External evaluation of NGO Ker Yaakaar’s project. Community Development in Senegal

Background: The literacy program started in January 2013 in the regions Kaolack and Kaffrine, in the municipalities Médina Sabakh (19 classes), Mabo (10 classes), and Nioro du Rip (1 class). 945 women in total. In addition KY is responsible for 20 village classes, where 524 women participated.   Access to and cleansing of drinking water is a problem all over Senegal, and especially in the villages. The rapid desertification from north to south clearly illustrate this issue. KY had a goal of repairing 30 wells and building 15 new ones in 5 years.

Purpose/objective: After almost three years with these important programs (literacy and well building), it would be nice to look at the effect on the chosen areas. This evaluation has the following goals: 1. Literacy. •Regard level of achieved goals, compared to set goals. •See whether the teaching in the program is relevant and look at the other consequences it has in the population, especially for women and girls in the areas. •Identify strengths and weaknesses in the program. •See if the way of teaching is relevant to meet the health and development needs the women may express. •Identify insufficiency in the strategies for self-sufficiency and independence for the women in the literacy classes and get an indication of the improvement possibilities.

2. Well digging. •Review the goals and achievements. •Identify the reasons that the villages are not able to contribute economically in the work with repairing or building new wells. •Make a list over weakness with the intervention method regarding villagers and indicate the possibilities for improvement.

Methodology: *The evaluation team selected those who are to participate in the study. *The evaluation team  had access to the tests and results from the classes. Analysis of these contributed to identify the factors of success or the lack of. *There have been conducted several interviews: with teachers, advisors, leaders, medical personnel in the villages, local leaders, people elected, and school authorities.*There have been the questionnaires (for advisors, school authorities, heath personnel etc) and observations.

Key findings: In the Post-Alpha classes: The most successful disciplines are spelling and problem solving; these disciplines as well as reading constitute the established curriculum in literacy classes. Grammar is not that successful. In the Alpha 2 classes: The results are satisfactory as a whole for language tests. Calculation: The overall results in calculation are very satisfactory. Income-Generating Activites Funding: Results are extraordinary good. Village water section: Result: only five were repaired. The explanations obtained in the two villages visited made it clear that the beneficiaries are poor.

Recommendations: Functional literacy: *focus be on grammar, spelling and conjugation.*Facilitators must be well trained * Income Generating Activities: “capitalize this good practice to share it with other stakeholders in the informal economy!” Rural water component: the rural water sector officials need to be more understanding towards those who request them.