Myjustice Mid-Term Review
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MyJustice Mid-Term Review Final Report Submitted to: British Council 23 March 2018 Integrity Somerset House, West Wing Strand London, WC2R 1LA T +44 (0) 207 759 1119 E [email protected] W www.integrityglobal.com Acknowledgement This report has been written by Integrity as part of its Learning & Evaluation work undertaken on behalf of the British Council in support of its MyJustice programme in Myanmar. This report does not necessarily reflect the views of each of the contributing partners in all its content. Any errors are the sole responsibility of the authors. For further information, please email [email protected]. Table of Contents Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... ii Acronyms ...................................................................................................................................... v Glossary of key terms.................................................................................................................. vi 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Review purpose and objectives ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 MyJustice programme overview ........................................................................................ 1 1.3 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Review findings ................................................................................................................. 4 2 Relevance ................................................................................................................................. 4 2.1 Understanding the justice needs of target groups ............................................................. 5 2.2 Responsiveness to context changes ................................................................................. 7 2.3 Alignment of activities to the programme’s theory of change........................................... 11 3 Efficiency ................................................................................................................................ 11 3.1 Factors supporting efficiency .......................................................................................... 12 3.2 Factors limiting efficiency ................................................................................................ 15 4 Effectiveness .......................................................................................................................... 19 4.1 Supporting communities to increase knowledge of their rights and pathways to justice .. 20 4.2 Increasing the availability and quality of justice services ................................................. 22 Case Study: Yangon and Taunggyi Justice Centres ................................................................. 25 4.3 Strengthening Community Based Dispute Resolution ..................................................... 28 4.4 Using evidence and knowledge sharing to inform justice policy development ................. 29 5 Impact ..................................................................................................................................... 30 6 Sustainability .......................................................................................................................... 34 6.1 Sustainability of the programme ...................................................................................... 34 6.2 Sustainability of MyJustice partners ................................................................................ 35 7 Coherence and EU value added ............................................................................................ 37 7.1 Coherence with EU priorities ........................................................................................... 38 7.2 EU value add .................................................................................................................. 39 7.3 Other justice sector programming ................................................................................... 40 8 Conclusions and recommendations ..................................................................................... 43 9 Annexes .................................................................................................................................. 48 9.1 MyJustice Logical Framework ......................................................................................... 48 9.2 Review Framework ......................................................................................................... 55 9.3 Mid-Term Review Terms of Reference............................................................................ 60 9.4 CV of evaluators ............................................................................................................. 66 9.5 List of organisations consulted ........................................................................................ 79 9.6 List of key programme documents reviewed ................................................................... 81 www.integrityglobal.com i Executive Summary MyJustice programme The MyJustice programme (MyJustice) is a four-year European Union (EU)-funded programme implemented by the British Council. MyJustice has completed over two years of implementation in a complex context where communities have significant justice needs but also a deep distrust of the formal justice system, and quality justice services are difficult to access. MyJustice aims to enhance access to justice for these communities through four programme pillars (Result Areas) that broadly focus on: I) awareness raising activities; II) strengthening justice services; III) strengthening community-based dispute resolution mechanisms (CBDR); and IV) engaging with justice sector policy. MyJustice prioritises a learning and adaptation approach to implementation underpinned by three core principles: being people-centred, community-led and evidence-driven. Implementation is predominantly undertaken in partnership with local Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and International Non-Government Organisations (INGOs) through grants or other contract mechanisms. Through these partnerships and some direct implementation, MyJustice delivers community-focused and responsive programming to ‘enable more people to have the knowledge, confidence and opportunities to have their disputes fairly and equitably resolved.’ Mid-Term Review This report consolidates the findings from the Mid-Term Review that took place in from January to March 2018. Integrity, the MyJustice Learning and Evaluation partner, conducted the review to provide evidence-based findings about MyJustice’s progress against desired results in its third year of programming. The review aims to highlight ‘what is working and what is not’ to inform planning and decision-making during the remainder of the programme period. The review is delivered against a framework of nineteen review questions that assess aspects of programme relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, sustainability, coherence, and EU value add (see Annex 9.2 for questions). The findings are based on a systematic review and analysis of existing programme data and primary data collection. Findings and recommendations MyJustice has adopted a flexible and contextually responsive programming approach that is both relevant and necessary given the complexity of the Myanmar justice sector context. The programme has developed and tested a range of tools and approaches, including the result areas strategic framework tool, to support staff to identify whether programme-level activities remain relevant and are achieving the desired effect. Where activities or approaches are not working, the program has processes to adapt and refocus resources to better promote the achievement of its objectives. One example is the design and implementation of the CSO Capacity Development Strategy in response to capacity issues among partners. Currently, MyJustice is on track to meet its output level results through its awareness raising activities, establishment of justice centres, and training of justice service providers. While the programme aims to support the most vulnerable, gender is not mainstreamed in the programme approach and limited attention is given to ensuring ethnic and religious minority justice needs are addressed. MyJustice has contracted a separate gender and social inclusion (GESI) assessment to review these gaps. The programme’s learning and adaptive approach is integral to ensuring programme relevance, efficiency and effectiveness. However, there is limited evidence that this approach has been adopted by local partners, who are constrained by limited technical capacity and knowledge regarding strategic adaptive approaches. The programme’s monitoring system captures some key data, but there are weaknesses that limit the effectiveness and www.integrityglobal.com ii efficiency of the system to track programme progress. There is limited data available for some indicators that measure knowledge, attitude and behaviour change of beneficiaries. As a result, progress towards higher-level objectives is difficult to ascertain at this point in the programme. While the theory of change