Mid-Term Review of the AGIR Programme - Sida

1 I N T R O D U C T I O N
Donor Intermediary CSO
Understanding how AGIR intermediary
organisations have influenced their CSO
partners requires an equal understanding
of the cascading levels of actors and the
spheres of influence that each represent.
Documenting the ‘linkages’ between
these spheres of influence – essentially
the ‘pathways of change’ through which
influence happens – are critical to identifying
and documenting outcomes (both
immediate and intermediate) achieved through the work of the programme.
The key to understanding and documenting these ‘pathways to change’ (and the linkages
between outputs, outcomes and impact) is to focus on the relationships between
the various actors involved in the programme – in the case of AGIR, the relationships
of most interest are those between the intermediaries and the CSOs, and between the
CSOs and the broader civil society. Each are a key part of the process through which
support flows outward and outcomes/results flow back. A primary goal of this evaluative
work will be to identify, analyse and document these linkages and the results that
are produced.
1.2 EVALUATION PROCESSES
A review of all relevant documentation connected to the programme was undertaken.
Documentation from the donors, intermediaries, and partner CSOs was included (a
full list of these documents can be found in Annex 3). Initial discussions were also
held with Sida and individuals from the intermediary organisations involved in
AGIR. Based on these discussions and the review of documentation, a number of
AGIR partner CSOs were selected for field visits (see Annex 4 for list of selected
AGIR CSO partners). These selected AGIR partners were cleared with each of the
intermediary organisations in advance of meetings with CSOs in the field. Each intermediary
agreed with the selection and, in some cases, made suggestions of additional
organisations that might also be visited by the review team.
Interviews were carried out with individuals and/or groups of individuals representing
intermediaries and CSO partner organisations. The content of these interviews was
based on a protocol of semi-structured questions directly related to the key review
questions as defined in the Sida-approved inception report under “Relevance and
Evaluability of Evaluation Questions”. With CSOs in the periphery areas, who
were not always aware of AGIR, the interview protocol was more loosely applied as
an interview guide. Direct interviews with individuals were followed up with, if necessary,
further phone discussions to clarify specific issues. The team also interviewed
a member of parliament involved in activities of the sub-programmes coordinated by
IBIS and Diakonia.
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