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Promoting fundamental principles and rights at work in the Maldives - Final Evaluation

eval_number:

1454

eval_title:

Promoting fundamental principles and rights at work in the Maldives - Final Evaluation

location:

region:

Asia and the Pacific

country:

Maldives

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eval_url:

https://analyticstest.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/eval/1454

lessons_learned:

description:

When attempting to introduce major changes in socio-political and legal systems, do not forget about the time factor. A project time frame of 3-4 years (often resulting from medium-term expenditure planning) is usually insufficient to change systems even in a friendly environment. It is not unusual for major institutional changes to take at least 7-10 years.

context:

There are no preconditions for sound analysis at the outset of a project, and ILO usually invests sufficient resources in analyzing the context before launching a project.

success:

N/A

challenges:

The project underestimated the amount of time required to achieve outcomes by assuming that the introduction of legal system changes, development of proper procedures, and training would be sufficient to fundamentally change adminstrative practice. It underestimated the general inertia of the political and administrative systems and did not fully appreciate to which extent conflicting relationships would be able to delay implementation.

administrative_issues:

Planners need to make sure that time frames are sufficient for achieving the intended outcomes. This not only includes assessing the specific operational context of the project, but also the magnitude of the changes intended in the specific political and socio-cultural setting. Where required time frames are relatively long and specific donor support is not available for longer periods than 3-4 years, securing additional funding from other sources to continue the work should be part of the tasks to be accomplished by the project team and the responsible ILO offices, in coordination with ILO Geneva.

comments:

It is important to remember that the delivery of outputs may not be sufficient to achieve project outcomes. This requires, as an intermediate step, use of outputs by targeted users or beneficiaries. This step alone, from outputs to use of outputs, often requires considerable amounts of time.

url:

https://analyticstest.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/lessons/180314

themes:

theme:

Planning and programme design

category:

Organizational issues

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