MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

Evaluation Report
Executive summary Ecuador
Strengthening the community media sector: Alternative
business models and digital innovation in Ecuador

dw-akademie.com

Background
After a period of government guided by the ideals of 21st century
Socialism headed by Rafael Correa, the 2017 presidential elections
opened a new political phase in which continuities (economic policy) and discontinuities with the previous decade can be observed.
Ecuador has left the recession behind but still has not overcome theeconomic crisis it was in at the time the project was formulated. Low
commodity prices, especially crude oil, on which the State is heavily
dependent motivate Ecuador to continue relying on external debt
as a fundamental financing mechanism. The reduction of the state
apparatus and the contraction of some social policies suggest thatsocial conflicts will increase in the coming years.
The media sector in Ecuador reflects many of the country’s structural conditions: scarce professional capacities among journalists
and the media, strong media concentration, marked dependence
and interference from politics and economics in the media sector, afocus on the urban world and on certain social sectors, and a strong
polarization of the country’s economic and social development model. The sector is in the midst of a restructuring process: A controversial new legal framework, the Ley Orgánica de Comunicación (LOC,2013), was aimed at overcoming some structural deficits but also
developed an institutional framework of regulation and control that
introduced self-censorship, censorship and limitations on freedomof expression. The LOC was reformed in February 2019 but the corresponding regulations have yet to be drawn up.

landscape in Ecuador. A final line of the project, resulting from anamendment with the BMZ in 2018, promotes the establishment of anetwork (wiki community) that allows the presence of indigenous issues and voices on digital platforms (Wikipedia). Through these linesof intervention and the associated inputs and products/services, it
is intended (outcome) that the community sector, strengthened infinancial terms and in terms of content, offers to the citizens of therural sectors of Ecuador participatory and balanced programs andcontents. At the impact level, the project is expected to allow citizens,
especially in rural and indigenous areas, to better exercise their rightto freedom of expression and access to information and thus enable
them to participate competently and actively in public debates, development processes and social dialogue.
This project of DW Akademie in the period 2016 – 2019 is the subject of the evaluation. The evaluation has a formative, constructive,summative and prospective character. It is guided by the objectiveof providing the project implementation agencies and cooperation
partners with an independent evaluation and feedback in order tofacilitate learning processes. The five OECD/DAC evaluation criteria
represent the general evaluation criteria. Methodologically, the evaluation was carried out in a participatory manner, taking into accountthe Do No Harm approach. This is supported by qualitative methodsof data collection (interviews, workshops, focus groups) and by awide range of analytical methods.

Conclusions of the project evaluation

Based on its previous working experience in the country, in 2016 DW
Akademie began implementing a cooperation project for the development of community media with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development(BMZ). Due to run until the end of 2019, the project focuses mainlyon the strategic areas of professionalization and financial sustainability of the media. The main partner is the Coordinadora de Radios
Populares y Educativas del Ecuador, CORAPE, a network of community media, mainly radio stations. The project also involves collaboration with Radialistas Apasionadas y Apasionados, an NGO that works
with community radio, and the University FLACSO.

Relevance: The coherence analysis based on a document review
shows that the project harmonizes with the objectives and guidelines of the BMZ and the objectives of the cooperation partner country (national development plans), fits in with the respective strategic
fields of DW Akademie and also with the interests and objectivesof the most important project implementation agency. Virtually
all actors have confirmed this. The high relevance of the project isreinforced by the changes in the framework conditions, the digitalchange, the growing competition between old and new forms ofcommunication, production and cultural consumption as well as
new forms of media and sociocultural articulation.

The project is structured around a complex strategy with five lines ofintervention. Two lines aim to consolidate the Executive Secretariatof CORAPE, SE-CORAPE as a competence center for training, professionalization and financial sustainability of community media and as
an organization implementing a qualification program. A third line ofintervention which is being implemented together with Radialistas
aims to ensure that community media use digital technologies forthe production and elaboration of new participatory media offers.
Two additional lines, in this case with FLACSO, are intended to consolidate CORAPE as the representative of the interests of the community media sector and to create spaces for constructive dialogue
to facilitate the transformation and democratic shaping of the media

This clear assessment contrasts with the fact that in the early years
the ownership of the project by SE-CORAPE and the other partners
was not direct. Multiple elements and factors converged in this fact:
the design of the process of identification and formulation of theproposal, the general political context, an implementation architecture in which the modalities and roles of cooperation were not clear
to the project partners, or the fact that in many cases the institutional capacities or interests of some partners were overburdened or
insufficiently taken into account. This has been the case with Radialistas and FLACSO. After the first year of the project, focused mainlyon accommodating the urgency created by the opening of a publictender for radio frequencies, the project was based above all on thecooperation between DW Akademie and theExecutive Secretary and Board of CORAPE.
The eventual establishment of a subsidy
contract with SE-CORAPE was a key elementin achieving a greater ownership of the project on their part. Therefore the Relevancecriterion is assessed as “comprehensivelyfulfilled.”
Effectiveness: The analysis of the project’s
Theory of Change reveals difficulties in therepresentation and conceptualization ofa project that wants to take the long andcomplex path between the support of three
cooperation partners and the qualificationand improvement of the exercise of the rightto freedom of expression and access to information of a mostly indigenous rural population. The central role given to the logicalframework, which has also become an operational planning instrument, does not always allow the necessary flexible and adaptive implementation of a complex project ina frequently changing environment.
The various analyses lead to the conclusion that the objective of developing SECORAPE’s capacities (project line A: “competence center”) has been partially achieved.
This is mainly due to the fact that the project
improved the quality of the radio programs
that SE-CORAPE makes available to its members, as well as its ability to support themand provide them with services. This performance is not so much due to the use of an
external team of trainers/consultants in thenetwork, as originally proposed in the project, but to the strengthening of SE-CORAPE’sown technical team.
It is this same institutional channel — SECORAPE => affiliated community radio rather than via Radialistas — that project line C(use of digital technologies for the production and elaboration of new participatory
media offers) made use of. This line has also
been partially achieved. With regard to thetraining processes, it should be noted thattraining measures (“workshops”) were carried out which went well beyond the originally planned scope and met the emerging
needs of the CORAPE member radio stations.

