Evaluation, Conflict Transformation in Palestinian Areas II

Background

2005 – 2012, Norad supported OPCY (Operation Palestinian Children and Youth). In 2013, the staff of OPCY started working on CTPA (Conflict Transformation in Palestinian Areas).

CTPA´s main focus has been training the counsellors in the public Palestinian school – which is equivalent to ´sosiallærerne´ in Norway. Each counsellor is responsible for 1-2 schools, and will do some classroom teaching with the challenging classes and they will also be counselling single students with special difficulties. By CTPA II, 9 of 17 directorates are trained.

Purpose/objective

The purpose of the external evaluation of the project´s last year, was to evaluate the results on the following outcomes:

1. Valuing differences will become part of the Palestinian educational system/schools.
2. Participating schools testify to less physical and verbal violence.
3. Participants acquired new communication skills towards the ‘other’, and are practicing it.
4. Participating educators are better role models for the children they work with.

The evaluation assessed the project contribution to these outcomes and the PBS ability to achieve the intended results, highlighting lessons learnt and presenting recommendations for a the next phase of the project.

Methodology

The evaluation used a participatory approach, engaging the project implementing management, project beneficiaries and project partners. It included desk reviews of project documents, data collection through questionnaires and interviews, analysis and reporting.

Key findings

1. Project relevance
Adequacy of project activities to achieve the goals

• Feedback from counsellors is overwhelmingly positive.
• A large majority of the counsellors was able to implement the training during the training period and some aspects of the training were continually implemented after the training period.
• Counsellors testified to being able to integrate violence reduction measures in their schools.
• A majority of focus groups counsellors self-reported having become a better role model for students as a result of the SET VDP trainings.

Project responsiveness and relevance to the needs and priorities of the target groups The MOE, which is the main target group, has demanded training for all the councillors of the country – due to the training´s relevance. Providing tools and means to deal with violence in society and in the classroom is definitely something needed in the Palestinian society.

Project relevance to Palestinian and Norway priorities

• The CTPA project is relevant to two national priorities presented in Palestine’s National Policy Agenda 2017 – 2022: ‘quality education for all’ and ‘quality health care for all’.
• Norway has strong focus on education, through SDG 4.

2. Project Impact and results

• Counsellors use different programs throughout the year but the SET VDP manual is the most commonly used program that counsellors continue using in the schools.
• In 2016, counsellors from Yatta and Tubas gave proof of implementation of the VDP manual in the implementation reports filled out by counsellors during the training periods. PBS concludes that at least for that school year, SET VDP has been part of the school system.
• In 2017, the Head of the Counselling Department at the MOE in Tulkarem said that the SET VDP curriculum is implemented in all the public schools by the counsellors.
• Counsellors testified during the focus group meetings that the SET VDP program has proven a great tool to discuss verbal and physical violence with children. The student focus groups affirmed this, explaining that violence was an often discussed topic in the counselling classes, usually alongside exercises about self-awareness and respect for others. The method helps children be emotionally healthy, as a preventative measure.
• Due to the program´s high relevance and impact, the MOE has demanded that CTPA will continue to train all councellors in all governates (by 2018, 9 out of 17 governates are trained by CTPA)

3. Project Management; Efficiency and Effectiveness

• CTPA team is a strong and adequate project team
• PBS has sufficient financial routines and capacities
• The financial resources allocated to the CTPA II project are fair and were adequate to reach the objectives. However, it is recommended that if more financial resources are made available for even stronger MEL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning).

4. Project sustainability

• Full implementation of the SET VDP training has been challenging, however, many counsellors testified to having thoroughly enjoyed the practical nature of the trainings and the ease with which they were able to transfer their newly learned skills into the classroom.
• The SET VDP trainings will stop if PBS stops providing the trainings. There is no level of sustainability such that the Ministry of Education could take over the trainings, due to the Ministry of Education severely lacking in financial and knowledge resources.  

Recommendations

It is recommended that PBS continues to develop and expand the work they have developed during OPCY and CTPA. The strong relationships PBS has built with the Palestinian Ministry of Education and with counsellors in addition to their experience and knowledge is fertile soil for a next successful project including SET VDP.

Comments from the organisation

The ELFCN considers this evaluation trustworthy, reliable and of high quality. The ELFCN notices the praise of the project team, the implementation and also their own work with measuring results.

This is a project where measuring results on an impact level is not a simple task, and we are satisfied that there are measurable outcome results.

We hope and assume the results are also on impact level although not possible to measure in this project.

We aim to continue through CTPA III (not yet approved) – with the evaluation recommendation taken into consideration and with even more clear baseline and targets.