CMC led the research project on youth in Sudan for the British Council as part of the Next Generation series. The project focused on exploring the perspectives and aspirations of young people in Sudan with regards to education, employment, lifestyle, international engagement, values and beliefs, and their hopes and fears for their country's future. The research was conducted through national survey covering country-wide, FGDs, KIIs etc. and provided valuable insights into the experiences and perspectives of young people in Sudan. The outcome of the project is expected to inform policymaking and program development that is more responsive to the needs of young people in Sudan and contribute to the British Council's commitment to exploring youth voice and choice.

CMC provided a team composed of seven highly qualified experts in conducting research in Sudan and similar contexts. Three from CMCs core experts and four from CMCs Sudanese partner Sewar. The type and scope of services provided included:

• Amendment of Research Design based in the Next Generation generative questionnaire and methodology
• Planning of data collection including a n=1800 country-wide youth survey, FGDs and youth workshops.  
• A knowledge brief based on desk research and literature review related to the research topic, to provide context and identify gaps in existing knowledge.
• Data interpretation and report writing. The CMC team prepared a comprehensive report called Next Generation Sudan.
• Presentation and dissemination of results: The CMC team presented the results of the research in various formats to help the British Council disseminate the findings to a wider audience.

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Project Details

As a response to the growing needs, and as part of Australia’s broader humanitarian response to the Ukraine conflict, AUD 10 million worth of assistance is being delivered through the AHP, with the response being led by the two AHP partners, The World Vision and Plan International Consortium. AHP has commissioned CMC to conduct a Real Time Evaluation (RTE) with the primary purpose of providing learning from the MHPSS response and to identify improvements for the AHP program.  

The RTE will cover AHP’s response running from March 2022 – March 2023 and will be conducted as a rolling learning initiative over 6 months, in two 3-month phases, including light-touch field-based work. CMC conducted fieldwork inside Ukraine and in Romania, with project beneficiaries, national and partner stakeholders. Subsequently CMC conducted organizational learning workshops with AHP and based on inputs and light touch follow-up data collection, synthesise the findings and learnings into a final report.

Services Provided

CMC provided 3 experts with complementary profiles and extensive experience working in the field of humanitarian assistance, monitoring, evaluations, gender and MHPSS.

The team designed the methodology and conducted field research to collect data face to face in Ukraine and Romania, and the Team Leader conducted a field mission to Romania.

Key informant interviews and Focus group discussions were conducted with:

• World Vision and Plan International Partners
• Project Beneficiaries
• National Stakeholders

Deliverables included:

• 2 real-time evaluation reports
• 2 organizational learning workshops

Description of project‍

CMC has conducted Third Party Monitoring (TPM) of 55 million EUR Resilience Programme (2017-2021), which consists of 4 components; Governance, Livelihood, Education and Infrastructure implemented by GIZ Nigeria together with various Implementing Partners (Save the Children, Plan, International Rescue Committee, American University of Nigeria etc) and the government at the Federal, State, Local and Ward level.  

Data has been collected through social impact assessment, KOMPASS, FGDs and interviews of relevant stakeholders, conducted by CMC experts in 5 LGAs in Adamawa state and 2 LGAs in Borno state. Key stakeholders included the government officials, health clinic managers, school teachers, school children, IDPs and host communities, local engineers, traditional leaders, beneficiaries, etc. CMC provided the services of TPM implemented by 3 international M&E experts, who have worked in close cooperation with the GIZ.  

Type and scope of services provided

The CMC team has provided the tailor-made MEL and programme advice for GIZ programme staff in Nigeria. Each year, CMC team conducts the followings:  

1. Provide programme monitoring and validation, focusing particularly on four components: 1) livelihoods, 2) governance, 3) rehabilitation of social infrastructure 4) Education in Abuja, Borno and Adamawa.

2. Assess to what extent the programme has achieved its objectives in line with the EU and BMZ intervention logic of the action and contributed to the overall programme goal. CMC will identify the achievements, challenges, lessons learned and effective practices of the project.

3. Review the ongoing methodological approach(es) and the level of integration of the principles of conflict sensitivity, Do-No-Harm, and gender sensitivity into the programme cycle. The information obtained will enable GIZ to adapt is programming for the remaining implementation period and to generate learnings for GIZ and potentially other actors in Nigeria and elsewhere.  

4. Assist GIZ management of the programme by filling critical evidence gathering gaps and output data, in conjunction with GIZ’s internal monitoring systems if necessary and agreeable between both parties (see the risk management area below).  

5. Remote Support for the GIZ Nigeria M&E team.

Each year, we provide annual review report which is the mid-term evaluation and facilitate ‘lessons learnt workshop’ to the all heads of components in Abuja.

