Final Evaluation of UNCDF s Kahuzi Biega National Peace Park Project

This evaluation is being conducted in accordance with UNCDF’s commitments under its Evaluation Plan 20262-2029[1] and in line with UNDP’s Evaluation Policy[2] (to which UNCDF is party) which sets out a number of guiding principles and key norms for evaluation in the organization following the Norms and Standards of the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG)[3].

Amongst the norms that the Policy seeks to uphold, the most important are that the evaluation exercise be independent and provide technically and methodologically credible findings that are useful and relevant to support evidence-based programme management.

With this in mind, the evaluation has been designed with the following overall objectives:

·       To allow UNCDF and partners to meet their accountability and learning objectives;

·       To capture good practices, innovations and lessons learned;

·       Provide actionable recommendations

·       To inform alignment with UNCDF global strategies within the 2022-2025 Strategic Framework as well as the  updating of the new Strategic Framework 2026-2029 and the organisational repositioning in line with UNCDF’s mandate .

The final evaluation is expected to assess the results of the intervention to date (direct and indirect, whether intended or not) across the Kahuzi-Biega National Park’s full theory of change from its first year of implementation.

Critical to this evaluation is the assessment of the effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the intervention and instruments to create sustainable peace. Given the interventions strong focus on peace, a strong focus on cross-cutting issues and stability in fragile contexts will be sought.

The specific objectives of the evaluation are:

·       To assist UNCDF and partners to understand assess the relevance, coherence, efficiency, effectiveness, and the pathways towards impact and sustainability of the Kahuzi-Biega National Peace Park project while understanding the context and challenges in which the project operates.

·       To provide evaluative evidence on the contribution of the Kahuzi-Biega National Peace Park project work towards social cohesion, local governance, forest conservation, sustainable livelihoods, and peace and security.

·       Assess the extent to which the PBF project has made a concrete contribution to reducing a conflict factor in the country and advancing achievement of the SDGs, in particular SDG 16.

·       Assess whether the support provided by the PBF has promoted the Women, Peace and Security agenda, allowed a specific focus on women’s participation in peacebuilding processes, was accountable to gender equality, women’s economic empowerment and the broader LNOB agenda. 

·       As final evaluation, to validate the theory of change and instruments and tools deployed to meet the programme’s objectives

·       Review and validate intervention results framework and contribution to UNCDF’s Strategic Framework Integrated Reporting Results Measurement Framework.

·       To understand better the Kahuzi-Biega National Park Project’s engagement and collaboration with other stakeholders in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, including other UN agencies, UNCDF programmes, national and international partners in achieving its objectives.

·       To inform a second phase of the project.