ANNUAL REPORT 2015 - Heks Jahresbericht...

Annual report 2015 – Swiss Church Aid

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ANNUAL REPORT 2015

ON THE ACTIVITIES, PROGRESS AND

PERSPECTIVES OF THE INTERNATIONAL DIVISION

OF SWISS CHURCH AID

ZURICH/LAUSANNE, APRIL 2016

Annual Report 2015 – Swiss Church Aid

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Table of contents

1 Summary ........................................................................................................................................... 3

2 Context of international cooperation related to HEKS/EPER’s activities ..................................... 5

3 The HEKS/EPER International Programme ...................................................................................... 8 Theories of change and objectives ....................................................................................................... 8 Holistic approach of development cooperation .................................................................................... 9

4 Progress in development cooperation .......................................................................................... 10 Access to land and resources/services ................................................................................................ 10 Value chain development .................................................................................................................. 13 Overcoming violence ......................................................................................................................... 15 Strengthen civil society ...................................................................................................................... 17 Key data and progress assessment of development cooperation ........................................................ 19

5 Progress in humanitarian aid ......................................................................................................... 21 Life saving ......................................................................................................................................... 21 Livelihood .......................................................................................................................................... 22 Infrastructure ..................................................................................................................................... 22 Preparedness and prevention ............................................................................................................. 23 Key data and progress summary for humanitarian aid ........................................................................ 23

6 Progress in church cooperation ..................................................................................................... 24 Partnerships and dialogue .................................................................................................................. 24 Social inclusion .................................................................................................................................. 25 Community Development .................................................................................................................. 25 Key figures and progress summary for CC ......................................................................................... 25

7 Cross-cutting issues ........................................................................................................................ 26 Human rights-based approach ........................................................................................................... 26 Conflict sensitivity .............................................................................................................................. 26 Gender .............................................................................................................................................. 27 Resilience building ............................................................................................................................. 28

8 Evaluations and knowledge sharing ............................................................................................. 30 ID forum 2015 ................................................................................................................................... 30 Meta evaluation ................................................................................................................................ 33 Country programme and project evaluations ..................................................................................... 35 Learning from mandates .................................................................................................................... 36 Lessons learnt from MSC assessments ............................................................................................... 37

9 Management for quality, progress and results ............................................................................ 39 Relevance in access to land (competence, visibility, action) ................................................................. 39 Institutional progress ......................................................................................................................... 39 Programme management .................................................................................................................. 40 Monitoring and evaluation ................................................................................................................ 41 Finances ............................................................................................................................................ 41 Alliances and networks ...................................................................................................................... 44

10 Communication ............................................................................................................................... 47

11 Emerging patterns of HEKS/EPER’s international cooperation ................................................... 48 Patterns from 2011 to 2015 .............................................................................................................. 48 Patterns of HEKS/EPER work in 2015 ................................................................................................. 50 Further patterns in 2015 .................................................................................................................... 53

12 Perspectives on the implementation of the HEKS/EPER International Programme ................. 54

Appendices ................................................................................................................................................... 57

A) Activities by country (DevCo, HA and CC) .................................................................................... 57 A.1 Africa ................................................................................................................................................ 57 A.2 Asia ................................................................................................................................................... 59 A.3 The Americas ..................................................................................................................................... 61 A.4 Europe .............................................................................................................................................. 62

B) Acronyms ........................................................................................................................................ 65


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1 Summary

The Annual ID Report 2015 reports on the activities, impact and perspectives of the HEKS/EPER

International Division’s projects and programmes of its three sections development cooperation (DevCo),

humanitarian aid (HA) and church cooperation (CC). The process of ‘writing the report’ also aims to

support internal learning and steering decisions, in order to improve the effectiveness and relevance of

HEKS/EPER. The process of data collection and analysis documented in country reports and evaluations as

well as joint reflection on the findings provides added value to HEKS/EPER’s endeavours in favour of

people and communities in need to promote i) in DevCo equal rights and prosperity, ii) in HA survival,

recovery, prevention and Prepardness, iii) in CC strong church partners able to do relevant social work.

HEKS/EPER hopes this report will inspire its readers to challenge their perspectives on international

cooperation and it is a tool to promote more effective and needs-based interventions. It shall deliver

accountability and be a reference for direct or indirect participants of projects, its own staff, the partners,

the public and donors.

In 2015, HEKS/EPER launched the process to establish the next phase of its International Programme, the

‘HIP 2017-2020’. This boosted internal analysis and evaluation of the progress of projects and priority

programmes, e.g. through the ID Forum (Chapter 8.1), a meta-analysis on evaluations (Chapter 8.2).

Further findings documented in this annual report such as the context analysis (Chapter 2), the patterns of

international cooperation (Chapter 11) and the perspectives of HEKS/EPER ID (Chapter 12), will also be

reflected in the next HIP, but for sure already in 2016’s activities.

Assessing its progress HEKS/EPER identified that, in DevCo (Chapter 4), it reached in 9 out of 10

objectives its ambitions. Resilience building, access to resources (e.g. water), access to basic services as

well as sustainable production and access to land were the objectives which progressed most.

Access to land (Chapter 4.1) was in the focus of 13 priority programmes (in 2013 11 countries) with 31

projects. Initiatives for access to land were newly launched in Zimbabwe and Cambodia. This means an

increase of activities, studies, partnerships and impact. In 2015, more than 66‘000 individuals got better

access to land (compared to 40’000 in 2014). In 9 countries a clear progress was identified, in 3 (South

Sudan, Cambodia, Honduras) it was hard to achieve objectives due to difficult context with either

shrinking space, newly launched projects or civil war. Since 2009, land projects led to improved access to

land for 420’000 individuals.

Resilience (Chapter 7.4) made certainly progress, because HEKS/EPER invested a lot into capacity building

and the mainstreaming of the topic in many programmes beard some early fruits.

As the only objective, access to market (Chapter 4.2) was assessed throughout all programmes, and thus

the objective seems well integrated into HEKS/EPER’s work. The large majority rated it that the objective

were largely achieved and there was a slight progress. Many of our projects in this domain started out as

production increase projects and now incorporate also marketing components. While this movement in

itself is laudable, we will in the future strive not only for providing access to markets but rather to

facilitate an inclusive and efficient market system. Inclusive, efficient market system: 8 out of 21 countries

could not even rate it due to the fact that there are very limited projects explicitly addressing inclusive and

efficient market systems. Since this is a relatively new domain for HEKS/EPER, projects are in the initial

phases and results are not yet tangible. Additionally, HEKS/EPER has developed a market systems

development guideline including good practises for designing pertinent interventions and realised that

some intervention may need enhanced thematic support. Nevertheless, 103’000 people could increase

their income, 80’000 their yields and more than 16’000 got new jobs which is highly important in rural

areas for people not working their land.

Being part of the Swiss Water & Sanitation NGO Consortium, the 20 projects implemented in Niger, South

Sudan and Ethiopia showed remarkable results increasing access to safe drinking water, adequate

sanitation, improved hygiene and water for family farming. Globally, HEKS/EPER improved access to water

(Chapter 4.1) for 97’000 individuals.

By consistently applying a human rights-based approach (Chapter 7.1), HEKS/EPER has in many cases

successfully advocated to provide 105’000 rights-holders with access to basic services (Chapter 4.1) such

as access to school, health or welfare systems. Highlights were progress in home care in Romania and

Moldova or the integration of minorities in education systems in Hungary, Romania and Kosovo.

It was outstanding, that HEKS/EPER contributed to improve quality of life for 216’000 individuals prone to

conflict situation. Even though, the only DevCo objective rated as non-progressing was reduced


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emergence of violence (Chapter 4.3). This, as a result of deteriorate situations and ongoing conflicts in

many countries HEKS/EPER is active. Also, progress to enhance an enabling environment (Chapter 4.4) was

rather low with many countries experiencing back-lashes for individual and communities executing their

rights (e.g. Palestine/Israel, Brazil or Azerbaijan). HEKS/EPER put a lot of effort in this DevCo objective,

linking up with other Swiss NGOs (AG Enabling Environment) and the ACT Alliance Community of Practice

Rights and Development. With ACT HEKS/EPER was able to advocate against new restrictive laws in

Cambodia, Israel, Azerbaijan and Honduras.

But progress in social cohesion between different identity groups (Chapter 4.3) with e.g. Niger,

Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, South Caucasus or even in Palestine/Israel is encouraging, even though the work

is very challenging.

In humanitarian aid (Chapter 5), HEKS/EPER was successful in achieving its objectives in the areas of life

saving services as well as increasing the resilience of affected population. HEKS/EPER together with their

local partners was able to quickly respond to the needs of populations affected by disasters or/and conflict

(Serbia, Iraq, Lebanon). Furthermore, establishing disaster management structures on community level and

in line with governmental structures has become a very strong component for many humanitarian aid

projects (Philippines, Indonesia, and Pakistan) and prove to be an effective measure to bring disaster

preparedness to grassroots’ level.

External factors such as lack of security, low local infrastructure such as roads and markets, lack of

sufficient qualified staff as well as slow and complicated cooperation with authorities limited and delayed

the implementation of reconstructing infrastructure. Livelihoods and their rehabilitation are extremely

complex in nature making these susceptible to external influences (e.g. restrictive labour laws) which cause

delays in the implementation.

Despite these challenges, HEKS/EPER was flexible enough to accommodate new crisis responses into its

programmes and was able to respond to the IDP crisis in Iraq as well as to provide humanitarian assistance

for refugees on the ‘Balkan route’ in Serbia.

Church cooperation (Chapter 6) was implemented in seven countries of Eastern Europe supporting

16’400 individual with diaconal projects in domains such as home care, shelter for women, youth activities

or care centres for elderly. Being based on partnerships with reformed church organizations, it i s vital to

further ‘professionalize’ them, but also to strengthen their ‘inner’ church life and their infrastructure, so

they are vital enough to have a relevant impact with their social projects with focus on inclusion of

disadvantaged. In 2015, prospect on how to establish CC in the Middle East were evaluated.

Managing programmes/projects (Chapter 9): In 2015, HEKS/EPER intervened with 142 international

and 37 HHQ staff in cooperation with more than 100 partner organisation through more than 250

projects in 33 countries – in 17 DevCo priority programmes HEKS/EPER has local coordination offices.

(Reports per country and map see Appendix A). The reduction to 16 DevCo priority programmes enables

HEKS/EPER to achieve the objective of a cost volume of at least one million Swiss francs per country. In

eight countries the yearly expenses in 2015 were above one million Swiss francs. The overall volume of

project spending (DevCo and HA) increased from 30.2 Mio in 2014 up to 34.5 Mio CHF in 2015. Since

2013 the ratio of large vs small projects in country programmes has improved gradually, with less than

30% large projects in 2012/2013 and more than 50% in 2015 – so interventions became more efficient

and gained relevance. Management in 2016 means i) to transfer knowledge, approaches, guidelines from

HHQ to the countries and vice-versa; ii) to improve sound administration and controlling on finances; iii) to

work towards an improved ratio between HHQ management costs and the total of ID programme costs

with more budget per DevCo priority programmes and country offices not exceeding 15 -20% of the

programme volume.


