PROJECTS

In June 2018 Evaluation and Management Consulting as a consortium member signed the contract with the Ecorys UK to support a series of  monitoring, evaluation and learning services for UK Government’s Good Governance Fund(GGF) in Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and North Macedonia.

During the 34 month length contract Evaluation and Management Consulting(EMC) with its high quality national, regional and international consultants in cooperation with Ecorys UK will provide evaluation, monitoring and learning services to Good Governance Fund of UK Government in all above mentioned 7 countries.

Among the evaluation and monitoring services EMC will provide to GGF: Midterm and Final Country Evaluations, Project Outcome Assessments (POA), Program and Thematic Evaluations as well as project documentation assessments and capacity building services for GGF Project implementers in all GGF 7 countries.

Areas that EMC services for GGF country, project and program evaluations will cover include:

·         economic growth

·         good governance

·         business environment

·         law and accountability

·         public financial management

·         anti-corruption

·         media and strategic communications

·         policy and delivery reform

·         investment in reform

·         civil society engagement in reform.

EMC as an Independent Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (IMEL) Provider will work in close consultation with the GGF Joint Unit (JU) in London and Embassy teams in GGF countries and will provide credible, independent assessments of how, where and what types of interventions are contributing to sustainable, outcome domains specified in the country level and Fund-level theories of change.

EMC will build a growing sample of ‘case studies’ to provide an evidence base at Fund level; Provide actionable evidence that can be used for learning within the GGF, especially for embassy staff at the country level, where they can feed into annual theory of change discussions and the selection / design of future projects.

EMC consultancy under this contract will continue until the end of March 2021.

In November 2015, Evaluation and Management Consulting signed the contract with the Austrian Organization “International Center for Migration Policy Development” to help the Georgian Government and particularly State Migration Commission and Intergovernmental Working Group to develop National Migration Strategy performance indicators for State Migration Strategy and Action Plan (Further –Migration Strategy AP) and to conduct follow-up activities related to the development of the State Migration Strategy and AP.

The Austrian Organization the “International Centre for Migration Policy Development” since 2013 implements the “Enhancing Georgia’s Migration Management” (ENIGMMA) project in Georgia.

The goal of the project is to help Georgian Government to achieve outcomes of Georgia’s continued progress in the implementation of the EU-Georgia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, the EU-Georgia European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) Action Plan, the Mobility Partnership and the Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements is to strengthen the migration governance framework in Georgia in line with the Visa Liberalization Action Plan (VLAP). The project is funded by the European Union under the Eastern Partnership Integration and Cooperation Program. The project is jointly managed by the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), in close cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

EMC started the consultancy work in November, 2015 prepared and delivered training on the goals of performance indicators, performance indicators and their connection to the migration strategy objectives; linkages between migration strategy objective – strategy activity – results ands performance indicators, rules for development of performance indicators, evaluation of performance indicators, specificity of Migration Strategy and Action Plan performance indicators development.

EMC consultancy will continue until the end of February 2016. During these time EMC experts will revise the objectives

In April 2015 USAID Iraq invited the President of Evaluation and Management Consulting – Nino Saakashvili to conduct the external, final evaluation of the USAID Iraq funded project “USAID/Iraq Broadening Participation through Civil Society Project in Iraq" (BPCS). The consortium consisting following international organizations and companies implemented the project in the whole Iraq: Mercy Corps, ACDI/VOCA, INCL, Internews, National Republican Institute. The BPCS Project started in 2011 and finished in 2015.

USA based consulting company QED Group who was the partner of EMC in this project, has been engaged by the USAID Mission in Iraq to implement its Advancing Performance Management Project, which directly supports USAID’s performance management in the areas of project monitoring, evaluation, research, organizational learning, and knowledge management. QED work is helping the USAID Iraq Mission to make better informed strategic and management decisions and advance USAID learning on effective development approaches.

The goal of the USAID/Iraq funded Broadening Participation through Civil Society (BPCS) Project final performance of BPCS was to create an environment for stronger civic participation in Iraqi democracy by fostering increasingly professional, interactive and interconnected Iraqi civil society organizations.

