Assessment of youth employment project in Bosnia, Herzegovina
The MarketMakers programme is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation and Posao.BA in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). MarketMakers is focusing on the creation of decent job opportunities for young people using a market systems approach in tourism, food processing and ICT sectors.
Genesis Analytics was contracted to conduct a value assessment of the MarketMakers monitoring and results measurement (MRM) system. Key to this assessment was to establish which MRM activities were high or low value for money, given their estimated benefit compared with the investment required, and whether it was worthwhile for MarketMakers to become fully compliant with the DCED Standard.
Conducting a value assessment on the activities of an MRM system is a new technique that is being used to evaluate MRM investment and functionality. There is no standard approach and the Genesis team, with input from the MarketMakers team, developed an innovative solution – a DCED-mock audit on the current MRM, appreciative inquiry sessions with the MarketMakers team and interviews with the programme’s market partners and funders. This provided the evidence base from which priority MRM tasks were identified. Genesis then created an MRM value-cost matrix where each priority task was rated on factors of decision-making and learning (value addition), and time and investment (costs).
Understanding the value and cost associated with different MRM tasks provided the analytical basis for recommendations on which tasks were considered high or low value for money. These findings will assist MarketMakers, and other Helvetas programmes, to better understand the trade-offs in MRM systems. They will also improve future focus on those MRM activities that have higher value for money. MarketMakers were also faced with the question of whether to seek DCED Standard compliance, and through the value assessment, Genesis was able to provide evidence to inform its decision on this matter.