CMC was commissioned to conduct an independent evaluation of the SPPSI, to critically assess the project and provide actionable recommendations to the EU and the German Federal Foreign Office. GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) implemented the first phase of the Syria Peace Process Support Initiative (SPPSI) on behalf of the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Foreign Office (AA). The project’s objective was to contribute to the overall efforts for peace building in Syria by focusing mainly on the strategic and political dimensions of the peace architecture and a political transition in Syria. The first phase ran from June 2016 to December 2017 (18 months) and provided a fund to support projects identified by the EU and the German Foreign Office in cooperation with GIZ according to political priorities. These projects include support to the Track I Geneva political process; a range of Track II Dialogue initiatives; and a small number of Track III Local peace building projects in Syria. Those are implemented by think tanks and international and Syrian NGOs.

Data was collected through a literature review and preliminary interviews, followed by missions to Beirut, Brussels, Berlin and Geneva. Key stakeholders included the GIZ SPPSI team in Beirut, EU Delegation in Beirut, EEAS and FPI offices in Brussels, GIZ office in Berlin, German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and their representative in Beirut. Interviews were conducted by the CMC team and mainly qualitative. The workplan, data collection tools, mission preparation and reports were prepared by CMC team and approved by GIZ.

CMC provided the services of a Senior Evaluation Expert and a Project Manager. The evaluation aimed to contextualise the purpose of the SPPSI and the evolution of the SPPSI strategy in what has been a complex and fluid political-military context of Syria; to provide an independent and constructive opinion of the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of the SPPSI organisation and implementation as an instrument for the EU and the German Federal Foreign Office to provide relevant, needed and timely multi-track support to a peace process and peace building and to provide a critical assessment of the appropriateness/relevance of partner selection and the implementation challenges faced by these partners, and make recommendations in terms of the strategic relevance of existing partnerships moving forward. CMC provided recommendations for any future evolution of the SPPSI as an instrument to enable the EU and German Federal Foreign Office engagement on Syria, including recommendations for the finessing of the SPPSI strategy and positioning of the SPPSI.

In its stabilisation approach, the Federal Foreign Office (FFO) puts an emphasis on countering and preventing violent extremism in the penal system. The evaluation focused on 11 projects in the area of preventing and addressing radicalisation and violence in prisons, implemented between 2017 and 2022 in different country contexts. The objective of the evaluation was to conduct an independent and comprehensive analysis and assessment of the Federal Foreign Office’s project engagement in the area of preventing and addressing violence and radicalisation in the prison system in order to glean findings for project conception and management, including coordination with other ministries and international actors, and to enable them to be used to further develop the project portfolio.

Evaluation of GCERF supported grants in Bangladesh. GCERF is a global inter-governmental funding mechanism that provides local community support to prevent violent extremism. The evaluation assessed the effectiveness of GCERF's strategy and its alignment with targeted beneficiaries, as well as the effectiveness of youth platforms in promoting tolerance and social interaction among different groups in the six project districts of Bangladesh: Rajshahi, Khulna, Chapai-Nawabganj, Satkhira, Cox’s Bazar, Chattogram.

Services Rendered

Evaluation team including local field team and enumerators. The evaluation used a combination of data collection methods, including desk review, key informant interviews, and in-depth interviews. The evaluation also reviewed and evaluated GCERF's Investment Strategy for Bangladesh (2019-2022), as well as the updated strategy (May 2022). The services provided was consulting services for program evaluation.

As a response to the growing needs, and as part of Australia’s broader humanitarian response to the Ukraine conflict, AUD 10 million worth of assistance is being delivered through the AHP, with the response being led by the two AHP partners, The World Vision and Plan International Consortium.

AHP has commissioned CMC to conduct a Real Time Evaluation (RTE) with the primary purpose of providing learning from the MHPSS response and to identify improvements for the AHP program. The RTE will cover AHP’s response running from March 2022 – March 2023 and will be conducted as a rolling learning initiative over 6 months, in two 3-month phases, including light-touch field-based work.

Currently CMC is conducting fieldwork inside Ukraine and in Romania, with project beneficiaries, national and partner stakeholders. Subsequently CMC will conduct organizational learning workshops with AHP and based on inputs and light touch follow-up data collection, synthesise the findings and learnings into a final report.

The “Super Resolution for Climate Crisis Context – SR4C3” aims at bringing innovation to the climate crisis sector by enhancing the remote sensing based technological tools through the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms on security domain challenges. The integration of Earth Observation (EO) satellite data in the usage of new Super Resolution (SR) AI-based applications is particularly crucial for better information gathering and assessments in conflict or crisis affected areas otherwise largely inaccessible, to effectively contribute to global stability and peace. In particular, the combination of AI-based SR tool with Copernicus satellite data can support crisis response to disaster and conflict monitoring in many ways in fragile geographic areas.

CMC together with SISTEMA, will present two use-cases for integrating EO data enhanced by the SR app, one in the context of food security programs in north and central Mali and one in the context of ongoing war in the Eastern Ukraine.