The aim of final performance evaluation of BPCS project was to assess the extent to which the USAID Civil Society Project (BPCS) met programmatic objectives and achieved both intended and unintended impacts. The evaluation started in April 2015 and finished in August 2015. It included preparation for the evaluation outside Iraq, 6 weeks field trip of Nino Saakashvili in Bagdad, Iraq and its Kurdistan Region during May-June-July 2015 and writing up of the Final Evaluation Report. During the whole process of her work in Iraq Ms. Saakashvili worked closely with USAID Iraq Mission, QED Group staff based in Baghdad, Iraq, other members of evaluation team, local civil society expert, as well as Iraqi Data Collectors.

In February 2015 Evaluation and Management Consulting was invited to conduct the external, final evaluation of the project “Sustainable Forest Governance in Georgia: Strengthening Local and National Capacity and Developing Structured Dialogue". Project was implemented by CENN during July, 2013 – December 2014 with the financial support of Austrian Development Agency (ADA).

The CENN project envisaged reviewing the Austrian respective legislation and practice in forest management and undertaking comparative legal and institutional analyses as well as implement capacity development activities via strengthening of institutional cooperation between Austria and Georgia and involvement of Austrian and Georgian national expertise for ensuring the compliance of the forest sector reform with the concepts of sustainable development and international best practice. The overall objective of the project was contributing to successful implementation of the forest reform in Georgia via strengthening the capacities of authorities and civil society and enhancing issue based policy dialogue.

The purpose of the evaluation was to determine the relevance and fulfillment of objectives, development efficiency, effectiveness, impact and potential of sustainability of the project; to measure the optimal quality and impact of project intervention.

The evaluation learned what has been achieved at the given stage of project implementation; what was the level of the project transparency and illustration of utilization of the resources; how and if the results and their effects were justified; Besides, EMC evaluation learned what issues, challenges or problems have occurred during the implementation of the project. At the end, EMC developed the Final Evaluation Report which included the recommendations how the CENN project can be improved in the future.

In October 2014, USAID Kyrgyzstan invited the President of Evaluation and Management Consulting – Nino Saakashvili to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to lead the Organizational Assessment of Ministry of Health Care (MoH) of Kyrgyzstan and as a result of this process to help Ministry of Health Care (MoH) in developing its 3 years (2015-2017) Strategic Plan, One-year Action Plan (AP) for each departments, one year performance measurement plan (PMP) with the performance indicators. Besides the goal of the constancy was also developing training manuals for the Ministry of Health Care of Kyrgyzstan’s personnel on various management and organizational development issues. USAID Kyrgyzstan via IRG/Engility International funded the evaluation.

The Good Governance and Public Administration Strengthening (GGPAS) Program, funded by USAID, is supporting the Kyrgyz Republic’s efforts to promote a more stable and secure democracy, while improving governance and public administration at key government institutions. GGPAS is designed to be fast, flexible and responsive to a dynamic environment and in-country needs and priorities. It provides small grants to public and private sector institutions that demonstrate the capacity and the political will to implement high-impact short-term projects that meet the following objectives: (1) improve the institutional capacity of public and private sector institutions to provide services to citizens in a transparent and accountable way, and (2) encourage regional integration (across the country) through improved equitability of services and resources. Under this program, USAID’s implementing partner International Resources Group (IRG)/EnGility International, is providing and supporting an in-country management team that awards, implements, monitors, and evaluates grants under contract, as well as procures and distributes in-kind resources. The main project office is located in Bishkek and a satellite office is located in Osh.

Under this contract, Nino Saakashvili as an institutional capacity building expert, closely worked with the Ministry of Health Care (MOH) to improve the strategic planning and implementation capacity of the Ministry’s Central Office, including its sub departments. Saakashvili assisted the MOH to develop the three-year 2014- 2017 institutional strategic plan, including an associated Annual Work Plan and Monitoring and Evaluation Matrix with budgetary considerations. She also helped Ministry to institutionalize the implementation of the strategic objectives through the professional development of senior and middle managers of the Ministry’s central office.

