Wednesday, March 7, 2007

ToR for Mid-Term Evaluation of Education for Peace

Terms of Reference for the Internal Mid-Term Evaluation of the Education for Peace Project (EP) under MS-Uganda.
(First Draft)
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1. Background

The “Education for Peace, Repatriation and Development in Southern Sudan and Refugee Settlements in North Uganda Project” – commonly and hereafter referred to as” Education for Peace” (EP), was incepted in July 2005 with expected completion in June 2008. Early March 2007, it was decided by MS-CO to carry out an internal mid-term evaluation.
The EP programme operates in North Uganda and South Sudan, where it targets the wider community in selected and specified areas – although with a focus on various types of community leaders. In brief, the objective is to support a peaceful, inclusive and democratic societal development. This involves – among other elements – training and dissemination of information on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, constitutionalism, human rights, democracy and good governance.
The project is administrated by MS-Uganda using three Ugandan registered NGOs for the implementation. The three organisations are: Needs Service Education Africa (NSEA), Koboko; Education Access Africa (EAA), Adjumani; and Sudan Human Rights Association (SHRA), Kampala.
The project is funded by and refers to the Development Assistance for Refugees (DAR) Secretariat in Kampala, which in turn receives funding from the Danish Government.

2. Objective

The objective of the mid-term evaluation is to
· Assess the progress of EP-project activities in relation to the overall and immediate objectives stated in the original project document entitled “Education for Peace, Repatriation and Development in Southern Sudan and the Refugee Settlements in North Uganda” (MS-Uganda, 2005).

3. Outputs

The outputs of the mid-term evaluation are to be
· A draft evaluation report presenting the preliminary findings and conclusions of the evaluation team. To be submitted to MS-CO and implementing agencies for discussion.
· A final evaluation report including findings, conclusions and recommendations. To be presented for MS-CO, implementing partners and the funding agency so as to contribute to decision-making regarding the future development of the project.

4. Scope of work

The scope of work includes – but is not necessarily restricted to – the following:
· Assessing the three implementing agencies’ progress in the implementation of planned activities since inception.
· Assessing the organisational and technical capacity of the same partners in regard to fulfilling the objectives of the EP-project document.
· Assessing the financial procedures currently applied by implementing partners and the financial sustainability for the remaining project period.
· Identifying external risks which may have implications for the project implementation.
· Evaluating the role and performance of the EP Co-ordination group.

5. Methodology

The methodology includes two approaches. First, a desk study aimed at:
· Assessing the relevance, quantity and quality of outputs in the period from project inception in July 2005 to first quarter 2007 in relation to the objectives stated in the Project Document.
· Reviewing the reporting system, the financial procedures and the financial sustainability.
Secondly, a field study involving qualitative interviews with relevant staff in the implementing organisations. The field study aims at:
· Assessing the experiences, problems and challenges in implementing EP as perceived by staff and management in the three organisations.
· Assessing the organisational and technical capacity of the organisations to fulfil the remaining requirements.
· Get inputs on external risks.
· Get inputs on the role of the EP Co-ordination group.

6. Work plan and time frame

7. Evaluation team

The mid-term evaluation is internal and will be undertaken by:
· MS Programme Officer Emmanuel Misaka (team-leader)
· SHRA Organisational and Human Rights Advisor Peder Thorning.

8. Documents available

The following documents are available for the evaluation team:
· Project Document: “Education for Peace, Repatriation and Development in Southern Sudan and the Refugee Settlements in North Uganda”, (MS-Uganda, 2005).
· Consolidated reports to DAR (MS).
· Quarterly monitoring reports (SHRA, EAA, NSEA).
· Quarterly monitoring charts (SHRA, EAA, NSEA).
· Quarterly narrative reports (SHRA, EAA, NSEA).
· Quarterly financial reports (SHRA, EAA, NSEA).
· Training material used by implementing partners.

KLA/05/03/07/PT

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Volume 12 Issue No. 4 December 2006

SHRA holds three workshops in a row

If there is anything that the Sudan Human Rights Association (SHRA) is proud of, it is empowerment Programme. The paralegal movement has registered tremendous successes. During a staff meeting held in the first week of November 2006, the programmes Department realised a gap in their targeted numbers in some refugee settlements, and, therefore, resolved to remedy the inadequacies by conducting more workshops.

It was discovered that while in the settlements such as Madi-Okollo (Arua) and Ikafe (Yumbe), there were satisfactory figures of paralegals; Imvepi (Yumbe) and Rhino Camp (Arua) desired some more to be trained. This necessitated one more training to target trainees from Imvepi and Rhino camp. Consequently, a basic paralegal training workshop was conducted with subjects like paralegal work, human rights, conflict transformation, psychosocial understanding, and refugee laws and policies.

The trainings ran from 27th November-1st December 2006. Thereafter, two refresher courses were held. It was mandatory to revisit Adjumani district, since the ratio of the mandated paralegals to the refugee population was extremely wide. To narrow this gap, a refresher-training workshop immediately proceeded the Arua training, 4th –6th December 2006. To crown the activities, SHRA was back in Arua for a refresher workshop, 8th –10th December 2006. Topics facilitated on were scaled down to three: human rights concepts, conflict transformation, and psychosocial.
Case Reports Collected

SHRA has also realised that the paralegal case reports are an effective tool to record the human rights situation in the paralegals’ respective settlements. Thus, all filed reports in the West Nile region will be collected on a monthly basis. At the same time, fresh forms will be distributed to the paralegals through their contact persons.

This time around, SHRA’s Field Officer, Geoffrey Mudawa, together with his assistant, Natugasha MacLean, rounded up the region collecting filled forms, while also delivering fresh forms to record cases during this festive season. History has shown that the festive period always has an abnormal crime record, so SHRA had to arm the paralegals with fresh forms to help them record any human rights abuses that may occur during this Christmas season. While Geoffrey attended to Rhino Camp and Imvepi settlements, MacLean was in Madi-Okollo, Ikafe, Palorinya and Adjumani settlements.

Sexual abuse on the rise in Adjumani settlements

From a survey carried out on the human rights situation in Adjumani settlements, it was discovered that rape and defilement cases have increased at a high rate. The Assistant Settlement Commandant of Elema and Olua zones, Ajusi Pascal, revealed to SHRA’s MacLean that recent rape and defilement statistics in the months of September, October and November are alarming. On a weekly basis, his office alone was recording between 3-5 reported cases, a situation that has never happened before. To combat the crime and dispense justice, both police and the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) regional branch ensure that culprits are apprehended the culprits (some of whom are still remanded), and also assist the victims in all possible ways. Ajusi said that most victims were way laid as they went to get firewood and fetch water.