Draft midterm review: Sri Lanka Red Cross Society community based health projects in Nuwara Eliya and Matale

Appropriateness
The Midterm Review (MTR) team did not detect any major deviations from the
original assumptions and risks stated in the project documents. The present
geographical scope is appropriate, but in order to improve the focus in the
Community Based Health (CBH) project in Nuwara Eliya (NE), the geographical
scope could be limited to the three CBH focus divisions in the district. Internal
coordination in the project is clear and there is a close and good cooperation with
local authorities, both in the Matale branch and the NE branch.

Relevance
The MTR-team found that the objectives of the CBH projects are according to needs
in the selected communities, as well as being in line with the strategies, priorities and
policies of the SLRCS, Norcross, IFRC and local communities. The current situation
in both projects corresponds well to plans. Minor deviations were detected, but
understandable due to the limited human resources in the branches.

Efficiency
It is the opinion of the MTR-team that that the objectives could not have been
achieved in a less expensive manner without negotiating the quality of service. On
the contrary, more human resources might be needed, in particular in Matale. The
timeliness of the projects is affected by delayed transfers of funds to the branches.
It would also be nice to see financial reports showing expenditures under each
objective. In other words the financial reports should correspond to the budgets which
are including the objectives.

Effectiveness
Considering that two years are remaining of the project, the MTR-team’s general
impression of the team is that so far the planned outputs of the objectives in the two
CBH projects have been achieved:
- Capacities have been built both in local communities, as well as in the Matale-
and NE RC branch
- Increased visibility of the RC branches
- Observations and verbal evidence indicates that behaviours have changed in
the project communities
- Construction of latrines and water schemes are on track
- Activities in relation to nutrition is taking place, but are difficult to measure
- It is likely that most objectives will be reached during the project period
(concern about objective 4 in Matale though)
- Except for the Water- and sanitation (Watsan) component, a strategy for each
of the project objectives, including measurable indicators, is missing

Impact
It is evident that the projects have had positive impact on the lives of the stakeholders
and beneficiaries. Some observations made by the MTR-team:
- Improved cooperation between RC branches and authorities
- Improvement of quality of schools