Performance - Effectiveness

An assessment of performance looks at the progress made by the HIVOS-IICD Programme relative to its objectives. It reflects mainly on the effectiveness and efficiency of Programme management.  

Most of the actions derived from the Programme objectives were accomplished, so the HIVOS-IICD Programme overall has had an effective performance.

A. Fully achieved objectives. Those referring to the organization of the two Country Programmes (nº 1), formulating projects (nº 3), providing seed funding for their implementation (nº 4), and ICT training (nº 5).

In particular, the existence of the Capacity Development dimension (obj. 5) as an explicit initiative of the Country Programmes is commendable, including a training needs assessment from which a suitable training plan is conceived and implemented for every project. Few development agencies pay this much practical attention to dealing with capacity constraints.

B. Partially achieved objectives. Those related to

• Submitting a joint funding proposal for Bolivia (nº 2). It was indeed submitted to the EU, but not accepted – nor was it sent anywhere else.

• Public awareness about projects (nº 6). It had two parts. The first about ‘The IN as a mechanism to influence national level policy discussions’, was more successful and should be highly recognized as it gives civil society the opportunity to influence ICT policy discussions. The second one, about ‘Generating awareness around project partners’ activities’, yielded few results. The Information Networks have not succeeded in the aspect of knowledge sharing nor in providing services to the CP projects, ie. enhanced visibility. This is mainly due to operational problems and little knowledge management expertise.

• Monitoring and Evaluation (nº 7). M&E is a pillar of IICD CPs, and it uses an advanced methodology and supporting tools. In Ecuador and Zambia, it produced valuable information about the implementation process and also the projects’ impacts as perceived by the end-users. But for a complete picture of development impact and project effectiveness, it lacks: (i) systematic tracking of project advances vs. plans and expectations; (ii) the possibility to carry out ex-post evaluations, as early impacts are hard to determine; (iii) project-oriented monitoring information, as opposed to sector or programme wide (which is what it is commonly being done).

In short, IICD’s M&E approach was more adequate in Ecuador and Zambia at the programme level than for individual projects. In other words, it may serve better IICD’s purpose than those of the projects.

• Promotion of the HIVOS-IICD partnership (nº 9). Some work was done, but the HIVOS-IICD partnership remains little known outside the Netherlands. This is the case even in Ecuador and Zambia where the projects were being implemented (through HIVOS local partners). This insufficient awareness is mainly due to little direct communication with the projects by HIVOS, and that IICD did little to promote it either. Read more about linkages to other initiatives (HLinkagesOtherInitiatives.htm)

C. Only one objective was not achieved, related to participation of project partners in Thematic Networks (nº8). The problem lies in that these Networks are not fully operational at this time. In fact, IICD is facing a significant challenge with Thematic Networks, even though they constitute one of the two strategic approaches of the organization (the other being Country Programmes).

    Programme Management.1

In terms of management of the HIVOS/IICD programme, it performed satisfactorily, with no major difficulties reported. IICD staff frequently visited both countries, and local partners felt a strong degree of IICD support and involvement. HIVOS was minimally involved in project implementation, more in preparatory tasks for the Country Programme (particularly in Zambia). Some problems with delayed payments by IICD were reported by project partners, perhaps because of excessive micro-management, though overall administrative issues were ok. Institutional HIVOS-IICD communications were fluid and meetings here held whenever needed, however a periodic formal meeting to track progress would have been beneficial. Lastly, a long-delayed decision on whether to approve a project in Zambia by HIVOS led to some wasted effort and some strained relations for IICD with the local partners. 

Read more

1. Given the importance of how the Partnership was managed for the Evaluation, separate aspects of that specific assessment are grouped together for easier reference in the response to the relevant research question (nº 4), under section G, ‘’ToRs Research Questions’