Mid-term Review of the Norwegian People's Aid Programme "Women's Rights and Gender Equality" 2002-2006

Background

This Review was commissioned by NPA to examine the objectives and planned results of the "Women's Rights and Gender Equality" (WR&GE) programme, initiated in 2002 with funding from NORAD. The Project will run until 2006, and the Review makes recommendations for the continuation of the programme until the end of the funding period.

As the project itself, implemented from the Head Office of the International Department in Oslo, took forward the broader objectives of NPA's Gender Strategy, the Review had necessarily to look beyond the confines of the project, to the effectiveness of NPA's performance on gender equality.

Purpose/objective

The purpose of the Review is to assess the achievements of the programme in relation to its immediate objectives and planned results, and to make recommendations to NPA for increasing programme effectiveness in the next period.

Specific Objectives
• To assess the effectiveness of the strategy of gender action planning (adoption and implementation) in NPA's Head Office, NPA external offices and selected partner organisations for delivering on the programme objectives.
• To assess the effectiveness of the training and networking strategy for capacity-building of staff and partners.
• To assess the degree to which gender equality perspectives and goals are integrated in NPA and partners' strategies against HIV/AIDS.
• To assess the degree to which the work against VAW is a core issue for NPA in both lobbying and advocacy and programme delivery.

Methodology

- The Review team used a combination of semi-structured interviews, in both Head Office in Oslo, and in the selected External Offices, and self-administered questionnaires, sent to all External Offices and to all ID programme staff in Oslo.
- Extensive documentation was provided to the team, and this formed an integral part of the Review, and is referred to throughout the report.

The standard evaluation criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, attribution (of results to project intervention), sustainability, capacity-building and impact were applied throughout the process, as relevant, and where possible. The assessment of impact is limited to the impact on staff and partners of the project, who are its direct beneficiaries.

Key findings

1. NPA has a strong track record on gender equality in its international programme, but the work is not consistent throughout, and is dependent upon the energy and commitment of individual staff members.
2. Gender equality work flourishes in those offices where leadership on it is strong, but stronger and clearer institutional leadership on gender equality is needed in the organization as a whole as well as in the international programme.
3. NPA staff consider accountability, monitoring and management systems in relation to gender equality in NPA to be relatively weak. These systems must be strengthened to pursue gender equality effectively.
4. NPA staff are in general highly motivated and committed, but are not always clear about the meaning of gender equality, or why it is important. There is some attitudinal resistance to gender equality, which needs to be addressed.
5. There is currently no organization-wide gender policy, nor clear procedures across the departments to ensure gender equality in NPA. An institutional gender policy would help rectify this, with transparent implementation strategies, to ensure 'policy evaporation' does not occur.
6. With the ending of the Gender Newsletter, there are no other regular mechanisms to communicate internally on gender equality, and no means to take forward institutional learning. Advisers in the ID feel more isolated after regionalization, with fewer opportunities to consolidate learning.
7. Staff reported that gender equality work is under-resourced in general. The Gender Advisory post no longer exists in the Head Office, and it is unclear how the WR&GE programme will be taken forward. The human and financial resources for gender equality should not be diminished.

Recommendations

General Recommendation 1:
The main, overarching recommendation of this Review is that NPA builds on its existing achievements related to gender equality, redefines its strategy as institutional gender mainstreaming, and sets practical and measurable goals to achieve it in the longer term. This should be accompanied by a learning and communication strategy, and adequately resourced.

General Recommendation 2:
Gender equality is routinely and systematically part of all programme planning in the International Programme, and staff and partners are provided with the skills and resources to do this effectively.

General Recommendation 3:
Training and capacity-building on gender equality is an ongoing process, tailored to assessed staff and partner needs and to their concerns and functions, backed up by a 'toolkit' of training resources.

General Recommendation 4:
The Women's Rights and Gender Equality programme objectives are simplified and reformulated to kick-start NPA's gender mainstreaming strategy, defining a plan for the longer term, with an initial focus on improving programme quality through capacity-building on gender and improved gender planning.

Comments from the organisation

NPA will adjust the program to reflect the recommendations in the evaluation. Its main message relates to our bid to institutionalize gender policy. Activities should be geared to achieve ownership at the management and decision-making level. They should include mapping the status of the individual programmes in reference to work plans and implementation capacity, and target top- and middle management in training exercises.