Mid Term Evaluation of “Participatory Action for Community Transformation”

Background

Liberation-Education and Action for Development (LEAD) has been implementing a project entitled "Participatory Action for Community Transformation (PACT)" since 1997 with support from Stromme Foundation. Based on the participatory evaluation of the first phase (1997 - 2001) carried out in July 2001 it concentrated on the slum pocket in Jeypore Municipality where about 5,000 families live for its second phase: 2003-2007. Major interventions of the project have been family focused and implemented through Self Help Groups (SHGs). Awareness, Leadership development and efficient & effective management of SHGs have been crucial to streamline the process of development.

Purpose/objective

To assess the changes taken place in the people and the area due to the project intervention and the impact of the project,
• To review changes in the community based people's institutions and their capacity to sustain the efforts of the project and
• To define areas, (a) where project interventions have been successful, sufficient or insufficient (strength and weaknesses), (b) areas, where (further or future) project interventions would be necessary (opportunity), (c) areas, where (further or future) interventions should be avoided and where project activities were at risks (threats).

Methodology

The evaluation team developed a research design in cooperation with relevant staff members to include (a) unstructured personal interviews, (b) focus group discussions, (c) physical observations /verifications, and (d) document review.
At the programme participants level, focus on health awareness, education of children and mothers, social development (women's rights, legal education), capacity building of group members, SHG leadership (skills training, group management, entrepreneurship training) and micro-credit in comparison to the time in 2003.

Key findings

i) Targeting and Outreach
The project has reached 1500 families through 56 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in 7 clusters, which is significantly lower than the planned target of 5,000 within the second phase. 557 people have received credit on average Rs. 4,625 with a total of Rs 1,844,269 as loan outstanding. The total average savings accumulated per SHG is Rs 2,602. The number of children admitted from pre-school to formal primary school is about 150.
ii) Change in the livelihood situation: Impacts and Behavioural Changes
The members of the SHGs have developed self-confidence and acquired communication skills and knowledge on development issues. The micro-credit from LEAD has saved the programme participants from their dependency on moneylenders, who have been charging almost 10-15% interest per month.
The children of the slums in the age of five and below attend pre-schools conducted by teachers for 3 hours a day. Children learn the alphabet, number-counting, drawing, cleanliness, etc. The attendance is almost 75%. The teachers visit parents if a child is irregular in pre-school attendance. The teachers received training on pedagogic skills.
iii) State of capacities of SHGs and Federations
LEAD conducted PRAs to identify problem issues before the conceptualization of the project and project participants were actively involved in the planning and implementing process. The SHGs have a high degree of freedom to decide and identify activities on their own.
iv) Micro-credit management: Systems and management by SHGs
The micro-credit programme is one of the most appreciated components of the project. About 40% of the SHGs can maintain their records without any external help. Others need support for documentation. The adult literacy sessions offered to women will be helpful in this process.
v) Project Identification
LEAD undertook participatory planning processes to identify the project and its good rapport with the community enabled active community participation. However, it did not have sufficient expertise to interpret the findings from participatory enquiries. The identification of the target people appeared partially not targeting the extreme poor in terms of income. Should poverty be understood more from rights-based perspectives (entitlement of land, evictions, exclusion, etc.), the choice of the existing groups can be justified.
vi) Organizational Efficiency
The capacities of the human resource is presently more than satisfactory. Its systems and procedures for group management, credit and savings management are still in a process of development. LEAD has adequate experience in organizing and carrying out development programs for the weaker sections of the society in both rural and slum areas.
vii) Acceptance in the community
The provincial government and the local municipality appreciate the work of LEAD. In addition, being close to the community, political organizations sometimes try to take advantage of LEAD's work in their favour. Although both the provincial government and the Municipality are highly critical of NGO's role in general, they still welcome LEAD's contributions to reducing unemployment. The Municipality even proposed that LEAD should undertake efforts for a solid waste management project.

Recommendations

i) LEAD requires a significant improvement of capacities of its staff members at different levels. The field workers/staff should be trained so that they can transfer skills to SHGs and Federations. The staff needs training on how to manage a micro-credit programme professionally, on monitoring, requiring a professional approach to micro-finance operations: credit and savings policy should be standardized with the provision that the poor can save flexibly. Credit operations should be separated from other work of LEAD and need to be operated by skilled credit workers. The micro-credit operations can continue on full-cost recovery basis.
ii) LEAD requires the introduction of a Monitoring & Evaluation system supported by guidelines and software. A special monitoring cell involving evaluation and monitoring professionals needs to be set up combined with Management Information System. The monitoring system should cover both operational and results level. SF should provide assistance to LEAD to develop its monitoring system.
iii) The staff of LEAD at all levels need to be trained on how to document facts gathered from the communities and program processes in a proper way to become able to analyze better the situation at the community level. This would improve monitoring of the project achievements.
iv) LEAD should introduce a phase-out plan with the provision that it will maintain limited relationship with the SHGs and Federations as network members.

Comments from the organisation

SF Asia has taken a decision as part of its strategy to phase out support from India in the next years due to commitment in other priority countries, inadequate resources and difficulty in monitoring projects in India. As recommended in the evaluation SF allowed LEAD two years (2006 and 2007) to make a phase out strategy and implement that within these two years.