Evaluation of National Action Plan 1325 Monitor Project

Australian Research and Management Consulting (ARM Consulting) to undertake an independent mid-term evaluation of its 4-year National Action Plan (NAP) 1325 Monitor project. APPRO has been implementing the stated project with funding from the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) in 33 districts across 12 provinces of Afghanistan since the beginning of 2017. The primary goal of the NAP 1325 Monitor project is to contribute to good governance in gender-focused programming and policy implementation through informed engagement and advocacy by civil society aimed at sub-national, national, and international stakeholders. The project aims to create linkages between society and its public institutions to increase government transparency, responsiveness, and accountability in meeting its commitment to protect and promote women’s basic rights, as articulated in NAP 1325. The project contributes to its intended goal through programmatic interventions in three major areas; (i) research and monitoring, (ii) capacity building, mentoring, and facilitation, and (iii) scorecard evaluation.

The evaluation has chiefly focused on identifying project achievements, challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned. In light of its findings, the evaluation recommends improving project design and implementation modalities for the remaining years of the project. The methodology adopted for the evaluation comprises qualitative and quantitative data collection. The qualitative data was gathered through a literature review, Key Informant Interviews (KII), and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) with relevant project stakeholders. The evaluation involved 62 interviews with key informants (16 female; 46 male), including the project implementation team, government officials, and project beneficiaries. In addition, eight FGDs were held with 72 project beneficiaries. Quantitative data was collected through questionnaire-based structured interviews with 389 government staff and civil society members in 12 target provinces.