Final Evaluation of “Capacity Development Initiative of Change the Game Academy Programme 2016-2019”

Funded by: The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Project Summary:

Civic Engagement Alliance (CEA) is a strategic partnership between The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the ICCO Consortium. It aims to contribute to reducing inequality and injustice in societies for fair economic, social and political development. The Change the Game Academy (CtGA) is supporting capacity strengthening for lobby and advocacy under CEA Program. In Bangladesh, through a consortium led by ICCO Cooperation, CtGA has supported 297 informal groups to build their capacity on lobbying and advocacy by giving them proper training.

It was difficult to understand to what extent the program was impactful to its target population through regular surveys. Therefore, to gain more insights into the programme, this evaluation was initiated. The evaluation approach has been utilization-focused, participatory, and consultative and has employed qualitative methodology. For extracting secondary data, desk-based reviews were done. For primary data collection, the required number of FGDs, KIIs, and case studies were conducted with the training receivers.

The evaluation has found that the training was relevant to its target populations. CtGA was flexible and encouraged the local agencies to customize the contents and training delivery methodology- which helped the training to be more useful. Similarly, it was effectively delivered- participants were heavily engaged during the training sessions. They were able to connect the contents and lessons with their problems. However, the duration of the training, venue, etc – were not so conducive for rural women in Bangladesh. The recommendations of this evaluation may help to design a similar program in the future.