Final performance evaluation of the regional citizen security project (InfoSegura)

The evaluation seeks to answer the following three broad evaluation questions (EQs) regarding InfoSegura: 1) the project’s contribution to change the level of quality and timeliness of crime and violence data definition, collection, and recording; 2) the Central American governments’ use of crime and violence data generated through the project as input to effective citizen security-related policymaking; and 3) the contribution of the creation of partnerships and transparency between government and civil society to increased collaboration in the design of citizen-security policy. Key illustrative findings indicate that InfoSegura, in all three countries, contributed to capacity development within governmental technical units to collect, record, and use crime and violence data for analysis; strengthened the capacities of source institutions to improve quality of data and information-sharing; and contributed to consolidate capacities developed in technical and source institutions to enhance sustainability. The evaluation further confirmed the use, in important instances, of data generated through the project to inform policy decisions on citizen security-related issues in each of the three countries.Among key recommendations are the need for: the design and implementation of training programs in the fields of official crime statistics, survey sampling, crime measurement scales, crime analysis for crime investigation and evaluation of crime prevention policies; and the strengthening of analytical capacity for evidence-based policymaking within relevant institutions.