Final Evaluation of the Project on Improved Protection for Children in Conflict with the Law

Background   
The project is funded by a grant from the European Commission and Save the Children Norway. It has been implemented by its local partner, Legal Aid of Cambodia from January 2011 to December 2013, in Banteay Meanchey (BMC) and Siem Reap (SR) provinces. The overall objective of this project is to contribute to the development of a child-friendly justice process and to strengthen the implementation of child rights through national and international laws in Cambodia. The specific objective is to improve child protection for CICL in the justice system in Cambodia.

Purpose/objective (including evaluation questions)   
 The stated objective of the final evaluation is to evaluate the project achievements against the approved plan after three years of implementation to draw lessons learned and make recommendations for improvement for future designs. The specific objectives include the assessment of (i) the efficiency and effectiveness of the project, (ii) the direct management by LAC and support by SCI, (iii) the intended and unintended Impact of the project, using Save the Children’s Theory of Change, and (iv) the relevance of the project model for a potential next phase of the program and  develop key recommendations

Methodology    
 The methodology used in the final evaluation included desk review and field work in the two target provinces, Banteay Meanchey and Siem Reap, using quantitative and qualitative methods. For the interviews with children and youth, the Evaluation team followed the SC’s Practice Standards for Children’s Participation. The respondents include (i) final beneficiaries, including CICL and the communities, and (ii) relevant state actors at all level, including the central, provincial, districts and commune level, (iii) partner NGOs, and (iv) relevant LAC and SCI staff. Focus Group Discussion (FGDs), semi-structured interviews and key informant interviews (KII) were used with different types of respondents.

Key findings   
The study used the five standard criteria to assess the project: relevance, effectiveness, impacts, efficiency, and sustainability. The key findings from each criteria are as follows:

Key finding 1: Relevance
The project is found to be relevant to the problems/local needs because it seeks to address of poor prison condition, abuse on CICL in custody, improper implementation by local police in dealing with CICL etc. The project is also relevant to the ongoing policy/institutional development of the Government, including the drafting of the Juvenile Justice Law, decentralization, justice sector reform and improvement of services provided by social workers. However, the number of CICL cases in the targeted areas were reported to have decreased over the last three years, which require better assessment of the rationale for case selection.

Key finding 2: Effectiveness
The effectiveness of the project is measured based on the outputs achieved by the project, the finding on which are: legal representation services were provided according to plans; the training and awareness raising events and the number of participants have been implemented according to plan; and all the planned trainings and coordination with prison authorities in both provinces have been implemented. However, the number of children diverted is less than 40% of the planned targets; the radio talk shows have had limited outreach and impact.

Key finding 3: Impacts
That the project is the only provider of legal assistance directly to CICL and that it has worked directly with sub-national and local actors has been appreciated by all the key stakeholders involved. Through its contribution to the Pillar Meeting and various capacity building for key law enforcement officials, sub-national authority, and social workers have contributed to better coordination among key law enforcement agencies. The project, based on its experiences on the ground, and through good relationship that LAC has built with Government stakeholders, have also contributed to more effective advocacy for policy and institutional changes. However, the impacts of the projects have been constrained by the still-weak (although improving) institutional capacity, coordination, and, more importantly, low incentives faced by key stakeholders from the Government side. Structural constraints that exist both in the Government and within the community also makes the translation from awareness to actual implementation/ engagement in addressing the issues of CICL.

Key finding 4: Efficiency
The project encountered late funding flows, the national election, and flooding which lead to some delay of some activities. The staff also have to play multi-roles that are raised as heavy workload for them. There is only one technical support from one Save the Children staff for two provinces. However, these constraints have been effectively overcome by both SCI and LAC during the implementation.

Key finding 5: Sustainability
The project helps provide CICL in prison with skills for the lives outside and build sub-national officials capacity and system; The pillar meeting is more likely to continue if enough commitment from the Ministry of Justice and with more operational budget to support the event; the diversion practice is more likely to sustain if supported by proper legal/policy framework. However, prison meetings are unlikely to sustain if there is no support.

Recommendations   
Recommendation 1: Relevance, Effectiveness and Efficiency. The project should provide better rationale for site selection; identify and find ways to address structural constraints faced by community engagement; assess if improved awareness has led to better referral, and consider the possibility of establishing or supporting centers for CICL.

Recommendation 2: Impacts and Sustainability: The project should better connect with provincial WCCC; consider the issues of incentives of the actors involved when designing capacity building activities; continue and expand pillar meeting model and help better channel information from the Pillar Meeting down to the commune level and up to the national level.

Recommendation 3: Advocacy. The project should find ways to formalize/institutionalize LAC’s existing network with Government to increase effectiveness of its advocacy, better understand the implications of post-2013 election reform agenda at the Ministry of Justice and Council of Ministers; connect with NCDD-S; jointly advocate for fiscal transfer to commune police, jointly advocate for better horizontal accountability between commune council and police and jointly advocate for Ministry of Social Affairs, especially at district level, including travel allowance.

Follow up (with reference to Action Plan) 
The Evaluation findings and recommendations will be used for designing project model for a potential next phase of the program and for policy lobbying for advocating for legal and policy changes and enforcement.