Programme de bonne gouvernance in the Democratic Republic of Congo : final performance evaluation

PBG focused on three tracks -- civil society, parliaments and local government -- that correspond to the three Intermediate Results: (1) citizens demand accountability; (2) selected parliaments are more democratic and effective; and (3) laws, policies and procedures for decentralization are established and implemented. By mid-course in the project, PBG concentrated on support to revenue management by twelve Decentralized Territorial Entities (Entites territoriales decentralisees or ETDs) with citizen participation. As specified in the scope of work, the main evaluation objectives are to determine answers to the following two questions: (1) what is the performance of the program in strengthening institutions and increasing citizen demand; and (2) to what extent is the project theory of change valid that strengthened institutions and increased demand result in better service delivery? In addition, this performance evaluation seeks to answer the following evaluation questions: (1) do institutions have increased capacity and strength; (2) has there been an increased citizen demand for accountable governance; (3) were there improvements in delivery of public services in the target local governments; (4) what lessons have been learned regarding implementation strategies; and (5) what are findings related to cross-cutting themes of gender and urban-rural impact? Some key evaluation questions address the effectiveness of revenue generation among the ETDs or Decentralized Territorial Entity (Entites territoriales decentralisees), and the most effective methods to achieve these results. The overall evaluation conclusion is that the project was very well-managed despite a highly challenging context and vast project scope. It was also concluded that working with local government on a pilot basis has tentatively confirmed the fundamental principle of citizen participation for effective decentralization. (Excerpt, modified)