Oxfam s remote partnerships, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in Somalia.

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1 December 2009 Oxfam s remote partnerships, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in Somalia. The humanitarian and security situation in Somalia continues to deteriorate severely, particularly in light of the surge in fighting since early May. Over the past several months, various reports have pointed to ongoing violence, targeted killings, and civilian casualties committed by all parties to the conflict. The depth and severity of the displaced person s crisis in Somalia is increasing. There are now more than 1.5 million displaced people in Somalia. Half the country s population (or 3.64 million people), are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance with 20% GAM rates for children under 5. 75% of the affected population is concentrated in South Central regions where access to basic services such as health or safe water is seriously lacking. The security situation, combined with the current reduced amount of humanitarian resources available could very well lead not only to further conflict within the country, but also to an increase in the number of Somalis fleeing their country and taking refuge in Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen. These population movements could have negative ramifications on the wider security situation in the region. The situation is worsening because of extreme insecurity, displacement, five consecutive years of failed rains deepening and spreading the drought in large parts of the country and a lack of access by aid agencies to those in need. Somalia has faced its worst drought in over a decade with fears of flooding during the rainy seasons with serious consequences for nutrition, livelihoods, and access to food. The crisis is compounded by extremely limited access to those in need, insecurity, sometime targeted assassinations, kidnappings and threats against international and national staff of INGOs and LNGOs have reduced the ability of agencies to operate and are causing many of the agencies to modify ways of working in order to adopt to the current context. 1 Oxfam s remote partnership approach in Somalia In the current context, Oxfam uses a series of remote partnership approaches to continue (and in some cases) scale up operations and assure programme quality and accountability. Oxfam does not have an operational presence in south/central Somalia, but maintains an office in Hargeisa, Somaliland (which is relatively stable and accessible). An Oxfam GB cross border office in Wajir, North eastern Kenya, near the Somalia border also oversees programmes across the border. The remote partnership model is based on the principle of equal partnership with a near or complete handover of day to day implementation responsibility to the national partners. Oxfam 1 Some agencies have been forced to withdraw and stop operations all together leaving the people in need desperate. 1

2 Novib adopts this as a preferred methodology in the context of difficult to access programme areas of Somalia. The remote partnership approach also dictates that before a partnership is entered into an there needs to be an elaborate and careful identification and appraisal of the partner.. Of utmost importance is that the partner has to be accepted by the community it seeks to work with through clear mechanisms for cross checking. The delivery structures of the partner must of necessity be embedded in the community and feedback mechanisms should speak to this reality. 2 Oxfam provides support to the partners through resource mobilization, capacity building (through technical advisors, consultants, with a coaching-mentoring relationship), advocacy, and admin/financial backstopping. The operational partners focus on context and operations. Oxfam also maintains financial and strategic oversight role through programme managers based in Nairobi, Hargeisa and Wajir. Humanitarian Capacity building for local partners The remote partnership approach is anchored on the ability of local partners to design, implement and deliver quality programmes; this means that resources, time and commitment must be invested to create the desired capacity. Oxfam has made a deliberate and strategic choice to identify, train and mentor local Somali NGOs on the basics of emergency programming, preparedness and response, and to provide them technical and funding support required to deliver humanitarian programs. Since 2007, Oxfam has trained 28 local Somalia organizations on emergency preparedness and response action (in its EPARA program). This capacity building programme addresses both the institutional and technical aspects of the organization. The engagement with the local organizations is sustained, deliberate and aimed at generating the necessary level of trust between Oxfam and the partner, and between the partner and the local community. The skills that these local partners have acquired include - but are not limited to - community managed disaster risk reduction and response, rapid and participatory assessments, security context analysis and management, conflict sensitivity, gender analysis, project cycle management, documentation and information management, organizational management and systems, cross community engagements and conflict sensitivity, M&E, contingency planning, codes of conduct, Sphere minimum standards etc. Specific sector trainings tailored to the needs of the partners are also identified and gaps filled as part of the overall project cycle management. In the context of insecurity and inaccessibility present in much of south central Somali, the biggest challenge that faces Oxfam and indeed many agencies is how to monitor, evaluate and report on programmes implemented by partners and ensure programme quality. How Oxfam monitors programmes for quality and accountability In Somalia, Oxfam employs a range of multiple but complementary mechanisms for ensuring that the partner programs are of a high quality and meet global humanitarian quality standards. It ensures that resources and program delivery is made accountable through innovative ways of monitoring and tracking program delivery. 2 Oxfam has separate partner identification and appraisal guidelines, such as the Oxfam Novib tool box. Reference should also be drawn to OI partnership guidelines, which is also a work in progress. OI s Somalia working group on partnership is also in the process of articulating guidelines. 2

