DALBERG - Health Research in Vietnam - 2020

Description of Project:

The purpose of the evaluation was to help Dalberg reach young people in the age group of 10-24 years and other individuals in their ecosystem. Interacting with youth would enable the Dalberg team to understand the lived experiences, challenges, and motivations of young people in the context of participating, shaping, and driving health research. It would also help the team uncover potential pathways to increase young people’s agency in actively shaping the research.

 The research was conducted by Dalberg through remote interviews and group discussions. Three areas of health research were focused, namely mental health, infectious diseases, and the direct health effects of global heating in Vietnam.

MKE implemented the following tasks:

• Reached 1 CBO representative who worked directly with young people in research, 1 lecturer who engaged young people in research for class assignments, 1 parent of young people who engaged in (health) research, and 3 young people in the age group of 10-24 years with prior exposure to research;

• Supported in getting parental consent for young people below 18;

• Supported with individual consent for young people and adults above 18;

• Helped set up interviews/ group discussion) with people identified for research interaction.

HerVenture - External Evaluation of the HerVenture Project in Vietnam - 2020

Description of Project:

The purpose of the evaluation was to understand the extent to which the HerVenture project met its goal of enabling women entrepreneurs in Vietnam to grow profitable and sustainable enterprises.

• Designed a monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) plan to outline the evaluation methodology using the CBFW’s data collected from the baseline survey and the app analytics.

• Collected data via online surveys, phone interview with HerVenture participants.

• Developed a final evaluation report to present the evaluation findings, methodology, data collection tools, and develop a short summary report of the findings.

MKE implemented the following tasks:

·         Conducted a kick-off meeting with client to finalize scope of evaluation, approach

·         Conducted desk review (CBFW's documents, App data, industry level data)

·         Developed data collection tools (online questionnaire, Key Informant Interview (KII) guide & template)

·         Developed an Inception Report which presented a detailed methodology, MEL plan, implementation plan with clear timelines, tasks, deliverables, survey sample/ target participants

·         Designed a Google Form for the online survey

·         Conducted a pilot before actual survey and interviews

·         Screened eligible users for the survey and KIIs from a list of approximately 4,000 users

·         Conducted the Online survey to get responses from 55 app users

·         Conducted more than 20 telephonic/video KIIs with app users

·         Conducted KIIs with key stakeholders (CBFW, WISE & its partners)

Finalized report and presented in an online workshop with Client

IDH - Development of the Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework for the IDH Textiles & Manufacturing Business Unit, focusing on the LABS, VIP and Circularity program clusters - 2021

Project Description:

The overall objective of the assignment was to develop a M&E and Learning strategy and plan applicable for all Textiles & Manufacturing Business Unit (BU) program`s in IDH. The assignment gave direction to the BU`s programs and helped to create harmonization between them.

Specific objectives of the assignment were:

●        Developing an overall M&E plan for Textiles & Manufacturing Business Unit (BU) verticals (Materials, Verified Industrial Parks, LABS and Circularity), building on earlier work and strengthening the focus on better jobs, better incomes and better environment impact areas.

●        Developing clear indicators, definitions, and data collection instructions for indicators relevant to the BU programs.

● Developing learning questions that can support the program team in developing more effective and impactful programs in future.

MKE implemented the following tasks:

●        Reconstructed the program cluster’s Theory of Change (ToC) (LABS, VIP and Circularity);

●        Developed indicators, including definition and measurement guidance specific to each program cluster (LABS, VIP, Circularity);

● Submitted deliverables to IDH, including TOCs per program cluster, and Indicators capturing approaches specific to program clusters with, indicator definitions, data source, disaggregation, measurement guidance of quantitative or qualitative methodologies, verification method and guidance of measuring of baseline value.

IDH - External Independent Impact Evaluation of the IDH Apparel Program during the Multi-year Plan of 2016/2020 - 2021

Project Description:

The evaluation aimed to assess the contribution and attribution of IDH Apparel Program interventions in improving working conditions and reducing gender inequalities through changes in business practices, sector governance and field-level, focusing on two of the Apparel program projects: The LABS Program and The Race to the Top Program. Two specific objectives included:

●        Assessing if the intended output, outcome, and impact of the targeted public goods are realized and the extent of IDH’s contribution towards the change.

●  Assessing IDH’s performance against the key research questions of Relevance, Coherence, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact, Sustainability and Lessons learnt.

MKE implemented the following tasks:

●        Conducted a kick-off meeting to clarify the scope of work;

●        Conducted desk review of project documents to understand the status and design of the projects;

●        Developed data collection tools including survey questionnaire, key informant interview (KII) and focus group discussion (FGD) guide & templates;

●        Developed an Inception Report which presented a detailed methodology, evaluation framework, and implementation plan;

●        Conducted a pilot in 2 factories in Vietnam and India each before actual implementation;

●        Conducted KIIs, FGDs and survey in 28 factories in Vietnam ( in-person) and 14 factories in India (remotely);

●        Conducted data cleaning and analysis;

● Prepared Interim progress report, final report and presented in a workshop with Client.

