TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................................................................... iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..........................................................................................................................................................iv I. BACKGROUND AND PROJECT DESCRIPTION ......................................................................................................... 1 II. EVALUATION OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 3 2.1 Evaluation Objectives ........................................................................................................................................3 2.2 Methodology ..........................................................................................................................................................3 2.3 Evaluation Limitations ......................................................................................................................................4 2.4 Evaluation Questions .........................................................................................................................................5 III. EVALUATION FINDINGS .................................................................................................................................................7 3.1 Relevance and Project Design ....................................................................................................................... 7 3.2 Effectiveness and Implementation .......................................................................................................... 21 3.3 Sustainability ...................................................................................................................................................... 34 IV. LESSONS LEARNED AND GOOD PRACTICES ..................................................................................................... 39 4.1 Cost Effective Capacity Building Approaches .................................................................................... 39 4.2 Strategic Choices of Target Beneficiaries ............................................................................................. 39 4.3 Innovative Methods for Conducting Child Labor Research ........................................................ 40 4.4 Promoting Greater Coordination among National Stakeholders ............................................ 40 4.5 Sharing National Staff with Other ILO Projects................................................................................. 41 V. MAIN CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................................................................... 42 VI. RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................................................... 43 i ANNEXES ANNEX 1: Overview of Project Progress by Output .............................................................................................. 46 ANNEX 2: Evaluation Terms of Reference ................................................................................................................. 58 ANNEX 3: Evaluation Data Collection Matrix………………………………………………………………………….76 ANNEX 4: List of Documents Reviewed ...................................................................................................................... 91 ANNEX 5: List of Interviews, Meetings and Site Visits ........................................................................................ 93 ANNEX 6: Report of GAP11 Field Visit to Cameroon............................................................................................ 94 ANNEX 7: Report of GAP11 Field Visit to the Philippines .............................................................................. 104 ANNEX 8: Report of GAP11 Field Visit to Haiti .................................................................................................... 111 ANNEX 9: Report of GAP11 Stakeholder Online Survey .................................................................................. 116 ii LIST OF ACRONYMS CL Child Labor CLEAR Country Level Engagement and Assistance to Reduce Child Labor Program CMEP Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Plan CTA Chief Technical Officer DOLE Department of Labor and Employment of the Philippines DRC Democratic Republic of Congo EU European Union FAO Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN FL Forced Labor FY Fiscal Year GEM Global Evaluation and Monitoring Project GAP11 Global Action Program on Child Labor GPRA Government Performance Result Act HQ Headquarters ILAB Bureau of International Labor Affairs ILO International Labour Organization IOM International Organization for Migration IPEC International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor M&E Monitoring and Evaluation NAP National Action Plan NGO Non-Governmental Organization NSC National Steering Committee OCFT USDOL Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking SAP-FL Special Action Programme on Forced Labour SIMPOC Statistical Information and Monitoring Program on Child Labor SFS Sistemas, Familias y Sociedad – Consultores Asociados TOR Terms of Reference TPR Technical Progress Report UCW Understanding Children’s Work UN United Nations UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund USDOL United States Department of Labor WDACL World Day Against Child Labor WFCL Worst Forms of Child Labor iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background and Project Description This report documents the main findings and conclusions of an external independent final evaluation of the Global Action Program on Child Labor 2011 (GAP11), which was carried out from October 2015 to January 2016. The project was implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and aimed to build critical knowledge and capacity for accelerating progress against child labor and, where relevant, forced labor in targeted countries, with particular reference to the 2010 Hague Global Child Labor Conference Roadmap for Achieving the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor by 2016.1 The project implemented interventions across a total of 41 countries in five major world regions. Interventions were organized around three expected outcomes: • Outcome 1: Improved legislation, enforcement and policy coordination on child labor and forced labor as well as national capacity to implement policy initiatives to increase access to quality education and sustainable livelihoods for vulnerable populations. • Outcome 2: Innovative research and monitoring systems to guide policy development and program design. • Outcome 3: Strengthened protections to children in domestic work. Evaluation Objectives and Methodology The overall purpose of the external independent final evaluation was to: 1. Assess the benefits and challenges of the project’s multi-component and multi-country structure and whether this was a successful model; 2. Determine whether the project has achieved its expected outputs and outcomes, and identify the challenges encountered in doing so; 3. Assess the sustainability of project activities; 4. Identify next steps to advance the project’s objectives and outcomes; and 5. Identify good practices that should be considered for replication in the future. The evaluation was carried out by a team of two international consultants from October 2015 to January 2016. In particular, the evaluation looked into (a) the relevance and project design, (b) the effectiveness and implementation, and (c) the sustainability of project interventions. 1 Roadmap outcomes are summarized in the following document: http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=13453 iv The evaluators’ main data collection methods included a review of project documents, key informant interviews, extensive discussions with in-country project staff and key stakeholders, project performance analysis, review of the relevance and quality of project research and other products, an online questionnaire of national stakeholders from countries not visited by the evaluation team, and budget analysis. Evaluation Findings Thirteen main findings emerged from the evaluation. Finding 1: Capacity-building strategies were varied and appreciated by stakeholders but more follow- up was needed GAP11 implemented a wide variety of strategies to increase the capacity of target countries to address child labor issues, which have contributed to increased knowledge and awareness on child labor, among other positive results. Successful approaches included tailored approaches, experience sharing between countries, learning by doing, and using a former labor inspector to train labor inspectors. The project involved various partners, including ILO constituents, nongovernmental organization (NGOs), other UN agencies and others. Stakeholders’ satisfaction with the ILO’s efforts was almost uniformly high, based on in-country interviews and stakeholder responses to the GAP11 evaluation questionnaire. However, many stakeholders thought that the longer term effectiveness of project capacity building interventions would be diminished by insufficient follow-up support from the ILO and the government, coupled with insufficient national ownership. Finding 2: Many factors in the enabling environment affected implementation both positively and