OTI Northern Cameroon initiative cluster evaluation : evaluation report

The purpose of the evaluation is to inform the strategies of other intervening actors in Cameroon, as well as OTI programs addressing related issues elsewhere. The evaluation team conducted 14 key informant interviews, seven focus group discussions with 24 program beneficiaries, 92 field interviews in beneficiary communities, and a detailed document review. The evaluation finds that the geographic clustering strategy of NCI helped achieve stabilization objectives by enabling program staff to effectively design and target activities in ways that accommodated for different initial conditions and animated different theories of change that were most appropriate to achieve desired outcomes in each cluster. NCI encouraged stabilization in target villages by encouraging formerly displaced people to remain in their home villages and reinforcing social cohesion among residents who were there. The program's activities with women precipitated durable changes in perceptions of gender roles among both men and women, in addition to improving women's autonomy and voice in decision-making and empowering nascent women’s organizations to substantively build communities’ resilience to security challenges. The program's activities with youth built cohesion across social cleavages and contributed to a sense of security in villages.