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2 Context of international cooperation related to HEKS/EPER’s activities

The world is increasingly complex and multi-polar. In order to play an appropriate and relevant role,

HEKS/EPER continuously reflects on the international context. Threats to the key topics HEKS/EPER is

addressing – such as human security, equal rights and prosperity – cross borders and require

internationally coordinated commitments such as the Agenda 2030 with its ‘Sustainable Development

Goals’. Other landmarks in 2015/2016 were the Sendai Framework for DRR, the Paris Climate Agreement

and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing Development. HEKS/EPER commits itself to contributing

to achieving the SDGs and also adheres to the above-mentioned reference documents and agreements.

With 1.6 billion people living in multidimensional poverty, it remains a major challenge for the global

community. Poverty of course strikes people in fragile contexts, with these contexts accounting for 72% of

all poor people. About 80% of the rural population engages, at least to some extent, in primary sector

labour. Typically, the poorest are most dependent on the agriculture-based economy. At the same time,

75% of the world’s population suffering from hunger live in rural areas1. Therefore, a key element in

fighting poverty and hunger as well as enhancing food sovereignty and self-determination in agricultural

production is inclusive sustainable agriculture. At the same time, the promotion of non-agricultural

activities and production cycles in rural and peri-urban areas is increasing as they are important for

diversifying income sources, creating employment and contributing to food security for families (small

businesses, artisans or other service providers, which are important for a functioning society) 2. Therefore,

agricultural and development policies need to incorporate multi -functionality in rural areas into their

actions and thinking.

Over the past ten years, 0.7 million people have lost their lives, over 1.4 million have been injured and 23

million have been made homeless by disasters. Risk exposure is high, with more than 1.5 billion people

having been affected in various ways. Disaster trends are increasing worldwide with more than one third

of the world’s poor live in multi-hazard zones. Climate change, limited land use, land degradation and

lack of governance are risk drivers. Resilience building is key for any development. As such, HEKS/EPER will

continue its strategy to mainstream resilience building in its DevCo and HA programmes to enable people

and communities to withstand shocks and stresses related not only to environment or economy, but also

to conflicts (Chapter 7.4).

A 2015 World Bank report3 shows that climate change is an acute threat to poorer people across the

world, with the potential to push more than 100 million people back into poverty over the next fifteen

years. The poorest regions of the world – sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia – will be hit the hardest.

HEKS/EPER fears that priority countries such as Niger, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Cambodia and Bangladesh

are amongst those that will be affected. The World Bank states that climate impacts will affect agriculture

the most, a key sector in the poorest countries and a major source of income, food security, nutrition,

jobs, livelihoods and export earnings. By 2030, crop yield losses could mean that food prices rise an

average of 12% in sub-Saharan Africa. The resulting malnutrition could lead to a 2% increase in severe

stunting in Africa. Therefore, HEKS/EPER International Programme promotes enhancing sustainable

smallholder agriculture and inclusive markets as promising measures to increase yields, income and food

security. Access to land, water, resources and other assets are just as crucial as making institutions and

authorities work for rural communities (Chapter 4.1).

Inequality concerning the fulfilment of fundamental rights, discrimination and economic inequality are on

the rise and remain a key obstacle to enhancing sustainable livelihood opportunities. More than 75% of

households live in societies where income is more unequally distributed than in 1990 .4 Inequalities weaken

social cohesion, the ability to live together in harmony and finally undermine security, stabil ity and

democracy. In addition, access to land and resources is likely to become more disputed due to

1 WFP (March, 2016). Website: https://www.wfp.org/hunger/who-are

2 International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) (2011). Rural Poverty Report 2011. New realities, new challenges: new

opportunities for tomorrow’s generation.

3 World Bank Group (2015). Shock Waves. Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty. 4 UNDP (2016). UNDP support to the implementation of sustainable development goal 10 – reducing inequality within and among countries. http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/Sustainable%20Development/10_Reducing_Inequality_Jan15_digital.pdf?download

https://www.wfp.org/hunger/who-are

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/Sustainable%20Development/10_Reducing_Inequality_Jan15_digital.pdf?download


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environmental stresses, degradation, demographic pressure, land grabbing, etc. Although there is

evidence that some gains have been made in narrowing disparities in life expectancy, education and

health, the need to enhance equality to foster lasting development has come to be recognised globally, as

the SDGs5 show. The UN report on the World Social Situation 20166 says: ‘Employment inequalities persist

and are, at times, growing. […] Factors beyond an individual’s skill and effort, such as ethnicity, age,

disability or gender, affect access to opportunities, resources, and participation in political, civil and

cultural life.’ […] ‘Multiple sources of evidence indicate that discrimination remains a driver of exclusion in

both developed and developing countries!’ An Oxfam report on inequalities shows that ‘where income

inequality is high and/or increasing, the evidence is clear that economic growth has signifi cantly less

impact on poverty.’7 ‘Despite constant growth, in these countries the number of people living in poverty

hardly fell. Inequality reduces the sustainability of economic growth, weakens social cohesion and security,

encourages inequitable access to and use of global commons, undermines democracies, sustainable

development and peaceful societies.’8 Therefore, HEKS/EPER with its HIP continues to strive for equal

rights, access to resources and services as well as to promote an inclusive market (Chapter 4.2).

Of the people living in poverty, 70% are female and are hit harder by social, economic and political

inequalities, often facing discrimination and violence. Women often work informally and are unpaid.

Therefore, working on gender equality remains key when aiming for prosperity and equal rights for ‘all’.

Most relevant for HEKS/EPER, working with rural communities and duty-bearers, is for example the lack of

female participation in communities as well as in regional and national decision-making bodies.

Inequalities and disenfranchisement weaken social cohesion and security, encourage inequitable access to

land, services and resources, and hamper sustainable development and peaceful societies. Social

fragmentation, political unrest, extremism, insecurity, armed conflicts and even risk exposure are

‘fostered’ by inequalities, often combined with a lack of good governance. Therefore, HEKS/EPER notes

that it is increasingly challenging for NGOs and CSOs to promote peace and human rights. Conflicts,

criminality and governments introducing restrictive laws shrink the space for civil society and its

organisations (Chapter 4.4). Democracy and rule of law is at stake – not only in LICs and MICs, but also in

developed or ‘Western’ countries in the wake of ‘combatting terrorism’. Fragmentation of society into

various interest groups without sufficient instruments for dialogue and a fair legal framework also hinder

development.

The global trend of shrinking space for civil society action has increasingly become one of the key

obstacles to implementing development or humanitarian aid projects. The situation is particularly severe if

strategies touch on the distribution of resources or traditional and religious values9. The role of civil

society is disputed by new and more restrictive laws, including NGO regulations10, which shrink the

manoeuvring room for local communities and community-based organisations. The international

community has recognised CSOs as development actors in their own right11 and the UN Secretary General

recently stressed that ‘civil society acts as a catalyst for social progress and economic growth. It plays a

critical role in keeping governments accountable, and helps represent the diverse interests of the population,

including its most vulnerable groups.’ (Ban Ki Moon, 2015).12 The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development acknowledges the role of the civil society in implementing the SDGs in several paragraphs13.

5 See SDG 10. 6 United Nations (2016). Leaving no one behind: progress towards achieving social-inclusive development. Report on the World

Social Situation 2016. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/2016/RWSS2016ExecutiveSummary.pdf 7 Oxfam (2012). Left behind by the G20? How inequality and environmental degradation threaten to exclude poor people from the benefits of economic growth. 157 Oxfam Briefing Paper. https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/bp157-left-behind-by-the-g20-190112-en_4.pdf

8 Amina Mohammed, Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development Planning, United Nations, and Vice-Chair of

the Global Agenda Council on Sustainable Development. http://reports.weforum.org/outlook-global-agenda-2015/top-10-trends-of-2015/1-deepening-income-inequality/ 9 ACT Alliance (2011). Shrinking political space of civil society action. 10 ACT Alliance. Shrinking Political Space for Civil Society Action (2011); Democracy in Action: Protecting Civil Society Space (2012), Space for Civil Society. How to Protect and Expand an Enabling Environment (2014).

11 Busan Partnership for Effective Development (2011). Accra Agenda for Action 2008.

12 Also the Report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda

stresses the watchdog role of civil society in its implementation process: ‘In a new partnership, CSOs will have a crucial role in making sure that government at all levels and businesses act responsibly and create genuine opportunities and sustainable livelihoods in an open-market economy.’

13 SDGs (2015). §39, 41, 60.

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/2016/RWSS2016ExecutiveSummary.pdf

https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/bp157-left-behind-by-the-g20-190112-en_4.pdf

https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/bp157-left-behind-by-the-g20-190112-en_4.pdf

http://reports.weforum.org/outlook-global-agenda-2015/top-10-trends-of-2015/1-deepening-income-inequality/

http://reports.weforum.org/outlook-global-agenda-2015/top-10-trends-of-2015/1-deepening-income-inequality/


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The lack of economic and

social prospects –

combined in many contexts

– and violent conflicts lead

to internal (urban-rural) and

international migration,

which might be an

opportunity for individuals

and those at home, but also

causes brain drain,

especially in rural areas,

making it difficult to build

stronger rural communities.

Fleeing from deprivation,

disaster and conflicts means

not only hardship for

refugees, but strongly

affects dialogue in

‘Western’ nations on

migrants, causing more

restrictive coping

mechanisms and a debate

on how to continue with international cooperation that links it strongly to political and/or economic

claims. All regions are expected to urbanise further over the coming decades. Africa and Asia are

urbanising faster than the other regions and are projected to become 56% and 64% urban, respectively,

by 2050.14 This means that all growth in the world’s population over the next few decades of a further

2.5 billion is expected to be in urban areas in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Africa and

Asia.

Currently, nearly 60 million people15 are refugees or displaced people in need of aid, having been forced

from their homeland by conflict and disasters. In addition, many more people seek to gain individual

and/or economic security abroad due to poverty and limited prospects in their countries. In the second half

of 2015, the Syria refugee crisis started to affect European countries directly as the number of Syrians

heading to Europe to seek protection increased drastically. Syrian monthly visa applications in 37 European

countries increased from 12,747 in January 2015 to 143,355 applications in October 201516. However,

only a small number of Syrian refugees are seeking protection in Europe compared to Syrians in

neighbouring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, etc. Therefore, HEKS/EPER is attempting to

coordinate its efforts to mitigate the crisis with interventions in Iraq, Lebanon, Serbia (Balkan route) and

Switzerland.

