Posted in October 2012

 JCCP has contracted with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on July 20, 2012 to provide research, monitoring and evaluation for several projects aiming at the improvement of environmental health conditions of internally displaced persons (IDP) in Somalia. The Japanese Government has funded these projects.

The objective is to create an environment so that Somali IDPs who are victims of the large-scale drought that occurred in 2011 through East Africa and/or victims of domestic conflicts can access safe drinking water, enjoy better sanitation, and generally live healthier lives. JCCP staff members are not necessarily specialized in water and sanitation, since our mission is neither to install wells nor toilet facilities. However, this project has involved consultants specializing in water quality survey and various local NGOs in Somalia. and They all have worked together in their specialized fields such as hygiene promotion and procurement of medical supplies. Our role in this project is to build the capacity of Monitoring and Evaluation of local NGO’s in Somalia.

JCCP and the local NGOs work together on a water quality survey before and after the project and on monitoring and evaluation throughout the project. Through these activities, local NGOs will learn the importance of data collection and learn how to analyse the collected data in order to measure the progress of the project. JCCP hopes that as a result of this unique cooperation, the local NGOs in Somalia will be able to independently plan and implementprojects in a more effective and efficient manner in the future.
 
JCCP conducted a survey to assess access to safe water as well as knowledge, attitude, and practice of sanitation in the IDP camps from July 12 to 23, 2012 for Puntland and Somaliland, Somalia. Somali “enumerators” trained by JCCP conducted those surveys in the field. Somali college graduates proficient in English, and local government agents were selected as “enumerators”. They experienced this sort of research for the first time. JCCP explained the outline of the project and the role of “enumerators”. Then JCCP staff gave them instructions on starting interviews, recording responses, and code of conduct as enumerators. JCCP also did role-plays in order to make sure they received the necessary experience of how to handle things likely to happen during an interview.

On the day of the actual interview, all enumerators started visiting and greeting the clan elders in IDP camps first in the morning, then moved to specified camp locations, and started interviews. In Somali society, greeting clan elders and asking for their cooperation are essential in order to conduct any activity in their areas of influence. Enumerators visited individual families and finished interviews in the Somali language within the given 45 minutes. They gave their feedbacks such as learning from interviews and feeling fulfillment by contributing to the project. They were very excited about their experience and expressed their enthusiasm by saying “very intriguing!”.

JCCP considers those experiences vital for people in troubled regions so that they would be able to explore local needs and to plan, implement and evaluate projects by themselves.

This project will be implemented until February 2013. JCCP will continuously cooperate in organizing local NGOs and conducting the training on monitoring and evaluation to analyse the project outcomes.

This project will be carried out until February 2013. JCCP will continuously cooperate in orchestrating local NGOs and conducting the training on monitoring and evaluation to check the project outcomes.