Regional Programme on Local Democracy in the Western Balkans (Reload)
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Regional Programme on Local Democracy In the Western Balkans (ReLOaD) UNDP Final Project Evaluation final version 20/12/2019 ReLOaD Final Project Evaluation 1. Project title Regional Programme on Local Democracy in the Western Balkans (ReLOaD) 2. Project details Contract number IPA/2016/382-867 Atlas ID 00095613 Corporate outcome and UNDP Strategic Plan 2018-2021; Outcome 1, Output 1.2.1 output Country Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia Region Europe and Central Asia/Western Balkans Date project document 31 January 2017 signed Start Planned end Project dates February 2017 January 2020 Project budget EUR 10,030,000 million (ca USD 10,704,375) Project expenditure at the ca USD 6,000,000.00 time of evaluation Funding source European Union (Euro 8,5 million) and UNDP and local governments (Euro 1,5 million) Implementing party UNDP Project Evaluation: Commissioned by UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina Evaluator Paul J. M. van Hoof Reporting to Rural and Regional Development Sector Coordinator Date of evaluation August – December 2019 2 ReLOaD Final Project Evaluation 3. Table of contents 1. Project title .................................................................................................................................................. 2 2. Project details ............................................................................................................................................. 2 3. Table of contents ........................................................................................................................................ 3 4. List of abbreviations and acronyms ............................................................................................................ 4 5. Executive summary ..................................................................................................................................... 5 6. Introduction and overview ........................................................................................................................ 11 7. Description of the intervention being evaluated ...................................................................................... 12 7.1 Regional and sector background ............................................................................................................. 12 7.2 Description of the intervention ............................................................................................................... 13 8. Evaluation scope and objective ................................................................................................................ 15 9. Evaluation approach and methods ........................................................................................................... 16 10. Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................................... 18 11. Findings and Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 18 11.1 Relevance of project intervention ......................................................................................................... 18 11.2 Efficiency of project implementation .................................................................................................... 22 11.3 Effectiveness of the ReLOaD project ..................................................................................................... 30 11.4 Impact of the ReLOaD project ............................................................................................................... 40 11.5 Sustainability of ReLOaD achievements and outcomes ........................................................................ 46 11.6 Overall Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 48 12. Recommendations ................................................................................................................................. 49 13. Way forward .......................................................................................................................................... 52 14. Lessons learnt ........................................................................................................................................ 54 List of figures ..................................................................................................................................................... 58 List of tables ...................................................................................................................................................... 58 Annex 1 Terms of Reference for the ReLOaD project evaluation ............................................................... 59 Annex 2 Evaluation Matrix .......................................................................................................................... 69 Annex 3 List of people interviewed ............................................................................................................. 72 Annex 4 List of supporting documents reviewed ........................................................................................ 77 Annex 5 Relevance of the ReLOaD project in each of the participating PA beneficiaries ........................... 78 Annex 6 General characteristics of the survey populations. ....................................................................... 82 Annex 7 Proposed technical improvements of the LOD methodology ....................................................... 86 3 ReLOaD Final Project Evaluation 4. List of abbreviations and acronyms CSO Civil Society Organisation DG NEAR Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations EC European Commission EU European Union IPA Instruments for Pre-Accession Assistance LG Local Government M&E Monitoring and Evaluation NGO Non-Governmental Organisation PCM Project Cycle Management ReLOaD Regional Programme on Local Democracy in the Western Balkans TACSO Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations UNDP United Nations Development Programme WB Western Balkans 4 ReLOaD Final Project Evaluation 5. Executive summary Introduction Since February 2017, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is implementing the Regional Programme on Local Democracy in the Western Balkans (ReLOaD) project in six countries/territories in the Western Balkans: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*1, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The objective of the project is to strengthen participatory democracies and the European Union (EU) integration process in the Western Balkans by empowering civil society to actively take part in decision making and by stimulating an enabling legal and financial environment for civil society. It aims to achieve this objective by introducing a transparent and project-based funding mechanism of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from Local Government (LG) budgets (LOD methodology 2 ) towards greater civic engagement in decision-making and improvement of local service delivery. It does so by providing a combination of technical assistance and grants for CSO project implementation to LGs and CSOs in fifty-three municipalities in these countries/territories. The ReLOaD project has a total budget of € 10,030,000 of which € 8,500,000 is funded by the EU and the remainder by UNDP and the respective participating LGs. 53 LGs and roughly 378 CSOs participate in the project. Of the total budget, 60% (or € 6,085,000) is earmarked for grants for project implementation by CSOs, while the remainder is intended to cover the costs for training, regional activities, salaries for staff and consultants and overhead costs. The objective of this evaluation is to provide an impartial review of the ReLOaD project in terms of its relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, sustainability, overall performance, management and achievements. The information, findings, lessons learned, and recommendations generated by the evaluation will be used by the Project Board/Board of Partners, UNDP, EU and by the implementing partners to strengthen the remaining project implementation and inform future programming. To obtain the relevant information, the evaluation conducted a desk review of documents, it paid a week long field visit to each of the six Instruments for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) beneficiaries, during which the consultant held in-depth interviews with key resource persons at national and local level, visited a selection of randomly selected participating LGs and related CSOs for interviews and group meetings and finally, the consultant participated in two regional meetings organised by the ReLOaD project in Tirana. In addition, an online survey among all participating CSOs and LG coordinators was conducted. 199 out of 378 CSOs or 53% of all CSOs participating in the project at the time of the evaluation filled out the questionnaire and 46 out of the 53 or 87% of the LG coordinators responded. Draft evaluation conclusions and recommendations were validated during a combined Board of Partners meeting held in Tirana. Relevance of the ReLOaD project All six countries/territories participating in the ReLOaD project are involved in the EU (pre) accession process. They all face a range of challenges, especially in fields such as the rule of law, corruption,