Regions: Middle East & North Africa
Spurring culturally appropriate governance reforms is critical for equitable development.
An economically diverse region including oil-rich states and countries with fewer resources. Development in the region is heavily influenced by two factors-the price of oil and the legacy of state-centric development. Critical challenges for the region include reconstruction in Iraq, strengthening governance and public sector accountability, private sector development and employment, education to participate in the global economy, sustainable water resource management, increasing women's participation in the work force and in politics, and strengthening the capability of civil society to address the needs of poor and marginalized groups.
Since the early 1990s SI has been consulting to strengthen Middle East and North Africa projects and programs in sectors including health, agriculture, environment, governance and conflict management through organizations including the African Development Bank, World Bank and USAID.
- PROJECT details
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USAID/OTI: Lebanon Political Study, 2007
OTI was established in 1994 to respond to countries experiencing a significant and sometimes rapid political transition frequently accompanied by a social and/or economic crisis. OTI commissioned SI to conduct a study of the current political dynamics in Lebanon to determine whether conditions were such that a two to three year OTI program could potentially contribute in a significant way to the achievement of peace and stability and/or longer term positive political development in that country. The primary focus for the study was to determine if there is a window of opportunity for OTI programming and OTI's ability to affect change under given circumstances. The team explored issues such as key political, social and economic factors that may foster greater stability and improved governance in Lebanon and recommended that programs be designed that preserve and expand the common national space. The final deliverable for the project was an internal report and briefing that provided options on program directions that OTI is using to inform the design of a new program.
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Jordan Media Strengthening Program: USAID, 2006-2009
The USAID-funded Jordan Media Strengthening Program (JMSP) is the Middle East's first comprehensive media program. The IREX-implemented JMSP works with media outlets, training institutes, journalism faculties, and media NGOs to improve the professionalism and sustainability of the Jordanian media sector. SI is responsible for preparing and implementing JMSP's monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system, which is fully integrated into program implementation. As designed, the M&E system provides useful, timely information for results-based management, decision-making and learning purposes. The M&E system also includes a capacity building element that employs a collaborative approach to involving key stakeholders, including journalists, in defining priority performance indicators and targets, collecting and analyzing data, and making recommendations for program improvement. Additionally, SI also provides training for the Jordanian judiciary in communicating and presenting information about the legal system to the public. SI's training creates bridges between members of the media and the judiciary resulting in a more informed public.
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Israel, West Bank and Gaza—Evaluation of Seeds of Peace Program: SOP, 2005
The purpose of the Seeds of Peace (SOP) program is to equip young Israeli and Palestinian youth to build a future of peaceful coexistence. SI's evaluation, funded by USAID's Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation, assessed the impact of the program and developed recommendations for program improvement. SI made use of its new M&E Toolkit for Transition Programs to plan and conduct a mixed method evaluation using a quasi-experimental design. Evaluation findings-evidencing deep attitudinal and behavior changes among program participants-are being used by SOP to sharpen program strategy, improve post-program support to Seeds and to demonstrate results.
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Strengthening Quality of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Projects: World Bank, 2001-04
SI provided project design and technical monitoring and evaluation advisory services to Bank teams working to improve the design and implementation of various MENA projects through Quality Assurance Group (QAG) and project design activities. The advisory services led to improvements in project quality and stronger M&E systems. Illustrative projects include: Tunisia Protected Areas Management; Turkey Commodities Learning and Innovation Loan, Turkey Marmara Earthquake Emergency Loan, Turkey Basic Education II APL, West Bank Gaza Electric Sector Loan and West Bank Gaza Housing Project.
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Morocco—Assessing World Bank Poverty Alleviation Strategy: World Bank, 1999
As part of the World Bank's World Development Report (WDR) 2000, SI conducted a series of assessments in five countries to determine borrower perceptions of the effectiveness of the Bank's Poverty Reduction Strategy. In Morocco, SI conducted focus groups of Bank "watchers" including NGOs, ministry officials, other donors, citizens associations and university professors to determine knowledge about the strategy, perceptions of strengths and weaknesses and recommendations for improvement. The findings were featured in the WDR 2000 and, with other country case material, were used to improve the operational effectiveness of the Bank's Global Poverty Reduction Strategy.