Final Evaluation of the Project “Supporting a Conversation on Youth Leadership in Côte d’Ivoire” A project implemented by Search for Common Ground (SFCG) in Côte d’Ivoire with support from the US Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Final Report Clotilde Gouley (Lead evaluator) Quentin Kanyatsi (SFCG evaluator) August 2010 Table of content List of abbreviations and acronyms ........................................................................................ 2 Executive summary ................................................................................................................ 3 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 7 2 Evaluation scope and methodology ................................................................................... 8 2.1 Evaluation objectives and approach ................................................................................... 8 2.2 Data collection methods ................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Challenges and limitations ................................................................................................ 14 3 Context and project overview ......................................................................................... 16 3.1 Youth at stake in the Ivorian crisis and crisis-recovery process ........................................ 16 3.2 Project overview ................................................................................................................ 17 4 Evaluation findings .......................................................................................................... 20 4.1 Relevance .......................................................................................................................... 20 4.2 Effectiveness ...................................................................................................................... 24 4.3 Coherence and coordination ............................................................................................. 36 5 Reflecting on the findings: conclusions ............................................................................ 39 6 Recommendations .......................................................................................................... 41 7 Annexes .......................................................................................................................... 43 Box 1. Peaceful resolution of a transportation conflict in Tiazalé, through interactive theater ... 32 Box 2. How SFCG’s radio program helped to resolve a conflict over villages’boundary delimitation ........................................................................................................................................................ 32 Box 3. Resistance to political manipulation ................................................................................... 33 Figure 1. Gender ratio in SFCG’s workshops .................................................................................. 22 Figure 2. Political affiliation among participants who registered as member of a political party . 23 Figure 3. Knowledge about conflict prevention and mitigation .................................................... 27 Figure 4. Knowledge about citizenship and democracy................................................................. 27 Figure 5. Youth participation in conflict prevention and management ......................................... 31 Figure 6. Youths’ engagement in a dialogue with other youths from different political backgrounds ................................................................................................................................... 33 1 List of abbreviations and acronyms APO Accord politique de Ouagadougou (Ouagadougou Political Agreement) CEI Commission electoral indépendante (Indepedant Electoral Commission) COJEP Congrès panafricain des jeunes et des patriotes (Pan-African Congress of the Young Patriots) DRC Danish Refugee Council DRL United States Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy Human Rights, and Labor FESCI Fédération estudiantine et scolaire de Côte d’Ivoire (Student Federation of Cote d’Ivoire) FGD Focus Group Discussion FN Forces nouvelles (New Forces) FPI Front populaire ivoirien (Ivorian Popular Front) GTZ German Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (German Technical Cooperation) ICG International Crisis Group IDP Internationally Displaced Person MSAD Mouvement aux actions de développement de Bouaké (Movement for Development Actions in Bouaké) NGO Non Governmental Organization OECD - DAC Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – Development Assistance Committee PDCI-RDA Parti démocratique de Côte d’Ivoire - Rassemblement démocratique africain (Democratic Party of Côte d’Ivoire – African Democratic Rally) PIT Parti ivorien des travailleurs (Ivorian Worker’s Party) RPP Rassemblement pour la paix, le progès et le partage (Rally for Peace, Progress and Sharing) RDR Rassemblement des Républicains (Rally of the Republicans) SFCG Search for Common Ground ToR Terms of Reference UDCY Union démocratique citoyenne (Citizen's Democratic Union) UDPCI Union pour la démocratie et la paix en Côte d’Ivoire (Union for Democracy and Peace in Cote d'Ivoire) UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Program UNG Union des nouvelles generations (Union of New Generations) US United States 2 Executive summary Project overview The project “Supporting a Conversation on Youth Leadership in Côte d’Ivoire” had the specific objectives to (1) increase youth’s knowledge and skills of conflict resolution concepts and techniques as well as democratic principles and values, including diversity and tolerance; (2) build youth’s confidence to play a key role in preventing manipulation and violence around the democratic process; and (3) promote and depoliticize the dialogue among diverse youth groups. SFCG has targeted youth members from political parties, youth opinion leaders, youth representatives from different religious and ethnic groups and youth associations with outreach activities, as well as the general youth population through media programming. The project has targeted towns in the Administrative Regions of Vallée du Bandama, des Lacs, Moyen-Cavally, Bas-Sassandra, des Savanes, 18 Montagnes and the Abidjan metropolitan area. The project has engaged Ivoirian youth through a conversation about leadership, delivered across a series of training and exchange workshops (24 workshops in 4 different regions across the country and 1 in Abidjan) , follow-up sessions (22), supports for youth initiatives (e.g exchange sessions, theater performances), interactive theater workshops and radio programs (including the magazines Passerelle and Unis dans nos differences, and the radio soap operas L’Equipe and Woro Woro Tour). Evaluation Scope In July 2010, SFCG contracted Clotilde Gouley (external evaluator, Team Leader) and Quentin Kanyatsi (SFCG’s internal evaluator) to carry out the evaluation of the project “Supporting a Conversation on Youth Leadership in Côte d’Ivoire”. The evaluation’s main objectives were: (1) to evaluate the results of the project; (2) to capture concrete examples of changes brought about by the project; and (3) to provide recommendations to improve future planning and for replication of similar youth project within the organization. The general purpose of this final evaluation was to provide a platform for learning, with insights into relevance, effectiveness, coherence and coordination. The evaluation formulated recommendations which could be useful for similar projects in the future, but also gave substantive accountability to the donor on the project achievements. To that end, the evaluation gathered both qualitative evidence –to put lessons learnt in context–, and quantitative facts and figures to reinforce these findings. The evaluation covered the eighteen month period of the project (from January 2009 to June 2010) and focused on two areas out of the seven areas targeted by the project (Bas-Sassandra and Vallée du Bandama). Key Findings Relevance in regards to the needs of the beneficiaries . SFCG’s project “Supporting a Conversation on Youth Leadership in Côte d’Ivoire” was highly relevant in regards to the country’s general context and local conflict-prone environments in Bas-Sassandra and Vallée du Bandama. The project has addressed the 3 beneficiaries’ needs and priorities, such as youth leadership, political manipulation and conflict transformation, beyond the democratic process that largely focuses on the holding of presidential elections. In the Ivorian crisis, youth have regularly been manipulated to engage in anti-social behaviors, but they have been far less engaged in contributing to social debates with their own views and ideas. Evidence of politically-motivated violence, radicalization and political intolerance abound in all areas targeted by the project. Although the selection criteria and process (for the workshops) were not obvious, the evaluation has not found any major exclusion or inclusion bias. Participants were youth leaders from different social, political, ethnic and religious backgrounds. A great majority of those youth has demonstrated a high level of motivation. Effectiveness in increasing youth’s knowledge and skills of conflict transformation . All project’s activities (conversation workshops,