Impact evaluation of three projects in Pokot, Kenya

Background:
Pokot Development Programme (PDP) and Pokot Integrated Programme were implemented in the larger Pokot West district. The church had implemented the PDP project between 1991 and 2002 when the project ended and later continued in the new PIP project implemented between 2003 and 2007. The PDP project was designed as a development project with four components: agriculture, health, education and women concern to support Kenyan government to facilitate long term poverty reduction strategies. PIP continued these four components with a new objective to integrate these social activities in the church administrative and congregational set up.
The HIV/AIDS community counsellors project was administered by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya North West Diocese (ELCK). The main purpose of the project was to build the capacity of the church members in the control and prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS. It aimed at integrating HIV/AIDS into the administrative and congregational set up, and thereby enabling the church to meet its full vision of serving and mobilizing people both spiritually and socially. The main target group was communities and households in West Pokot, with a special focus on the infected and affected of HIV/AIDS, orphans, widows/widowers, street children, truck drivers, sex commercial workers and Matatu touts.

Purpose/objective:
To assess the long-term impacts and sustainability of the projects to provide knowledge for NLM and ELCK that will be useful in the planning and performance of future and current projects both in Kenya and elsewhere. It will give an idea of whether the methods used and the thematic focuses have proved to be successful and discover whether there have been unforeseen consequences, both positive and negative. In particular, specific recommendations are requested to the implementation of a new project in Pokot starting 2010 with a focus on education and health.

Methodology:
The consultants carried out document studies. This was mainly done before data collection from the direct beneficiaries and project management team. The team used semi-structured interviews with the project staff, members of the project steering committees, church leaders and head teachers. They had interviews with one-on-one contact farmers and different households through focus group discussions with different committees and groups in the areas of intervention. In addition, the consultants also had informal discussion with officials from the district education office, district hospital, district agricultural officers, and the district Gender and Social affairs where their views about the work of ELCK and their mode of collaboration was underscored. In addition, the team had a lot of informal meetings with possibilities to clarify and broaden the overall understanding of what we have seen and heard. Data collected was analysed and presented qualitatively in the report.

Key findings:
PDP/PIP: The education activities are continuing led by local committees. The agricultural, sanitation and health activities have made a fundamental change in the area and people continue using what they have learnt and it is on that basic level part of sustainable development. The church has not been able to continue these activities and there is no separate department created neither in the church administration nor in the local church structure. The church is, however, eager to continue developing activities in the region and especially concerned about the remote areas where the church through PDP and PIP has been the major development actor over years. It is therefore possible to say that the church has integrated social concern in their visions, but not yet in their structures.

The total intervention by the PDP/PIP is by the different government offices said to be vital for the development in the area. The activities are said to be well planned to assist poverty reduction and enhancing sustainable development through teaching and training and assisting in building up schools and local initiatives. 

The HIV/AIDS programme did not manage to reach the goal of training pastors and counsellors at a parish level so they could continue the teaching. Due to lack of funds; it stopped before getting that far. The programme managed to organize training for pastors and representatives for the different parishes. In that way the project has been the first ice breaker for more open talking about HIV and AIDS. Taking into consideration the input of resources, the lack of training materials and the cultural unwillingness to even hear about it, we think that the result is commendable. The initial hope for more sustainable teaching on HIV and AIDS to continue in the region without the programme is not realistic. These therefore call for a more intensive and strategic entry points for a longer period of time for more sustainable impact especially in some of the most remote areas.

Recommendations:
ELCK should consider prioritizing the need to initiate and facilitate construction of primary schools in most remote areas in north and East Pokot with clear targets.

The church should continue to explore the opportunity to expand services offered in the three health facilities established to include provision of VCT and ARVs. The church should also continue to explore opportunities to get in partners that can work with mobile clinics and continue close collaboration with the Ministry of Health at the district level to secure more health personnel deployed to offer services in the health facilities.

The church needs to step up more awareness and sensitization on the negative effects of FGM among women and girls, TBAs and church leaders and deliberately include men in FGM interventions. The church should continue preaching against this practice from a theological point of view.

The church should consider stepping up women empowerment initiatives including training on women and human rights, reproductive health and leadership.

The church needs to review the earlier developed HIV and AIDS policy and have it implemented at all levels of the church. This will provide clear guidance on what the church needs and wants to do. The request for a new project in 2010 should be reviewed on the planning of teaching people in countryside. The trained trainers should be followed up yearly in the project period to improve their knowledge, answer their questions and encourage them to continue.