A changing aid landscape sees a structural shift in the organisation and the use of economic and

political power. The rise of emerging economies and the new role of the private sector results in countries

or businesses becoming stronger actors in development cooperation. They pursue their own political and

economic interests and new approaches, with not all of them working according to the principles of

human and international rights. There is a risk of weakening the influence of civil society and democratic

decision-making. Public-private partnerships might be a promising approach to negotiating conditions for

investments that respect human rights and foster prosperity, depending on the intention, credibility and

capacity of the stakeholders. HEKS/EPER is certain that iNGOs representing civil society and working with

local civil society organisations promoting dialogue between duty-bearers and rights-holders are an asset

for conflict transformation and the protection of human rights and human rights defenders.

14 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2014). World Urbanization Prospects. The 2014 Revision. New York. 15 UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2014. Geneva 2015 16 Data from 37 European countries reporting to UNHCR. http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/asylum.php

South Sudan.

http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/asylum.php


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3 The HEKS/EPER International Programme

Theories of change and objectives

At the outset of the ongoing strategy of the HEKS/EPER International Programme, ‘HIP 2013-2017’, the

main focus of its operations was put on a single objective framework for HEKS/EPER’s three sections,

development cooperation (DevCo), humanitarian aid (HA) and church cooperation (CC).

Theories of change and objectives

In 2015, HEKS/EPER intervened in 33 countries. Of these, 18 were priority programmes with country

offices (CO) and DevCo country programmes (CP). The CPs are further broken down into projects

implemented through partner organisations and/or by HEKS/EPER directly, incorporating the country and

institutional objectives and designed to add to the theory of change (ToC) of the CP with their specific

project objectives. CC is active in 7 countries with 3 of them having CPs. HA operates through projects,

accompanied at the locations by expat delegates.

Each of the three working sections is defined by an impact hypothesis or ToC, which is reflected by a

results framework that includes objectives to which country programmes (and projects) contribute. For

each section, the respective objectives are clustered in four or five domains.

Development cooperation

Contributing to equality and prosperity for rural communities is the overarching aim of HEKS/EPER’s

activities. While projects and programmes employ HEKS/EPER’s holistic approach, their corresponding

objectives are oriented towards the expected results of the DevCo global results framework. The results

framework consists of five objective areas, with four being programmatic and one being institutional.

TOC OF DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

By strengthening the structures of civil society, HEKS/EPER enables the pursuit of access to land and

resources, the building of sustainable value chains (production, processing, marketing and knowledge

transfer) as well as peaceful coexistence. HEKS/EPER is thus making a contribution to greater equality and

prosperity for rural communities.

HEKS’ THEORY OF CHANGE

Figure 1: HEKS/EPER’s overarching objectives of the HIP 2013–2017 for the activities in development cooperation,

humanitarian aid and church cooperation.


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Humanitarian aid

The humanitarian aid concept guides HHQ, country offices and HA staff in the countries on how to

conduct humanitarian projects. It describes the key areas of interventions and on what premises we

operate in which contexts. Of key importance is the linkage of HA with DevCo or CC and the inclusion of

resilience building.

TOC OF HUMANITARIAN AID

HEKS/EPER HA saves lives, alleviates suffering, restores livelihoods and rehabilitates infrastructure through

providing and improving access to live-saving resources and services (such as food, water, shelter and

hygiene products), livelihood opportunities, private and public infrastructure (housing, schools, WASH

infrastructure) as well as increasing the resilience of target populations.

Church cooperation

CC is an integral part of the HIP. The four overall objectives focus on strengthening the church partners to

have an active church life and to be able to commit towards improved social equality. Linking parishes

from Switzerland and abroad facilitates funding and also an open dialogue.

TOC OF CHURCH COOPERATION

Acting in Christian solidarity, HEKS/EPER supports reformed churches and their Diaconia organisations in

Eastern Europe in fulfilling their community and social duties towards their members and the public to

achieve more social justice.

Holistic approach of development cooperation

In the development cooperation section, HEKS/EPER focuses on the two priorities of development of rural

communities (red circle) and conflict transformation (green circle) embedded within human rights (blue

circle) as a reference framework for HEKS/EPER’s rights-based approach. HEKS/EPER’s core competence lies

in pursuing a holistic approach to development cooperation, linking both priorities. The impact circles,

with their 14 fields of interventions, are closely linked and mutually reinforcing to add substantial value by

creating synergies and by making use of interfaces.

So, to achieve an objective like ‘Improved and Secured Access to Land for Rural Communities’, HEKS /EPER

works in various areas, such as ‘Access to Resources’ (red), ‘Marketing’ (red) and ‘Creating Linkages &

Dialogue’ (green). Depending on the context and in order to focus on target-group-specific measures to

reduce poverty and/or

discrimination, it may

be more effective to

temporarily place

greater emphasis on

one circle and work

more intensely within

specific areas of

intervention. Evalua-

tion of the holistic

approach (Chapter

8.2), provides eviden-

ce that this approach

works effectively. For

example, analysing

and addressing

existing or potential

conflicts is key for the

successful implement-

tation of all projects

aiming at fostering

access to land,

markets or water. Figure 2: HEKS/EPER’s ‘impact circles’ development of rural communities (red), conflict

transformation (green) and rights-based approach (blue).


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4 Progress in development cooperation

This chapter details – according to the four operational areas and ten objectives in development

cooperation – the progress and changes observed and how HEKS/EPER contributed, primarily based on

country/project/field visit reports and evaluations identifying promising examples.

Access to land and resources/services

OBJECTIVE 1.1

Improved secured access to land.

As in previous years, the topic of access to land remained of high importance for the work of HEKS/EPER.

Accordingly, the number of country programmes with a focus on access to land increased from 11 (55%)

in 2013 to 13 countries (81%), with a total of 31 projects in 2015. This implies an increased number of

interventions, studies and partnerships facilitating people’s access to land. Analysis showed that greatest

success is possible in more stable democracies in which a rights-based approach with reference to national

law is an appropriate strategy. However, progress has been slower in more fragile countries and promising

practices such as the creation of institutions to handle grievances are still in the testing phase.

Furthermore, strategies to enhance access to land have been begun with new projects in Zimbabwe and

Cambodia.

The following examples highlight some achievements of HEKS/EPER’s work related to access to land in

2015.

Brazil – Evaluation of the ‘Rural development of ethnic minorities in the region Minas Gerais

(2012–2015)’ project, implemented by the Centro de Agricultura Alternativa (CAA)

The evaluation notes that the CAA has an innovative and efficient strategy with regards to access to and

defence of territories by applying an approach of providing legal accompaniment for local communities,

offering training on territorial land rights and facilitating community and network building. The training of

Figure 3: HEKS/EPER projects related to access to land (by the end of 2015).


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social leaders was of great importance and promoted successful negotiations with government bodies for

the re-appropriation of territories.

The last project phase was able to achieve the following results:

Recognition and demarcation of territories: Approval of sustainable development reserves of around

161,000 ha and recognition of traditional territories of around 38,000 ha.

Recognition of traditional communities, e.g. the Geraizeiro community of Sobrado as the first municipal

authorities in Brazil to address this issue.

Development of appropriate management plans for the reclaimed territories.

Building a culture of community organisation and citizen participation and formation of a growing role

for local actors in the struggle to defend rights.

During the next project phase (2016–2019), the efforts with regards to access to land and territories will

continue.

Senegal – Advocacy for an inclusive land reform process

As the country is in a transition with regards to the development of new legislation on land tenure ,

HEKS/EPER started, in addition to its ongoing interventions in access to land, a new project in 2015

implemented conjointly with three partner organisations. This project supports local communities from

seven districts in claiming their rights to access to land from the responsible state bodies. As a first step in

2015, a detailed analysis on the land tenure situation was conducted in the project region. Based on this

study, different public debates have been organised to raise awareness among the population and

responsible government officials on land issues and the ongoing land reform process in Senegal. During

specific workshops, farming families and traditional and official authorities discussed management issues

and the use of the resource land and made corresponding suggestions to the responsible land reform

body. These first steps have laid a foundation for broader influence on the land tenure reform in Senegal

within the coming years.

Colombia – Claiming the right to food

HEKS/EPER’s partner organisation FIAN Colombia assists with emblematic cases of the violation of the right

to food in the north-eastern region of Colombia with direct support of the women’s organisation

Organización Feminina Popular (OFP). The most significant change has been the construction of a social

fabric that has allowed the communities to become aware of violations and subsequently build strategies

to claim their rights. Two cases have been put forward to the Inter-American Commission on Human

Rights. In addition, together with FIAN, the OFP published a report on the situation in Colombia with

regards to the right to food and started the development of a local monitoring system documenting

violations of the fight to food in Colombia.

OBJECTIVE 1.2

Improved secured access to resources and public/basic services.

The people getting access to resources and services through HEKS/EPER projects has doubled since 2013,

reaching 80’000 individuals in 2015.

Access to public/basic services

By consistently applying a human rights-based approach, HEKS/EPER has in many cases successfully

advocated providing rights-holders with access to basic services. These services can include access to

governmental safety nets and welfare programmes, access to education and vocational training , access to

public infrastructure and access to extension services. Some highlights are described below.

In Romania, after-school classes for improving the employability of young adults were developed in recent

years. In 2015, HEKS/EPER achieved a major breakthrough in terms of upscaling these after-school classes.

A total of 54 municipalities in six counties agreed to offer after-school classes, with even increased local

co-funding of 30–50%. HEKS/EPER will continue to institutionalise the after-school model and expects EU

funding to follow.

In Kosovo, significant progress has been made towards improved integration of Roma children into the

mainstream education system. The project integrated learning centres into the school model. Out of 22


12

learning centres, 17 are now based within regular school premises. The next step is to further

institutionalise this model within the Kosovan education system. Another positive result is the scholarship

programme, which from being initiated by HEKS/EPER with 80 students has become a countrywide

programme with 500 students. This was possible thanks arrival of other funding partners such as REF,

various embassies and the government.

In India, HEKS/EPER has facilitated over 22’000 families receiving access to work via the National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). This programme provides eligible individuals with 100 days

guaranteed paid employment in a year.

In Zimbabwe, Silveira House’s Traditional Apprenticeship Programme (TAP) was concluded in 2015. The

TAP offered and integrated technical skill training, business management, leadership along with other

skills and support. Initially targeted were 160 unemployed young people, however in the end the project

managed to train 256 young people. Out of these, 147 were reported as continuing to produce and

market their various products and thereby increasing their income significantly.

In Haiti, the PAIR project has restored rural feeder roads and local marketplaces. This upgrading of

infrastructure now allows the peasant farmers to market their produce better and have increased access to

healthcare and other services. Prior to the project, people needing hospitalisation were carried manually

on the back in some areas.

Access to water

Being part of the Swiss Water & Sanitation NGO Consortium, the projects implemented by HEKS/EPER’s

partners in Niger, South Sudan and Ethiopia have produced remarkable results. The eight organisations in

the consortium are targeting providing expertise and resources to the population in countries that are

lagging far behind internationally agreed targets for water and sanitation. By implementing a total of 20

projects in three regions, the goal is to increase access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation,

improved hygiene and water for family farming. The organisations in the consortium share knowledge and

expertise and are strengthening advocacy and policy dialogue. In addition to the three HEKS/EPER projects

implemented by partners in Niger, South Sudan and Ethiopia, HEKS/EPER is also giving priority to the

protection of water in many other projects dealing with access to resources for sustainable agriculture.

