¿MISION CUMPLIDA? EVALUACIÓN DEL PROGRAMA DE ... - Novib

¿Misión cumplida? Evaluación Programa ON-LAC
Relevance of the Programme ON-LAC
The regional context in which Oxfam Novib has brought the LAC Programme into practice,
despite thorough change over the course of the last decade, can be interpreted according
to a limited number of stylised facts. Comparable data, combined for seven countries with
concentrated ON support and also for seven contrast countries 6, indicate that human
development has by and large improved over the last decade. This reflects the trends
throughout the continent that life expectancy at birth, length of education and levels of per
capita income have been upward since 2000. The fourteen countries considered showed
improvements in the Human Development Index (HDI) at a slower pace than in other
developing regions. In 2000, they showed HDI levels between 0.50 (Nicaragua and
Guatemala) and 0.70 (Panama and Mexico), whereas in 2010 the range had shifted
upward to 0.56 - 0.75.
Latin America has historically featured high levels of inequality that remain endemic. First,
the HDI for 2010 is now presented with adjustments for unequal access to sources for
improved health, education and income generation. This severely affects the rankings of
Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru and Brazil. The high levels of inequality are confirmed by data on
income distribution. Contrary to evidence (as quoted in WRR, 2010), inequality as
measured by the Gini Index has not eased. Only Brazil and Guatemala show a sustained
trend of reduced income inequality. Countries such as Peru, Colombia and (since 2007)
Mexico, show a rather more skewed income distribution.
In areas of political and social development of the continent, overall trends are equally
mixed. The position of women, compared to that of men in terms of economic
opportunities, education, health and political empowerment, has largely improved over
the decade. But in 2010, these conditions were still critical by international standards, in
particular for women in Central America and Bolivia. The increased weight of women in
political national decision making is a positive sign. However, the overall quality of
democratic systems and political participation has deteriorated over the last five years.
In order to facilitate the application of the relevance criterion, the evaluators developed a
model with ten parameters that individually serve as benchmarks, with areas where
technical cooperation is considered either highly, sufficiently or less relevant,
respectively. As overall parameters, the Indices for Human Development and adjusted for
Inequality apply. For Food Security and Income Generation (Aim 1), national information
is used on malnutrition, per capita gross national income and income inequality. For
Democratisation and Participation (Aim 4), indices have been selected on strength of the
democratic system and civilian security. For the area of gender-based violence and
reproductive rights (Aim 5), the UNDP Gender Inequality Index was retained. A
conditional criterion was introduced regarding the risk of decreased functionality of
cooperation flows. 7
The relevance analysis based on national benchmarks permits a number of observations.
First, all seven countries of the ON-LAC region show characteristics that, both at the start
and at the end of the decade, warrant the presence of development programmes in all
three Aims. Nicaragua is the only country where, for 2010, development cooperation
6 The contrast countries (with ON-LAC countries in parentheses) were: Paraguay (Bolivia), Venezuela (Brazil),
Panama (Colombia), Guyana (Guatemala), Dominican Republic (Mexico), Honduras (Nicaragua) and Ecuador
(Peru).
7 The risk of international cooperation becoming less functional is related to (a) the prospect of overlap and
needless duplication of projects, (b) the need for more coordination among donors, in particular regarding
moral hazard among counterparts, and (c) the risk of large aid volumes affecting the trade balances of
recipient countries (“Dutch disease”).
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