3 The monitoring practices are handled at different levels of the programme, such as at the. community and partner level, at the external monitoring agency level, and at Oxfam International levels. This multi level monitoring reinforces checks and balances necessary for effective delivery. The mechanisms used are elaborated in Table 1: Table 1 Four Levels of Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting for Oxfam s Programmes in Somalia 3 Level 1. Community-based Monitoring Community selected project committees: Before design/implementation of any project, ensure that communities are involved in the project cycle directly or through community selected project management committees. Selection must be transparent and based on fair criteria which should also be agreed through community meetings and embedded in the contractual documents with the partner. A Project Management Committee (PMC) (or Village Relief Committee, VRC) is created, composed of local elders, women representatives, youth representatives, chiefs and local authorities. The PMC s role is to appoint and supervise volunteers to monitor the key indicators, to compile and analyze the monitoring data and to report to the local partner staff. In the case of WASH (Water, Sanitation and Public Health) interventions, trained WASH committees will take the role of the PMC. Oxfam Programme officers gather direct feedback from key community members through telephone conversations and other forms of information sourcing. Community managed actions: Oxfam transfers, to the local partners, tools such as community managed disaster risk reduction (CMDRR) which enhances complete ownership of the design and actions by the local community. This should be real and not just tick the box type of engagement. These works based if the local partners is rooted and is accepted in that community. Information broadcasting : Declare to both the communities and other local actors via different interagency forums and in some cases local media what/where actions, what budgets and program activities are located and with which local partner. This broadcasting and transparency maximizes/elicits feedback from various stakeholders about what they themselves are doing, what they think of the intervention etc. This checks possible overlaps and misinformation. Level 2. Partner Level Monitoring The partner, together with the community, monitors the key indicators. The partner is responsible for setting up monitoring and feedback systems with the local community, for regular focus group discussions with different community groups (women, men, youth, elders), for data analysis and cross-checking, and for reporting to Oxfam. The way the partner triangulates is by comparing the monitoring data from the PMC with the results of the focus group discussions, and cross-checking this information every month with a third source of information. In addition, informal monitoring takes place with each visit to a project site. Partners are supported to carry out real-time evaluations and peer reviews of the programs, and not only after the program has finished. NGO are encouraged to share information and carry out peer reviews as a way of enhancing coordination and information sharing. Field based coordination: Encourage local agencies/partners working in a particular area to talk to each other, share work plans, approaches and actions. If and when local agencies meet, minutes are prepared and shared (broadcast) to various forums in country and in Nairobi again this enhances feedback. Life histories: Partners are supported to take life histories around projects. This tool focus on tracing the human interest stories of individuals who have participated in the project being monitored/evaluated. The stories they tell helps Oxfam to learn from the actions it supported in a summative rather than just formative way. The stories by the individuals in different ways represent the voice and perspective of the wider population. This is especially important to enhance learning for improved practice. 3 Taken from Oxfam International, Quality Standards, Monitoring and Evaluation strategy in insecure areas of South- Central Somalia 3