Some of the main achievement of the three HEKS/EPER partners implementing the consortium projects in

the three countries have been:

In Niger, access to drinking water was provided for 10’406 individuals (53% women) and 6’539

individuals received access to health infrastructure – mainly health centres – and schools (45% women).

One small drinking water supply system has been installed in Kadébadé. Six new and three restored wells

serve pastoralists. A total of 28 water points, 69 lavatories, 177 public and 106 family latrines have been

installed.

In South Sudan, water projects have improved community hygiene and led to less water-related diseases.

Community participation has increased. Distance to water points for discharged women and children has

been reduced and therefore has enhanced school attendance and household productivity.

In Ethiopia the consortium project in Kofale is on track. Additionally, HEKS/EPER supported other water-

related projects. The fluoride removal project is an innovative pioneer project, promoting affordable

technology. The OSHO Fluorosis Mitigation Programme was been selected as the best project in the

CCRDA 2015 national best practice competition at a ceremony attended by the president and ministers.

Access to seeds

Since 2013, there has been an increase in the number of countries in which

emphasis is placed on programme/project activities targeting access to seeds

through the promotion of ‘seed keepers’, local and regional seed banks, local

varieties and linked advocacy measures to ensure access to seeds for small-

scale farmers and rural communities. HEKS/EPER programmes and projects in

Latin America especially have a strong focus on these issues (e.g. Brazil,

Columbia and Honduras), but the topic also gained importance during 2015

in Africa, where initial activities started or continued during 2015.

In addition, several exchanges and workshops related to the issue of access to seeds have been attended

and organised by HEKS/EPER staff and partner organisations. For example, HEKS/EPER organised two

Local varietes of beans.


13

workshops at headquarter level before the bi-annual ID Forum – one focusing on more technical aspects

with regards to participatory breeding, seed banks, etc. and a second one focusing on policy aspects.

Furthermore, HEKS/EPER partner organisations from Latin America participated at a fruitful south -south

exchange on access to seeds in Durban, South Africa, together with partner organisations of Bread for the

World, Bread for all and Swissaid.

Value chain development

OBJECTIVE 2.1

Improved sustainable agricultural and non-agricultural production.

In 2015, more than half of HEKS/EPER’s projects contributed to improving agricultural production,

compared to about one third in 2012/2013. This entailed, for example, an increasing number of country

programmes and projects addressing the regeneration of degraded land in order to promote agricultural

production. It furthermore entailed the promotion of agro-ecological production, which led to fewer

problems in dealing with drought-instigated food crises, improved soil quality, tested seed varieties and

production techniques, the use of bio-pesticides, substantially increased yields and led to ongoing organic

certification processes.

Thus, the set-up of a new project with regards to the development of a participatory guarantee system for

organic certification started bring considered in 2015 with the partner in Senegal, FENAB, the national

federation of organic producers, also building on the experiences of HEKS/EPER and its partner

organisations in Latin America (e.g. Brazil).

Another encouraging example of a successful transfer of knowledge and good practices between

HEKS/EPER focus countries was the implementation of a first experience of a small-scale fruit processing

unit in Honduras. Farmer-to-farmer consultations between the Brazilian producer cooperative and

HEKS/EPER’s partner Grande Sertão and its sister organisations APRAL and ADEPES in Honduras made

major contributions. These contributions were not only in supporting technical implementation and start-

up of a local food processing industry, they also stimulated first experiments of institutional market

initiatives in the programme region.

Furthermore, the

partner Sahel Bio

successfully

implemented a

project testing

improved and better

adapted production

methods for millet

and cowpeas in

Niger, which led to

significantly improved

yields. In Georgia,

modern agro-

ecological production

technologies for

hazelnut orchards

were introduced to

around 200 farming

families in the

Samegrelo and

Imereti regions,

resulting in

improvements in

quality and quantity

of yields and thus

increasing the competitiveness of the hazelnut farmers on the market. In addition, a cattle-fattening

intervention in Bangladesh raised household incomes by 21%. And 80% among the Adivasi and Dalit

families involved had a substantial increase in their income.

Sorghum farmer in Niger.


14

OBJECTIVE 2.2 AND 2.3

Improved access to markets / A more inclusive, efficient and productive market system.

During 2015, HEKS/EPER has been putting significant efforts into strengthening and selecting partner

organisations in order to build projects with a strong focus on improving market access and the

development of inclusive market systems. Since 2013, the number of projects dealing with such issues

increased from 37 projects (21% of the total portfolio) to 54 projects (30%) in 2015. Accordingly, a

number of market development projects have been launched and implemented in different sectors,

including milk and meat market systems development projects (Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova), pro-

poor value chains (in India for Adivasi for finger millet and cashews, rice for landless people in Cambodia,

and cattle fattening for Dalits and Adivasi in Bangladesh), fruit value chains with a focus on institutional

markets (Honduras and Brazil) and a variety of vegetable and fruit value chains (Senegal, Niger, South-

Sudan, Ethiopia, Armenia, Cambodia and DR Congo). In addition, promising international value chain

projects were started and/or have further been developed, including a hazelnut value chain (Georgia),

coffee and cocoa value chains (Haiti), non-timber forest product value chains (Brazil) and table grape and

berry value chains (Moldova).

Among these, the following results were achieved during 2015:

MOLI project in Georgia

The MOLI project17 in Georgia, mandated by SDC which applies a M4P methodology, ended its first four-

year phase in 2015. The following were achieved: (a) improved livestock production through development

of a functioning business model that allows more farmers to use veterinary services and increases the

availability of more and better quality animal feed, (b) improved market access with more villages engaged

in the dairy business and milk purchases and (c) improvements in the government sector through the

creation of semi-formal working groups and business forums.

The MOLI project, with its interventions in business development support and strengthening of 38

business partners providing services to small-scale farmer families involved in livestock, reached about

7’500 farming families by the end of June 2015. Currently about 6’000 small-scale farmer families have

access to and use improved services (veterinary services include breed improvement, mechanisation and

animal nutrition) offered by 28 businesses in 5 municipalities. Almost all business partners met the

milestones set out in their business development plans.

An upcoming final phase of the project (2016–2018) was planned in 2015 and will result in the

intervention focus being raised to the meso-level, adopting a more regional approach by expanding the

projects’ region.

Zimbabwe – Increasing income

through apiculture

A sustainable agriculture and

marketing project in Zimbabwe,

implemented by the Fambidzanai

permaculture centre, is showing the

first signs of potential income

increase at household level. The

project-related income generation

activities contribute to about 45%

of the household income, which

already increased by around 10%

since the start of the project at the

beginning of 2014. Beekeeping, as

one of the major project

intervention sectors, seems to be the

highest contributing factor to this

increase.

17 Market Opportunities for Livelihood Improvement

Fambidanzai project aiming at increasing income through a variety of activities.


15

Brazil – Certification and access to institutional markets

In the Cerrado region, HEKS/EPER’s partner CEDAC obtained official recognition as a certification body

from the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture. It is the first time a farmer network in the Cerrado region has

successfully implemented a participative guarantee system, including organic aspects as well as social and

environmental good management practices for non-timber products of the Cerrado ecosystem. This

network experience brings together about 2,000 small scale farmers and traditional communities of wild

fruit collectors who increased their income by up to 30% by selling the certified products to food

acquisition schemes of the institutional market sector as well as to supermarket chains.

Overcoming violence

OBJECTIVE 3.1

Strengthened social cohesion between different interest and identity groups.

Promoting mutual recognition, respect and cohesion within and between groups and thus building shared

values remained one of the major ambitions of the HIP in 2015.

According to the HEKS/EPER International Programme, particular focus has been put on the diapraxis

approach which aims at enhancing exchange and subsequently trust through joint practical work towards

common goals (Chapter 11.1.5).

In recent years, the relevance of social cohesion and especially the concept of diapraxis has been better

understood among HEKS/EPER staff in Switzerland as well as in focus countries. As a result, motivation

towards applying it and the number of country programmes and projects reinforcing and implementing

diapraxis increased significantly in 2015.

In Zimbabwe, new diapraxis projects have been started. The core aim is to enhance the resilience of rural

communities to avoid negative political instrumentalisation, which frequently triggers violent clashes.

Prioritising joint endeavours and visions (between supporters and representatives of different political and

or ethnic groups) over the agenda of party politicians means enhancing resilience.

However, from a methodological point of view, it has proven difficult to initialise diapraxis projects. The

problem is that intra-group divisions are all too often extremely sensitive, meaning that it remains difficult

to proactively bring those actors together without naming the intention. Furthermore, it is – also due to

ethical reasons – a sensitive matter to generate baseline

data that is disaggregated according to ethno-political

affiliation, meaning that project steering and

monitoring are restricted.

First successes of the diapraxis approach have been

reported in Niger. The project effectively diminished

and prevented conflicts through well-balanced water

supply for pastoralists and farmers. Despite these

positive developments, there are of course examples

(e.g. South-Caucasus, Bangladesh and Palestine/Israel)

indicating that achieving sustainable results on a

political strategic level is still very challenging.

OBJECTIVE 3.2

More people engage actively for peace and equal rights.

As enhancing ownership and self-determined initiatives towards peace have been identified an important

criteria for effective peace building, HEKS/EPER builds on enhancing capacities and motivations at the core

of its efforts.

In general, HEKS/EPER’s capacity towards promoting peace and equal rights increased from year to year.

Those efforts included information transfer on rights and non-violent conflict transformation for both

rights-holders and duty-bearers. Experiences from recent years demonstrated that although a lot of

capacity building has taken place, it is key to revisit content and lessons learned. As such, a focus in 2015

was facilitating follow-up actions. As an example, HEKS/EPER has piloted a new capacity building

approach in Zimbabwe. In order to enhance frequent follow-up activities, it was decided to instead

embark on ‘training of trainers’ with long-term coordination between trainees in order to assist partners in

Well for pastoralists and farmers in Niger fostering

social cohesion.


16

putting the newly gained knowledge into practice, encouraging peer-to-peer learning support and

tracking outcomes of training. To enhance ownership of such processes, HEKS/EPER promoted

participants/civil societies taking their own initiative. So far the interest and motivation has been very

encouraging and numerous follow-up activities have been carried out and planned. Cooperation between

trainees to train duty-bearers in their respective environments has proven useful for increasing outreach

and impact at socio-political level. The fact that duty-bearers have been persuaded that non-violent

conflict transformation and human rights-based approaches are not necessarily opposition politics means

that willingness to cooperate can be seen a first milestone.

Another example of continuous follow-up activities is HEKS/EPER’s permanent exchange initiated between

young people on peace endeavours via social media in the South Caucasus. The potential to use new

social media for peace messages and mobilisation will be further explored in coming years.

