Introduction

The aim of the interphase evaluation – one of two evaluations planned for the Umutara Community Resource and Infrastructure Development Programme (UCDRIDP) – is to evaluate the performance and impact of the project over the past three years and on the basis of this evaluation to propose modifications for the implementation of the second phase of the project (2004 to 2007). The project is in fact two projects that since early this year have been managed as one:  the first covering four of the eight districts in the Province of Umutara became effective in December 2000; and the second (referred to as the twin project), which covers the remaining four districts, became effective in December 2002. There has been three years of implementation of the first project, but only one year’s implementation of the twin project (2003), rather than the two years foreseen in the appraisal report.

A major part of the work of the team of local and international consultants responsible for carrying out the evaluation has focused on the reformulation of the second phase, using the evaluation essentially as a ‘stepping stone’ to achieve this end. The base document for the mission is the ‘Internal Interphase Evaluation Report Phase One’, a comprehensive review of project achievements and performance prepared by the project prior to the mission’s arrival. What is evident from this report – substantiated by the mission’s review of the project over the three weeks evaluation mission – is that there are serious weaknesses in the original design of the project(s), both in terms of the formulation of individual components and in the arrangements for implementation of those components.

Following the preparation of the draft Interphase Evaluation Report, the report was distributed to all Programme stakeholders and a workshop held in the first quarter of 2004 (22-23 March in Nyagatare) to discuss the proposals contained in the report. This formed the basis for further discussion, analysis and proposals for modifications to the report. The document presented below is the ‘Final Version’ that incorporates the comments and recommendations coming from the workshop and from subsequent discussions.

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