Overview
The Supporting the Yearly Training Programme of the École de Maintien de la Paix project aimed to strengthen the impact of peace operations (UN and non-UN) by directly addressing the challenges related to paring deployed personnel. More specifically, the project sought to reinforce the École de Maintien de la Paix (EMPABB) to host training of African personnel deploying to peace operations. The project planned to achieve its goals by enhancing accessibility to the regional training centre, empower local trainers to deliver impactful training and equip personnel from the region to effectively operate in high-risk environments.
The project activities consisted in i) a review of the EMPABB internal operating framework; ii) establishment of a roster of certified trainers; iii) delivery of pre-deployment training; and iv) delivery of training on cross-cutting topics of Malian and ECOWAS Member States representatives.
The evaluation assessed the project against the six OECD/DAC criteria: relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, likelihood of impact, and likelihood of sustainability. The evaluation also used these criteria to identify good practices and potential challenges that the project had encountered throughout its implementation. The evaluation was carried out between December 2022 and July 2023.
The evaluation adopted a mixed-methods approach using various analytical tools to draw findings and focused, actionable recommendations. Several challenges in data collection were encountered throughout the evaluation being these i) trainers not always being able to discern between activities implemented between the evaluand and other UNITAR projects for which EMPABB was also the implementing partner; ii) lack of contacts of final training participants; iii) lack of baseline measures for some of the logframe indicators; and iv) limited access to project documentation.