INDEPENDENT COUNTRY PROGRAMME EVALUATION PROGRAMME INDEPENDENT COUNTRY EVALUATION REPORT INDEPENDENT COUNTRY PROGRAMME EVALUATION CAMEROON 2008 - 2011 CAMEROON 2008 - 2011 CAMEROON Evaluation Branch Division for Oversight Services New York January, 2012 EVALUATION BRANCH EVALUATION UNFPA-Because everyone counts United Nations Population Fund Evaluation Branch, Division for Oversight Services 605 Third Avenue New York, NY 10158 U.S.A. http://www.unfpa.org/public/home/about/Evaluation/EBIER/CPE EVALUATION TEAM Evaluation Branch at dOs: Team Leader: Alexandra Chambel Evaluation Adviser: Hicham Daoudi Experts on: Population & development and Monitoring & Evaluation systems: Rafael Eguiguren Reproductive Health and Gender: Olivier Appaix Country Programme Evaluation: Cameroon Copyright © UNFPA 2012, all rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. The analysis and recommendations of this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Population Fund, its Executive Board or the United Nations Member States. This is an independent publication by the Evaluation Branch at the Division for Oversight Services. Cover photos provided by the Evaluation Branch. Foreword This is the report of an independent programme-level evaluation of the UNFPA support to Cameroon conducted by the Evaluation Branch at the Division for Oversight Services. This evaluation examines the strategic positioning of UNFPA support as well as its contribution to the results set out in the three focus areas – sexual and reproductive health, population and development, and gender equality – of the fifth UNFPA country programme in Cameroon (2008-2012). This report represents both one of the very first country evaluations completed by the Evaluation Branch within the framework of the current UNFPA Strategic Plan (2008-2013), as well as a pilot exercise in the development of a custom-made methodology for designing and conducting country programme evaluations (CPEs). With this evaluation our aim has been to provide forward-looking recommen- dations to assist the UNFPA country office and its partners in the formulation of the next programme. In accordance with the newly developed Handbook of the Evaluation Branch on How to Design and Conduct a Country Programme evaluation at UNFPA, the evaluation was based on a comprehensive review of documents covering both the programming and implementation stages. This was followed by an intensive field work for further data collection and validation of preliminary findings. The evaluation field work was carried out during the period 11 - 30 July 2011 and included individual and group interviews, focus groups and site visits. The evaluators worked to obtain the perspectives of all key stakeholders and systematically ensured the validity of collected data by means of triangulation techniques. Specific evaluation questions were formulated during the preparation phase which referred to (i) the evaluation criteria of: relevance, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability in three focus area of the country programme and (ii) alignment, responsiveness and added value. The evaluation was complemented by an analysis of the monitoring and evaluation system of the country programme. In line with the strategic plan, the country office has adopted a clear focus on disadvantaged and vulnerable groups – notably young girls and women as shown in both its gender-related activities and in its leading role in the introduction of financial schemes to improve access to health services. The country office has also demonstrated its capacity to respond quickly and in a flexible manner to national needs in the context of evolving priorities. The evaluation shows the country office added value across all three UNFPA mandate areas, and shows that it has been at the very forefront in engaging national counterparts on certain specific issues such as obstetric fistula or the census. The evaluation, however, points at a number of challenges to the sustainability of the UNFPA interventions. In particular, at times, capacity development via the recruitment of experts has led to substitution effects where technical assistance is concerned. foreword i The evaluation also shows the severe difficulties encountered by the country office which result from the absence of a results-oriented monitoring system that, in turn, translates into the weak formulation of indicators and outputs, an overwhelming focus on inputs and activities, and the underutilization of evaluation findings. Looking forward the evaluation makes a number of recommendations to inform the reflection of the country office on the upcoming programming cycle. In particular the report invites the country office to formulate interventions in a manner that foresees an exit strategy, thus creating conditions conducive to the sustainability of benefits while limiting substitution effects that are conducive to dependency. In order for its programme to be more inclusive of the poor, and nota- bly to facilitate their access to health services, evaluators also recommend that the country office should work with its partners to develop pilot projects targeting the least privileged in urban centers and peri-urban areas. The challenges and shortcom- ings identified by the evaluation also point to issues that are the country office has adopted a relevant at the corporate level. In particular, evaluators have clear focus on disadvantaged and provided detailed guidance on the necessity for UNFPA to vulnerable groups — notably young equip its country offices with an effective results-oriented girls and women as shown in both monitoring systems and notably the development of mecha- its gender-related activities and in nisms and control-tools to ensure that country programmes’ results frameworks are systematically equipped with appro- its leading role in the introduction of priate indicators, realistic outputs and accurate baselines. financial schemes to improve access to health services. It is our hope that the forward-looking lessons and recom- mendations presented in this evaluation report will positive- ly contribute to the strengthening of the on-going efforts of the country office. We also hope that the evaluation findings will be used at regional level in view of shared learning and improvement of UNFPA programming in African countries where other country offices may be facing similar challenges. This evaluation would not have been possible without the commitment demonstrated by Alain Sibenaler, the Country Office Representative, who recognized the need for, and welcomed, this independent evaluation conducted by the Evaluation Branch. Throughout the preparation and implementation of our evaluation, he has provided support and very insightful views on the national context, the cooperation with the government of Cameroon and the implementation of the country programme. We naturally extend our thanks to all our colleagues in the country office for facilitating the team’s work at every stage of the evaluation process. In particular the evaluators wish to thank: Germaine Ngoitima, the Special Assistant to the Representative, for assisting the team on the preparation of the agenda for the mission, and the three Assistant Representatives, Angélique Hongla, Nicole Eteki and Rose Njeck, for guiding the evaluators through the activities implemented under the country office mandate areas. Special thanks also go to the Programme Officers Rostand Njiki (north) and Joseph-René Boum (east) for their warm and efficient support during the evaluation field visits. This evaluation also benefitted greatly from the continuous inputs provided by the Reference Group which was composed of: Yaovi Fanidji, the CO International Programme Specialist, ii CoUNTrY ProGrAMMe eVALUATIoN: CAMerooN 2008-2011 Reginald Chima, Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor Africa Regional Office; Monique Clesca, Regional Desk Advisor for Africa and key national stakeholders. Special acknowledgements go to the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, the Government counterpart of UNFPA. Special thanks go to Konstantin Atanesyan, Senior Evaluation Officer, Independent Office of Evaluation, IFAD who, as an external reviewer, assessed the quality of the evaluation and completed the Evaluation Quality Assessment (EQA) grid which is available on the DOS evaluation branch website. In the Evaluation Branch, I would like to thank Alexandra Chambel, who acted as a team leader, for effectively guiding the evaluation team through the design, data collection, data analysis and reporting phases. The evaluation team was also composed of Hicham Daoudi, Evaluation Adviser; two independent sectoral experts: Olivier Appaix (public health and gender) and Rafael Eguiguren (monitoring and evaluation systems and population and development issues) as well as Paz Redondo (field research assistant). I thank them all for their invaluable contributions and dedication to this evaluation. Thanks also go to the Evaluation Branch staff for their support at different stages of the evaluation process. Valeria Carou-Jones, Evaluation Specialist, provided comments to the draft final report; Olivia Roberts, Evaluation Analyst, performed research work during the desk phase and edited the draft final report; Magalye Mars-Mompoint, Evaluation Assistant, provided administrative support and Oscar Luque, trainee, conducted preliminary research and data collection at design phase. Finally, our sincere gratitude goes to all the people who have taken