The assessment of the project lines carriedout with FLACSO is complex. Some of the activities planned for the first few years werecarried out, others not. With regard to thestrategy proposed in this context, a largepart of the proposed solutions (spaces fordialogue) were aimed at results at nationallevel, so largely outside the project framework. It is evident, however, that today SECORAPE is effectively established as a body
representing the interests of the community
media affiliated with it and that intense political advocacy has taken place, to which theproject has made some direct and indirectcontributions.
The initial momentum of project line F (“Wikiproject”) has given way to a phase of “replication” i.e. of institutional consolidation andimplementation of an intellectual impulse,
and a series of activities that were well received by all the actors consulted. The Effectiveness criterion is evaluated as “partiallyfulfilled.”
Efficiency: The evaluation process did notinclude nor analyze information on the financing and financial management of theproject (budget analysis, cost analysis). Despite the limitations of the evaluation, it isclear that the provision of SE-CORAPE´s local funding, the employment of local staff
and the networking of radio experts haveresulted in a positive production and allocation efficiency. On the other hand, various aspects have led to lower production
and allocation efficiency. These include:
the work rhythms in the creation and availability of products and services; the timeand effort required to manage the project; the problems observed in the designof the project and its intervention logic; aproject management based on insufficient
information bases; disruptions in the development and weighting of intervention
lines; and implementation dynamics basedon trial and error. In the further course of
the project, implementation partners canexpect an intensive working pace, but thisshould help to improve production and allocation efficiency. The Efficiency criterion
is assessed as “partially fulfilled”.

Impact: The analysis of the project’s proposed Theory of Change made it clear that interms of its plausibility and availability – but
not in terms of its extent and scope – it could
be implemented in general and evidencedsome positive effects. In this way, the uncertainty caused by the legal framework
was able to be mitigated and the continuityof the work of the radio stations and theirinteraction with the communities and theiraudiences ensured.
At the level of SE-CORAPE, there are a number of observed changes that can be attributed to the project or to which the project has made a significant contribution. Theproject has strengthened the instrumental(program reform, National Training and Education Plan, Documentation Centre) andinstitutional (technical team, two training
staff, Wiki team) capacities of SE-CORAPE tointeract and provide communication products and services (advice and training) to itsmembers. SE-CORAPE has consolidated its
institutional position in the media sector,
increased its membership and established
new alliances, in particular with indigenousorganizations in the Amazon region, andpositioned itself in new areas of civil society, such as “Ecuador decide”, which call for
greater citizen participation.
With regard to the community radio stationsorganized around CORAPE, the project hascontributed to the enrichment of the programming in some of the radio stations,and has accompanied and promoted thedigital shift. This has enabled them, among
other things, to adapt to new audiences, increase their digital presence and renew theiraffinity and proximity to listeners. All thishas consolidated and reinforced the role ofcommunity radio as “participatory spaces”,
i.e. interactive spaces for communication,encounter, access to and dissemination ofinformation.
The project has created the basis for community radio outlets to address the dimensions of their economic viability and sustainability. It is very likely that by the endof 2019 at least 8 community radio stations
will take financial diversification measuresthat contribute to their viability and financial
sustainability. The project’s monitoring andevaluation system and this evaluation do notprovide clear information to demonstrate
the link between the changes observed
above and the improvement in the exerciseof the rights (impact) that the project aims
to achieve. The two short case studies carried out in the evaluation have shown thatthese changes are taking place and that, inthe totality of the experiences developed atlocal level, it is possible to assume impacts
on the population in terms of greater andbetter exercise of rights. However, the project is currently unable to demonstrate this.
The documentation and systematization ofthese experiences is a pending and urgent
task of the project, which should take placeby the end of 2019. In conclusion the Impact
criterion is evaluated as “partially fulfilled.”
Sustainability: The project’s focus on capacity building, various project achievements
and the institutional strengths of SE-CORAPE
contribute to the sustainability of the project’s processes and its impact. There areworking bases that support the continuity ofthe project line for training activities and thatenable the sustainability and media viability of community radio to be strengthened.
SE-CORAPE is able to maintain the financial
flow and the main work processes. However,ending the project at the end of 2019 would
create a large gap that would have an impact
on performance. In this sense, the central
recommendation is that the project should
reinforce and consolidate these processes ina further phase. The Sustainability criterion
is assessed as “overall fulfilled.”

DW Akademie

is Deutsche Welle’s center forinternational media development.
As a strategic partner of the Federal
Ministry for Economic Cooperation
and Development (BMZ), DW Akademie
carries out media development projects that strengthen the human rightto freedom of opinion and promote
free access to information.
DW Akademie also works on projects
funded by the German Foreign Oﬃce
and the European Union — in approximately 50 developing and emerging
countries.

Contact

Dr. Jan Lublinski
Head Research and Evaluation
jan.lublinski@dw.com
53113 Bonn
Germany
DWAkademie@dw_akademie
youtube.com/DWAkademie
dw-akademie.com

The objective of the external evaluation is to provide a constructive assessment of the project results. It does not necessarily align with theperspective and planning of DW Akademie. Nevertheless, all ﬁndings were discussed in order to allow lessons learned to be incorporated into thedevelopment of future strategies.