Institute of Social Studies (Erasmus University of Rotterdam) - Stock-take on CSO Development Effectiveness and Enabling Environment (Global Partnership) - 2016

Project Description:

The Task Team on CSO Development Effectiveness and Enabling Environment (TT) had committed to implement Global Partnership Initiative 12 (GPI-12), as reflected in the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) Mexico Communiqué. The Indicator Two monitoring approach would ideally involve completion of a questionnaire, in a multi-stakeholder fashion, at country level.

The process was to be led by country government National Coordinators, with the participation of Focal points from different stakeholder groups. MKE was responsible to ensure the questionnaire contains four modules reflecting the CSO Enabling Environment Framework, inclusive of:

i) space for multi-stakeholder dialogue

ii) CSO development effectiveness

iii) official development cooperation with CSOs

iv) the legal and regulatory environment for CSOs.

For the GPEDC’s 2nd round monitoring report, findings from country monitoring would be complemented by desk studies.

HelpAge International - Baseline Survey: Dry Zone Social Protection - 2016

Project Description:

The purpose of this assignment was to design a baseline survey and an index related to social protection, analyse the data collected and produce a baseline report.

Project activities led to two project outcomes: poor households had expanded access to community assistance in times of stress, and vulnerable groups had greater income security. The project outcomes would contribute directly to the following Dry Zone programme outcome defined by LIFT: The basic needs of poor households in the target villages were met through effective social protection interventions. MKE participated in this assignment to assess the context and to enable us to measure change in the project indicators, as well as vulnerability and social protection more generally over the course of the project.

MKE also served a wider purpose by providing information for LIFT, other practitioners and government regarding the situation in the Dry Zone. The locations of the project were 30 villages in each of six target townships and the total number of target villages is 180.

Cardno (funded by EU) - Market Studies for EU Gateway | Business Avenues Programme - 2016

Countries Involved:

Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.

Project Description:

The purposes of the market studies were to provide selected EU companies for participation in the “EU Gateway | Business Avenues Programme” an introductory understanding of the selected market and help them in defining their strategy towards this market. Sectors studied included: Environment & Water Technologies, Green Energy Technologies, Construction & Building Technologies, Healthcare & Medical Technologies, Information & Communication Technologies, Contemporary European Design, and Food & Beverages.

Athena Informics (funded by UNICEF) - Literature review and mapping of interventions of child labour - 2016

Project Description:

The purpose of this study was to increase understanding on the scope and drivers of child labour in various sectors, what services were currently available for child labourers and their families, and who was doing what in respects of child labour in Vietnam. The study was designed to inform policy development and programming with the private sector and Government, including the policy development and programme on Worst Forms on Child Labour and the National Programme on Child Protection.

PlaNet Finance - “Supporting Financial Access via Cooperative Upgrading and Enterprise and Farm Development in Kayin State” - 2016

Project Description:

PlaNet Finance, an implementing agency for the EU-funded project “Supporting Financial Access via Cooperative Upgrading and Enterprise and Farm Development in Kayin State”, was currently implementing a three year project aimed at establishing two savings and credit cooperatives to expand financial inclusion to at least 2,000 households in 35 villages in Hlaingbwe township, Myanmar.

The project would also support the members of the cooperatives to undertake new or enhanced farm or enterprise activities that would generate increased income for them. The cooperatives would provide credit for their members to invest in these new income-generating activities as well as a safe place to save in order to increase income and build wealth in this post-conflict area of Myanmar.

ACF - Final Evaluation Sustainable approaches for improved nutrition - 2015

Project Description:

The SUSTAIN project aimed to sustainably improve the nutritional status of the most vulnerable population through the introduction in Myanmar of innovative ‘nutrition-sensitive’ intervention to combat food insecurity. The intervention covered the three pillars of food security with an increased focus on the third one, ‘Nutrition’.

Through the adoption of three innovative approaches, the target groups would improve their dietary intake with an increased consumption of micronutrient-rich foods and products, and enhanced nutrition and care practices. The action aimed to tackle nutrition from different angles, and to establish actionable linkages and levers between agriculture, food security, and nutrition and health sectors.

Plan International - Baseline Study: BRACED Myanmar Alliance Project - 2015

Project Description:

The Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) Myanmar aimed to support community resilience building in 153 target communities in 7 Townships in 3 diverse climatic zones - the Central Dry Zone, Coastal Zone and Hilly Areas - where vulnerable groups were increasingly exposed to extreme climate events including:

i) cyclones/strong winds

ii) floods/storm surges

iii) intense rains

iv) extreme temperatures

v) drought

MKE conducted the baseline study to provide baseline data for the project log-frame, specifically in relation to International Climate Fund (ICF) Key Performance Indicator, relating to the number of people with increased resilience due to BRACED support. The baseline also provided the basis from which to answer the project evaluation questions (as well as OECD-DAC criteria and cross-cutting concerns).

LuxDevelopment - Midterm evaluation of the project “Climate Adapted Local Development and Innovation” - 2015

Project Description:

The project “Climate Adapted Local Development and Innovation” (VIE/033), jointly funded by the Governments of Vietnam and of the Grant Duchy of Luxembourg, was launched in 2014 with the objective to reduce poverty in the poorest localities and to mitigate the losses caused by natural disasters and climate change in most vulnerable areas. It was implemented in 29 poor and vulnerable (i.e. coastal, lagoon or lowland) communes in three districts in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province.

The project beneficiaries were approximately 400,000 people living on 124,000 hectares of land and 22,000 hectares of lagoon area. The mission’s main objective was to undertake a midterm evaluation of the VIE/033 Project. MKE’s evaluation compared the measured results of the project with the specific objective(s) reached at the time of the evaluation (that is, a comparison of actual results with what had been anticipated in the Project Document and/or the Inception Report).

ADB/Conseil Sante - Consultancy services for TA-8842 REG: Greater Mekong Sub-region Health Security Project – PPTA Consultants - 2015

Countries Involved:

Vietnam, Lao PDR and Myanmar.

Project Description:

This ADB project complemented existing projects, focusing on communicable diseases control (CDC), HIV/AIDS and malaria in one single intervention aimed at strengthening health security in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam by providing district and provincial health services capacity for diagnostic, response and treatment. The project focused on remote and underserved areas, with high poverty incidence, and on migrant and mobile populations (MMPs).

MKE Team developed country implementation plan/work program in coordination with the Team Leader; assessed the institutional capacity of the executing and implementing agencies, prepared project implementation arrangements, and prepared institutional and capacity strengthening programs; conducted field visits to investigate services situation and assess local needs; and prepared reports on activities and outputs as required.

CARE International - Economic Empowerment of Women from ethnic groups in the Mekong (Post intervention Data Collection and Analysis for the Impact Evaluation) - 2015

Project Description:

Mekong Economics provided a local Team to collect the primary data though focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with various stakeholders to assist in the impact evaluation of CARE’s interventions in the area of women’s participation and economic empowerment with ethnic groups, to learn which approaches and models worked, to test our theories of change, and to provide recommendations for future programming strategies and direction in the Mekong region.