Tra Vinh Wind Project – Community Needs Assessment - 2021

Project Description:

The Tra Vinh Project is a near shore wind project located in Tra Vinh province, South Vietnam, approximately 130km from Ho Chi Minh City (the “Project”). The Project is located in the following five communes: Ngu Lac, Truong Long Hoa, Long Toan, Long Khanh, and Dan Thanh. In accordance with the principles of CFM’s Responsible Investment Code, CFM is committed to maximising opportunities for delivering environmental and social benefits through its investments, particularly to the local communities in the area of influence of its project investments. To achieve this, CFM has established an impact (“Do Good”) framework which provides an overarching approach to fulfilling this commitment.

Mekong Economics’ inputs were to carry out stakeholder mapping and a needs assessment along with prioritisation and ranking to provide the information necessary for the development of the Do Good program for the Tra Vinh project. This involved the following specific details:

• Conduct comprehensive desk review of relevant project to develop and formalize an assessment framework in compliance with IFC‘s Performance Standards - including a methodology to assess it in close consultation with CFM and its partners.

• Identify opportunities for environmental interventions that restore, conserve or enhance the local environment through meetings with stakeholders including NGOs, Government officials and through relevant studies (for example ESIA baseline studies, desk-based research).

• Ranking of the different Do Good opportunities will commence with local stakeholders

ICRW (International Center for Research on Women) -Survey on Vietnam and Indonesia - 2020

Project Description:

The project collected quantitative and qualitative data from two factories in Indonesia and five factories in Vietnam (Thanh Hoa, Tay Ninh, Dong Nai and Long An provinces). The project sought to understand how gender inequalities manifest in factory settings and how those workplaces can be made more equitable through the implementation of better policies, programs and structures. The project investigated three interlocking domains: institutional policies; organizational culture and practices; and employee and leadership mind-set. The surveyed data were then analysed to develop a final report for the company, which would examine trends, areas of specific risks, successful practices and gaps in addressing the issues of uncovered gender inequality.

Description of actual services provided by MKE:

• Participated in a remote training conducted by ICRW staff;

• Translated all data collection tools developed by ICRW into local language and input into desired format (i.e., paper form or technology-based app or program); finalized the data tools upon introductory field mission.

• Worked with ICRW and each participating factory group to schedule a 4-day site visit with factories including scheduling in-person interviews with a variety of individuals, coordinating logistics for FGDs, and selecting samples of workers for the survey;

• Worked with each participating factory to recruit a representative sample of staff members to participate in the interviews, FGDs and surveys;

• Supported ICRW in translating factory policy documents

• Conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews in person with members of staff including executive leaders, head of HR, senior managers, and mid-level managers;

• Conducted 5 semi-structured focus group discussions in person with male and female line workers and line supervisors (FGDs comprised of 6 participants each);

• Collected survey data (in person) from a representative sample of 150 non-supervisory workers in factories with deep-dive survey;

• Translated and transcribe interviews and FGDs into verbatim (word for word), English-language transcripts; and

• During in-depth data collection period, speak with the ICRW team daily to share information on insights and challenges, work with ICRW to refine and tailor the data collection procedures to the factory setting, as necessary, based on realities experienced during the site visit.

• At the end of data collection, participated in a debrief call with ICRW to discuss reflections and insights gained; and

• Answered clarifying questions, as needed, during data analysis and the drafting of guidance materials

GGGI - Forest Finance and Investment Incubator (FFII) - Development of Financial Investment Plans (FIPs) in Vietnam

Project Description:

The FFII project is an agreement between the Global Green Growth Institute and the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs and the Office of Global Change of the U.S. Department of State and Conservation International (CI). The overall goal of the FFII project is to identify, develop and facilitate new investment opportunities: in the three sectors: long-rotation timber plantations, coffee/nuts agroforestry, alternate wetting and drying rice via developing an Action Plan and a Financial Investment Plan. The Plans should make clear the barriers and analyse the opportunities for investment and identify a pipeline of investments. They should align with country national or sub-national climate and land use action plans that: 1) support U.S. and developing country climate goals and outcomes; 2) result in downstream project pipelines that make use of in-country resources; and 3) garner funding commitments for necessary project plans to achieve climate goals related to sustainable landscapes.

