MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

Evaluation Report
Executive summary Namibia
Management and leadership: Analyzing project partners’
capacities and collaboration with DW Akademie

dw-akademie.com

Background
DW Akademie’s project in Namibia spansa three – year period, spanning 2019 to2021. The evaluation described in this report was conducted when one year of implementation remained. The COVID pandemic struck early in the second year andinevitably affected the project. The projectencompasses three themes – advocacy,
journalism education, and MIL (media andinformation literacy). The expected outcome of the country project in Namibia is

as follows: “An alliance of media, activists
and educational institutions strengthens
journalistic excellence, media literacy andadvocacy for freedom of expression in theregion.”
The evaluation is focusing on management
and leadership (M & L), using an approachbased on the OECD/DAC criteria (relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability). It also included

a focus on regionalization. The standard
DW Akademie rating system is used in theassessment.
The methodology included a review ofdocuments provided by DW Akademie,
alongside interviews with representatives of the main partners, as well as key
DW Akademie staff, three online questionnaires, and self – assessments completed
by project partners and DW Akademie.

Conclusions of the project evaluation
M & L Relevance: All partners confirmedthat the activities they were doing withDW Akademie support were fully in linewith their own organizational strategy.
Generally, partners said that the activities were developed in partnership withthem. Even MiLLi*, where the organization
was created by DW Akademie, was an idea
developed jointly by DW Akademie and a
COTA head of department. Many interviewees also emphasized the flexibility of
DW Akademie in agreeing to changes toplans where these were well motivated bythe partner.
DW Akademie is not, however, a passive recipient of requests for assistance. Instead,
DW Akademie often brought new and innovative ideas and approaches which partners might not have requested because
they were unaware of all the possibilities.
All partners saw the DW Akademie support
as entailing much more than financing.
All appreciated both the skills and tools
shared and other forms of support.
None of the partners had been rendered
inactive by COVID. DW Akademie made allowance for the slower pace by extending
contracts. COVID had led some partners
to engage in new activities or approaches with which they planned to continue
post – COVID. COVID meant that DW Akademie experts could no longer travel toSouthern Africa to provide training andsupport in situ. However, the presence ofa local office and staff probably reduced
the impact compared to that experiencedin other countries. The criterion M & L Relevance is rated as “comprehensively fulfilled”.

M & L Coherence: All partners confirmedthat the activities fitted in well with theirother activities, in many cases to their coreactivity. DW Akademie puts substantial effort into identifying and getting to know
potential partners. It also often develops
the relationship in a phased way, and generally funds on a long – term basis rather
than through one – off contracts.
MISA Malawi is the only partner whichspans two streams. DW Akademie staff
said that they learnt what was being donein the other streams through the regularmeetings in which the different teams reported on their activities and plans. However, the extent to which they participatedactively in other streams was limited.
Among partners, there were more mentions of links between advocacy and journalism education than links with MiLLi*,
but the latter also came up. As evaluators,
we do not think that failure to have strong
integration is important or, perhaps, evenadvantageous. This does not mean thatcross – stream work should be discouraged
where there is a match.
Regional collaboration is built into the advocacy stream as it developed in the wakeof the collapse of MISA regional. Partners
noted that there had been benefits as well
as challenges arising from the regional
office’s demise. The criterion M & L Coherence is rated as “overall fulfilled”.
M & L Effectiveness: Comparison of performance against logframe indicators
suggests good progress overall, especiallygiven the complications of COVID. Howev-er, we are not convinced that the crucial
indicator of finding new funding sourcesfor MiLLi* will be achieved.
Partners were pleased with the supportive
way in which DW Akademie worked andtheir flexibility and “agility”. Their mostcommon area of unhappiness related tocomplicated administrative procedures.
However, DW Akademie had assisted themwith these. DW Akademie’s staff reported
that an approach that suited German laws
and ways of operation were not always
suitable for Namibia, and likely other countries.
Partners noted that their own training content was now more structured, consistent,and coherent, and that they now trained ina more engaging and effective way. Somepartners could not name any weaknessesof the partnership. MiLLi*’s short internalreports on activities confirm that they areaware of weaknesses and are constantly
exploring ways of addressing them.
When the seriousness of the COVID
pandemic became apparent, the Namibia
team adjusted the impact matrix. COVID
also brought some unplanned benefits, including a “digital boost” for the agency aswell as partners.
DW Akademie interviewees in both Namibia and Germany commented on the excellent relationships within the organization,and the care and emotional support thatemployees provided for each other. In
Southern Africa, it seems that the project
management has led the project in an inclusive way, which supports colleagues,

