MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

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

dw-akademie.com

Background
Media services in Uganda do not adequately meet the information needsof the youth. Young people have limitedaccess to information and few opportunities to participate in public dialogue,
especially in rural areas, where morethan 75 per cent of the population lives.
Advancements in digitalization open up
a wide range of opportunities for youngpeople to engage in open discussions, butalso expose them to the risks and dangersof the Internet. At the same time, digitalization presents media professionals
with new challenges. In Uganda, Kenya,Tanzania, and Rwanda, the rapid development of digital media is opening up
unprecedented opportunities for women
to express their opinions and participate
in society. At the same time, however,violence against women online is on
the rise. Many women shy away fromcontroversial online discussions, practiceself – censorship or leave the digital spaceentirely, out of fear of humiliation andcyber – attacks.
The project goals at the outcomelevel of the project in Uganda (Objective1) are: “Young people engage in the public
discourse in a solution – oriented way
through participatory youth media
formats.” The expected outcomes oftheregional
project
Women@Web(Objective 2) are: “The safety and freedom of expression for women on theinternet
hasbeenstrengthened.”

The country project contributes to acommon, overarching, regional objective(at impact level): “Disadvantaged sectionsof the population shape social and political processes with the support of media. In
doing so, they make important contributions to state transparency, tolerance andself – determined development.” The funding period runs from 2019 to 2021. The project evaluation took place in the last year of
the funding period, and thus provides animportant basis for a follow – up project.
DW Akademie’s Uganda country projectworks together with the project partner
Media Challenge Initiative (MCI). MCI isa youth – driven non – profit organization
based in Kampala, Uganda, which is dedicated to building the next generation ofjournalists in Uganda and Africa. With its
practice – oriented training and advisory
services, the project partner addresses
educational institutions and aspiring
journalists as well as established media houses. The focus is on interactive, youth – oriented media formats.
Universities are advised on how tomake the training of journalists morepractical. One such vessel is theInter – University Media Challenge, apractical moderation and reporting
competition at 12 universities in Uganda.
DW Akademie’s regional Women@Webproject works with various organizations
and associations in Uganda, Tanzania,
Kenya, and Rwanda: In Uganda, thisis Unwanted Witness, DPI (Defenders
Protection Initiative), Her Empire and until
December 2020 CIPESA (The Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa).
The project partner in Kenya is AMWIK (Association of Media Women inKenya); here, cooperation takes placewith the organizations Siasa Place andKICTANet (Kenya ICT Action Network).
In Rwanda, DW Akademie works together
with Acacia Book Café (ABC); in Tanzania,
various experts have joined forces to form
the association Women@Web Tanzania(W@WTZ). All organizations play a crucialrole in the implementation of the projectline within the network and are at theforefront of ICT, digitalization, gender, andhuman rights in the region.
The objectives of evaluation strand 1 areto gain insights into the management andleadership performance of the project
partner (1), the project management of
DW Akademie (2), the strengths and weaknesses of the cooperation (3), and thepromotion of institutional learning of theparticipating organizations (4). The
objectives of evaluation strand 2 are to gain
insights into the relevance, coherence,effectiveness, efficiency, impact, andsustainability of the regional project.
Additional overarching questions aim topresent options for the future design ofWomen@Web. The six OECD – DAC criteria
provide the reference framework for bothevaluation strands.

Conclusions of the project evaluation
M&L Evaluation: Uganda Country Project
Much of the project planning has alreadybeen implemented, despite challenges
posed by the COVID – 19 pandemic. The
assessment of the criteria relevance,effectiveness and impact in relation tomanagement and leadership performancereflect this (see matrix on the next page).
Interventions that were carried out wereof strategic importance and ensured thecoherence of donors’, beneficiaries’ andtarget groups’ objectives in the development intervention. The organizational
development (OD) process funded by thecountry project has greatly strengthened
M&L capacities in terms of effectiveness.
Overall, the management and leadershipbehavior had a positive impact within theorganization, on cooperation partners,
target groups, and other actors.
With regard to the dimensions ofcoherence, efficiency and sustainability
the ratings were also very positive,
however, areas of improvement withintheproject
partner’sorganization
were pointed out. The OD consultancy aswell as the support services and trainingprovided and conducted in the area ofadministration
andfinancebymembers of the country team had a positive
impact on increasing the efficiency on thewhole. The management and leadershipcontributed to long – term learning andchange processes within and outside theorganization.

Assessment of M&L performance as a whole
DAC criterion

Assessment

Comments

Relevance

Comprehensivelyfulfilled

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.

