Service type: Monitoring & Evaluation
Overview
A multilateral development organisation implementing a governance and institutional strengthening programme across several Tunisian governorates engaged GIG to conduct an independent monitoring and evaluation (M&E) exercise.
The client required an objective assessment of programme implementation quality, beneficiary reach, and early-stage impact — delivered by a team with on-the-ground access and the analytical capability to contextualise findings within Tunisia's post-revolution institutional landscape.
The Challenge
Tunisia's development environment presents specific M&E challenges that standard evaluation frameworks rarely anticipate.
The political transition following 2011 left institutional capacity highly uneven across governorates — what works in Tunis or Sfax may not be replicable in interior regions where local government structures remain fragile and civil society penetration is low.
A programme evaluation conducted entirely through official channels risks systematically overrepresenting the perspectives of implementing agencies and under-representing the experience of intended beneficiaries.
The client had commissioned a mid-term evaluation through standard procurement channels on a previous programme and received findings that were broadly positive but which masked significant implementation gaps at the local level.
For this programme, they required a more rigorous and independent methodology that triangulated official programme data against field-sourced evidence from the governorate level.
What We Did
GIG designed and implemented a mixed-methods M&E framework covering the programme's core output and outcome indicators.
The first component was a document review and data analysis phase, in which GIG assessed the programme's monitoring data, implementing partner reports, and baseline study against a set of independently derived benchmarks. This phase identified several areas where reported output data was inconsistent with the programme design and flagged specific indicators requiring field verification.
The second component was fieldwork across four governorates, conducted by GIG's in-country team and a network of vetted local enumerators. This included structured interviews with local government counterparts, focus groups with beneficiary communities, and key informant interviews with civil society actors operating in the programme areas. GIG's field methodology was designed to create an environment in which respondents could provide candid assessments without fear of affecting their relationship with the implementing organisation.
The third component was synthesis and reporting, producing a structured evaluation report with findings, conclusions, and a set of recommendations organised by programme component. The report included a traffic-light assessment of each output indicator and a narrative analysis of the structural factors — political, institutional, and social — affecting programme performance in each governorate.
Outcome
The evaluation report provided the client with a frank assessment of programme performance that diverged in several important respects from the implementing partner's own reporting.
The findings informed a mid-course correction to the programme's targeting and delivery methodology, resulting in a revised implementation plan for the remaining programme period.
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