while taking full advantage of their skills,
knowledge, initiative and ideas. The criterion M & L Effectiveness is rated as “overallfulfilled”.
M & L Efficiency: DW Akademie’s administrative staff noted that while
DW Akademie used a lot of useful and innovative online tools, the multiplicity of tools
and platforms could be overwhelming. For
us as evaluators, the absence of consolidated reports on the project as a whole
and/or the three streams was challenging.
Partners confirmed that DW Akademie
tended to require greater use of digital
tools than other donors. None reported
that this was a problem. Some said it had
influenced how they worked with and forother donors.
The assistance to MISA has, whether implicitly or explicitly, focused on M & L in
attempting to help MISA chapters findways to continue their work effectively after the collapse of the regional MISA. DW
Akademie is also currently engaging with
IPPR and NCBN on OD (organizational development) issues. More generally, interviews suggested that DW Akademie staff
are always conscious of the need to consider institutional issues when engaging withpartners. There were repeated examples
from partners of how DW Akademie had
assisted partners on the institutional side.
COVID resulted in some financial savings, in particular, through reduced
travel. Costs would have been incurredin shifting to online modes of engagement. However, some of these expenditures can be seen as investments inthat DW Akademie and its partners used

the opportunity to create new material.
Adopting a regional approach could
reduce costs by reducing duplication.
Further, a regional approach will facilitate
better cross – country utilization of regional experts. A regional approach would also
increase some costs. The criterion M & L
Efficiency is rated as “overall fulfilled”.
M & L Impact: A case study of MiLLi*’s
development would provide an excellent
illustration of the constantly attentive,
flexible, thoughtful and yet organizedapproach that seems to characterize DW
Akademie’s attention to OD.
Several of the partner organizations said
that gender was an issue in their country
rather than in the project or their work in
particular. More commonly raised was thefact that the majority of experts were — or
had previously been — (white) Germans.
There was, however, acknowledgmentthat the picture had changed over theyears, with some local people now serving as trainers and experts alongside theGerman ones.
MiLLi* is a DW Akademie creation. The
plan is that over time the organization will
become independent. The preponderance of DW Akademie staff on the board
will be reduced with the appointment ofa permanent director and the addition ofa member elected by the facilitators. On
the funding side, the hope is that the newdirector will identify local Namibiandonors. Despite the challenges raised in
respect of MiLLi*, all interviewees whospoke about the project were full of praise
for the project and the “sterling” work thatit did.

With the advocacy stream, DW Akademie
and at least one of the partners recognizeda need to expand beyond the MISA chapters.
In journalism education, the training academy in Malawi has strengthened MISA
Malawi by offering members direct benefits and has potential for longer – term
impact on journalism as those who havebeen trained as trainers pass on skills. The
production of materials that can be used
across countries of the region represents
the potential for ongoing impact. The
criterion M & L Impact is rated as “overallfulfilled”.
M & L Sustainability: Many of the partners
said they would continue with the activity if DW Akademie were not around but
would likely not continue at the same scale
without DW Akademie’s resources. Further,
they felt they might also not reach theirfull potential without the skills and knowledge that DW Akademie offers. Aside fromMiLLi*, all partners had other donors inaddition to DW Akademie.
The partners generally have limited
capacity to bring in revenue throughroutes other than grants. The support provided by DW Akademie to MISA Malawi andNCBN should have placed them in a better
position to bring in revenue from training.
Apart from COTA, the partner organizations have relatively small staff complements, although CITE has experienced
rapid growth.
DW Akademie has already taken steps toreduce reliance on German experts. Thecriterion M & L Sustainability is rated as“overall fulfilled”.

Assessment of M & L performance as a whole
DW Akademie
DAC criterion

Assessment

Comments

Relevance

Comprehensively
fulfilled

All results of the evaluation prove thatthe criterion has been met.

Coherence

Overall fulfilled

Most results from the evaluation
show that the criterion has been met.

EffectivenessOverall fulfilled

Most results from the evaluation
show that the criterion has been met.

Efficiency

Overall fulfilled

Most results from the evaluation
show that the criterion has been met.

ImpactOverall fulfilled

Most results from the evaluation
show that the criterion has been met.

Sustainability

Overall fulfilled

Most results from the evaluation
show that the criterion has been met.

is Deutsche Welle’s center forinternational media development,journalism training and knowledgetransfer. Our projects strengthen thehuman right to freedom of expression
and unhindered access to information.
DW Akademie empowers people
worldwide to make independentdecisions based on reliable facts andconstructive dialogue. DW Akademie isa strategic partner of the German
Federal Ministry for Economic
Coopera­tion and Development. We
also receive funding from the Federal
Foreign Office and the European Union
and are active in approximately 60
developing countries and emerging
economies.

CONTAC T

Dr. Laura Moore
Head Research and Evaluation
laura.moore@dw.com
Berlin, Germany
DWAkademie@dw_akademie
DWAkademie
dw.com/newsletter-registration
dw.com/mediadev

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
the development of future strategies.