Evaluation of Save the Children’s Child Protection Interventions in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Solomon Islands and Their Appropriateness to System Strengthening

The purpose of this evaluation exercise was to understand how Save the Children Australia programming has influenced child protection system strengthening at various levels (community, subnational, national) in three countries: Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and Solomon Islands.

The evaluation’s overall objective was to assess whether the design of the Save the Children Australia-supported child protection programmes has been effective in influencing the strengthening of the child protection system in each country and to determine whether programme results are sustainable in the long term. Save the Children Australia is keen to apply insight from this evaluation to broader decisionmaking on the focus of its child protection programming interventions. Thus, it was a formative (clarificative) evaluation, with the primary aim of improving programme design and performance.

The evaluation focused its analyses on the strategic level rather than on the progress of individual projects. It examined whether programmes have centred on the appropriate issues and whether they have worked with the most appropriate actors to achieve changes in both policy and practice that deliver sustainable benefits for children at the community, subnational and national levels.

The evaluation verified, analysed and assessed the following selected evaluation criteria: relevance and sustainability (OECD-DAC criteria); appropriateness; and the additional parameter of plausibility as it is elaborated in the following analysis framework section.