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Improving LGBT Rights in South Asia Through Strengthening Csos Final Report

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Improving LGBT Rights in South Asia Through Strengthening Csos Final Report 2013:45 Sida Decentralised Evaluation Paul Balogun Viktoria Hildenwall Venkatesan Chakrapani Review of RFSU’s Regional Programme – Improving LGBT rights in South Asia through strengthening CSOs Final Report Review of RFSU’s Regional Programme – Improving LGBT rights in South Asia through strengthening CSOs Final Report January 2013 Paul Balogun Viktoria Hildenwall Venkatesan Chakrapani Sida Decentralised Evaluation 2013:45 Sida Authors: Paul Balogun, Viktoria Hildenwall and Venkatesan Chakrapani The views and interpretations expressed in this report are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. Sida Decentralised Evaluation 2013:45 Commissioned by Sida Copyright: Sida and the authors Date of final report: January 2013 Published by Citat 2013 Art. no. Sida61673en urn:nbn:se:sida-61673en This publication can be downloaded from: http://www.sida.se/publications SWEDISH INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION AGENCY Address: S-105 25 Stockholm, Sweden. Office: Valhallavägen 199, Stockholm Telephone: +46 (0)8-698 50 00. Telefax: +46 (0)8-20 88 64 E-mail: [email protected]. Homepage: http://www.sida.se Table of Contents Abbreviations and acronyms ........................................................................................................ 2 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 3 2. Brief description of the programme’s activities...................................................................... 4 2.1 Work at the regional (network) level ...................................................................................... 4 2.2 Work at the level of individual organisations ......................................................................... 5 3. Review approach .................................................................................................................. 6 4. Results ................................................................................................................................. 7 4.1 Results at the regional (network) level ................................................................................... 7 4.2 Results at the organisational level .......................................................................................... 9 5. Conclusions and recommendations ..................................................................................... 13 5.1 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 13 5.2 Recommendations ................................................................................................................ 16 Annex 1: ToRs ........................................................................................................................... 19 Evaluation Team ........................................................................................................................ 22 Annex 2: List of those interviewed ............................................................................................. 23 Annex 3: The organisations ....................................................................................................... 24 Annex 4: Organisations, over the past year, with which organisations have either frequently, sometimes, or never been in contact outside the six monthly meetings. ..................................... 25 Annex 5: The most significant positive/negative changes in performance by result area over the past three years (2009-2011) and programme contribution ......................................................... 26 1 Review of RFSU’s Regional Programme – Improving LGBT rights in South Asia through strengthening CSOs. Abbreviations and acronyms AIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome BDS Blue Diamond Society (Nepal) CBO Community Based Organisation CoJ Companions on a Journey DFID Department for International Development (DFID) GBT Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered persons GFATM Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus HIVOS Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation IPPF International Planned Parenthood Federation LB Lesbian and Bisexual LBT Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered persons LFA Logical Framework Approach LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered persons LGBT-IQ. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered, Intersex and Questioning persons MSM Men who have Sex with Men NGO Non-governmental Organisation O/ OPPRSM Organisation for Protection and Promotion of the Rights for Sexual Minorities RBM Results based management RFSU Swedish Association for Sexuality Education SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SEK Swedish kroner Sida Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency SRHR Sexual and reproductive health and rights. ToRs Terms of Reference UNAIDS United Nations programme for HIV/AIDS UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNFPA United Nations Population Fund WSG Women’s Support Group (Sri Lanka) 2 Review of RFSU’s Regional Programme – Improving LGBT rights in South Asia through strengthening CSOs. 1. Introduction 1. This report summarises the findings of a review commissioned by Sida of its programme for “Improving Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights and health (including HIV) in South Asia through strengthening civil society organisations”. Developed initially by Sida, and based on an assessment study carried out in 2006/07, the detailed programme was fleshed out at a workshop (Colombo, October 2007) where invited LBGT organisations participated. 2. The programme started with an initial fourteen NGOs1 from the region and was expected to finish in 2011. It is now expected to finish at the end of 2012. Total programme costs are 17 million SEK, with 16 million SEK covering RFSU and programme costs and an additional 1 million SEK for Sida follow-up. 3. The programme’s purpose is “to improve the human rights and health for LGBT persons in South Asia. Improving human rights will increase the possibilities for LGBT persons in the region to access health, healthcare and information, earn a livelihood, be less discriminated against and in general enjoy a higher standard of living and increased quality of life.” Results contributing to achievement of the purpose are expected in five result areas, namely: I. Organisations better equipped to respond to health issues of the LGBT community II. Improved skills of organisations in working for LGBT legal rights. III. Enhanced organisational capacities to effectively manage the work. IV. Organisations equipped with effective advocacy tools for media on LGBT issues. V. Organisations are networking and meeting for mutual capacity building and activities. 4. According to the review ToRs (see Annex 1), the purpose of the review is to deepen the understanding for all stakeholders (Sida, RFSU, and partner organisations) of the programme by: Producing results information of programme progress. Documenting lessons learnt and make them available to partner organisations. Assessing the relevance of the Network for creating prerequisites for programme progress Assessing the sustainability of the Network given the geographic distances between the partner organisations, and between RFSU and the network organisations. Assessing the composition of the Network Providing concrete recommendations to RFSU, partner organisations and Sida for making adjustments for the remaining time of the programme. Outlining possible strategies for exiting, continuing or expanding (to South East Asia) 5. This review was carried out over September and October 2011 by a team of three consultants: Paul Balogun (Team Leader), Viktoria Hildenwall and Venkatesan Chakrapani. Fourteen of the fifteen2 current member NGOs participated in a one day workshop, managed by the review team (Bangalore, 5th October). Nine of these organisations were subsequently visited by one of the members of the review team. Representatives of five of the remaining six organisations were interviewed either in Bangalore or by telephone. The single Pakistan based organisation was not contacted, as its engagement with the programme to date has been modest and it didn’t attend the 1 Bangladesh - Bandhu; India – Aadhikar, Bharosa, Humsafar, Infosem, Maan, Naz India, Sangama, Sangini, Sappho; Nepal – Blue Diamond Society; Sri Lanka – Companions on a Journey, Equal Ground, WSG; and Pakistan - O. 2 One further organisation, the Pakistan based ‘Organisation for Protection and Promotion of the Rights for Sexual Minorities’ (OPPRSM, or O), joined the programme in 2010, but to date has not participated actively; partly due to the difficulty of obtaining the needed visas to attend the six-monthly meetings. 3 Review of RFSU’s Regional Programme – Improving LGBT rights in South Asia through strengthening CSOs. Bangalore workshop. A listing of those interviewed is at Annex 2. It is planned that the review’s conclusions and recommendations will be discussed at the next six-monthly meeting of partners. 2. Brief description of the programme’s activities 6. An initial 16 potential partner organisations were invited by Sida to join the programme based on their track record and recognition of promoting LGBT rights. Experience in handling foreign donor funding programmes was also taken into consideration. Eleven of these potential partner organisations attended
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