Evaluation of the Support to civil society and local authority project (2023)

The overall strategy and objectives of the “Support to Civil Society and Local Authorities for Local Development in Sierra Leone” Programme being evaluated, are defined by the act of the 11th European Development Fund: On 25 June 2018, the ACP/EU Partnership Agreement was signed, establishing the financing agreement FED/2017/039-030. The document directs the CSO-LA Programme to the overall objective: "to contribute towards the country’s long-term stability, equitable growth, poverty reduction, democratisation, and the rule of law, and to foster an integrated local development approach…. This will be done through strengthening the capacities of relevant actors involved with a view to achieving integrated development strategies and initiatives."

The report is structured in accordance with the OECD-DAC requirements for evaluations.

In Section 3.1, we discuss the programme’s design and its relevance to national priorities and EU country priorities and strategies.

Section 3.2 discusses the programme’s coherence with other development interventions. Section 3.3 analyses the Programme´s effectiveness, in particular the contribution of the results achieved to achieving the immediate objective (outcome).

Section 3.4 follows with a discussion of efficiency, including the conversion of resources (financial and human) into results.

Section 3.5 and 3.6 discuss the programme’s impact (the likelihood of achieving the objective) and sustainability over time.

Finally, Sections 3.7 and 3.8 focus on the crosscutting themes of gender equality and empowerment (GEWE) and environment – climate change related issues. This is followed by a discussion of the main lessons learnt and a recapitulation of conclusions and recommendations emerging from the Programme experience.