Performance evaluation of USAID Mexico's capacity development portfolio report : final submission

The six implementing partners (IPs) selected for this review worked across a range of civil society organizations (CSOs), government units, and local system actors. Of 259 unique organizations associated with these efforts, the team focused on 103 key CSOs that received different organizational capacity development (CD) support services including interactions within their local system. Combinations of different CD tools, methods, and the levels of engagement with local organizations provided six case studies used to highlight the relative strengths of these different approaches. The team concluded that the organizations supported by USAID appeared to have increased their capacity while actively contributing to their local system’s final objective. CD recipients described themselves are more organizationally empowered to engage with government officials or to work alongside private companies and academic institutions. The team observed an over-reliance on tools and CD scores to track CSO performance. Insufficient time has passed to verify the impact of this investment and the report provides recommendations in the way that USAID captures performance data to monitor the progress of capacity development and how this contributes to the Mission’s development objectives. The report contributes to an understanding of how different CD efforts were applied in Mexico and provides forward-looking recommendations to assist USAID in its next strategic period.