During March-April 2014 EMC worked on the development of the 2014 – 2017 strategic Plan for the local branch of American Organization – UMCOR in Georgia.

Significant changes within UMCOR-Georgia and its Headquarters office in New York, USA as well as changing environment during the last three years in the country, put the development of the new strategic plan on the agenda of UMCOR – Georgia as an international, global NGO.

The goal of UMCOR strategic planning development was to facilitate UMCOR’s strategic planning process, to revise existing strategy for 2009-2013, to make organizational analyzes to identify financial recourses needed for the implementation of the strategic plan of the organization and to discuss the possibilities and reasons for transformation of UMCOR-Georgia branch office into new Georgian local organization.

Strategic Plan development process included the workshops, retreat for the local staff and leadership of the organization as well as individual work with the staff and leadership of the organization.

In early April 2014, EMC in partnership with Georgian Evaluation Association signed the contract with PH International to conduct large scale final evaluation of USAID Georgia funded 5 year ACET program that was implemented by American organization Project Harmony International in Georgia.

As a part of ACET program, PH worked in 11 regions of Georgia and introduced Civic Education and Teacher professional development program for 740 schools, around 90.000 students, around 1000 teachers of Georgia.

The goal of final evaluation is to measure the effectiveness of the results achieved by PH International in this program and to compare them with the anticipated results developed by PH in its proposal. The evaluation includes quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods and will assess more than 1600 individuals –school children, teachers, parents, school directors and local government representatives around the country. The Evaluation report will include the findings and effectiveness of the ACET program implementation, as well as the recommendations for the continuation of similar programs in Georgia as well as in other parts of the globe by PH International.

In February 2014 EMC signed the contract with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to conduct evaluation of effectiveness of the program “Solidifying Awareness of Trafficking in Persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia through Education" implemented by IOM. The evaluation aimed also to develop specific recommendations for making program results sustainable and transfer them into the practice for medium and long-term basis.

The main goal of IOM project was to promote trafficking prevention and safe migration in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. Project was implemented during 2008-2013.

Evaluation report developed by EMC includes not only the findings, conclusions and recommendations, but also the common vision and attitude of evaluators about the ways of solving trafficking problems in Georgia.

In March 2014, EMC signed the contract with the American Organization FHI360 operating around the globe to conduct an assessment of the Civil Society Development and for making the analyses of socio political situation in Georgia.

In order to make the above mentioned assessment and analyses, EMC organized series of individual meetings, interviews with the leaders of NGO sector from Tbilisi and around the county and conducted the focus group meetings with different Civil Society stakeholders.

As a results of the assessment, ECM developed the assessment report and wrote the recommendations for FHI360 possible intervention areas in the new USAID Civil Society development RFA where FHI360 plans to participate.

In February 2013 EMC signed the contract with the PH International (officially registered as Project Harmony) to carry out a final evaluation of the project “Georgia Legal Socialization Program” (GLSP). Project was funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Long-term goals of the project were reducing juvenile crime in Georgia. The evaluation was completed in May 2013. Program was implemented in in Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Gori and Zugdidi.

The purpose of the external evaluation were to assess the continuing appropriateness and relevance of the GLSP program design, to identify the major achievements of the project to date in relation to its stated objectives and intended results.

The evaluation looked for the efficiency, efficiency of planning and implementation and potential for sustainability. Based on the evaluation exercise, the evaluation also made the recommendations important for designing the continuation of the project “Georgia Legal Socialization Program” in the future.

During August-October 2012 EMC evaluated the Czech organization “People in Need" (PIN) working project “Economical development of the rural regions of western Georgia" funded by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and co-funded by European Union.

The purpose of the evaluation was to identify lessons learnt of the project and provide recommendations on economical development to PIN for future projects to focus. The evaluation also assessed PIN economic development program from broader perspective and the impact of the program, number of new SMEs started in target districts compared to other comparable districts where other donor-funded development programs were implemented, percentage of the businesses supported that were sustainable, their turnover and profit development through time.

