SCORE ECD III Final Evaluation 136 views1 applications

1.1 Project Background

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in collaboration with partners in Ghana, Zambia, Kenya and Malawi is implementing a three-year SCORE ECD III project with support from Conrad and Hilton Foundation, through Catholic Sister organizations towards achieving the goal children 0-3 years old in the target areas live in nurturing environments by 2024. Phase III of the project is supporting the sustainability and leadership of 5 National Associations and 32 Congregations of Catholic Sisters in the four countries. The project is strengthening sisters’ organizations, adapting and refining the SCORE model by scaling up a targeted maternal mental health component, incorporating household economic strengthening, SMART Couples interventions, and introducing a quality improvement component in Sister-managed health facilities. The project theory of change is that if Catholic Sisters and their organizations continue to expand and improve their technical and organizational capacities, then they will more effectively and sustainably provide services to caregivers of young children, leading to those caregivers being better able to provide nurturing care, which ultimately improves child development outcomes. At the same time, if Catholic Sisters and their organizations become more effective and sustainable, then they will be better placed to provide leadership and influence at the policy level, contributing to an enabling environment for children and families across the target countries to thrive.

2.0: SCORE ECD Project Goal and Strategic Objectives
The overall goal of the SCORE ECD III project is that children 0-3 years old in the target areas live in nurturing environments by 2024. The Strategic Objective are:
Objective 1: Sisters deliver nurturing care and family strengthening services to caregivers of children 0-3 by 2024.
Objective 2: Caregivers of children 0-3 years old provide their children nurturing care by 2024.
Objective 3: NACCS have strengthened organizational capacity by 2024.

3.0: Purpose and Objectives of the Final Evaluation (FE)
SCORE ECD III project is phasing out by the end of November 2024. Therefore, the purpose of the final evaluation is to assess how successful the project was in implementing its strategic objectives indicated above.

The FE provides an opportunity for all project stakeholders to take stock of accomplishment to date and to listen to the beneficiaries at all levels, including mothers and caregivers, other community members and opinion leaders, health workers, health system administrators, local partners, other organizations, and donors.

The specific objectives of the final evaluation are:
1. To what extend are Sisters equipped with capacity to enable them deliver nurturing care and family strengthening services to caregivers of children 0-3?
2. Objective 2: To what extend are Caregivers of children 0-3 years old equip with capacity to be able to provide their children nurturing care?
3. Objective 3: To what extend have National Associations and Catholic congregations of Sisters (NACCS) strengthened organizational capacity