Displaced Children and Orphans Fund : assessment of the POMMAR [Preveno orientada aos meninos e meninas em situacao de risco = Prevention oriented towards at-risk boys and girls] project in Brazil

Interim evaluation covers the period 9/94-9/99. The project is being implemented by Partners of the Americas in three cities in Brazil's economically depressed Northeast Region (Fortaleza, Recife, and Salvador) and, at Mission request, in Brasilia. In keeping with a 1998 refinement of the Mission's strategic objective for at-risk youth, POMMAR redefined its strategy to focus on: protection and rights, with special emphasis on sexual exploitation and abuse, especially among girls; and vocational training, including incentives for formal general education as a necessary prerequisite. POMMAR also defined two cross-cutting issues: health, including improving access to health services for adolescents, with an emphasis on reproductive health (RH)/HIV/AIDS; and youth participation in policy and programs. POMMAR has overcome most of the problems noted in the 1996 evaluation (PD-ABN-853). A more directed approach to subgrant selection has largely solved the problem of a lack of subgrant criteria, and the subgrant approval process is much quicker than before. Monitoring of subgrant recipients is much tighter and systematic, and subgrant funds are reaching recipient organizations. As recommended, follow-on grants are being used to extend the time and amount of subgrants, and travel and study grants, along with the Technical Advisory Group, have been eliminated. Research and training are now more closely linked to subgrant recipient and project needs than before. In all, POMMAR has provided 29 subgrants to 24 different NGOs. Nearly all beneficiary organizations cite POMMAR's active role in program and institutional development, efforts that currently focus on individualized TA. POMMAR has been especially effective in networking. It participates actively in inter-institutional councils for at-risk youth issues in all three cities in the Northeast and has stimulated the participation of subgrant recipients on these councils. The placement of permanent staff in each target city increased the ability to build links among NGOs, governmental agencies, and other funding agencies, as is evident from POMMAR's ability to directly obtain some $800,000 for subgrant recipients from other agencies, as well as from its success in leveraging additional funds. POMMAR has taken steps to improve impact measurement, but more is needed. POMMAR can document 3,449 direct and 6,898 indirect beneficiaries of programs it supports. In addition, 84% of direct beneficiaries have been reached by health-related prevention and service programs, nearly all beneficiaries are in formal school, and 85% of these were promoted to the next grade level last year. Of youth finishing vocational courses, 26% are employed. There have been 101 grievances for sexual exploitation and abuse lodged, 107 young people are receiving legal support, and 774 are receiving psychosocial support. The average length of sentences for rights violations has risen, and 8 organizations have documented their methodology and shared it with others. While an improvement over 3 years ago, however, this effort to measure impact is not enough. Data collection has generally been external to the projects, rather than built into their design, and a lack of baseline data hampers data interpretation. Likewise, no systematic effort has been made to objectively measure institutional improvement of subgrant recipients. Other areas needing improvement include POMMAR's lackluster performance in job placement of vocational trainees and its poor record on financial sustainability of subgrant activities (especially microenterprise development). In addition, wide variations exist in targeting resources toward those truly at risk. Promising methods of targeting exist and should be used. POMMAR, ABCA (Partner's Brazilian office), and USAID/Brazil have improved their working relationship and are generally fulfilling their roles and responsibilities. Partners/Washington, however, has fulfilled very few of its obligations as defined in the project proposal, including the provision of promised matching funds. The "value added" to the project by Partners/Washington is very low given its relatively high indirect cost rate. This should be taken into serious consideration when designing the grant mechanism for an extension to 2003.