MKE implemented the following tasks:

●        Arrange a kick-off meeting with relevant parties to discuss and agree upon the scope of work, approach, methodology, timelines, deliverables 

●        Develop final method and research tools for the assessment including selection of the ten investment projects (PIF component) and the three most promising opportunities for each sub-sector (RAR component)

●        Conduct desk-based secondary research including case study review, policy alignment description, industry & market analysis, analysis of financing flows, description of an investment road map for each sector

●        Produce the agreed deliverables: the general business enabling environment report, the sector-specific report, the PIFs report, the RARs report, the final report

●   Capture lessons learnt, and provide forward-looking recommendations to ensure that the project can effectively capture optimal opportunities for investments.

The Palladium Group - TA-9660 REG: Promoting Transformative Gender Equality Agenda in Asia and the Pacific – Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative Vietnam Access to Finance and Environment - 2020

Project Description:

The project is funded by ADB to support Vietnamese women-owned or led small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (WSMEs) access to finance, with an aim to strengthen the capacity of financial institutions to increase lending to WSMES and develop gender responsive products and services tailored for the WSME market, support of State Bank of Viet Nam, and Ministry of Planning and Investment to better support the WSMES. The technical assistance services implement the activities of component 1 and component 2 of the project: Component 1 focuses on Access to Finance through innovative and ambitious financial approaches including performance-based lending (Viet Nam) and  first gender bond in Southeast Asia and the Pacific; while component 2 addresses the Enabling Environment, which will work with national partners including government agencies, civil society organizations, and women’s business associations to develop stronger WSME-focused policies, regulations and action plans.

As part of this project, Mekong Economics team have:

·      Worked with 6 institutions, including: State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), 4 financial institutions (commercial banks), and 1 non-financial institution to strengthen their capacities to increase lending to WSMES and develop gender responsive products and services tailored for the WSME market

·    Worked with the State Bank of Vietnam, Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) and selected provinces to strengthen the policy environment for women’s entrepreneurship

·     Conducted qualitative research through focus groups and individual interviews on the impact that receiving We-Fi supported financing has on women entrepreneurs and particularly their position in their families and communities as well as other related issues on empowerment and social norms.

·  Prepared concise, effective print and video impact stories and plan seminars to promote activities supported under WAVES through traditional and social media.

Cherie Blair Foundation for Women (CBFW) - External evaluation of the HerVenture project in Vietnam - 2020

Project Description:

The purpose of the evaluation was to understand the extent to which the HerVenture project met its goal of enabling women entrepreneurs in Vietnam to grow profitable and sustainable enterprises.

·        Designed a monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) plan to outline the evaluation methodology using the CBFW’s data collected from the baseline survey and the app analytics.

·        Collected data via online surveys, phone interview with HerVenture participants.

Developed a final evaluation report to present the evaluation findings, methodology, data collection tools, and develop a short summary report of the findings.

MKE implemented the following tasks:

·        Conducted a kick-off meeting with client to finalize scope of evaluation, approach

·        Conducted desk review (CBFW's documents, App data, industry level data)

·        Developed data collection tools (online questionnaire, Key Informant Interview (KII) guide & template)

·        Developed an Inception Report which presented a detailed methodology, MEL plan, implementation plan with clear timelines, tasks, deliverables, survey sample/ target participants

·        Designed a Google Form for the online survey

·        Conducted a pilot before actual survey and interviews

·        Screened eligible users for the survey and KIIs from a list of approximately 4,000 users

·        Conducted the Online survey to get responses from 55 app users

·        Conducted more than 20 telephonic/video KIIs with app users

·        Conducted KIIs with key stakeholders (CBFW, WISE & its partners)

· Finalized report and presented in an online workshop with Client

Cherie Blair Foundation for Women (CBFW) -Market Assessment of Women’s Entrepreneurship in Vietnam - 2020

Project Description:

The purpose of this study was to assess the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Vietnam in order to understand the profile and needs of women owners of small and growing businesses, the financial and non-financial barriers they face as entrepreneurs, and how the Women Entrepreneurs Amplifying Ventures and Economies in Vietnam – WEAVE project could be used to overcome these barriers. The study focused on women owners of Small and Growing Businesses (SGBs).

MKE implemented the following tasks:

·        Conducted a kick-off meeting with client to finalize scope of evaluation, approach

·        Conducted desk review

·        Developed data collection tools (telephonic questionnaire, Key Informant Interview (KII) guide & template)

·        Developed an Inception Report which detailed the work plan and methodology for data collection and analysis, including data collection processes and tools, etc.

·        Conducted the telephonic survey of 100 women-owned small and growing businesses

·        Conducted 25 KIIs with enterprise development service providers and other members of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the public, private and non-profit sectors, including financial institutions and key market actors such as ADB, IFC, banks, micro credit institutions, women unions, women business associations in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and nearby provinces (Hoa Binh, Ha Nam)

·        Finalized report and presented in an online workshop with Client

·    Wrote a brief summary report of the findings to be shared widely