ICRW - Endline research for career & life skills program among Village Saving and Loan community members of SreAmbel district and Koh Kong province - 2017

Project Description:

ICRW served as an evaluation partner and strategic advisor for P.A.C.E. (Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement) a financial and life skills program that had been operational among female garment workers in factories. The program was now complete and had offered 254 female and 6 men from about 11 VSLA’s education and life skills training. The mission’s main objective was to conduct interviewer-administered quantitative surveys and qualitative in-depth interviews to obtain endline information on participant characteristics as well as knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding key learning’s and objectives of the program.

In this context, the mission designed quantitative and qualitative data collection approaches; selected and recruited investigators for data collection; trained investigators and led data collection missions; recorded clean versions of the data; analysed and interpreted results in a final report submitted to ICRW.

UNDP - Assessment, Identification and Monitoring of Small-scale Water Infrastructure Needs for Drinking & Irrigation Water in the DryZone of Myanmar - 2016

Project Description:

The project aimed to reduce the increasing impacts of climate change on agricultural and livestock production cycles in the dry zone of Myanmar, particularly the impacts of increasing temperature and evaporation, declining water availability, and intensifying weather events especially flash floods and cyclones.

MKE took responsibility for writing the work plan, organizing township level coordination meetings, including preparing all necessary invitations, administration, logistics, and setting the agenda. MKE also managed and led the coordination meetings to varying degrees, based on results of Township level coordination meetings, realized field verification and consultation with the communities by village meetings and a rapid need assessment (RNA).

Further, MKE assisted in the preparation, translation and capitalization of the results to inform the choice of target villages, organized village level consultation meetings, and Water User Groups (WUG). 

Carbon Trust - Scoping study for a low carbon energy security programme in Southeast Asia - 2016

Project Description:

This Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) funded project aimed at promoting low carbon economies by working with governments and organisations in the UK and internationally to reduce carbon emissions. It also aimed to promote the efficient and cost effective management of energy, water and resources, and enable the development of commercial low carbon technologies.

MKE carried out research activities and worked closely with stakeholders to collect and input data as identified in the Excel template sheet provided by the Carbon Trust. MKE carried out initial qualitative research covered by the main policies relevant to renewable energy, energy efficiency, and liquefied natural gas. MKE also conducted a stakeholder mapping exercise according to an influence-interest matrix. MKE’s team facilitated discussions with local stakeholders, including government representatives, parliamentarians and multilateral and bilateral donors and NGOs.

CEPA - Country Agribusiness Sector Diagnostics (the "Transaction") - 2016

Project Description:

Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP-PSW) provided long and short term loans, credit guarantees, equity and advisory services with the aim of improving agricultural development and food security in targeted developing countries.  It targeted agribusiness investments across the value-chain that were commercially viable but had temporarily higher costs/ risks that would otherwise prevent them from attracting/ affording finance on more commercial terms.

MKE supported CEPA to arrange meetings with targeted stakeholders from the agribusiness sector in Myanmar, to attend the meetings and to provide translation during the meetings where necessary over the period 15th February 2016 – 26th February 2016. MKE carried out work in advance of the country visit to arrange the meetings and develop an itinerary. MKE provided advice on the required meetings, and gave limited support during the country visit and during follow up activities.

Egen (funded by ADB) - Technical Assistance to the Second Upper Secondary Education Development Project - 2016

Project Description:

Provided one local consultant which was the expert in Capacity Development for USE Planning and Management Specialist

PlaNet Finance - “Supporting Financial Access via Cooperative Upgrading and Enterprise and Farm Development in Kayin State” - 2016

Project Description:

PlaNet Finance, an implementing agency for the EU-funded project “Supporting Financial Access via Cooperative Upgrading and Enterprise and Farm Development in Kayin State”, was currently implementing a three year project aimed at establishing two savings and credit cooperatives to expand financial inclusion to at least 2,000 households in 35 villages in Hlaingbwe township, Myanmar.

The project would also support the members of the cooperatives to undertake new or enhanced farm or enterprise activities that would generate increased income for them. The cooperatives would provide credit for their members to invest in these new income-generating activities as well as a safe place to save in order to increase income and build wealth in this post-conflict area of Myanmar.

