Client: Montrose International
Dates: Multi-year, ongoing
Project Description: General Education Quality Improvement Program for Equity Project (GEQIP-E) aims to assist the Government of Ethiopia in improving internal efficiency, equitable access, and quality of general education in Ethiopia. Starting from March 2018, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is providing £110 million to GEQIP-E, comprising £90 million in financial aid and £20 million in technical assistance. This financial aid contributes to a multi-donor funded operation aimed at materialising the GEQIP-E through a Programme for Results approach managed by the World Bank.
The technical assistance element of GEQIP-E is abbreviated to TARGET. TARGET is implemented by a consortium composed of the Education Development Trust, Link Community Development International, and the Ethiopia Center for Disability and Development. TARGET works with the Government of Ethiopia at federal, regional, woreda and school levels to address the systemic challenges facing the education system, in order to improve its overall equity, quality, efficiency, and sustainability.
Our Role: The FCDO has engaged Montrose International to assess the performance of TARGET at various points throughout its implementation and to provide monitoring and evaluation support. LAMP Development is providing Value for Money (VfM) expertise and support to TARGET, including reviewing and strengthening its VfM framework and strategy and conducting VfM reviews as part of the mid-line and endline evaluations.
Team Members: Adesoji Ologun, Jennifer Armitage
Client: One Acre Fund
Dates: 2020 – 2022
Project Description: The One Acre Fund (OAF) works with farmers directly to improve household food production and nutritional status. OAF’s work in western Kenya addresses both poverty and malnutrition in targeted smallholder farming households across OAF’s Kenyan farmer network. With funding from the Children’s Investment Fund, OAF established a nutrition programme which aimed to improve the dietary diversity of these families, particularly among children and pregnant and lactating women, by increasing household food production and consumption of nutritious food.
Our Role: To assess the impact of this nutrition programme, Kantar was commissioned to conduct an evaluation, using a quasi-experimental approach, to compare outcomes relating to household dietary diversity, women’s dietary diversity, and minimum acceptable diet of children between six and 23 months.
As part of this evaluation, LAMP conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of adding the nutritionprogramme to the core OAF programme. This analysis compared the costs and benefits of the two respective programmes to assess whether the additional benefits from the nutrition programme justified its additional costs.
Team Members: Ijeoma Edoka, Jennifer Armitage
Client: Options
Dates: March – April 2021
Project Description: Since starting in 2012, the Evidence for Action (E4A) programme has used a combination of evidence to drive accountability for maternal and new-born health outcomes. In 2021, across the three states supported by E4A, reports indicated that funding for healthcare interventions and programmes, including Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (RMNCH), were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the extent to which funding was affected, and whether funds remained within the health sector or had been diverted to other sectors, was not clear. Structured information-gathering on what facilitated or hindered funding for RMNCH during the pandemic was therefore required to better inform decision-making by government, civil society and other relevant stakeholders.
Our Role: E4A commissioned LAMP to conduct a case study to identify how allocation and release of funding for RMNCH changed between 2019 to 2021 in Bauchi, Niger, and Lagos States. It aimed to identify how allocation and release of funding for RMNCH changed in the year preceding the COVID-19 pandemic and during the pandemic and to assess the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to these changes. Specifically, it aimed to pinpoint the decision-making process that informed funding choices, including how they were influenced by advocacy/accountability efforts of the State-Led Accountability Mechanisms (SLAMs), and to understand the impact these adjustments had on the delivery and take-up of RMNSHC services.
LAMP utilised a mixed methods approach. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection tools were developed, and data collection was carried out using cost templates and key informant interview guides. The data was cleaned and analysed, and key findings were summarised in a report which was reviewed with the E4A team before the final case study report was produced.
Team Members: Adesoji Ologun, Nura Musa, Temitope Oke, Jennifer Armitage
Client: International Planned Parenthood Federation
Dates: Multi-year, ongoing
Project Description: The Women’s Integrated Sexual Health programme (WISH2ACTION – W2A) is a £155.6 million UK Aid-funded programme. Led by International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), it provides contraception to women as part of integrated and holistic healthcare services. Between 2018-2023, W2A aims to provide contraception to 2.7 million additional users in 15 countries across South Asia and Africa. The programme is run by a consortium of five organisations: the International Rescue Committee, Options, Development Media International, Marie Stopes International, and Humanity and Inclusion UK. Ten IPPF member organisations help deliver the programme.
Our Role: LAMP is working with W2A to help embed a comprehensive Value for Money (VfM) approach across the programme. This is in line with the value for money initiative of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), which aims to ensure greater accountability and impact in spending on overseas development aid.
At the beginning of LAMP’s support to the programme, LAMP developed a VfM strategy and framework to provide FCDO with information for external reporting and internal insights. LAMP now continues to work with W2A as their VfM partner.
Team Members: Adesoji Ologun, Jennifer Armitage, Molly Wood, Temitope Oke