EffectivenessComprehensively
fulfilled

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

Efficiency

Overall fulfilled

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

ImpactComprehensively
fulfilled

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

Sustainability

Overall fulfilled

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

OECD/DAC Evaluation:
Strengthening women’s safety on the internet (Women@Web)
Relevance: W@W aims to solve the coredevelopmental problem of Uganda, Kenya,Tanzania, and Rwanda, namely the restriction of expression and social participation
due to online violence against women. The
measure is highly relevant in this context
in order to increase digital participationand security for women in East Africa bypromoting civil society organizations andmultipliers from the participating countries in a network association. The development policy objectives of the project
are in line with the goals and guidelinesof BMZ and DW Akademie. They are also
in line with the development strategies
and objectives of the four countries, which
aim to promote democratic development,social equality, gender justice, respectfor human rights, participation of ethnic
and religious minorities, and vulnerable groups. The objectives of the project
partners in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, andRwanda are consistent with those of thedevelopment intervention; a high degreeof harmony can be observed here. The
criterion Relevance is rated ”comprehensively fulfilled” overall.

Coherence: The W@W measures are consistent with international and national
norms and standards to which German
development cooperation is committed.
They are compatible with the special protection and targeted promotion of therights of disadvantaged or discriminatedgroups, in particular of women, as enshrined in the human rights conventions.
The interventions of the regional project
are, on the one hand, coordinated withmeasures
implemented
intheUganda country project and, on theother hand, with activities carriedout by project partners in the same
sector. The criterion of Coherence isassessed as “comprehensively fulfilled”.
Effectiveness: The impact logic of theregional project is coherent. The levelof ambition in the way the objectives areframed is appropriate and the target indicators listed in the application are suitablefor evaluating effectiveness. The projectis within the target range, with regard to
the indicators, and was able to achieve thetarget figures for certain indicators even

before the project phase ended. Due tostructural changes and delays caused by
COVID – 19, only two of the three planned
advocacy campaigns are expected to beimplemented. Due to high learning capacity, flexibility, and the ability to use learning experiences to adapt and redirect thestrategy, the project is very likely to achieve
the objective agreed in the proposal — tocontribute to strengthening women’ssafety and freedom of expression
online — as per the indicators. Learning and steering processes, communication
andexchange
withproject partners and their expert
advice by the project team andinternational and local consultants are
rated very positively. The criterion ofEffectiveness is rated ”overall fulfilled”.
Efficiency: The available funds are usedvery efficiently in the project. While theoriginal structure of the network must
be seen critically, as it was the reason for
the restructuring previously described,
the efficiency in dealing with these
deficits and in the reorientation – processcan be seen as very positive. The financing of activities to consolidate the networkand training and advocacy events for theindividual network actors is proportionate
to the benefits and impact. The work of theactors and their networking activities, aswell as further innovative activities adapted to specific needs of the target groups,
are made possible with relatively low andvery efficiently used funds. Reorientation measures, such as the termination ofcooperative relationships with former
project partners or the selection of newproject partners, have increased the overall efficiency of the measure. The criterionof Efficiency is rated “overall fulfilled“.
Impact: Although the degree of impact
achieved is measured very early on, i.e.
after two years of this project phase,tendencies are already discernible, andareas can be identified in which theregional project contributes to medium
and short – term impacts. For others, it
is apparent which ones can probably beachieved in the long term. As a relatively short – term effect, it can already beobserved that women's competence andsafety on the net have increased. The advocacy work and public campaigns initiated by W@W provide fresh impetus to
the area of political and legal framework
conditions. Provided that the stability of the network is maintained, andlonger – term support is possible, thedevelopment policy potential can be used
to bring discrimination against womenon the Internet into the focus of public
discourse, also at the political level.

The country project forms part oftheregional
programforAfrica,
contributing
tothecommonregional objective to enable disadvantaged communities to shape social andpolitical processes with the support ofthe media to improve state transparency,tolerance, and self – determined development. The criterion Impact is rated “overallfulfilled“.
Sustainability: At the time of the evaluation, the development of ownership,
problem –solving
andperformancecapacity varied among the project partners, and in some cases was more focusedon the country –specific context. Overall,however, good cooperation has created awell-functioning
network
inwhichindividual actors support the strategicorientationandgoalsofDW
Akademie'sregionalproject.
The different capacities of the projectpartners, the relatively young structureof the network, the delays caused by
the pandemic, and the varying degrees
of regional focus make further support
from a development partner, such as
DW Akademie, necessary. In sub –areas
and at the state level, the positive effectsof the project would probably be sustained, but at the regional level this seems
questionable at this point in time. The
sustainability of the impacts alreadyachieved is clearly demonstrated by theinstitutionalization of knowledge and theongoing process of expansion throughthe system of multipliers. The criterion ofSustainability is rated “overall fulfilled“.

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.