Evaluation also looked into the number of people who have steady income as a result of the program; the average income of the people engaged in the supported businesses (employees and employers); types of created jobs (stable contracts, seasonal work, self-employment); main obstacles for entrepreneurs in the targeted area to engage in developing value added products; key strengths and weaknesses of the program. The evaluation looked for the Efficiency, Effectiveness and Sustainability of the PIN project.

During the period April-December 2012 EMC evaluated the “Media cooperation and peace journalism in the South Caucasus" project" implemented by International Center for Conflict and Negotiation (ICCN) in cooperation with the European Centre for Minority Issues – Caucasus (ESMI). ICCN project aimed to contribute towards a peace-enabling environment in the societies of the South Caucasus by strengthening the skills and capacities of regional media representatives.

The project was financed by COBERM – Confidence Building and Early Response Mechanism and by the European Union. It was administered by the United Nations Development Program and the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation Projects of the German Marshall Fund.

During the ICCN above mentioned project evaluation EMC assessed the level of achievement of project results and outcomes, as well as project’s impact on the project target groups.

EMC started the evaluation in the mid of March and finished it by the end of December, 2012.

EMC signed the contract with the Save the Children to evaluate European Union funded project “Regional Children’s Action for Participation (ReCAP) project" in the South Caucasus – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Since November 2010 Save the Children (SC) implemented “Regional Children’s Action for Participation (ReCAP)" project in the South Caucasus – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The project was funded by European Union and was completed in June 2012. Within the framework of ReCAP project, SC supported meaningful and quality children’s participation that provided children a genuine opportunity to express their views, be involved in decisions, or take action.

EMC evaluation was conducted in three countries of Caucasus. Overall objective of the evaluation was to provide Save the Children and the EU with sufficient information to make an informed judgement about the past performance of the project, its efficiency, effectiveness and impact, to document lessons learned and to provide practical recommendations for follow-up questions.

The evaluation contained conclusions and recommendations at both strategic and operational levels to improve future projects by identifying the impacts of the project on targeted beneficiaries. Evaluation identified and documented key lessons learned from the ReCAP project to be used in other SC programs, in new impact areas or for advocacy purposes and any unintended/unplanned results.

In March 2012 Vice-President of EMC Hartmut Sannecke who at the same time is the representative of Germany’s leading limited partnership for project and interim management – Taskforce, led the workshop on “Customer Service Excellence" in German House, Tbilisi, Georgia. Seminar was organized by German Business Association DWVG.

Representatives of different German Companies operating in Georgia attended the workshop “Customer Service Excellence". The workshop covered the following issues: exceptional customer services, the benefits of great customer services, recognition of barriers to the delivery of outstanding customer services, adaption to specific customer behavior styles, demonstration of how to measure customer-satisfaction levels and take corrective actions if needed, techniques for dealing with angry or upset customers, develop action plans to improve customer-service skills and many other issues.

Recently EMC concluded the evaluation of “Creating Discourse and Instruments for Non-violent Management of Disputes, Civil Integration and Liberal Values" and related activities 2009 – 2011 program funded by German Organization EED. The purpose of the evaluation was to assess ICCN’s three year EED-supported programme related activities supported by donors in the same three-year period EU, Mercy Corps, GPPAC, Berghof Foundation, UNFPA) in terms of impact, relevance, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. The evaluation was implemented between December 2011 (field phase in Georgia) and January 2012. This evaluation was jointly conducted by EMC and German-Spanish Company " Iber –Consulting" representatives.

During November 2011- February 2012 EMC evaluated the results achieved through the Local &Economic Development (LRED) intervention in Shida Kartli, Georgia program funded by GIZ/BMZ. The main objective of the evaluation of “Local & Economic Development (LRED) intervention in Shida Kartli that is a 3rd component of GIZ-PSDP Georgia Private Sector Development implemented by German – company GOPA, was to assess the results of the project implementation in relation to the achievement of its overall objective as defined in the 5 indicators; to evaluate overall relevance of the project’s goals and results to the existing needs; to assess the effectiveness of undertaken activities and the impact funded by GIZ and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). In addition to the main objectives of the evaluation specified above, the evaluation looked at the findings and lessons learnt. Based on the Evaluation exercise, the evaluation made the recommendations important for designing the continuation of the evaluated project and also for implementing the similar projects in future in other parts of Georgia or other countries of Caucasian region.