4 Level 3. External Agency Level Monitoring Some local firms have both the competence and access possibilities to an area where international agencies like Oxfam may not necessarily be able to visit. In such cases, Oxfam is able to get an external and independent view of a project by hiring external consultant firms or individuals. This approach also requires to invest in data bases of local firms (including those run by the Somalia Diaspora) and of individuals and to understand their competencies and motivations. Oxfam Novib is for example also using the EPARA resource persons to provide support and or monitoring to the local partners. Plans are under way to also equip the resource persons with skills to carry out basic financial monitoring apart from the technical programmes aspects. For each of the regions of south/central Somalia, a Somali agency is selected on the basis of a competitive tender or call for applications for external monitoring contracts. Criteria for selection are technical expertise and experience with monitoring, and acceptance by the clans in the project area. The external monitoring team including at least one woman visits the project area every month or in line an agree work plan. Next to monitoring the outputs and aspects of the technical quality of the intervention 4, the agency pays specific attention to the quality standard related to targeted beneficiaries. Level 4. Oxfam International Level Monitoring Oxfam s monitoring approach is based on triangulation of information from the partner with regular communication with key informants within the beneficiary community. The key informants are representatives of different groups (elders, women, youth and disabled), authorities and clans. They are facilitated with a telephone and cameras at the start of the project, and regular (weekly or monthly, depending on the situation) communication takes place between the Oxfam programme officer and the key informants. Oxfam is responsible for reporting to the wider organization and to the institutional donor organizations funding the project. Although the security in the areas for which this strategy is designed prevents regular planned field visits, Oxfam invests in its and partner security analysis and management practices as a way of determining the timing of visits by its own staff. The visits by staff are very critical both to encourage and ensure solidarity with local actors and to provide feedback and on job technical support to the partner. Oxfam has a cadre of technical staff who take windows of opportunity to visit the partner program sites to verify delivery. This requires that both Oxfam and the partner have a high ability to read the signs and carry out localized and robust context analysis. This is anchored on the understanding that Somalia is not homogenous and is misleading to assume that what prevails in one locality is the same in another. During the field visits, priority is made to observation of technical works and collection of feedback and stories from beneficiaries on project impact. Oxfam International believes in the importance of direct and constant monitoring of the work of partners at project sites, to ensure as much accountability and feedback as possible. Oxfam s monitoring and partner-support strategies are specifically tailored to the context of the given locality on the ground, and on the understanding that Somalia is not homogenous. Regular meetings and trainings 5 of local partners by Oxfam International are also held in areas near to the project sites, which are easier to access, such as Wajir (a few hours drive from project sites in Lower Juba and Gedo Regions), Hargeisa and Nairobi. Technical monitoring: At the project design stage the NGO identifies appropriate project monitoring and process indicators through log frames drawn against humanitarian quality indicators like sphere standards, code of conduct, Oxfam quality standards. The partners are made aware the project reporting expectations (to avoid any surprises). These ease processes, and keeps the actions on track even if when the support becomes remote. Special care is drawn to the means of verification and it is here that the creativity and sense of imagination is much needed. This is best achieved if the implementing partner has received the requisite technical skills required to deliver and implement the project in question. 6 4 To avoid failures in getting third parties to monitor technical quality, they are given good tools (e.g. technical drawings from the PH team they can compare to the installations, check off things and note discrepancies). They are also asked to take photos (if security permits), to be shared with Oxfam technical advisors. 5 In emergency programming, preparedness and response, monitoring, evaluation and project cycle management. 6 Oxfam has invested in deliberate technical training of partner organization on technical aspects of work including public health (WASH), community therapeutic care (CTC), cash relief and livelihoods etc and the results are encouraging. 4

5 Use of technology: GPS, mobile phone technology, photos: Project sites are identified through GPS coordinates, Random calls with the community representatives and beneficiaries, along with pictures and photos depicting project activities, processes and results. SMS based surveys are also possible and applicable in some cases to inform agency understanding of the perception of beneficiaries about humanitarian aid being delivered by Oxfam and the local partners. These approaches, which are based on strengthening local organizations, have enabled Oxfam to scale up its life saving operations. 7 Note: Case studies on how some of the Oxfam partners are overcoming the challenges of programming in Somalia are available on request. For more information regarding this paper, contact 1. Peter Kamalingin, Representative Humanitarian Planning, Oxfam Novib on Peter.Kamalingin@oxfamnovib.or.ke 2. Hassan Noor, Humanitarian Programme Coordinator, OGB on HNoor@oxfam.org.uk 7 Oxfam is currently delivering a wide range of interventions including community based therapeutic programme for 17,000 children and lactating mothers in 8 districts of Mogadishu, Emergency water, sanitation (public health services) for more than 200,000 displaced people in Afgooye and surrounding regions, emergency livelihood interventions for close to 200,000 people in Hiraan, Middle Shabelle, Galgaduud, Lower Juba and other parts of the region. In addition, there is also an integrated protection intervention for 45,000 displaced and vulnerable women and girls in Hiraan, Middle Shabelle and Lower Juba. 5