Evaluation Report Evaluation of Unicef’S Contribution to the Normative Policy Framework of the Social Care Services Reform 2013-2019 in Albania
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EVALUATION REPORT EVALUATION OF UNICEF’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE NORMATIVE POLICY FRAMEWORK OF THE SOCIAL CARE SERVICES REFORM 2013-2019 IN ALBANIA APRIL 2020 Authored by: Camille Massey and Merita Poni, supported by Elayn Sammon. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of UNICEF. Readers are encouraged to use material from this report for their own publications. As copyright holder, UNICEF in Albania requests due acknowledgement and a copy of the publication. For further information, please contact: UNICEF Albania Country Office Skenderbej Street, UN House Bld, 3rd floor Tirana, Albania Telephone: +355 4 45 48 400 Email: [email protected] Attribution: Please cite the work as follows: Massey, C. Poni, M. Sammon, E. (2020) “Evaluation of UNICEF’s Contribution to the Normative Policy Framework of the Social Care Services Reform 2013-2019 in Albania”. UNICEF in Albania EVALUATION REPORT EVALUATION OF UNICEF’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE NORMATIVE POLICY FRAMEWORK OF THE SOCIAL CARE SERVICES REFORM 2013-2019 IN ALBANIA APRIL 2020 CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. 6 Acronyms .................................................................................................................................7 Executive summary .................................................................................................................8 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................12 2. Background ....................................................................................................................................... 14 2.1 Evaluation Scope, purpose and objectives ..................................................................................................14 2.2 Context of the intervention .........................................................................................................................16 2.3 Theory of change of the intervention ..........................................................................................................23 3. Evaluation methodology ................................................................................................................. 32 3.1 Evaluation Approach ........................................................................................................................... 32 3.2 Evaluation questions .......................................................................................................................... 32 3.3 Data Collection, Sampling and Analysis ............................................................................................. 35 3.4 Ethical Issues and Considerations ..................................................................................................... 41 4. Findings ............................................................................................................................................ 42 4.1 Relevance ........................................................................................................................................... 42 4.2 Effectiveness ...................................................................................................................................... 53 4.3 Efficiency ............................................................................................................................................ 70 4.4 Impact ................................................................................................................................................ 78 4.5 Sustainability ...................................................................................................................................... 85 5. Conclusions and lessons learned ................................................................................................... 89 5.1 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................ 89 5.2 Lessons learned ................................................................................................................................. 92 6. Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 95 4 TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Evaluation Criteria and Key Questions ........................................................................................................16 Table 2: Stakeholders of the intervention and of the evaluation ..............................................................................21 Table 3: Simplified Evaluation Matrix ........................................................................................................................33 Table 4: Document types analysed ..........................................................................................................................35 Table 5: Gender disaggregation of interview and focus group participants .............................................................36 Table 6: Data groups and data collection tools .........................................................................................................37 Table 7: Sampling of thematic case studies .............................................................................................................38 Table 8: Sampling of municipal case studies ............................................................................................................39 Table 9: Limitations encountered and mitigation measures applied ........................................................................40 Table 10: Correspondence between identified barriers and responses in the theory of change .............................50 Table 11: Correspondence between UNICEF - advocated building blocks of the social care services system, and the existing or pending legal or regulatory acts .................................................................................56 Table 12: Correspondence between UNICEF principles, their manifestation in the policy normative framework, and the perception of interviewes.........................................................................................64 Figure 1: Overview of UNICEF theory of change, and delineation of evaluation criteria as applied to the theory of chage ..................................................................................................................................27 Figure 2: Zoom on the intermediate results as per theory of change - Model of the system of social care services, its building blocks and compliance with UNICEF principles ......................................................30 UNICEF in Albania EVALUATION REPORT 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank UNICEF in Albania, both management and programme team for their guide, support and contribution to this evaluation. The authors, especially, would further like to thank the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Albania for their exceptional commitment, the Municipalities of Durres, Malesia e Madhe, Permet, and Tirana, for their welcome and support, and the Faculty of Social Sciences of Tirana for their facilitation in organising the online survey, as well as all those who participated in interviews, focus groups and surveys. Special gratitude to the members of the evaluation’s reference group: Ms. Merita Xhafaj (co-chair), Ms. Silvana Mjeda, Ms. Denada Seferi, Ms. Meme Xhaferraj, Ms. Entela Lako, Ms. Enkelejda Bregu, Ms. Rudina Rama, and Ms. Anisa Ruseti, who accompanied with the entire process of evaluation. 6 ACRONYMS CEDAW Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women CSO Civil Society Organisation DCM Decision of the Committee of Ministers EU European Union GoA Government of Albania GDP Gross Domestic Products IPMGs Integrated Policy Management Groups LGU Local Governance Unit MHSP Ministry of Health and Social Protection MICs Middle-Income Countries MoF Ministry of Finance MoHSP Ministry of Health and Social Protection MoJ Ministry of Justice MoSWY Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth MSP Municipal Social Plan NARU Needs Assessment and Referral Unit NHRI National Human Rights Institution SCS Social Care Services SDC Swiss Development Cooperation SDGs Sustainable Development Goals ToC Theory of Change ToR Terms of Reference UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Fund UN WOMEN United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women UNICEF in Albania EVALUATION REPORT 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OVERVIEW OF INTERVENTION Until the 1990s, Albania had not established a modern social protection system. With the start of the democratic and economic transitions in the 1990s, a growing number of persons began to fall through the cracks in the system that did exist, prompting the emergence of an embryonic form of, mostly cash-based, social assistance. In the early part of the new millennium, international support contributed to adjustment of the criteria for distribution of state cash assistance and the corresponding decision making. Subsequently, from 2007 to 2009, the Government of Albania, (GoA) with the support of UNICEF and