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The Program «3D Project: Development Despite Disruption. Resilient civil society in a time of COVID-19 and beyond» had been implemented by East Europe Foundation with the financial support of the European Union between October 2020 and May 2022.
The external evaluation of the Program «3D Project: Development Despite Disruption. Resilient civil society in a time of COVID-19 and beyond» was conducted by the sociological company Vox Populi Agency between April and May 2022.
The purpose of the assessment was to determine the level of implementation of the Program on the following indicators: relevance, sustainability, coherence, efficiency, effectiveness, and impact. The evaluation criteria are the key ones for evaluating humanitarian and social impact projects developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Because of the hostilities in Ukraine caused by the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation in February 2022, the evaluation also was aimed to pay particular attention to how the results or the products of the Program could be quickly refocused on the urgent public needs related to the war.
The evaluation was carried out by quantitative and qualitative methods of sociological research, using the method of desk research (study of open sources and project documents provided by the staff of EEF).
The Program aimed to help NGOs overcome the consequences and negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of civil society, strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations, including the institutional capacity of EEF itself. Within the Program, innovative methods of development and introduction of digital instruments and civic tech tools were developed; advocacy, communication, and leadership components of CSOs` activity were strengthened.
The external activity of the Program was focused on developing education online courses for organizations, involvement of their representatives in online education, administration of grants and acceleration programs in the field of digital products` development, and conducting the coaching program for leaders of CSOs.
The Foundation’s capacity-building activity was related to systematic training and support of the organization’s employees in the introduction of good governance tools in project management, financial, administration and communication spheres.
Based on the results of the external evaluation of the Program’s implementation, the Program was relevant and met the needs of NGOs in light of quarantine restrictions.
Thus, the majority of respondents from the Foundation’s staff and NGOs said that they had a significant request to improve their knowledge and skills in the field of digital technologies, support the development of e-democracy products and involve the public in decision-making. The Program has been such a unifying and supportive donor platform for them.
The results of the survey within the external evaluation of the representatives of CSOs, that took part in the Program:
Two online courses were made within the Program. The majority of the respondents (86-90%) agreed that courses have helped to increase their knowledge and skills on innovative tools in daily activities, communication with the public, application of design thinking, and work with the target audience of the project. At the same time, 38-52% “completely” agree about the improvement of their knowledge and skills.
Most of the tools and products that have been created under the Program are intended primarily for use in peacetime. Thus, out of 20 developed products, only 5 do not work today or are not available due to hostilities on the territory of Ukraine. Other products – sites, chatbots, and platforms are functioning. However, one of the challenges in wartime is not only the functioning of these resources, but also the re-profiling and adaptation to the urgent needs of society in wartime – for example, the ability to help address social, humanitarian, or other issues related to public involvement.
Based on the results of the Program implementation, it can be stated that all planned activities have been implemented. Participants of the Program – all components without exception – note that participation in the Program activities – training, grant program, acceleration component, and internal Projects (for the Fund’s staff) was effective.
In particular, through the Program, participants gained knowledge and online tools of public influence, support for their leadership and management capacity, financial resources, and mentoring support for creating online or digital products.
In general, all these achievements have strengthened the activity efficiency of organizations and their representatives or helped to become more flexible in the work with a target audience.
Materials are available by the following links: