Mid-term evaluation of the Integrated Development Plan for the Inter-Andean Valleys – Sorata (2008 - 2012)

Background:
The Integrated Development Plan for the Inter-Andean Valleys (PDIVI) was implemented in its second phase between 2008 and 2012, and it has now a two-year consolidation phase until 2014. The Plan is structured around three programs:
i) The Human Development Program, which includes education, health, safe water systems and organizational strengthening as subcomponents.
ii) The Economic Development Program, with agriculture, livestock farming and micro-enterprise sub-components.
iii) The Diaconal Development program, which mainstreams diaconal work in all the projects. Gender equity, the environment and interculturalism are crosscutting themes.

Purpose/objective:
Assess to which degree the objectives set in all the components of the PDIVI have been achieved by the end of the second phase of the Plan’s implementation. Also, identify the factors that facilitated and/or hampered the implementation process, in order to capitalize on the experience gained and generate learning that can be used by NMA-B, municipal governments, community organizations and beneficiary families.

Methodology:
The evaluation was conducted in three phases: Preparation or planning phase, fieldwork to collect primary information: workshops, in-depth interviews with the director, the technical coordinator and the area V team leader, focus groups with the communities, survey interviews, semi-structured interviews, group interviews with municipal government authorities, and systematization of the information and writing of the report.

Key findings:
• The Plan is compatible with the local socio-economic situation - the proposed projects in each of the programs or components respond to local people’s needs.
• Cooperation with the Municipal Development Plans enables a larger number of projects to be implemented and more communities and individuals to be reached.
• Implementation of the project has achieved a high degree of efficacy in all its components from the point of view of the fulfilment of activities. However, due to external aspects outside of MA-B’s control, the fulfilment of objectives has not always been reached.
• The installation of safe water systems, latrines and micro-irrigation systems has improved the living conditions and health of people in the communities.
• Improving of the communities’ agricultural production system and the marketing of their produce has been varied and uneven.
• The program has achieved an extensive raising of awareness about the natural resources present in the local area, provided training on sustainable environmental management and created a culture of forest resources use and production.
• There was no sign of the economic development and production program being included in the human development program (education, health, basic sanitation) and the diaconal development program.
• The arrangement of obtaining a counterpart contribution from the beneficiaries helps to generate a sense of ownership of the projects, but it also leads to the exclusion of people who cannot afford to make that contribution.
• The fact that the community members themselves managed their projects increased their self-esteem, enhanced their management capacities, and encouraged a sense of responsibility.
• From the point of view of efficiency, the involvement of the administration committees in project management meant that a small team, working to cover a large area with scattered communities and the population of three municipalities, was able to fulfil the planned activities and allowed the area team to act with quite a high level of autonomy. However, there are no spaces for the team to meet with the other areas to exchange experiences that could mutually enrich their work.
• The monitoring work and resulting reports focus on whether activities have been carried out, but fail to assess achievement of the project’s objectives, the organization’s strategic objectives or the goals set out in its Strategic Plan. Monitoring and reports should indicate the extent to which the organization’s strategic goals have been achieved.
• The merging of the posts of the Technical Coordinator and Planning Coordinator to the post of Operations Coordinator led to tasks being concentrated in one person, with the imminent risk of negatively affecting efficiency in the organization’s work. The similarity of tasks could have been resolved by means of a better definition of the roles and responsibilities of each post.
• One important factor for sustainability is that the system of working with the administration committees brought the communities together around the projects, enabling them to develop a sense of ownership and responsibility and enhance their capacity to negotiate.

Recommendations:
• To consider all the variables when the objectives are being defined and ensure that the objectives are in line with the organization’s real capacities.
• It is recommended that more emphasis should be placed on training the people responsible for operating and maintaining the safe water systems.
• Differentiated actions could be considered for future initiatives, working on development with the people who have more resources and carrying out social assistance activities with the most vulnerable groups. This would be a way to avoid deepening the differences within communities.
• It is recommended that the planning and monitoring role should be separated from the evaluation role, since the same person cannot act as judge and jury.
• It is also necessary to design a monitoring and follow-up system that provides support to the teams, rather than merely playing an oversight role.