RTI International RTI International is a trade name of Research Triangle Institute. Facilitated Self-Assessment and Action Planning: Building the Monitoring and Evaluation Capacity of Thuthuzela Care Centre Local Implementation Teams in South Africa Practical Approaches to Evaluation Capacity Building in Organizations: OL-ECB Paper presented at Evaluation 2012 (26 th Annual Conference of the American Evaluation Association) Peter Vaz & Elizabeth Randolph RTI International October 27, 2012

RTI International Outline of Presentation  Background to the Women’s Justice and Empowerment Initiative  Project Objectives  Project Design  Project Methodology  Results  Recommendations  Conclusions

RTI International Background to the WJEI  USAID-funded Women’s Justice and Empowerment Initiative (WJEI) in South Africa  $14.5 million over 4 years ( )  Program Goal: – Improving the quality of access to justice and appropriate services for victims of sexual and gender-based violence

RTI International Background to the WJEI (contd.)  5 Objectives: – Upgrade and Expand the Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC) Network – Improve Care and Treatment for Victims Assisted by the TCCs – Design, Develop and Implement a Program for the Solicitation, Award and Management of Grants to NGOs and CBOs – Provide Institutional Support to SOCA in Order to be Able to Sustain the TCCs – Disseminate and Promote Best Practices in Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Internationally and Regionally

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Project Objectives  Develop a self-assessment tool that can be applied at all TCCs to identify capacity strengths and weaknesses  Facilitate the self-assessments at 34 TCCs using the developed self-assessment tool to assess the capacity of Local Implementation Teams to monitor and ensure compliance with minimum standards (health, investigative, psycho-social support, justice, coordination)  Develop an action plan for the specific areas that need to be upgraded to ensure compliance, including but not limited to human resource capacities, to provide quality care as defined by various guiding documents  Build the capacity of 34 Local Implementation Teams to replicate the self-assessments and action planning

RTI International Project Methodology  Adapted self-assessment tool developed by Mark Renzi, Management Systems International (Adapted from Renzi, M. (1996) An integrated TOOLKIT for institutional development. Public Administration and Development, Vol. 16, Management Systems International, Washington, DC, USA).  The concept of a “facilitated self-assessment” was adopted to ensure that Local Implementation Teams at the individual centers or TCCs both reflected on their particular resource capacities to provide oversight of the TCC and to drive action plans based on what they learned together using the tool.

RTI International Capacity Building  Participatory approach applied: – working in small groups – allowing participants to play different roles such as reading statements or benchmarks – encouraging participants to share ideas, knowledge and experience  Co-facilitation by participants with support from the facilitators  Debates allowed on interpretation of benchmarks  Consensus-building when choosing a benchmark – led to improved uniform understanding of the benchmarks

RTI International Capacity Building  Flexible workshop format and agenda to allow discussion of important issues that emerged  Responsibilities assigned to a variety of stakeholders in developing the Action Plan  Ideas provided on how to design and deliver the required interventions that were proposed in the action plan  Sharing of roles further enhanced ownership of the TCC by all representatives of the Implementation Team

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Self-Assessment Tool - Functions  Assesses 5 weighted functions required for providing oversight of TCCs:  Each function has at least 1 and at most 5 weighted competencies FunctionWeight Governance0.35 Resourcing0.05 Service Delivery0.40 Coordination0.10 Communication0.10

RTI International Self-Assessment Tool - Competencies Governance CompetenciesWeight Compliance0.40 Operational Planning0.10 Accountability0.20 Leadership0.30 Resourcing CompetenciesWeight Human Resource Plan0.70 Physical Assets Management0.30

RTI International Self Assessment Tool - Competencies (contd.) Service Delivery CompetenciesWeight Health Services and Support to Victims 0.30 Psycho-Social Services0.25 Investigations0.20 Prosecutions0.20 Monitoring and Evaluation0.05 Coordination CompetenciesWeight Stakeholder Management1.0 Communication CompetenciesWeight Information Management System0.55 Community Awareness0.45

RTI International Self-Assessment Tool - Benchmarks Score Benchmarks for Accountability Competency 5  Agreements or decisions are tracked and enforced always.  Follow-through is undertaken diligently.  Escalation to higher levels of authority is made at all times.  Corrective measures are taken always. 4  Agreements or decisions are tracked and enforced mostly.  Follow-though is undertaken diligently.  Escalation to higher levels of authority is made often.  Corrective measures are taken often. 3  Agreements or decisions are tracked and enforced sometimes.  Follow-though is undertaken but not diligently.  Escalation to higher levels of authority is made sometimes.  Corrective measures are taken sometimes. 2  Agreements or decisions are tracked and enforced rarely.  Follow-though is undertaken sometimes.  Delegation of actions to appropriate authorities is made rarely.  Corrective measures are never taken. 1  Agreements or decisions are not tracked and not enforced.  Follow-though is not undertaken.  Delegation of actions to appropriate authorities is made rarely.  Corrective measures are never taken.

RTI International Self-Assessment Tool - Scores Cumulative Score (%) Meaning of the Score 90 – 100The Implementation Team has the required capacity to fulfil all functions. 80 – 89The Implementation Team has the required competencies to fulfil most functions. 70 – 79The Implementation Team scored above- average in most functions. 60 – 69The Implementation Team scored average across the functions. 50 – 59The Implementation Team scored below- average in most functions. Below 49The Implementation Team scored below average in all functions.

RTI International Results  497 participants in 34 TCCs – average of 18 per TCC  Each participated in at least 2 out of 3 days Cumulative Score (%)Meaning of ScoreNumber of TCCs 90 – 100The Implementation Team has the required capacity to fulfil all functions 1 80 – 89The Implementation Team has the required competencies to fulfil most functions 3 70.– 79The Implementation Team scored above-average in most functions 5 60.– 69The Implementation Team scored average across the functions – 59The Implementation Team scored below-average in most functions 9 Below 49The Implementation Team scored below average in all functions 4

RTI International Recommendations  Update, finalize and market the TCC Blueprint  Develop a manual for Local Implementation Teams  Build leadership capacity of the Local Teams  Organize team-building sessions  Develop capacity building programs to meet gaps in monitoring compliance according to identified areas: – Human resource plans – Planning and executing awareness campaigns – Monitoring and evaluation  Strengthen provincial support  Institutionalize knowledge management

RTI International Conclusion  Methodology was successful in creating greater ownership of TCC governance by the Local Implementation Teams  Workshops successful in re-energizing participants despite initial resistance by some due to confusing self- assessments with performance monitoring  Most participants indicated that the workshops had succeeded in building their capacity to monitor and ensure compliance with national norms and standards governing care and treatment of victims of sexual and gender-based violence

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