MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

Evaluation Report
Executive Summary Regional Project“Refugees and Migration in Africa”
Refugee Radio: Improving communication in displacement contexts
in Eastern Africa

dw-akademie.com

BackgroundIn many border areas of Africa, strong refugee movements have triggered tensions
and conflicts in host countries. More than 85
percent of African refugees come from East
African countries. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) counted a total of about
5 million refugees and 7 million internallydisplaced persons in East African countries
at the end of 2019. The affected population
refugees, internally displaced persons
and people from the host communities
generally do not have access to reliable
information that is relevant to them. This
increases the risk of escalating conflicts
over scarce resources through rumors andmisinformation. In the context of massive
refugee movements and the resulting rapid changes in the host society, communication and access to reliable information are
an important key to peaceful coexistence
and constructive conflict management.
The expected outcome of the project

Refugees and Migration in Africa is therefore: “The population affected by conflict anddisplacement has access to reliable information.”
Through this project, information andcommunication services are set up in thevicinity of refugee camps in order to provide refugees with relevant information.
Dialogue is promoted between refugees,
those who have stayed at home and the hostcommunities. For refugees and civilians
on both sides of the border, exchange andverification of information are facilitated inorder to combat violence and hate speech.
Together with international organizations,
DW Akademie works to raise awareness of
the issue of communication in the context ofdisplacement. In view of the limited possibilities of the population affected by displacement to inform themselves adequately andto participate in concrete solutions, theproject is embedded in the strategic fieldof social participation. Cooperation withradio stations is part of the strategy field ofprofessionalization and economic sustainability of the media sector. Positive changes
can also be achieved in the strategy field ofpolitical and legal framework conditions.
The criteria according to which the regional
project is to be evaluated are derived fromthe criteria agreed upon by the international donor community in the Development
Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment (OECD). The evaluation phase,with a total of 21 individual interviews and2 focus group interviews (with a total of 7
participants), took place in the period fromFebruary 3 to March 4, 2021.

Conclusions of the project evaluation
Relevance: According to the project partners, the topic of multidirectional communication in refugee contexts is receiving
increased attention. The target groups
have also emphasized the relevance ofthe project, highlighting, in particular, theimportance of reliable news on politicaland social developments in the countriesof origin and destination, as well as good
information on how to organize their own
lives in camps and host communities. Thechallenges posed by widespread disinformation further increase the relevanceof the topic and the project. It should beemphasized that comprehensive Information Needs Assessments (INA) wereconducted at the beginning of project implementation and were used to fine – tune
project activities. The results of the INA in
the detailed coordination of the measuresthrough a small – scale differentiation ofthe target groups (regionally as well as at
the level of camps and host communities)
show that the relevance of the implemented and planned measures could be further increased. The Corona crisis clearly
demonstrated that the topic is relevant:there was a great need to counteract theuncertainty and fear that came through alack of understanding about the virus andexposure to rumors about the spread andeffect of COVID – 19. Overall, the criterion
Relevance is rated as “comprehensivelyfulfilled”.
Coherence: The project is committed toensuring coherence with measures ofinternational organizations like UNHCR,IOM, OCHA and UNICEF. The evaluation
found that synergies are explicitly soughtby the project. A key to ensuring coherence is DW Akademie’s membership in theCDAC network, which was initiated by theproject (having joined mid – 2019). Here, anintensive exchange around the topic takes
place. Bi – and multilateral donors andorganizations, especially outside Germany, are represented and cooperate. Overall, the criterion Coherence
is rated as “comprehensively fulfilled”.
Effectiveness: The impact logic of the project is conclusive. Not all output indicators
can be achieved by the end of the project
period. This is due to limitations caused by
the COVID – 19 pandemic, e.g. in the implementation of dialogue workshops and test
runs for developed strategies, as well as
delays in coordination in cooperation withpartners. Targets and outputs are tailoredto disadvantaged and vulnerable groups,
including refugees and migrants as well
as residents of rural host communities in
East African border regions. Non – intended positive or negative effects among thetarget groups of the measure could notbe identified. The interview partners see
great potential for upscaling the approach,both in terms of the aspect of “regionalproject instead of country project” as wellas through a small – scale differentiatedapproach within a regional project basedon detailed INA. The criterion Effectiveness is rated as “overall fulfilled”.
Efficiency: The regional project has a rather lean management and steering structure. The personnel concept does not include any seconded/detached personnel,
the approach chosen was to deploy local
staff at the various locations of the project.
Other resources used in the project weretrainings based on modules prepared by
DW Akademie, train – the – trainer workshops (partly in Germany), and equipment
for training and content production. The
INA served to fine – tune the planning of
project activities in line with demand, thusincreasing the efficiency of resource deployment. The cooperation relationships

with the partners in the individual countries vary, which is a result of the genesisof the regional project.

the project lines based on comprehensive INA. The criterion Impact is rated as“comprehensively fulfilled”.

Here, a need for optimization of the management and control structure as well as
individual processes in project administration could still be identified. The criterion
Efficiency is rated as “overall fulfilled”.

Sustainability: The regional project
operates in a politically volatile context.
Therefore, mobile and decentralized andnot necessarily permanent structures are
the best for project implementation. As
far as the partners are concerned, it canalso be assumed that they are not permanently settled and are therefore subject tohigh fluctuation even if, in reality, certain
settlements have turned to be permanent with residents who are anything butmobile. Institutionalization of the measures has not taken place, neither was
this goal of the evaluated project. The key
question regarding sustainability in thesense of the OECD – DAC criteria cannot beanswered unambiguously positively forany of the project partners. The sustainability of the advocacy measure seems to beensured.

Impact: In a regional project in a large
region covering areas in 7 states with relatively small – scale individual measures,
impacts are difficult to measure, especially since the project is only just beginning (no predecessor project). However,
the impact on community livelihoods wasclearly highlighted in the evaluation interviews. The hypothesis that timely, reliable
and fact – based information leads to an
improvement in living conditions was supported in all interviews. At the individuallevel, the measures give the beneficiaries
access to information and opportunities
for exchange that they did not have before.
In their daily lives, the level of information
improves, enabling them to make better
decisions, as well as to shape the coexistence between different communities.
The development measure is exemplaryin terms of the regional project approach
as well as the spatial and target group –specific differentiation in the planning of

It was determined that the assessmentof sustainability is difficult and cannot
be done purely based on the OECD – DAC
criteria in the context of displacement. This
aspect was discussed, and results presented in detail. However, an assessment was
not carried out, since it was not consideredappropriate for this project.

DW Akademie

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 independent
decisions 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 TDr. 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.