Three Stones International uses End-User Monitoring (EUM) as a part of its outcome monitoring approach, so countries and managers better understand programming progression towards the intended impact as well as the satisfaction of the beneficiary. EUM helps monitor behavioral changes and if the supplies or intervention are used or stored in correct ways and if they are still functioning. Recently, Three Stones International completed an EUM in Rwanda at Mahama Refugee Camp, on behalf of UNICEF.
EUM in Rwanda
For more than three years, families have been fleeing an unstable and violent political context in Burundi and seeking safety across the border in Rwanda. Mahama Refugee Camp, located in Kirehe District in the Eastern Province, was established to provide security and shelter for these families in turmoil. It is the largest refugee camp in Rwanda with more than 55,000 residents.
Unlike other older refugee camps, Mahama Camp has several permanent and semi-permanent structures made of mud brick and tin roofs, rather than the tents and tarps typically seen in more long-standing camps. When refugees arrive at the camp, their situation is often dire; many have few belongings, are in poor health, and may have experienced traumatic events before and during their journey.
To address the needs of this vulnerable population, the Rwanda Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs and the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees coordinate a large network of humanitarian actors to provide comprehensive services. Continuing response includes the provision of improved sanitation facilities, technical assistance, the screening and management of severe and acute malnutrition, the promotion of appropriate infant and young-child feeding practices, and the provision of polio and measles vaccines for children in addition to routine immunizations.
To meet the needs of unaccompanied minors and separated children, service providers register these children, trace their families, and have established child-friendly spaces. Partners work diligently to provide access to early childhood and basic education, while also supporting the prevention and response to violence against all children.
Supplying refugees with essential resources and material is critical in effective service delivery. While monitoring and evaluation activities tend to focus on end-line results and measuring outcomes and impact, less attention is focused on whether beneficiaries actually receive supplies and whether those materials are used as originally intended. One way to examine the process and experience of service delivery is through EUM.
The procurement and distribution of supplies has been a major component of UNICEF’s work since Mahama Refugee Camp opened in 2015. To better understand how sanitation, education, and health supplies reach, and are used by, the intended beneficiaries in Camp, UNICEF partnered with Three Stones International to carry out an EUM assessment in January 2018.
The EUM was carried out in Mahama to better: (1) determine the efficiency and effectiveness of UNICEF-procured supplies, to identify existing gaps, and provide recommendations; and (2) examine if UNICEF-supported supply components benefit the most vulnerable populations, specifically refugee women and children.
Goals of EUM
The goals of EUM are to highlight the process by which supplies are procured and distributed and to determine to what extent they are meeting the needs of the target population, i.e. beneficiaries or “end-users.” It documents and analyses the early development, delivery, and implementation of the program as it relates to procurement, assessing whether strategies were implemented as planned and whether expected output was produced.
EUM generally seeks to answer the following types of questions: “Were the materials delivered as goals?” and “To what extent might successes or failures be attributable to other factors?” The EUM can be used to strengthen the effectiveness of delivery by removing bottlenecks and leakages to ensure quality for end-users, to assess if activities have been implemented as intended, and to understand whether or not those activities resulted in the desired outputs.
To document the lessons learned through the EUM process and how the package of methods used could be adapted to other situations and contexts, Three Stones International published a report and case study detailing the methodology and findings of its assessment.
The report, to be used as a global best practice on EUM, provides a description of EUM and its utility; a description of the situation facing Mahama Camp, including an overview of the methods used; a series of selected findings and recommendations from the broader report that illustrates the potential of EUM; lessons learnt from this EUM; and final conclusions. Through this report, other service providers can implement more effective supply distribution and usage to improve service delivery in refugee camps throughout the world.
Three Stones International offers comprehensive expertise in third party/supply EUM, social research and program evaluation to help governments, donors, and organizations to effectively design, implement and assess interventions.
