Evaluation of the Danish Regions of Origin Initiative support to Afghanistan

Over the last decade, Denmark has provided substantial development assistance to the reconstruction of Afghanistan, with the main purposes of contributing to national, regional and global security as well as to poverty reduction.

Total disbursement of Danish development assistance to Afghanistan over the period 2001-2010 amounts to approximately DKK 2.5 billion, and the support has mainly been concentrated within four thematic areas: (1) State-building, (2) Livelihoods, (3) Education, and (4) Regions of Origin Initiative (ROI) support. In Denmark, as well as in the donor community in general, there is a wish to learn from the experiences with different types of assistance to Afghanistan implemented through the last decade. Therefore, Eval has commissioned the execution of 2 evaluations and 3 evaluation studies that together cover the four main thematic areas of Danish assistance to Afghanistan.

The present evaluation will cover the Danish support channeled through the Regions of Origin Initiative (ROI) – a special initiative for assistance to countries affected by large-scale displacement, which was approved by the Danish Government in 2003. The main objective of the ROI is to assist refugees and internally displaced people as close to their home as possible, as this is assumed to make it easier for them to return home while at the same time reducing political problems in the host countries.

The evaluation will be carried out as a focused, “learning” evaluation, i.e. with primary focus on assessing most recent programme interventions in view of the existing strategies, policies and approaches being applied. The main purpose of the evaluation is to assess and document the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of Danish ROI support to Afghanistan and generate lessons learned and recommendations. The evaluation will assess the RoI support provided within different areas of operation (legal assistance, shelter, water supply and rural development), and implemented through different structures (National Government, UN Organisations, NGOs).

It is expected that the outcome of this ROI evaluation, in terms of evaluation results and lessons learned, will be relevant for current and future Danida ROI support, not only in Afghanistan but also in other fragile states where Danida is providing ROI support. Likewise, it is expected that the evaluation will be useful also to the Government in Afghanistan and other development and humanitarian partners.

It is expected that the evaluation will be completed in late 2011 or early 2012.