivation of the RCA partners as far as South - South cooperation is concerned;
- Determine the impact of the RCA on or in the partner organizations as well as the target beneficiary organizations of the various projects;
- Analyze the COMECAMPO Project, producing a document which includes expected results which are (objectively and reasonably) attainable during the current project period.
- Determine the principal challenges currently facing the RCA;
- Recommend principal actions to be taken by RCA members; and
- Give concrete recommendations to NDF concerning the RCA and its future.

Methodology

The methodology which has been used to obtain most of the information has been mostly via interviews and group meetings or workshops where both RCA counterpart organizations as well as representatives of the grassroots beneficiary groups have been able to provide their opinions about their experiences as member of the RCA, about regional exchanges and training processes as well as the COMECAMPO project.

Key findings

- The members of the network show strong signs of commitment and motivation.
- RCA has contributed to long term horizontal relationships between participants in the various countries, and these groups have created important relationships which have provided opportunity for innovative collaboration.
- Despite a low budget, RCA has been very effective.
- There is a general need for strengthening the organisational and institutional structure.

Recommendations

Main recommendations for RCA (networking component):
- Improve co-ordination and administration.
- The administrative role should be taken on by an organization with an extensive experience in the field of commercialisation which can also provide the necessary institutional framework and capacities.
- Other parallel networks should be analysed and possibly unified efforts considered.
- Technical solutions should be revised in order to strengthen the cooperation among members and to make the decision making process more participatory.
- It will be important to increase the participation and membership in the network; both related to donors, organisations and not at least grassroot members. The participation should also be extended to decision-making bodies.

- Main recommendations for the COMECAMPO project (commercialization component):
- Different legal options should be studied, to facilitate joint commercial activities between the different organizations in the various countries. It would be important to search for strategic partners with regional presence, such as ACICAFOC, RELACC, FINCA, etc.
- The project should identify and prioritize products and initiatives that have a high viability or probability of success, both productively and commercially to be given priority in application of the second phase of COMECAMPO.
- Space should be provided in the RCA component for meetings and workshops with the coordinators of commercialization projects (COMECAMPO and others) so that they can coordinate amongst themselves separate from the other political and training activities.
- There is need for a system for monitoring and systematization of the of the various COMECAMPO projects throughout the three countries.
- A regional strategy, based on local actions, should respond to up-to-date and precise reading of the environment via ongoing diagnosis and analysis of local, regional and global tendencies.
- The project should take advantage of the existing networks of relationships of each organization, to help form a larger and more solid commercial network.
- Development Fund initiatives should be revised searching for possible duplication in the areas of small farmer commerce in the region. A dispersion of resources should be avoided and these should be concentrated on initiatives that are more consolidated.
- The evaluation also includes recommendations for each country separately but these are not included here.

Comments from the organisation

Any evaluation is produced within a very limited framework with regards to the composition of the evaluation team, its time available, its access to information and how it analyses the information received. Furthermore, any social reality can be analysed and presented in many different ways, among which an evaluation represents only one. Hence while this evaluation report may be useful as a tool for general learning, it has limited value as a source of information about the particular projects and partners in question. We urge any reader do consult the partners involved or Development Fund before applying this information in a way that may affect the partners and the project.