This project is fundedby the European Union

E VA LUAT ION R E P OR T 2 02 1

Executive summary MENA Region(Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco,Palestinian Territories, Tunisia)“Shabab Live – Giving Youth a Voice through the Media”

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Background
The regional project “Shabab Live – Giving
Youth a Voice through the Media” was implemented by a consortium consisting of
DW Akademie (lead applicant, Germany),
Al Khatt (co-applicant, Tunisia) and AL-JANA (co-applicant, Lebanon). The project
was funded by the European Union withadditional support from the GermanFederal Foreign Office. The total projectfunding amounted to 3.3 million euros.
The project was launched in April 2018 fora period of three years, and was extended
for an additional six months. Project activities were completed in September 2021.
The main parameters of the Shabab Liveproject included the following:– three main stakeholder groups: youngpeople, the media (TV and radio broadcasters), and NGOs
– six countries in the Middle East andNorth Africa (MENA): Algeria, Jordan,Lebanon, Morocco the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia– eighteen sub-grants via financial support to third parties (FSTP) for local radio
and TV channels and NGOs
– four specific objectives (SO)The political situation in the region worsened during the project period, especiallyin Lebanon, which experienced deepening economic hardship (including risinginflation) and a massive explosion that
disrupted life in the capital Beirut, and in

the Palestinian Territories, where hostilities escalated significantly. In addition,
the overall environment for journalists
deteriorated in certain countries such asAlgeria. The COVID-19 pandemic was stillongoing at the time of this evaluation inautumn 2021 and had a significant impact
due to contact and travel restrictions. Thisaffected activities with young beneficiaries in particular, who lacked the opportunities and technical means to smoothly
switch to online cooperation. Despite theunprecedented challenge posed by thepandemic, the Shabab Live project managed to successfully adapt to changing
circumstances and successfully complete
its activities. The pandemic also had anunintended positive effect in that it intensified online contact and communication
among partner organizations, and as local FSTP projects provided young peoplewith alternative activities during lockdowns. The local FSTP projects adapted
to the pandemic by covering the topic aspart of their content production – in forms
of information campaigns, reports andeducational health videos.
The objective of the external evaluation
was to assess Shabab Live in order to fulfill reporting obligations to the donors
and to offer an opportunity for a systematic institutional analysis for DW Akademie and its partners. The evaluation wasconducted in line with the standards ofthe German Evaluation Society (DeGEval)
and according to the six OECD-DAC criteria for evaluation: relevance, coherence,effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. As per the terms of reference,
special weight was given to the criteria ofeffectiveness and impact. Considering
the complexities of the project and thelimited evaluation timeframe and budget, it was not feasible for evaluators toreview all project outputs and interview
all relevant stakeholders. Therefore, inconsultation with DW Akademie, it wasdecided that the evaluators engaged in an
in-depth assessment of seven project activities and their associated outputs: Fourof eighteen FSTP projects, the selection
procedure for these FSTP projects, themedia and information literacy training
series and the workshop “Online didactics and tools” as a response to COVID-19.
Data collection took place between 7 October and 3 November 2021. Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, no field trip to partner countries was scheduled. The main
data collection tools were desk research,an online survey, semi-structured stakeholder interviews and group discussions.
Following the data analysis phase, a meeting with DW Akademie and consortium
partners was held to discuss and validate
the conclusions and recommendations ofthe evaluation.

Project Evaluation Results
Relevance: The objective of Shabab Liveto give young people in the MENA regiona voice and a platform in the media wasdeemed highly relevant, which was confirmed in the needs assessment survey
conducted in the first year of the project.
The project rationale was clearly sharedby interviewed project partners andmotivated them to make Shabab Live asuccess. The objective of the EU call wasreflected both in the Shabab Live concept and in the subsequent call for FSTP
project proposals. Thanks to the widelydisseminated call, the consortium could
identify and select eighteen well-suited
FSTP projects. The FSTP organizations
and the young participants showed avery high ownership over the project,which motivated them to find ways tocontinue and complete their projects despite difficult circumstances (COVID-19
and the various crises in partner countries). FSTP interviewees confirmed theneed for capacity development on anindividual (mainly young people), organizational (further development of MENA

NGOs and broadcasters) and network(nationally and regionally) level.
Both the relevance of the Shabab Liveproject and the relevance of its FSTP
projects were rated as “comprehensivelyfulfilled.”
Coherence: Internal and external coherence was achieved to some extent.
The Shabab Live project team had somecontact with other initiatives in the fieldof media and youth in MENA countries.
However, a more systematic approach toidentifying and using possible synergies
was stymied by a lack of both available
human resources and an enabling environment. The visibility of Shabab Live, itsdonors and implementing organizations,as well as the underlying rationale of the
project could have been strengthened.
On FSTP level, some interesting collaborations with other stakeholders tookplace. At the strategic and content level, the Shabab Live project fit well in theportfolio, objectives and development
plans of the consortium partners, whereas at operational level, the required
administration modalities posed somechallenges to the consortium organizations. Both the coherence with external
initiatives and the coherence within theorganizations were rated as “partiallyfulfilled.”
Effectiveness: It is a remarkable achievement that Shabab Live identified, contracted and supported twelve relevant
NGO projects and six relevant broadcasting projects in six MENA countries. At thelevel of FSTP projects, all interviewees
reported that the results achieved forthe benefit of young people were beyond
their expectations. This is also reflected in the FSTP project indicators, whichwere fulfilled or overfulfilled. About 90
per cent of the online evaluation survey
respondents thought that their projectproduced tangible changes for young
people in their country or region. On thelevel of Shabab Live, the four specificobjectives were achieved, mainly via theeighteen FSTP projects. The three consortium members benefited to a certain
extent from the regional approach of theproject. At the level of FSTP project partners or young beneficiaries, the added
value of the regional approach was lessobvious. There was only a limited exchange of lessons learned, networking orsynergies between projects. The effectiveness was rated as “overall fulfilled,”
with the sub-criterion of project results
rated as “comprehensively fulfilled” andthe sub-criterion of regional added value
rated as “partially fulfilled.”
Efficiency: Shabab Live achieved significant results with the resources available.
The main mode of delivery, financial
support to third parties, was successful.