Recently EMC has led the participatory process and helping for developing Strategic Plan, detailed Actions Plans and Performance Measurement Plans (PMP) for the Ministry of Justice of Georgia. The program is funded by USAID/ MSI Good Governance in Georgia (G3) program. The project started in October 2011 and ended at the end of February 2012.

EMC team experts in this project had taken highly facilitative role, which helped Ministry of Justice Leadership and management to decide what results they want to achieve together during next 3 year period and how they want to achieve them. In this process EMC ensured that the beliefs and opinions of the MoJ leadership, management and staff were solicited and valued. EMC team and value in the SP was demonstrated in both in the high professional facilitation of the process, as well as in the participation of the development of high quality products: Strategic Plan, Action Plans and Performance Measurement Plans. Together with all, the EMC team took responsibility to facilitate very participatory, collaborative process that helped MoJ representatives to be well understood, communicated to all and focused on results and very successful process.

The purpose of the 30-months “Beyond Boredom, Dust and Decay – Museums as Life Long Learning Spaces for Intercultural Dialogue (A-MUSE-ALL)" Program funded by the EU and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) with the overall budget of EUR 550 000, evaluation carried out in April- May 2011 was to assess activities of dvv international and its partners in Georgia and Armenia. Namely: to assess the project implementation in relation with the achievement of its overall objective as defined in the Project Proposal; to evaluate overall relevance of the project’s goals and results to the existing needs; to assess the effectiveness of undertaken activities and the impact. In addition to the main objectives of the evaluation specified above, the evaluation looked at the findings and lessons learnt. Based on the Evaluation exercise, the evaluation made the recommendations important for designing of the continuation of the evaluated project and also for implementation of similar projects in future in the targeted countries.

EMC team helped Chamber of Control of Georgia Leadership and management to create of this very important Government organization’s 3 year Strategic Plan, detailed action plans and performance measurement plans -PMPs. In this process EMC ensured that the beliefs and opinions of the CHoC leadership, management and staff were solicited and valued. EMC team took responsibility to facilitate very participatory, collaborative process that helped ChoC representatives to be well understood, communicated to all and focused on results they want to achieve. EMC Team sees the strategic planning process as very important management process for its own company as well as for the ChoC . EMC Team provided group trainings, workshops, as well as individual direct assistances to the Chamber of Control of Georgia personnel. At the end of the 4 month working process result oriented 5 year strategic plan and one year detailed action plans for each department were created.

The goal of the program implemented by the First Step Foundation of Georgia was to assess the effectiveness of the serviced provided by foundation to its beneficiaries- disabled children during last several years. The evaluation looked in the program, learned the impact of it to the children and gave the recommendations to the organization about where the services and in which areas should be improved.

The main objective of the UNFPA Georgia first country evaluation was to assess the relevance to the national needs and priorities and to look if the program resources (human, technical and financial) were used efficiently to achieve the given output, to assess the effectiveness and sustainability of UNFPA Country Program in Georgia in terms of RH, P&D and Gender Components. In addition to the main objectives of the evaluation goal was to assess the results (outputs and outcomes) of the first UNFPA Georgia Country Program, to identify the program strategies and their effectiveness of all three components of the UNFPA CP in contribution to the achievement of ICPD and MDG goals. The evaluation looked at the lessons that were drawn from the first CP evaluation exercise. The evaluation also tried to highlight strengths, weaknesses/gaps, good practices and provided forward looking recommendations for the designing and implementation of the second UNFPA CP 2011-2015. The evaluation was conducted with the leadership of EMC President Nino Saakashvili.

