North East: VSF begins programmes evaluation

VSF begins programmes evaluation in North East
NAN-HG-2
Evaluation
By Lizzy Okoji
Abuja, Sept. 25, 2017 (NAN) The Victims Support Fund (VSF) has introduced external evaluation of its 2015 and 2016 programmes in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States to assess the impact of its implemented programmes in the North East region.
Dr Sunday Ochoche, the Executive Director of the Fund, made this known on Monday in Abuja in a statement issued by Mrs Rotkatmwa Gofwen, the Communications Officer of the VSF.
Ochoche said that the outcome of the evaluation aimed at independently assessing the impact, efficacy and significance of programmes implemented within the period of intervention, would serve as a guide for the planning and execution of future programmes.
He said that since its inception, the VSF has implemented numerous projects in the insurgency affected states of the North East.
The executive director, however, noted that assessments of projects implementation, performance reviews and evaluations have not been conducted.
Ochoche explained that this has resulted in wasted opportunities for learning and measuring the impacts and successes of its programmes.
He said that due to this, it became imperative for the VSF to undertake an evaluation of previous programmes before the commencement of the 2017 interventions.
“The evaluation will cover 2015 and 2016 implementation period with the purpose of assessing the impacts of VSF programmes with a view to identifying areas of achievement and challenges faced.
“The evaluation would also assess the effectiveness and efficiency of VSF programmes in achieving its goals and objectives.
“The exercise would assess the relevance of VSF strategies and interventions in relation to the vision and mandate of VSF committee and the essential needs of beneficiary victims of insurgency.
“It would capture key learning from implementation of programmes, including a review of the accountability and effectiveness of resource used.
“It would provide relevant information and data to feed into the implementation of 2017 and subsequent programmes and the planned scale up interventions,’’ Ochoche said.
He said that the independent evaluators have also commenced the training of data collectors selected from the affected communities.
He explained that the evaluators would proceed to all project locations for data gathering after being trained.
According to him, the process will include key informant interviews, secondary data analysis, cost analysis and focus group discussions.
He said that accountability of resources expended on projects, effectiveness, relevance, sustainability as well as partnerships would have been evaluated and analysed at the end of the exercise.
The executive director said the findings from the exercise would help steer future programmes development to ensure maximum and lasting impact.
Ochoche said that the VSF commenced the delivery of its prioritised interventions targeting women and children in the North East in 2015.
He said that this followed highly interactive and participatory processes with state and non-state actors who were critical stakeholders and instrumental in the design of VSF programmes and operational plan.
He said that building on the successes of the 2015 programme implementation, the VSF scaled up interventions to more communities and beneficiaries in the targeted region in 2016.
According to him, the interventions in 2015 were done through direct implementation while the implementation in 2016 was through Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
He said that VSF is in the process of implementing its 2017 programmes and developing new logical and monitoring frameworks for tracking the performance of its interventions. (NAN)
LIZ/BOLA/MST
Edited by Bola Akingbehin/Muhammad Suleiman Tola