Mid-term evaluation of the responsive governance project (RGP)

RGP was designed to strengthen government institutions at the national and local levels to help them improve the delivery of public services while encouraging more citizen participation in the political process, as well as to facilitate more equitable socioeconomic development to help mitigate key drivers of instability in Yemen. The purpose of this mid-term performance evaluation was to assess the implementation, effectiveness, and progress of the project. The findings of this evaluation are be used to inform USAID whether the program is on track to achieving programmatic goals, fiscal goals, and targets. Also, the evaluation is be used to assess whether the project had been supportive of the initial overarching USAID strategy in Yemen of positively impacting stabilization in key areas. The evaluators found the project's strongest results to date are in the area of government policy making. RGP had an effective mechanism for contributing to passage of legislation with citizen input. Three activities, Access to Information, Safe Motherhood, and Health Insurance, illustrate how the three RGP program components worked together to support the executive branch and legislative offices of the Republic of Yemen Government (ROYG0), and civil society organizations (CSOs) consult and advocate with the various stakeholders that ultimately resulted in the passage of legislation. Information from parliamentarians and CSOs indicated that RGP's civic education and Get Out The Vote activities were relevant and effective. In the area of anticorruption, the project had some results with its Peer Learning and Mentoring Program (PLMP). In contrast, RGP activities carried out by Counterpart in support of the ROYG0's operational capacity, including the Project Management Information System (PMIS), seemed unlikely to lead to systemic change in the Ministries and seemed less relevant in light of current priorities. Several recommendations are in the report, including: (1) continue activities related to the formulation and passage of legislation; (2) cancel RGP activities related to the development of service delivery standards; (3) support the institutionalization of parliamentary public hearings; (4) continue civic education, voter campaigns and similar activities; (5) continue with the advanced capacity building to the nine selected CSOs; and (6) RGP's monitoring and evaluation reporting should focus on the basics, such as accurate documentation and sound reporting practices. (Excerpt, modified)