Evaluation

Southeast Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project (SIRP) - Interim Evaluation

Lian Bradley|Published 16. Jun 2016
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The Southeast Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project (SIRP), was implemented in Mon and Kayin States and Tanintharyi Region of Myanmar. Activities were designed to empower communities in 90 villages through a participation planning process, whereby communities define their priority needs.

The project should then try to improve access to range of prioritised services. SIRP was implemented by a Consortium: The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) was the grant holder and consortium lead responsible for overall project implementation, The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), The Knowledge and Dedication for Nation-Building (KDN) and Action Aid Myanmar (AAM). The project was funded by the European Union.

This was a mid term evaluation expected to make recommendations for the improvement of the second half of the grant. Unfortunately due to delays in undertaking the evaluation (it was only finalised four months before the end of the three year grant), it is not clear if the evaluation served its purpose in this regard. However, there is important lessons learnt and recommendations and would be relevant to other NRC country operations in terms of:

  • Working in consortium – the challenges
  • Gaining access in Myanmar – how it was done, what did it take
  • Implementing a community led process
  • Working in a new area with limited previous experience of the modality being implemented
  • The importance of project management and design to ensure a relevant and effective project