Another positive development is the increased cooperation with other members of the ACT Alliance

community in order to explore all synergies – in particular in providing training in cooperation with Danish

Church Aid, the Church of Sweden and Bread for the World. Joint capacity-building initiatives with the

ACT community have been useful in providing training more broadly and in greater depth. For example,

training on gender-inclusive human rights-based approaches that has been provided together with Bread

for the World in Serbia allowed an exchange of experience among different organisations in several

Eastern European countries.

The most common challenge is to move from capacity building to action and to move from individual

action to a broader socio-political level, along with public commitment. It is a longer-term process to

create attitudes towards peace and it is difficult to trace short-term successes. Due to the climate of

shrinking space for doing peace and human rights education, people are hindered from acting and

speaking out (e.g. Cambodia, Palestine, Zimbabwe). A climate of militarisation also counters peace

education and positive face-to-face encounters (e.g. South Caucasus), which are key for the enhancement

of values of peace and justice.

OBJECTIVE 3.3

Reduced emergence and escalation of violent conflict.

In his book The Locust Effect, Gary A. Haugen outlines the brutality of everyday violence and stresses the

nexus between poverty and being subject to violence. Single and multiple discrimination based on gender,

class, ethnicity and age, among other factors, create vulnerability, powerlessness and impunity. Figures

gathered by the Geneva Declaration show that by far the highest risk of becoming a victim of direct

violence does not stem from armed conflict, as out of 508’000 violent deaths per year, only 70’000 or

14%, were directly related to armed conflict. As such, HEKS/EPER’s HIP approach to focus on the

integration of marginalised groups and minorities in order to reduce and prevent violence is still relevant.

Accordingly, HEKS/EPER has been active in empowering marginalised groups, such as Dalit, Adivasi or

Roma, in the frame of a HRBA. Still, the vulnerable are not given sufficient capacities and empowerment

to claim their rights. Everyday cultural practices and norms that are taken for granted hinder

empowerment. In order to enhance recognition and inclusion, HEKS/EPER projects have made efforts to

address mainstream society more systematically.

In Bangladesh joint advocacy endeavours between different partners and like-minded organisations have

been able to address national policies concerning minority rights. The advocacy officer has been able to

establish contact with the relevant ministries in order to bring up issues of human rights violations

experienced by people of our concern. At the same time, mainstream society is addressed through the

above-mentioned diapraxis approach. Social inclusion has been fostered through integrative beef and

chicken value chains.

Similarly, the inclusion of Roma has been fostered in Kosovo by jointly organising drainage and water

supply systems for mainstream society members and Roma minorities at the same time. In this regard, the

approach resembles a ‘mainstreaming inclusion strategy’ – which stresses building bridges instead of

Roma or Dalit projects only.

Last but not least, the promotion of access to justice is key to reducing violence against the marginalised

and minority. Human rights action committees in Bangladesh or pro bono mobile legal advice in

Zimbabwe and South Sudan are part and parcel of a broader strategy. Based on in-depth conflict

analysis in the DRC, partners started creating a violence monitoring and alert system in 2015 in order to

protect vulnerable groups.


17

Broader application of the human rights-based approach in the above-mentioned countries made need for

inclusion visible and provided a methodology to go about it. However, as an NGO it is not easy to develop

an equal-level relationship with powerful duty bearers to create cooperation and trust. Still, developing

those relationships and identifying the mutual benefits, along with those of power-holders is key, but it is

difficult to estimate the honesty and there is the need to be cautious that you are not paid only with lip

services or even instrumentalised. The challenge is to keep the balance between a confrontational and

more cooperative approach.

The HRBA and the holistic approach provide confidence when taking up the topic and provide some

guidance. Initial good experiences in collaboration with duty-bearers (e.g. Zimbabwe and Bangladesh)

have been a motivation for partners to continue. Also other partners started to work on the topic. The set

goals have provided space to link up with higher levels and integrate a broader systemic view on the

problem and thus address root causes beyond the relatively small project area.

Strengthen civil society

OBJECTIVE 4.1

Enhanced space for social and political actions of civil society (Enabling Environment) .

Global dynamics, which are characterised by fear and loss of democratic values, support governments in

justifying control mechanisms with anti-terror initiatives and the call for sovereign rule. The trend leads to

more restrictions, stigmatisation and drafts of new NGO laws. The failure of states to abide to

international human rights undermines NGOs endeavours to work towards prosperity and justice.

In 2015, HEKS/EPER was active in maintaining and enhancing space for civil society at the country level as

well as the international advocacy level. A project which aimed at putting the recommendations of a

‘space for civil society’ study into practice was carried out in Zimbabwe. The recommendations were to

foster downwards accountability in order to enhance trust of and the legitimacy of CSOs. Therefore,

HEKS/EPER provided training and assisted with partners’ accountability assessments. Joint training

measures on gender-inclusive human rights-based approaches were a precondition and starting point for

enhancing networking among NGOs in Matabeleland. These networking processes have led to

cooperation among NGOs and joint actions such as workshops with duty-bearers. New contacts among

CSOs and between CSOs and duty-bearers are the initial positive results. Currently, the project is exploring

the next steps for enhancing CSO-state trust-building and constructive cooperation.

In the Brazil country programme, a new advocacy strategy is enhancing an enabling environment. In the

Colombia country programme, women’s organisations have successfully created a constructive dialogue

between CSOs and the government.

As a member of ACT Alliance’s ‘Rights and Development community of practice’, HEKS/EPER has been

able to contribute to international advocacy concerning the creation of new restrictive NGO laws in

Cambodia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Honduras and others. HEKS/EPER used its connections to voice concerns and

raise urgent matters to the intergovernmental body of the community of democracies. Furthermore, it has

been engaged to advocate that the intergovernmental agency FATF reformulate critical assumptions on

the vulnerability of all civil society organisations to terrorism, which had a negative impact on NGOs.

The fact that the problems have been dealt with within HEKS/EPER since 2009 and that a methodology on

how to assess the problem, as well as the creation of recommendations, has motivated more countries to

take up the topic. In Israel and Palestine, studies were carried out in 2015 and finalised at the beginning

of 2016. Together with Peace Watch and Swisspeace, HEKS/EPER is leading a joint learning process on

enhancing space for civil society in Honduras. In order to embrace broader perspectives and enhance

legitimacy of the study, a wide range of Swiss and Honduran civil society organisations and SDCs has been

included.

The joint studies have already been successful insofar as they have been useful for establishing peer

networks in the countries affected and beyond, e.g. the ACT Alliance community and Swiss NGOs who

collaborate in order to engage in protecting and enhancing spaces. This may be a starting point towards

overcoming fragmentation among CSOs, which hinders joint, strong and effective advocacy for human

rights.

As one of the recommendations also hints at, more proactive plans have been made to enhance the

security of human rights defenders.


18

OBJECTIVE 4.2

Communities create their own solutions to withstand current and future shocks and adapt to

changes that are difficult to predict (DRR).

In the light of the current debate around resilience, HEKS/EPER stands by the fact that the strengthening

of civil society structures plays a crucial role in achieving community resilience, as a strong society is an

inherent part of the resilience concept. However, resilience is more than that and in 2014, HEKS/EPER

determined that it would be a cross-cutting issue of the current HIP, launching the resilience guidelines to

mainstream the topic in its DevCo, HA and – if applicable – CC programmes. The achievements in building

resilience are reported in Chapter 7.4.

Hazard mapping of a Dalit community in a workshop in Bangladesh.


19

Key data and progress assessment of development cooperation

No. of individuals per data column/per country *a

0) Individuals HEKS/EPER worked with *b

1) Increased income

2) Increased yields

3) New job opportunities

4) Improved quality of life in conflict situation (better security, stronger resilience or understanding of causes).

5) Access to public services (for minorities)

6) Access to public services (‘all’)

7) Access to water

8) Access to land

Congo DR 8'358 2'198 1'400 271 4'197 350 831 0 6'342

Ethiopia 55'607 13'770 9'774 445 0 0 0 27'686 0

Niger 46'138 1'209 759 750 0 0 0 20'721 800

Senegal 35'855 3'269 1'690 839 538 55 135 115 696

South Sudan 19'153 1'557 4'199 43 4'168 7'831 4'168 29'246 1'514

Zimbabwe 36'487 493 220 351 34'464 13'336 13'336 120 0

Bangladesh 30'128 3'016 2'114 2'238 2'538 7'227 4'885 3'326 985

Cambodia 18'860 1'965 1'208 243 129 115 479 1'232 0

India 42'724 17'682 12'227 6'751 130 6'098 6'073 3'732 5'110

Palestine/Israel 117'000 0 0 0 102'200 22'000 55'000 4'000 25'000

Philippines 13'643 716 2'052 494 144 11'560 339 0 12'682

Brazil 62'295 24'652 11'509 105 11'063 2'306 8'293 1'041 12'745

Columbia 11'826 604 380 603 11'214 0 0 100 300

Haiti 29'086 1'069 902 487 0 0 838 3'300 0

Honduras 8'743 231 323 143 1'476 0 0 1'320 0

Moldova 13'208 2'672 2'988 1'057 0 0 5'610 0 0

South Caucasus 37'118 28'072 28'120 952 38'915 0 0 0 0

Kosovo 5'013 143 0 359 0 3'971 683 0 0

Romania 6'644 0 0 110 4'000 2'534 0 0 0

Serbia 3'960 40 0 80 0 2'200 3'960 780 130

Total 601'846 103'358 79'865 16'321 215'176 79'583 104'630 96'719 66'304 Figure 4: Key data 2015 of DevCo. * a: nb of persons who did profit directly from HEKS/EPER activities through increased yields, income, better security, etc.

* b: total is different than the sum of all other key data, because 1 person may profit from various aspects (2-8) of HEKS/EPER activities or may be in the ‘target group’, but without measurable effect.


20

Internal progress assessment

In an exercise during the annual reporting process, programme staff at HQ qualitatively assessed (internal

questionnaire) the trends in achieving objectives.

In DevCo, the most progress was made in 9 out of 10 objectives, with most success in resilience building,

access to resources (water) and services,

sustainable production and access to land.

Since 2009, land projects have led to improved

access to land for 420’000 individuals, with

66’304 in 2015 (see figure right). In nine

countries, clear progress was identified. In three

(South Sudan, Cambodia, Honduras) it was

difficult to achieve the objectives due to the

difficult context with either shrinking space,

newly launched projects or civil war.

Resilience made definite progress because

HEKS/EPER invested a lot into capacity building

and the mainstreaming of the topic in many

programmes bore some early fruit.

Only one objective (reduced emergence of

violence) was rated as not progressing, mainly

because of a deteriorating country context in which HEKS/EPER, being a small NGO, did not have enough

influence. In addition, progress to enhance an enabling environment was rather low, with many

countries experiencing backlash against individuals and communities asserting their rights (e.g.

Palestine/Israel, Brazil and Azerbaijan).

