Learning to Link: An Evaluation of the Women Connect! Project

The report presents the findings of an evaluation of Women Connect, a project of the Pacific Institute for Women's Health (PIWH) undertaken between August and November 2001. The project aimed to bring empowerment of women through the use of communication strategies in media and technology to improve women's health and well- being.

Working with 26 NGOs in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Uganda, a project management team in Los Angeles, together with African technical resource persons in each country, sought to achieve its objectives through skills building workshops, site visits, a small grant project, referrals of sources of communication hardware and software, referrals to donor organisations, professional and development opportunities.

The evaluation consisted of a desk top review of project documentation, including a situation analysis of each country, NGO baseline assessments, workshop evaluations, project proposals, mid term and final reports by project partners and local consultants, reports of field visits and the mid term evaluation by the Women Connect project management team as well as the two Women Connect reports to the William H Gates Foundation.

On-site interviews with all project partners and local consultants from midSeptember to early October were conducted. In most cases, the interviews included the director, information officer and or other programme managers. In Zambia and Uganda, representatives of project partners also met as a group towards the end of the evaluation mission.

Some of the evaluation's key findings were:

• Immediate outcomes: Women Connect yielded a number of immediate,tangible benefits. Contrary to what might be expected, few donors fund Itrelated projects. As a result of Women Connect, nine organisations that did not have E Mail or Internet access became connected; two organisations (inZimbabwe and Zambia) set up Internet cafes; three organisations established web sites; nine organisations repackaged information from the Internet; eight organisations conducted campaigns on reproductive health, domestic violence, HIV AIDS, women in decision- making, gender stereotypes as well as women and the law. Two organisations produced calendars. Other produced stickers, posters, flyers and information sheets.
• Potential for impact: Intended as pilots, the projects also opened many possibilities for the future. Project partners are now more keenly aware of the need to formulate communications strategies and to be aware of communications in all their work. They understand better the multiple possible applications of information technology, and the need to be careful in making choices. The campaigns related to health and well-being have demonstrated the complexity of these issues and the need for sustained strategies. Stopping teenage pregnancies, for example, is a multifaceted campaign that can only just be started in one year.
• Continuity: The link that Women Connect made with the Global Fund for Women (GFW) has provided the opportunity for many of the projects tocontinue, although ideally this should have been factored in at the start.
• Capacity building: The training workshops, on site and on line technical support have helped to build skills among project partners, although staff- turn over of about 33 percent limited the immediate benefits to the organisation.
• Impact: The broad focus, limited time period, and the fact that the projects were intended as pilots, makes it difficult to measure impact so soon after the completion of the projects.

Click here to read the full report in PDF format

Source: Gender Links website