2012:12 Sida Joint Evaluation Elisabeth Picard Viorica Craievschi Toarta Ovidiu Voucu Joint Evaluation of impacts of assistance to Social Sector Reforms in Moldova Final report Sida Joint Evaluation 2012:12 Joint Evaluation of impacts of assistance to Social Sector Reforms in Moldova Final Report Elisabeth Picard Viorica Craievschi Toarta Ovidiu Voucu Authors: Elisabeth Picard, Viorica Craievschi Toarta, Ovidiu Voucu The views and interpretations expressed in this report are the authors' and do not necessarily reflect those of the commissioning agencies, Sida and the Swedish Embassy in Chisinau. Sida Joint Evaluation 2012:12 Commissioned by Sida's Unit for Monitoring and Evaluation and the Embassy of Sweden in Chisinau. Copyright: Sida and the authors Date of final report: June 2011 Published by: Citat 2012 Art. no. Sida61545en URN:NBN: urn:nbn:se:sida-61545en This publication can be downloaded/ordered 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 Postgiro: 1 56 34–9. VAT. No. SE 202100-478901 E-mail: [email protected]. Homepage: http://www.sida.se Foreword This is the Final Report of an evaluation of Sweden’s assistance to social sector reforms in Moldova covering twelve (Sida co-financed) programmes and projects implemented dur- ing the period 2004 – 2010. The evaluation was commissioned by Sweden, carried out by Conseil Santé and super- vised by a Management Group comprising relevant Moldovan authorities and develop- ment partners. The evaluation was initiated in conjunction with Sweden’s decision to phase out its financial support to the social sector in Moldova which was taken to allow Sweden to focus its support to other sectors in the country. The objective of this evaluation is to generate knowledge from the results of Sweden’s sup- port and to allow for lessons learned and best practices to be shared with the responsible Moldovan authorities and the development partners active in the sector. The evaluation was executed by an independent team of evaluators. The ultimate goal for Sweden’s support to Moldova is that the country is well integrated with the EU and its values, regarding, in particular, vulnerable and socially marginalised groups. Assessing the relevance of the interventions, the evaluators commend Sweden’s support to Moldova’s leadership in designing the structures of the sector and in formulat- ing its strategic objectives in line with the Millennium Development Goals and the EU approximation of the sector and the country. The evaluators conclude that Sweden significantly contributed to the harmonisation and coordination of development assistance in the sector. Sweden applied a flexible approach and adjusted its interventions with other actors’ activities under changing and challenging socioeconomic conditions in each of the areas of support. Further efforts to improve the coordination between line ministries, as well as with international partners are recom- mended by the evaluators who also argue that civil society organisations should be better incorporated in the decision-making processes shaping the sector. The effectiveness and impact of Sweden’s interventions are assessed by the evaluators who point to concrete results both at the level of individual interventions as well as on system level. Key to the success was the comprehensive approach that combined reforms of legis- lation and regulation with efforts to increase awareness and the implementation capacity of the public administration. In spite of these results the evaluators conclude that for many Moldovan citizens, rights gained at legal and regulatory levels where not accompanied by corresponding enhancement of their living situation. Long-term commitment to reforms by Moldovan authorities and development partners is called for by the evaluators who point to the importance of designing interventions based on lessons learnt and available best practices. The sustainability of Sweden’s support was built by concerted efforts to obtain full nation- al ownership of the interventions and measures targeting capacity building at institutional levels. Whereas the results achieved are assessed as satisfactory, the high turnover of public 1 ForeWord officials and over-all low administrative capacity has partially undermined the results, which leads the evaluators to recommend further prioritisation of activities to meet specif- ic strategic objectives in the sector. Annika Nordin Jayawardena Ingrid Tersman Head of the Unit for Monitoring and Evaluation Ambassador Department for Organisational Development Embassy of Sweden in Chisinau Sida 2 Table of contents Acronyms .....................................................................................................................................6 1 Summary .............................................................................................................................9 1.1 Recommendations addressed to the Government of Moldova ...........................11 1.2 Recommendations directed to donors providing support to the social sector in Moldova ...............................................................................11 1.3 Recommendations directed to Sida .......................................................................12 1.4 Recommendations directed to other stakeholders (including civil society) .......12 2 Introduction ......................................................................................................................14 2.1 Objectives of the evaluation ....................................................................................14 2.2 Evaluation approach agreed at inception phase ...................................................14 3 The social sector In Moldova, 2004 to 2010 ..................................................................18 3.1 Policy and development context of the intervention .............................................18 3.1.1 Background information on the social sector in Moldova .......................18 3.1.2 The European integration perspective ......................................................19 3.2 Description of the Sida intervention and of its main features ..............................20 3.2.1 Sida’s cooperation strategies 2004 – 2006 and 2007 – 2010 and the place of the social sector in these strategies ..............................20 3.2.2 Sida’s phasing out strategy in relation to the social sector in Moldova ....................................................................................................23 3.2.3 Main features of Sida’s support to the social sector ................................24 3.2.4 Earlier evaluative activities in relation to the Sida intervention ..............25 3.2.5 Intervention logic in relation to the five selected clusters .......................25 3.2.6 Summary ofthe main assumptions in relation to the five clusters .........31 4 Findings and evaluative conclusions: answers to the evaluation questions ...........32 4.1 Answers to questions on relevance and design (Q1 to Q3) ...................................32 4.1.1 Q1: To what extent have the projects implemented by Sida been in line with Moldova’s main national development strategies and with the governmental strategies at sectoral level?.........................32 4.1.2 Q2: When designing the intervention, how far did Sida take into consideration the contribution of other donors also active in the social sector? ....................................................................................36 4.1.3 Q3: To what extent have the Sida supported projects been able to adapt to changes affecting their beneficiaries, context, and partners or to changes in other external conditions? ..............................39 4.2 Answers to questions on effectiveness (Q4 to Q8) ................................................42 4.2.1 Q4: How far have the Sida projects achieved their expected results across the five clusters? Which indicators have been used to measure project achievements? ..................................................42 4.2.2 Q5: Are the benefits of the Sida supported interventions in the five clusters actually reaching and being used by their intended beneficiaries?...............................................................................47 3 TabLE of contents 4.2.3 Q6: To what extent have the Sida projects contributed to positive developments to the legal and regulatory framework governing the social sector in Moldova? ...................................................52 4.2.4 Q7: To what extent have the Sida projects contributed to positive developments in the implementation of relevant social policies and the allocation of resources both at national and local level? ...........56 4.2.5 Q8: To what extent have the Sida projects contributed to the enhancement of the capacities of the supported institutions? ................59 4.3 Answers to questions on impact (Q9 to Q11) ..........................................................65 4.3.1 Q9: To what extent has the Sida intervention resulted in long-term positive changes in the following areas? ............................65 4.3.2 Q10: To what extent has the Sida intervention in support of the social sector brought the Moldovan and EU social systems closer and therefore helped Moldova make further progress towards EU integration? ...........................................................................................67