Prioritising ‘Most Deprived’ Children: An evaluation of Save the Children Australia’s approaches to reducing inequality

Save the Children Australia (SCA) commissioned this evaluation to assess its processes in prioritising the most deprived women, men, girls and boys. The objective of this evaluation was to examine the extent to which prioritisation of the most vulnerable and marginalised is being meaningfully considered in selected SCA projects funded by the DFAT through the Australian Non-Government Organisation Cooperation Program (ANCP) and analyse the relevance and effectiveness of the strategies adopted by each project.

A mixed methods approach using primary and secondary data collection and analysis was used to understand the process of identification and prioritisation of the most vulnerable and marginalised women, men, girls and boys in seven SCA ANCP-funded projects, purposively selected from thirteen for thematic and geographical representation.

Findings of this evaluation are intended to be used to enhance program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to better serve the most vulnerable and marginalised children in the targeted locations. It is expected that the findings will be applicable beyond the specific projects being reviewed. The evaluation was designed to provide technical staff in SC partners, governments and other similar non-government organisations (NGOs) with the concepts, empirical evidence, noteworthy case studies of different approaches and the operational elements necessary to develop more comprehensive vulnerability targeting mechanisms.