As only the access to markets objective was assessed throughout all programmes, it seems to be well

integrated into HEKS/EPER’s work. The large majority rated the objective as being largely achieved and

there was a small amount of progress. Many of our projects in this domain started out as production

increase projects and now also incorporate marketing components. While this movement in itself is

laudable, we will in the future strive not only to provide access to markets but also facilitate an inclusive

and efficient market system.

Inclusive, efficient market system: 8 out of 21 countries could not even assess this due to the fact that

there are very limited projects explicitly addressing inclusive and efficient market systems. Since this is a

relatively new domain for HEKS/EPER, projects in this domain are largely in the initial phases and results

are not yet tangible. Additionally, HEKS/EPER has developed market system development guidelines that

include good practices for designing pertinent interventions and has realised that some interventions may

need enhanced thematic support.

Pasture

management in Ninotsminda, Georgia.

Figure 5: Individuals with improved access to land, 2009–2015.


21

5 Progress in humanitarian aid

In 2015, HEKS/EPER was active in all of its four key areas: saving lives, rehabilitation of livelihoods,

rehabilitation of private and public infrastructure and increasing the resilience of populations in

intervention countries which were affected by disasters or/and conflict.

HEKS/EPER was successful in achieving its objectives in the areas of life-saving services as well as increasing

the resilience of affected populations. HEKS/EPER, together with its local partners, was able to quickly

respond to the needs of populations affected by disasters or/and conflict (Serbia, Iraq, Lebanon).

Furthermore, establishing disaster management structures at community level and in line with

governmental structures has become a very strong component for many humanitarian aid projects

(Philippines, Indonesia, and Pakistan) and proven to be an effective measure for bringing disaster

preparedness to the grassroots level.

External factors such as lack of security, lack of local infrastructure such as roads and markets, lack of

sufficient qualified staff as well as slow and complicated cooperation with authorities limited and delayed

the implementation of infrastructure reconstruction. Livelihoods and their rehabilitation are extremely

complex in nature, making them susceptible to external influences (e.g. restrictive labour laws) which

cause delays in implementation.

Despite these challenges, HEKS/EPER was flexible enough to accommodate new crisis responses into its

programmes and was able to respond to the IDP crisis in Iraq as well as provide humanitarian assistance

for refugees on the ‘Balkan route’ in Serbia. This is also reflected in expenditure for humanitarian aid in

2015 as the table in Chapter 9.5 indicates. A total of CHF 6.2 million was in the budget for humanitarian

aid projects in 2015. However, HEKS/EPER was able to mobilise enough resources to increase expenditures

to CHF 7.1 million. In Lebanon (Syria crisis), HEKS/EPER was even able to increase expenditure from CHF

1.2 to 1.8 million. Media attention for the Syria crisis and the ‘Balkan route’ mobilised donors.

Life saving

OBJECTIVE 1: LIFE-SAVING RESOURCES/SERVICES

Access to water, food, emergency shelter, hygiene and sanitation.

In 2015, HEKS/EPER successfully provided life-saving services to people affected by conflict, who were

either refugees or internally displaced persons in places such as Iraq, Syria or along the migration route to

Europe in Serbia. This could be achieved despite challenges such as lack of security and a rapidly changing

context. This is due to the

fact that HEKS/EPER’s

partners were experienced

in delivering humanitarian

aid and were strongly

rooted in the communities

they sought to assist.

Functioning and

diversified markets in all

intervention countries

further facilitated timely

procurement and

distribution of goods and

services to the affected

target population. One of

the main challenges that

partners were confronted

with was the

management of diverging

donor and partner NGOs

requirements. In future,

focus should be put on Serbia: HEKS/EPER distribution centre at the border with Croatia.


22

networking with like-minded organisations and streamlining reporting requirements for similar projects to

reduce the burden on local partners.

An unforeseen development in 2015 was the sudden flight of thousands of refugees from conflict areas

such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to Europe. With its local partner in Serbia, EHO, HEKS/EPER was able

to respond quickly and provide assistance to over 120’000 refugees travelling through Serbia and

Hungary.

In 2015, HEKS/EPER was able to provide additional unplanned humanitarian assistance and respond to the

IDP crisis in Iraq as well to the sudden migration crisis in Europe where over a million refugees f rom

conflict areas such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan made their way to Europe in search for safety and a

better life.

Livelihood

OBJECTIVE 2: LIVELIHOOD OPPORTUNITIES

Rehabilitated agricultural and non-agricultural livelihoods.

Livelihoods are transformed, not merely limited or damaged, by crises. Disaster-affected populations have

overwhelmingly identified livelihoods as their greatest recovery/rehabilitation priority. A livelihood

approach should combine two perspectives: an actor-oriented perspective and a ‘political economy’

approach. This combination is complex and difficult to reach in the development context and even more

complicated in the humanitarian context.

Due to the importance of livelihoods for affected populations, HEKS/EPER has decided to focus

interventions as soon as possible on livelihoods, at the latest in the second phase of recovery and

rehabilitation. As an added value in this area, HEKS/EPER can incorporate its in-house expertise from

DevCo – mainly related to the ‘access to land’ and ‘access to resources and services’ objectives as well as

the objectives on ‘sustainable agricultural production’ and establishing ‘inclusive and efficient market

systems’.

In 2015, HEKS/EPER implemented the following humanitarian livelihood interventions:

Rehabilitation, strengthening and diversification of livelihoods (Philippines, Honduras) .

Rehabilitation of pastoral land including cash for work (Niger) .

Cash-based support of refugees (Lebanon).

A special challenge encountered in 2015 was how to respond to periodically recurring disasters in a

development context. Niger and Honduras are priority countries where HEKS/EPER normally engages in

development aid activities. However in recent years, drought prolonged the lean period to the extent that

external humanitarian support was requested. HEKS/EPER addressed these needs in the project areas in

2015 and in order to institutionalise the response, a concept will be developed to establish guidelines on

how to deal with periodic crises in development contexts, to improve/increase linkage of development and

humanitarian aid activities and to identify funding possibilities. (Chapter 12.1)

Infrastructure

OBJECTIVE 3: PRIVATE AND PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE

Reconstructed housing, schools, evacuation centres and WASH infrastructure.

HEKS/EPER was especially successful in this area in Pakistan and South Sudan, where WASH infrastructure

was restored to provide affected populations with access to water and sanitation facilities. Similar

successes were achieved in Honduras where target communities were provided with seeds, grain silos and

water harvesting and sprinkling systems. In Serbia, HEKS/EPER has supported 300 families in restoring their

houses after the flood of 2014. Common to all projects in these countries was the involvement of

experienced partners and a strong involvement of target communities in the planning and implementation

of the projects. With the exception of Pakistan, all these humanitarian interventions were integrated into

ongoing development projects ensuring continuity after completion of the humanitarian interventions.

This objective is always strongly linked to objective 4, increasing the resilience of affected populations. As

such, special emphasis is given to building back better and preparing communities for future disasters.


23

Preparedness and prevention

OBJECTIVE 4: INCREASED RESILIENCE

Increased preparedness and positive coping mechanisms.

The humanitarian aid implementation concept specifies that all projects that are not simply emergency

relief must have DRR as a key component in order to increase the resilience of the target populations.

HEKS/EPER was able to achieve this goal in 2015.

HEKS/EPER supports prevention, mitigation and preparedness efforts by governments, especially at local

and municipal level, and strengthens civil society structures to enable communities to withstand shocks

and stresses. Disaster-related impacts and losses can only be substantially reduced if authorities,

individuals and communities in hazard-prone areas are well prepared, ready to act and are equipped with

the knowledge, capacities and tools for effective disaster management.

HEKS/EPER focused on the following resilience components in humanitarian aid projects during 2015: Risk

assessment (Serbia, Philippines), community early warning systems (Philippines), community contingency

planning (Philippines, Serbia), establishment of disaster preparedness/management committees

(Philippines), disaster-proof (re)construction (Philippines both at individual and communal level), disaster

drills (Philippines), mitigation (Niger, Philippines) and awareness raising (Philippines, Serbia).

Additionally, HEKS/EPER conducted resilience workshops in 2015 for staff from HEKS/EPER country offices

and local partner organisations in in Bangladesh, Cambodia and India (Chapter 7.4).

HEKS/EPER will continue to integrate disaster preparedness and prevention measures in all future

humanitarian aid interventions and resilience will be part of a series of training courses on humanitarian

aid aimed at increasing the capacity of country offices and partner organisations in the most disaster-

prone countries.

Key data and progress summary for humanitarian aid

The table below depicts the key data for humanitarian interventions in 2015. Most people were reached

via distributions, even though the amount and the duration of support varies greatly. More than 100’000

people received training or tools, which decreased the impacts of disasters and strengthened their

response capacity to disasters. A more systematic linkage between DevCo and HA can increase resilience

in coming years. Even though the number of people being reached via ‘reconstruction’ seems low, the

impact of rebuilt homes for families is huge and long-lasting.

No. of persons per data column/ per country

Humanitarian Aid 2015

Distributions Food and non-food items

Livelihood Agronomical support, business development, credit schemes, etc.

Reconstruction Shelter, housing, schools, etc.

WASH Latrines, access to water, waste management, health and hygiene education

DRR Strengthening resilience, disaster preparedness

Total Individuals

Philippines 0 17'600 1'273 0 41'000 41'000

Lebanon 5'500 15'259 0 0 0 10'000

Iraq 48'797 240 0 0 0 49'000

Israel/Palestine

16'000 0 0 0 0 16'000

Pakistan 105'000 0 0 14'512 41'375 105'000

Honduras 0 19'715 0 0 19'715 19'715

Serbia 122'000 10 2'000 600 0 124'000

Niger 0 3'500 0 0 3'500 3'500

South Sudan

0 1'050 0 8'045 0 8'100

Total 297'297 57'374 3'273 23'157 105'590 376'315

Figure 6: Key data 2015 of humanitarian aid.


24

6 Progress in church cooperation

Based on the church cooperation strategy from 2011, HEKS/EPER also developed a CC results framework

in 2015, establishing the four overarching operational objectives of partnership development, social

inclusion and community development. In the three main CC countries – Romania, Hungary and the Czech

Republic – country programmes have been implemented. Project activities also took place in Slovakia, the

Ukraine, Italy and Serbia. For the first time, the Czech Republic country programme with the ECCB and

DECCB was evaluated via a mixed external and internal evaluation process. The process was very helpful

for everyone involved (further details provided in Chapter 8.3.2).

Introducing and professionalising the project work remains a challenge. Whilst some of the partners like

Diakonia in Romania and the Czech Republic are at a good level, in the Ukraine it is difficult for CC to

overcome a highly personalised organisational system. Two exploration visits for agriculture projects and

homecare showed potential for starting new projects. The limiting factor is always the organisational

capacity and willingness of the Transcarpathian Reformed Church (TRC) and diaconal centre to enable

more individuals to lead projects or to be heavily involved in project implementation.

