The integrated program of CELPA Evaluation of the program components: Community Development, HIV/AIDS, Promotion of Women Issues, Peace and Reconciliation, Organizational Development

Background

The Integrated Program of CELPA (IPC) is implemented by Communauté des Eglises Libres de Pentecôte en Afrique (CELPA) which is the Pentecostal Church in Africa based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The program is under the church administration of CELPA and supported financially by CELPA's Norwegian partner, The Pentecostal Foreign Mission in Norway (PYM). The IPC is a framework agreement project financed by the Norwegian Development Cooperation (NORAD) via the Norwegian Mission in Development (BN). CELPA recently finalized its new five year program for the 2007-2011 period. The annual budget for 2008, approved by NORAD and BN is US$ 1,127 millions (NOK 7,1 millions).

Purpose/objective

The main purpose of this evaluation was to assess CELPAs' competencies and capacities to implement development activities in the current scale and to assess sustainability related to its administrative, professional and financial capacities.

Methodology

The evaluation team comprised one Norwegian and one Congolese consultant. For each of the five components mentioned above, the evaluation should assess:
Results/achievements, Relevance of components, Resource use, Competencies and capacities of staff, Monitoring and evaluation (M/E), Cooperation with other program components, Sustainability aspects. The methods used are; Review of documentation, Interview with administration and with project staff, Visit selected program areas and program activities, Meetings with local/provincial authorities, Discussions and work-shop with the steering committee of the church and the activity leaders.

Key findings

Currently CELPA and its integrated program are at a cross road. During the last 15 years CELPA has experienced an important growth in the number of individual members and member churches, and in its portfolio. While the health and education activities are CELPA's flagship components, the other NORAD-financed components can often be perceived as minor or negligible components that get less attention, from both CELPA and PYM, are allocated less resources and have often negligible development impact, with relatively small budgets. Also for these components, Sud-Kivu receives the lion's share in terms of the regional allocation.

Although most of the reviewed activities are relevant in the post-conflict context of DRC, the activities are often scattered and with very limited impact. Apart from the HIV/AIDS sub-component that has revised its strategy (on PYM's request) and is now decentralizing its activities to locally elected HIV/AIDS antennas; the other components have yet to make coherent strategies for their interventions. This includes both to identify how to target the most marginal and vulnerable community members and how to identify and select geographically limited intervention areas, instead of being spread out which requires enormous transportation budgets. The peace and reconciliation component has - after 18 months - not yet elaborated a comprehensive strategy for its activities.

Often the other reviewed components have too many staff compared to their activity level, such as the community development and the women promotion components. Moreover, many staff do not have the required profile for their work and positions such as staff in the women promotion and in the peace and reconciliation offices. Supervision, collaboration and coordination are challenges for all components.

Recommendations

1. Strengthen CELPA's organizational development activities:
CELPA should urgently launch and complete several of the planned organizational development activities that have not yet materialized, including:
• The elaboration and adoption of an Administrative and Financial Procedures Manual,
• The formalization of CELPA's relationship with its program staff, by establishing and signing work contracts (status du personnel),
• The creation of a Technical coordination support unit located under the office of the principal coordinator
• The training of staff of the central administration and the four regional offices in financial management and other management issues

2. Ensure gender mainstreaming in CELPA and its integrated program:
CELPA should urgently elaborate and adopt a comprehensive Gender Strategy to:
a. assure that women and girls are beneficiaries at the same level as men and boys in all of the ICP's activities
b. promote women in leadership positions, as professional staff within CELPA's administration and in CELPA's many health and education facilities

3. Make sure that CELPA's development activities target the poor and vulnerable
For each component, CELPA should make a coherent strategy and approach for how to target the most poor and marginal communities and the poor and marginal community members.

4. The future components of CELPA's integrated program
CELPA has now come to a cross road where it has to make some priorities with regard to the future of many of its NORAD financed components. Following are two different scenarios (that have been made on the basis of the findings of both the 2007 evaluation and this current review) that CELPA should consider in collaboration of its main donor PYM:
1. Scenario: Health And Education Focus
CELPA's integrated program should only focus on and implement what it is best at, namely to manage and execute health and education activities in its four regions of intervention.

2. Scenario: Health and Education Focus plus strengthening of the HIV/AIDS
component and strengthening and reorganizing/revamping the Community Development Component
CELPA's integrated program should continue with its health and education focus but should also strengthen its activities related to HIV/AIDS and community development.