The risk inherent in awarding a substantial amount of money to third parties
with uneven administrative capacities
was successfully mitigated by setting
up thorough procedures and providing
extensive (financial) management support to project partners. This additional
support, however, required an additional time investment from DW Akademie
support staff in a project with limited resources for project management and assistance. Setting up these structures andprocesses required considerable timeand effort, when compared to a single
implementation cycle of FSTP projects
with an average duration of 18 months,
which were at the heart of Shabab Live.
Given more time and human resources,
the project could have been even more
effective by creating synergies across
FSTP projects and across countries. The
modes of delivery are rated as “fulfilled,”
but the project coordination is rated as“partially fulfilled,” with an overall efficiency rating of “partially fulfilled.”
Impact: Shabab Live made a tangible
impact on its three target groups. The
online evaluation survey results and interviews unequivocally support the conclusion that Shabab Live had a strong
impact on empowering the young participants. They were equipped with new
media technical skills and introduced
to relevant networks. In addition, theygained important soft skills, which increased their self-confidence and ability
to actively engage in societal debates
and broadened their horizons. Youngpeople created content that highlighted“their issues.” Participating organizations received resources to implement
their own projects and thereby extend
their field of activities and outreach toyoung people. Shabab Live FSTP grantees increased their management skills,visibility and credibility. An even broader
impact might have been achieved if certain common or relevant components
from the 18 FSTP projects had beenpooled, for example, by documenting
and sharing innovative approaches andformats that were successfully piloted
by individual FSTP projects. In this way,
the results of FSTP projects could havebeen made available to other FSTP partners that work under similar conditions,as well as to external NGOs, broadcasters and young people. The impact on
the target group of young people (directparticipants) and participating NGOs andbroadcasters was rated as “comprehensively fulfilled” and the wider impact wasrated as “fulfilled,” with an overall impact
rating of “comprehensively fulfilled.”
Sustainability: The FSTP grantees
showed great ownership of their own
project ideas funded under the Shabab
Live call and were motivated to continue
the activities for young people. Some of
the newly developed formats have secured follow-up funding. In the online
survey, young participants overwhelmingly expressed their wish to continue
to be active in the area of the media andsome were already employed by theFSTP grantees, broadcasters or NGOs by
the time of the evaluation. Many project
partners expressed the wish to continue, repeat or scale up their activities in asecond phase of the Shabab Live project.
Some of the partner organizations continued their cooperation with funding
from other donors. The Shabab Live project could have placed a greater emphasis
from the beginning on working with theFSTP organizations to plan the continuation of their projects once the EU funding
ended. The continuity of effects was rated as “comprehensively fulfilled,” whereas the continuity of support and cooperation was rated as “partially fulfilled,” foran overall sustainability rating of “overallfulfilled.”

Lessons Learned
When managing FSTP projects selected via
a call, ensure a good balance between, on
the one hand, content autonomy and ownership over the project by applicants, and,on the other, providing support for project
development and quality assurance.
A successful cascade implementation of(regional) training sessions requires a comprehensive project management approachto both the design, implementation andfollow up of training activities and the co-DW Akademie
ordination of the collaboration between
the parties involved, including any external
stakeholders.
The management of third-party support requires a significant number of staff at thelevel of both the FSTP implementing organizations and the organization(s) responsible
for the overall project management (in thiscase: DW Akademie).

Selected Recommendations
Human resources are the most valuable resource in this kind of project and should be
supplied with an adequate budget, distributed proportionally to the responsibilities
involved. Especially new and multinationalteams need support (budget and facilitation) to grow together and develop a common understanding of project goals, roles,responsibilities and work processes.

ect teams, but should be balanced against
unwelcome interference that could reduce
their autonomy and ownership.

FSTP proved to be a valuable mode of delivery, but pathways should be identified
to ensure that financial and administrative
procedures do not dominate the project tosuch a degree.

The implementing agencies should invest
time and resources at the start and end of
the project to assess previous experiences
and anchor new experiences within theirown organizations.

In addition to administrative support, technical and content feedback and participation could be beneficial for the FSTP proj-

Creating synergies between FSTP projects
and external projects and partners requiresconsiderable effort in the short-term, but
can also save resources in the mid- andlong-term and add value for all parties.

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CONTAC TDr. Laura Moore
Head Research and Evaluation
laura.moore@dw.com
Berlin, Germany

DWAkademie@dw_akademie
DWAkademie
dw.com/newsletter-registration

Text edited by DW Akademie.

dw.com/mediadev

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