Key Aid Consulting recently undertook the evaluation of Save the Children Child Sponsorship Programme in Mali. The programme, implemented since 2008 in the area, relies on an integrated approach combining health, education and protection activities to support the development of children from 0 – 18 years old.
The evaluation aimed at assessing the achievements of the programme in reaching its intended outcomes, its relevance to the needs and priorities of the target group, the nature of the partnerships put in place and the sustainability of the programme.
The methodology relied on key informant interviews with a wide range of actors, focus group discussions with parents, school staff and young people who graduated from the programme. It also involved workshops with children using child-friendly facilitation techniques (using drawing, role playing, etc.). In total, more than 330 individuals were consulted.
The methodology also relied on the Outcome Harvesting approach.
The findings from the evaluation will help Save the Children to improve programming for the remaining period of implementation (until 2023) and provide key evidence for future sponsorship programmes in Mali but also in other countries.
As part of this evaluation, a 3-page comic strip was developed in order to disseminate the findings of the evaluation to the children who benefitted from the programme.
