Transforming a Lizard into a Cow: Child-led evaluation of the PPA programme in Zimbabwe

The is the second report in a series of three evaluations completely led by children for this multi-sectoral programme working to reduce barriers to adolescent girls’ education and focussing gender norms, economic empowerment, violence, governance and SRHR. The second evaluation incorporated the assessment of the depth of transformation and coverage attained by the programme. Here the child evaluators turned their attention to more complex programmes with several additional strands of work, including efforts to eradicate corporal punishment from schools and the support to household income through village savings and loans associations (VSLA). The participatory assessment led by the children revealed substantial differences in the priorities and areas of concern for girls, boys, mothers and fathers. The diverging opinions on priorities among these groups generated four almost separate evaluations progressing in parallel. Neither the younger age of the evaluators, nor the additional level of analysis pushed the process beyond children’s ability; conclusively demonstrating that the meaningful involvement of children in M&E no longer needs to remain an aspiration.