LuxDevelopment - Midterm evaluation of the project “Climate Adapted Local Development and Innovation” - 2015

Project Description:

The project “Climate Adapted Local Development and Innovation” (VIE/033), jointly funded by the Governments of Vietnam and of the Grant Duchy of Luxembourg, was launched in 2014 with the objective to reduce poverty in the poorest localities and to mitigate the losses caused by natural disasters and climate change in most vulnerable areas. It was implemented in 29 poor and vulnerable (i.e. coastal, lagoon or lowland) communes in three districts in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province.

The project beneficiaries were approximately 400,000 people living on 124,000 hectares of land and 22,000 hectares of lagoon area. The mission’s main objective was to undertake a midterm evaluation of the VIE/033 Project. MKE’s evaluation compared the measured results of the project with the specific objective(s) reached at the time of the evaluation (that is, a comparison of actual results with what had been anticipated in the Project Document and/or the Inception Report).

ADB/Conseil Sante - Consultancy services for TA-8842 REG: Greater Mekong Sub-region Health Security Project – PPTA Consultants - 2015

Countries Involved:

Vietnam, Lao PDR and Myanmar.

Project Description:

This ADB project complemented existing projects, focusing on communicable diseases control (CDC), HIV/AIDS and malaria in one single intervention aimed at strengthening health security in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam by providing district and provincial health services capacity for diagnostic, response and treatment. The project focused on remote and underserved areas, with high poverty incidence, and on migrant and mobile populations (MMPs).

MKE Team developed country implementation plan/work program in coordination with the Team Leader; assessed the institutional capacity of the executing and implementing agencies, prepared project implementation arrangements, and prepared institutional and capacity strengthening programs; conducted field visits to investigate services situation and assess local needs; and prepared reports on activities and outputs as required.

The Association of Volunteers in International Service - Evaluating AVSI project on establishing a farmer’s cooperative in Pyin Ah Lan Village Tract - 2014

Project Description:

Farmers’ Cooperative in Labutta Township in the Delta Region of Myanmar funded by LIFT and implemented by AVSI Foundation The total budget was around 301,377 USD. The project duration was 36 months from May, 14th, 2011 to 14th May 2014. The project location was six villages (Aing Ma, Kwin Pauk, Ah Mat Gyi, Ah Mat Ka Lay, Yae Cho Kan and Thaung Lay) in the Pyin Ah Lan targeted Village Tract in Labutta Township.

This final evaluation offered the opportunity to assess the implementation of the action with regards to the achievements, impacts/outcomes, the approached and methodology used, the management aspects (including efficiency), as well as to identify weaknesses and strengths in current implementation strategies. It also offered the opportunity to identify ways in which project implementation may be improved to more effectively achieve programme goals and outputs. Emerging lessons learnt and recommendations would be specifically highlighted in order to enable the project team and the network of farmer groups to make necessary adjustments when designing further programme design.

The World Bank - National Community Driven Development Project - 2013

Project Description:

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar had received a grant in the amount of US$ 80 million from the World Bank toward the cost of its National Community Driven Development Project, which was being implemented by the Department of Rural Development (DRD). The objective of the project was to enable poor rural communities to benefit from improved access to and use of basic infrastructure and services through a people-centered approach, and to enhance the government’s capacity to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency.  This approach would empower villagers to manage and participate in their own development.

The objective would be achieved through: (i) financing community-identified rural infrastructure investments; (ii) strengthening the capacity of communities in partnership with local authorities to effectively identify, plan, and implement their development priorities; and (iii) facilitating the participation of the poor and vulnerable, both women and men, throughout the project cycle at the community level.

MKE played the role of local partner in the consortium with Agriconsulting and Inacon. MKE provided three out of ten experts for the team, covering the following areas; Management of Information Systems specialist, Training Specialist, and Grievance Handling Specialist.  The team worked in close partnership with the DRD to sustainably increase capacity to design, implement, monitor, and evaluate participatory development projects at the township and centralized-government level.