Local Democratic Governance: NCA, SNV, Helvetas & Diaconia Final Report

Background:
The Local Democratic Governance (LDG) Programme represents a unique experience for SIDA, uniting in one hand four international NGOs around a common contract and approach, and on the other hand trying to put into practice, in a holistic way, a laboratory of democratic governance through multidisciplinary interventions.

The challenge was ambitious, as nothing was guaranteeing the functionality of such a dynamic. Development organisations are not always used to collaborate that closely together and the basic programme document was more explicit on the overall approach and philosophy than on the operational mechanisms for implementation and monitoring of activities.

Despite these issues, the consortium of international NGOs has managed to grab the opportunities this programme offered them. It has succeeded in producing remarkable experiences which are relevant with regard to SIDA's strategy for West Africa, and more specifically Mali1. as well as to the main political priorities of the country in accordance with its poverty reduction strategy. This is especially true as regards women and equitable and sustainable natural resource management in relation with prevention and management of socio-economic conflicts among cultivators and farmers2.

Purpose/ Objective:
As we are about to elaborate a new strategy for the period 2011-2015 will the following objectives be:
- Show how the GLD programme has contributed to reinforce the local democratic governance in Mali:
- Relevance of objectives and activities in the SIDA strategy
- Results and impacts of the activities; to which degree has the programme obtained its objectives and expected results
- Activities that have been increasing efficiency and effectiveness in the programme

1 The Sida strategy in West Africa is described in the present report in the paragraph 2.2.1
2 Les politiques gouvernementales The policies the DLG consortium has contributed is reported in the following points 2.1.1 ; 2.1.2 ; 2.1.3 and 2.1.4

-Which mechanisms have been put in place for the future durability of the results in the programme

Methodology:
The evaluation has been delegated to the COWI office, which has chosen an equip of two persons to circulate to the various programme places, and according to the ToR has executed the evaluation task. The equip has used a qualitative methodology;

- Analysis of documents
- Talks with institutions and persons
- Case studies and experiencing visits
- Meetings with focus groups
- Exchange meetings/ analysis of synthesis
- Meetings with the members of GLD and involved partners

Key Findings:
- Development organisations are not always used to collaborate that closely together and the basic programme document was more explicit on the overall approach and philosophy than on the operational mechanisms for implementation and monitoring of activities.
Despite these issues, the consortium of international NGOs has managed to grab the opportunities this programme offered them. It has succeeded in producing remarkable experiences which are relevant with regard to SIDA's strategy for West Africa, and more specifically Mali3. as well as to the main political priorities
- The unclear logical framework and a deficit technical and financial setup has had implications on its effectiveness and efficiency.
- The lack of baseline data and of a global and homogenous monitoring and evaluation system has hindered the possibility of making a more quantitative assessment of the impact of the programme.
- Provided that the overall framework is defined in a clear and logical manner, the establishment of a LDG programme, intervening through a consortium of international NGOs still appears to be very suitable and relevant not only in terms of achieving particular objectives, but also as regards the implementation strategy on the ground which to a large extent depends on the level of recognition of the immediate needs of the involved stakeholders.

Conclusions:
The report concludes that the experiment has a lot of potential, but that the added value of the institutional framework has not yet been explored. The results have been achieved by individual organizations and not by the fact that 4 international organizations have joined a consortium. In an eventual phase 3 the common work needs to be given priority.

Recommendations:
1. The added value of the 4 NGOs working together needs to be reviewed
2. Seek a common strategy to work with CSOs
3. Sida should monitor more regularly with clear terms of reference in line with the common logical framework.
4. Adopt a strategy of multi annual programming with mechanisms for resource mobilization and better structured funding to avoid interruptions and ad hoc approaches.

Comments from Norwegian Church Aid (if any):
Follow-up: Common baselines will be done in 2011 and best practices from common programs will analyzed and developed further. Development of a GLD phase 3 has already started where the recommendations from the evaluation will be taken into consideration.