The relevance of a church is both dependent on its church life and on its diaconal work. Important assets

for strengthening church life are contributions to either activities for children and young people and to

improving infrastructure such as multifunctional community premises, churches, mansions, etc. Related to

the improvement of infrastructure, HEKS/EPER encouraged congregations to present ideas on how to

include components to serve not only the constituency, but also society more broadly.

Within the CC projects, the diaconal contribution of partner churches played an important role. The

projects all focused on the inclusion of disadvantaged people or minority groups such as Roma, the elderly

and care-dependent individuals, victims of domestic violence, migrant workers and people with disabilities.

Refugees travelling through ‘CC countries’ on the ‘Balkan route’ resulted in restrictive measures being

introduced by the governments, which reformed churches did not oppose. However, the reformed

diaconal organisation of Hungary provided emergency aid for migrants.

Partnerships and dialogue

OBJECTIVE 1: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PROTESTANT PARISHES AND INSTITUTIONS IN

SWITZERLAND AND ABROAD ARE PROMOTED.

In 2015, HEKS/EPER assisted with 25 partnerships between parishes and institutions in Switzerland and

Eastern Europe. A total of four new partnerships (two with Hungary, one with Romania and one with

Transcarpathia) began in 2015. For the two new partnerships in Hungary where congregations have

implemented projects for Roma children and young people, it is the first time that congregations from the

French speaking part of Switzerland have been involved in partnerships. Several exchange initiatives were

enabled in Hungary, Romania and Transcarpathia.

OBJECTIVE 2: PARTNER CHURCHES RESPECT AND HAVE OPEN-MINDED SELF-CRITICAL

DIALOGUE WITH DIFFERENT CONFESSIONS AND BELIEFS.

Mainly through training and direct exchange, the CC programme also influences the attitudes of partner

churches. In Romania, the training programme for 280 pastors has developed very successfully (190

participants in 2014). As in previous years, HEKS/EPER supported a seminar for female pastors in Hungary,

Slovakia, the Ukraine and Romania as well as a retreat for pastor’s wives in Transylvania.

During the refugee crisis in September, HEKS/EPER’s director, Andreas Kressler, wrote a letter to the

presiding bishop in Hungary, István Szabó, inviting him to enter into dialogue about the role of churches

and their institutions in this matter.


25

Social inclusion

OBJECTIVE 3: IMPROVED SOCIAL INCLUSION OF VULNERABLE PEOPLE (ELDERLY,

HANDICAPPED) AND MINORITY GROUPS (ROMA).

Social inclusion of disadvantaged people and vulnerable minority groups is the key focus of the CC

programme. In the Czech Republic, migrant workers, mostly from Romania and Bulgaria, are informed

about their rights and receive support in emergency situations. An external evaluation of the project

confirmed the project had good results, covering an important area in the Czech Republic.

CC partners are active in HEKS/EPER’s Roma strategy and expanded their projects on Roma inclusion with

three new (total of 11) projects in Hungary and in Slovakia, with three new (total of 3) church

communities; mainly focusing on after-school groups and social/labour integration. In addition, HEKS/EPER

also supported the inclusion of people with disabilities in Hungary, through either 15 congregations or the

Berekfürdö church centre, where holidays for 898 disabled people were offered at a reduced price.

In the Ukraine, 240 of most deprived people received soup and bread from the diaconal centre. In Hetyen,

15 children with disabilities and, since 2015 a further 35 in Mesörvary, stay at a day-care centre and are

supported in the group and individually. A total of 31 women in crisis situations (domestic violence,

pregnant with no partner or husband) have accommodation in Beregszasz, where they and their children

(37) have a secure place to stay for a limited time.

Also in Romania, women in crisis situations are a target group of the HEKS/EPER’s project work. In Brasov,

a short-term shelter welcomes victims of domestic violence and provides medical, psychological and legal

support. In Oradea, a project for raising awareness and advising victims of domestic violence has been

developed. A major step forward was made with the integration of people with disabilities (PWD) in

Romania. In four regions, preparations to start with job mediation projects for PWD have been carried out

and they can begin in 2016. Home care projects in Romania continued to be successful, expanding from

four (2012) to seven (2015) regions and covering 168 villages.

Community Development

OBJECTIVE 4: CHURCH LIFE IS STRENGTHENED.

The reformed churches in Eastern Europe are also facing the trend to secularism in their societies and loss

of influence. Nevertheless, congregations at local level remain an important civil society network.

Therefore the objective of CC is also to strengthen church li fe in order to promote the congregations’

active members taking on responsibility in society.

In the Czech Republic and the Ukraine, CC strengthened activities for children and young people. A total

of 764 children and young people in the Czech Republic and 1,834 in the Ukraine, 764 and attended a

camp.

Through providing infrastructure support (community buildings and church renovation), HEKS/EPER gives

local congregations a solid base for their activities relating to diaconal work, as well as taking care of their

own communities. In the Czech Republic, three congregations of the Evangelical Church of the Czech

Brethren were supported in improving their infrastructure. In Romania, five congregations were also

supported in this area. There is a background of exodus in all of the Romanian congregations, where the

pastor is often the only official person in the village and the church is an important organisation in the li fe

of the whole village.

The 11 projects in Hungary for Roma and other disadvantaged children and young people are also an

important contribution to developing and strengthening church life.

For a strong church life, motivated and trained pastors are also crucial. In Romania 280 pastors attended

training project courses.

Key figures and progress summary for CC

In the seven Eastern European countries where HEKS/EPER carried out church cooperation projects in 2015

– Romania, Italy, Serbia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and the Ukraine – 16,400 people were

provided with support through welfare and social services, such as home care, women’s shelters or work

for young people. The exchange of relations between the reformed church parishes in Switzerland and

partner churches in Eastern Europe was stepped up – HEKS/EPER currently facilitates 25 parish

partnerships, four of which were added in 2015.


26

7 Cross-cutting issues

In its projects and programmes, HEKS/EPER includes four cross-cutting issues which are key to achieving

the objectives and making sustainable progress: human rights-based approach, gender, conflict sensitivity

and resilience. Specific guidelines and tools combined with capacity building and a PCM system for

coherent planning and monitoring the issues enable mainstreaming of the issues.

Human rights-based approach

In 2015, HEKS/EPER continued to implement the human rights-based approach (HRBA) and its principles –

such as participation and empowerment, accountability and advocacy, equality and non-

discrimination, and links to human rights mechanisms – in all projects and programmes of the

HEKS/EPER International Programme.

A growing number of country programmes and projects replicated promising HRBA practices furthering

rights-holders’ negotiation power and duty-bearers’ fulfilment of their obligations. For example in

Moldova, increased cooperation between state and non-state actors in the field of home care for the

elderly resulted in enhanced accountability of local and national authorities, joint ly developed strategies to

develop the home care system as well as increased co-financing by state authorities for related services. In

other countries, for instance in Zimbabwe, the process of increasing cooperation between duty-bearers

and rights-holders was furthered by mixed HRBA training and joint planning.

Despite positive results, the shrinking space for civil society organisations (CSOs) further challenges rights -

based working in many partner countries, e.g. Palestine/Israel, Ethiopia, Honduras, Braz il and South Sudan

(Chapter 7.2.). In Honduras and Brazil, partner organisations were threatened due to their rights-

based working approach and advocacy for human rights. New regulations that limit civil society

activities and increase state control jeopardise, for example, the freedom of press and options of a local

radio station in a Honduran HEKS/EPER project.

When working via a rights-based approach, the links of HEKS/EPER programmes and projects to a human

rights mechanism are crucial. Together with the members of the Honduras network, HEKS/EPER

successfully contributed to lobbying for the opening of a permanent office of the UN High Commissioner

for Human Rights in Honduras.

HEKS/EPER efforts to build capacities for rights-based programme/project management continued in

2015. A comprehensive tutored ‘training of trainers’ course on gender inclusive HRBA has was provided in

three phases with homework across the whole year (see Chapter 3.2) Furthermore, regional training about

gender-inclusive HRBA that was conducted together with Bread for the World Germany for partner

organisations from Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus resulted in concrete action plans on how to

increase accountability, participation, non-discrimination and link to human rights mechanisms in the

HEKS/EPER partner organisations and projects (Chapter 7.3). Capacity building in the field of HRBA

demonstrated that peer-to-peer support is an important means for using synergies and increasing the

impact of the rights-based working approaches of HEKS/EPER partner organisations. However, HEKS/EPER

has identified a need for further capacity building and raising awareness about HRBA within its

organisation and partners.

Church Cooperation: Traditionally, religious figures apply a charity-based approach and are used to

working independently from government structures. Therefore, the HEKS/EPER Church Cooperation

programmes increasingly coordinate its efforts with duty-bearers, notably in the areas of home care and

Roma inclusion.

Conflict sensitivity

Conflict sensitivity as a cross-cutting issue remained crucial for HEKS/EPER, particularly in conflict -prone

settings. HEKS/EPER strives to understand the context, the interactions between programmes and that

context, and act upon that understanding in order to avoid unintentionally feeding into further division,

and to maximise the potential contribution to strengthening social cohesion and peace.

To ensure this, HEKS/EPER further systematised conflict sensitive analyses as a basis for planning new

programme/project phases. In 2015 for example, a comprehensive, participatory conflict and gender-

sensitive context assessment was conducted in Moldova. From this assessment, concrete recommendations

for conflict-sensitive programming in Moldova were derived which will guide the planning and


27

implementation of the new HEKS/EPER country programme phase that starts in 2017. In a number of

countries – South Sudan, Cambodia, the DRC and Zimbabwe among others – HEKS/EPER has been active

with putting recommendations of conflict-sensitivity assessments from the previous year in practice. As an

example, the Zimbabwe country programme has been redesigned. At the management level, staff

diversification and the relocation of the entire office from Harare to Bulawayo have been one part of the

package. Another part has been the prominent integration of ‘key drivers of fragility’ within the new

country programme. The problem of past atrocities and trauma in Matabeleland and its impact on today’s

socio-political context, along with the negative effects on all development endeavours, are addressed by

new projects and sensitive targeting.

In South Sudan and the DRC, conflict-sensitivity assessments were starting points for peace projects.

HEKS/EPER actively participated in national and international discussions and networking in the field

of conflict sensitivity, such as through its status as a working group member of the global ‘Conflict

Sensitivity Community Hub’ network. This working group, with experts from international organisations

working on conflict sensitivity, developed strategies to enhance conflict-sensitive programming by

establishing a global and local ‘CSC hubs’. Joint learning, evidence building and the promotion of conflict

sensitivity at policy and operational levels by a ‘conflict sensitivity community’ will create synergies and

foster the application of conflict sensitivity.

HEKS/EPER’s efforts to build capacities for conflict-sensitive programme/project planning and

implementation among its staff and partner organisations have been continued. By intervening in other

contexts (with positive and negative effects), HEKS/EPER and its partner organisations have become part

and parcel of this context and its (potential) conflict configurations. Acknowledging that, HEKS/EPER is

responsible for protecting and supporting partner organisations in conflict-sensitive programming,

particularly in conflict-prone settings. One tool for capacity building is the Swiss Online Course on conflict

sensitivity18 (developed by HEKS/EPER, Swisspeace, Caritas, Helvetas and SDC) that was used to train HQ

and field staff in 2015. Currently, HEKS/EPER is actively contributing to the compilation of a Spanish

version adapted to the Latin-American conflict situation.

