Assignment Name: Mid-Term Programme Review (MTR) of Proyash II Urban Resilience Project

Country: Bangladesh

Client Name: Save the Children, Bangladesh

The Proyash II Urban Resilience Project is a continuation of Save the Children Bangladesh’s efforts to enhance disaster risk reduction (DRR) and urban resilience in the country. The project, funded by Laudes Foundation, focused on increasing the resilience of urban communities, particularly those in slums, by building capacity to cope with various urban risks and disasters. It works in the cities of Dhaka, Chattogram, and Savar, where it engages local communities, schools, and government institutions in developing disaster management systems and ensuring the sustainability of these initiatives.

The project aimed to address the growing risks of natural hazards and climate change impacts, especially in densely populated slum areas. It focuses on integrating disaster risk reduction into urban development planning and enhancing local government capacity for effective disaster management. The Proyash II project had four key components: School Safety Planning (SSP), Urban Risk Assessment (URA), Urban Community Volunteers (UCV), and the Children and Youth Journalist Group. These components aimed to build resilient communities by improving school safety, engaging youth in resilience activities, and ensuring sustainable urban risk assessments. The project targeted 13,125 direct beneficiaries, including 6,600 children, and 65,625 indirect beneficiaries.

In its mid-term evaluation, the project aimed to assess the progress made towards achieving its outcomes, particularly in disaster management capacity building, youth engagement, and school safety. The evaluation focused on assessing the effectiveness, scalability, and impact of key components, as well as providing actionable recommendations for future project adjustments and sustainability. DM WATCH was tasked with conducting a Mid-Term Programme Review (MTR) of the Proyash II Urban Resilience Project. The evaluation involved a comprehensive assessment of the project’s effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability, using the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria.

The Mid-Term Review (MTR) aimed to evaluate the progress of the project against its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and assess the need for programmatic adjustments to meet project targets efficiently. It also examined the effectiveness, efficiency, and scalability of the strategies and interventions used, offering recommendations for improvement. Additionally, the MTR analyzed the impact, cost-effectiveness, and challenges of four key components—School Safety Planning (SSP), Urban Risk Assessment (URA), Urban Community Volunteer (UCV) initiatives, and the Children and Youth Journalist Group. Finally, it captured lessons learned and provided recommendations to enhance program quality, guide future urban projects, and ensure sustainability.

The specific objectives of the MTR were as follows:

• A standard Mid Term Review: To assess the project progress to date especially against the KPIs defined and consider programmatic revisions/improvisations to achieve the project LFA targets efficiently.
• To examine the effectiveness, efficiency and scalable outcomes of the applied components so far, strategies and implementation modalities of the interventions and provide recommendations for further improvement.
• Assessing 4 interventions: To understand the impact, cost effectiveness, scalability and challenges (including sustainability) of four key components i.e., School Safety Planning (SSP), Urban Risk Assessment (URA), Urban Community Volunteer (UCV) Children and Youth Journalist Group.

To capture the learning and provide specific recommendations to improve programme quality along with consolidation planning for future urban projects and sustainability.

The following services were provided:

Planning and Consultation:

• Reviewed project documents, policy papers, and annual reports to understand the project framework and align the study objectives with the project’s goals.
• Conducted initial consultations with Save the Children, implementing partners (SEEP, YPSA), and local government stakeholders to finalize the scope, methodology, and evaluation questions.
• Developed a detailed evaluation framework that aligned with the project’s Theory of Change and key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Prepared a detailed inception report, including a comprehensive work plan, methodology, and data collection tools, in both English and Bangla.

Data Collection and Fieldwork:

• Collected primary data through a mixed-method approach, combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to gather insights from beneficiaries, community members, and government officials.
• Conducted 396 structured surveys with participants from the target areas of Dhaka, Chattogram, and Savar, assessing their awareness and satisfaction with the project interventions.
• Facilitated 54 qualitative interviews, including Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), In-Depth Interviews (IDIs), case studies, and site observations to capture detailed insights into the project’s impact on urban resilience.

Assessment of Project Components:

• Evaluated the four key project components: School Safety Planning (SSP), Urban Risk Assessment (URA), Urban Community Volunteers (UCV), and Children and Youth Journalist Group.
• Assessed the effectiveness and scalability of each component, using Social Return on Investment (SROI) and Value for Money (VfM) analysis to measure the cost-effectiveness and impact of the interventions.
• Provided a scalability analysis of the interventions, determining how these components can be replicated in other urban contexts and what improvements could be made.

Reporting and Recommendations:

• Delivered a comprehensive evaluation report detailing the findings from the MTR along with actionable recommendations for programmatic adjustments, sustainability, and scalability.
• Included four summary reports for the scalable components, highlighting key impact assessments and cost-effectiveness findings for SSP, URA, UCV, and the Children and Youth Journalist Group.
• Prepared Value for Money (VfM) and SROI calculations in Excel format, providing clear financial insights into the return on investment for each component.

Dissemination and Stakeholder Engagement:

• Organized a presentation workshop for the project team, donors, and key stakeholders, delivering the evaluation findings through in-depth discussions and interactive presentations.
• Created design-driven reports and slide decks using InDesign, ensuring high-quality presentation of the evaluation results for both internal stakeholders and external audiences.

The MTR provided critical insights into the progress, effectiveness, and scalability of the Proyash II Urban Resilience Project, guiding future interventions and ensuring that the project achieves its goals of improving urban resilience in Bangladesh’s slum communities.