The purpose of the evaluation carried out in July- August 2010, was to assess the outcomes of Oxfam Novib funded program CEE Bankwatch Network programme in the countries of former Soviet Union in order to provide Oxfam Novib with guidance and recommendations for the implementation of follow –up program that is now under consideration. Evaluation Report outlines the main question of the evaluation : “Whether the program has lead to expected changes in the policies and practices defined by the project in a cost effective manner?" and derived sub-questions and tries to present findings, lessons learned, conclusions and recommendations.

With the Academy of Educational Development AED (USA) support through USAID funding, EMC team members were involved in development of Strategic Plan of 2009-2011 of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia in partnership with Georgian Evaluation Association. At the end of EMC/GEA consulting Ministry of Justice Strategic Plan and detailed action plans and Performance monitoring plans- PMPs for the Ministry’s each department including the prosecutor’s office were created. EMC /GEA team took responsibility to facilitate very participatory, collaborative process that helped MoJ representatives to be well understood, communicated to all and focused on results and very successful process.

With the Academy of Educational Development of USA AED through USAID funding EMC team in close partnership with Georgian Evaluation Association representatives were involved in development of Strategic Plan of 2009-2011 of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) of Adjara Autonomous Republic of Georgia. EMC in partnership with Georgian Evaluation Association developed detailed Strategic Plan, action plans and Performance monitoring plans – PMPs for the Ministry’s each department. EMC team took responsibility to facilitate very participatory, collaborative process.

With support of the Academy of Educational Development of USA AED through USAID funding EMC team in close partnership with PMCG and Georgian Evaluation Association representatives were involved in development of Strategic Plan of 2009-2011 of the Ministry of Ministry of Health care and Social Welfare of Adjara Autonomous Republic of Georgia. EMC-Georgian Evaluation Association representatives developed Monitoring and Evaluation instruments for the Ministry , Performance monitoring plans – PMPs for the Ministry’s each department, trained the Ministry staff in M7E issues and developed indicators for the measurement of the Ministry’s activities.

With support of the Academy of Educational Development of USA AED through USAID funding EMC team in close partnership with Georgian Evaluation Association was involved in development of Strategic Plan of 2008 – 2011 of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development of Adjara Autonomous Republic of Georgia (MoFEA). In this project EMC in partnership with Georgian Evaluation Association developed detailed action plans and Performance monitoring plans- PMPs for the Ministry’s each department together with the Ministry’s Strategy for the next 3 years.

One of the first project that EMC implemented after the registration of the company in late 2009, was to develop Strategic Plan for the Georgian Bar Association. Project started with the retread in Bakuriani, Georgia where about 40 members including its leadership of the Association participated. After the retreat EMC team continued close work with the Association Board and helped the leadership to create result oriented Strategic Plan and detailed action Plans.

Among it different expert fields, Evaluation and Management Consulting (EMC) helped many NGOS in many areas including strategic planning that is one of the core expertise area and the core filed of its qualification. “Attorneys of Georgia for Independent Profession" is a Georgian Non-governmental organization invited EMC experts to develop and design new, 5 year strategic plan and detailed action plans for the organization. Intensive work process included participation of the Association Leadership, Board and Staff in the organizational assessment as well as in the definition of the Vision, Goals, Objectives of the organization as well as in the formulation of the detailed activities for the next years. EMC team worked with the NGO during 3 month period. At the end of consulting work result oriented strategic plan and action plans were created.

One of the main expertise of EMC and its team is developing result oriented Strategic Plans for the Governmental, Nongovernmental and Business companies, Media and Academia. EMC team members were one of the pioneers in the country who started SP processes in all above mentioned sectors. Among very first Governmental Organizations who started to develop Strategic Plans, was Civil Registry of Georgia. With this agency, Evaluation and Management Consulting Leaders who the same time were the leaders of the Georgian Evaluation Association pioneered the development of result oriented strategic plan creation for the civil registry of Georgia.

EMC Team sees the strategic planning process (facilitated with this agency) as very important management process. During several months period EMC /Georgian Evaluation Association Leaders provided very high quality services and professional expertise during the group trainings, workshops, as well as individual direct assistances to the CRA personnel that l helped the Agency to head in the right direction so the agency can improve upon it with each cycle of the process.