Gender

HEKS/EPER strives towards gender equality for rural communities at macro level . This means

changing unjust structures, negative gender stereotypes in society and unequal power relationships

between women and men. For example in Brazil, a HEKS/EPER partner organisation started a campaign

against gender-based and domestic violence, in which other organisations will be involved in the next

project phase.

However, while striving towards changes at macro level, it is crucial to not lose sight of its impact on

household dynamics and family relations. Impacts at household level – that may result in changes at

societal level – must be monitored critically to avoid unintended negative outcomes that might put the

project’s sustainable success at risk. For example in Bangladesh, Adivasi women were successful in

increasing their income – along with their status – through cattle fattening. However, unintended side

effects were reported in some cases, such as some husbands leaving their comparatively unprofitable jobs

as day labourers or cases of increased alcoholism and gender-based domestic violence. Thus, the project

has to be monitored and supported consistently in order to counteract the undermining of income

diversification as well as alcoholism and gender-based domestic violence.

Moreover in 2015, HEKS/EPER’s work showed further evidence of how crucial it is to work with both

women and men to achieve social change towards gender equality. In the Democratic Republic of

Congo, HEKS/EPER uses a psychosocial approach to support women affected by gender -based sexual

violence and raises awareness among young men in order for them to reflect on their concepts of

masculinity. In Niger, where child mortality and maternal mortal ity are devastating, husbands’ schools

(écoles des maris) have been established in 22 villages to involve men/fathers in health promotion (e.g.

hygiene and sanitation issues) and foster a change in behaviour in their communities. Men are also

informed and trained in how to draw up family budgets, i.e. that they can allow women and children to

go to a hospital in case of illness. Facing major inequalities between the workload of men and women in

domestic chores and care work at household and community level, HEKS/EPER country office and partners

in Honduras and Colombia plan to work with men and the concept of masculinities. In humanitarian aid

18 http://www.swisspeace.ch/e-learning/

http://www.swisspeace.ch/e-learning/


28

activities, gender dynamics are also crucial as, for example, domestic violence increased in refugee camps

in the Middle East. As such, HEKS/EPER places emphasis on gender awareness and a gender-sensitive

distribution of food and relief goods.

Women and girls are still particularly affected by discrimination and inequality, therefore women’s

empowerment is part of achieving gender equality. In Armenia, women were successfully included in

decision-making processes in agricultural projects, which created more demand for grafted saplings and

increased the volume of products sold on the market, as women offered and spread the information and

advertised using a different approach – explaining the benefits and new aspects to interested farmers in a

more detailed and professional way. In Ethiopia, improved access to drinking water relieves a burden for

women and girls, which follows lessons learnt about gender roles and inequalities. Through its church

cooperation, HEKS/EPER supported women via specific group training to actively participate in decision-

making in church structures and Diaconia. This is crucial since women and men have theoretically the

same rights in the partner churches but in reality the decision-making power of women is still rather

limited.

The combination of raising awareness about gender equality with HRBA and conflict sensitivity training is

bearing fruit. HEKS/EPER drew up a gender-inclusive rights-based development training manual

alongside ACT Alliance that was successfully used to train HEKS/EPER staff and its partner organisations on

how to integrate the HRBA and gender equality in development programming in 2015. For instance, a

regional training course on gender-inclusive HRBA for partners from Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Hungary,

Romania and Serbia resulted in concrete action plans on how to mainstream gender and HRBA in the

HEKS/EPER partner organisations and projects. In Zimbabwe, training entailed that participants became

fully aware that gender issues and gender equality are key components for achieving human rights.

In September 2015, HEKS/EPER Moldova conducted a conflict- and gender-sensitive context

assessment. The assessment showed that the biggest hurdle for contributing to gender equality in

Moldova is not unjust structures, laws or policies, but stereotypes within society. The participatory

assessment resulted in concrete recommendations and planned activities for the country office and

partners on how to apply gender-sensitive programme/project management, for instance by taking into

account the different needs of men and women and ensuring the participation of both (e.g. increasing the

share of men in project interventions in home care and the share of women in agriculture and decision -

making positions).

The HEKS/EPER Gender Implementation Guidelines – that will facilitate gender mainstreaming at

organisational and programme/project level by HEKS/EPER staff and partners – were validated and finalised

by the HEKS/EPER gender advisers with support from HEKS/EPER staff at headquarters and in the

countries.

Resilience building

Analysis in 2015 indicates that working strategies for adapting to climate change and preparing for

climate and disaster risks have been integrated to a large extent as cross-cutting issues into an increased

number of development and humanitarian aid programmes and projects.

In 2015, three basic workshops on the integration of resilience building into programmes and projects for

HEKS/EPER office staff and partner organisations were held in Bangladesh (April 2015), Cambodia (June

2015) and India (August 2015). All workshops were conducted together with a local expert for DRR/CCA,

who could potentially assume a backstopping role to support resilience aspects in the respective country

portfolios. In all three workshops, besides gaining basic knowledge on resilience and learning how to carry

out risk assessments at community level, the participants identified the predominant hazards in their

project area and formulated an action plan on how to integrate risk reduction/resilience building measures

in their respective projects. In India, the workshop and action plan served for the formulation of the new

country programme, where resilience building was integrated as a mainstreaming topic as well as at

outcome level. Furthermore, risk reduction/resilience building has been integrated into the new country

programmes for Colombia and Moldova. In the latter, an interesting process was started by adapting a

Hazard-Vulnerability-Capacity Assessment (HVCA) to an M4P approach, which can serve as an example for

other market system development projects in Moldova and elsewhere.

Another process for strengthening resilience in the programme portfolio was started in Latin America,

where a partner exchange workshop was held in November 2015 and a strategy for integrating resilience

components at regional level was discussed. Three fields of action were identified and will be followed up


29

on further: water (harvesting, conservation, maintenance and advocacy against privati sation of water

resources), seeds (identification, expansion and testing of seeds and varieties better adapted to changing

climatic conditions, advocacy for the use and protection of traditional seeds and varieties), climate

monitoring (on farm collection of meteorological data, allowing better adaption to changing climatic

conditions).

In humanitarian aid, besides following a major DRR mainstreaming approach in reconstruction and

rehabilitation projects, the building of disaster management structures at community level, in line with

governmental structures (e.g. disaster management/preparedness committees, community early warning

systems, DRM plans, emergency drills, etc.) has become a very strong component of HEKS/EPER projects,

particularly in the Philippines and in Pakistan. In small-scale disaster situations in 2015, the structures have

proved to be an effective measure for bringing disaster preparedness to the grassroots level. Furthermore,

in drought-prone contexts with a constant alternation between development cooperation and

humanitarian aid, resilience-building measures have proven to be successful in ‘linking relief, rehabilitation

and development’. One example is in Niger, with the afforesting of doum palms in a cash-for-work

approach during the prolonged dry season in 2015. Besides securing access to food for the affected

communities, the afforestation of the doum palm prevents further desertification and will, in the long run,

provide the community with additional income opportunities. In the south of Honduras, due to the El

Niño-induced drought, HEKS/EPER, with its local partners, implemented an SDC-funded humanitarian aid

project, where the building up of seedbanks and small-scale irrigation systems will strengthen the

resilience of the farmers against similar events in the longer term.

In development cooperation, HEKS/EPER is constantly building on its strengths regarding resilience

building. These are in particular non-structural measures, such as the protection/promotion of traditional

seeds and varieties to better adapt to changing climatic conditions (e.g. Cambodia, Brazil, Colombia,

Honduras, Niger), sustainable land/water management and eco-DRR (e.g. Niger, Senegal, Ethiopia,

Honduras, Haiti), promotion of conservation agriculture, community organisation for better preparedness

for natural or man-made hazards (e.g. Bangladesh, India) and advocacy for the avoidance of new risks

(risk governance) (e.g. Colombia, Brazil). In 2015, HEKS/EPER also started to use resilience building as an

entry point to promote other HEKS/EPER key topics. For example in Bangladesh , resilience building offers

an entry point for social inclusion of Dalit and Adivasi communities. With the integration of Dalit and

Adivasi people in disaster management committees at community level, contact with the mainstream

society is fostered.

The following issues regarding resilience building need to be followed up on with a strong focus in 2016

and beyond: a) making risk assessments a standard part of the project planning process in order to

guarantee a sound integration of resilience-building measures and to foster risk-informed development; b)

measuring the impact of resilience building measures in HEKS/EPER programmes and projects; c) exploring

the scope of action for HEKS/EPER regarding resilience building in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.

Figure 7: HEKS/EPER’s perception of resilience as a ‘roof’ topping various aspects of international cooperation.


30

8 Evaluations and knowledge sharing

HEKS/EPER’s ‘learning for steering’ is promoted through a functioning monitoring and evaluation process

including a constant learning cycle (see picture below). This cycle has yet to be mainstreamed in all

programmes and projects. In 2014, the cycle was redesigned and launched with the prospect of broader

implementation in 2015/16. During 2014, various knowledge-sharing events were held, evaluations, field

and thematic reports produced, a selection of key meetings and workshops were held at HQ level, and the

biannual HEKS/EPER regional meetings were also held in Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia.

Our partners, HEKS/EPER’s field staff and HHQ staff contributed their input and expertise to HEKS/EPER’s

shared reflections on its achievements in 2014, which were shared, analysed and documented through the

three-day synthesis workshop at HHQ (point 3 in graphic below).

Reporting and reflecting on HEKS/EPER impact will definitely be changed through the revised M&E

process, including sound PCM logic (Chapter 9.4 M&E). Chapter 8 presents lessons learnt in regional

meetings, through evaluations and as a result of mandates.

ID forum 2015

The HEKS/EPER ID forum 2015 builds on the discussions and processes started during previous ID forums

since 200919 and covered the following topics: ‘HIP 2017-2020’, ‘value chain / inclusive market systems

development’, ‘systemic change’, ‘shrinking space & enabling environment’ and ‘enabling management’.

At IDF 2015, all three sections – DevCo, HA, CC – were fully present for the first time. In a complex world,

HEKS/EPER needs to coordinate the activities of all divisions to respond to the needs of its target groups.

One huge and emerging example on the importance of such a working approach is the Syria conflict and

its impact in the Middle East, as well as in Eastern and Central Europe. In many other countries,

HEKS/EPER sees the importance of coordination between DevCo and HA (Haiti, Niger, Ethiopia,

Philippines, etc.).

Moving from the MDGs to the SDGs is a contextual shift that HEKS/EPER does follow up, along with

linking our initiatives in the ‘south’ with our projects/activities in Switzerland.

The 2015 topics were drawn up based on experiences since IDF 2013, the regional meetings of 2014, the

annual reports 2013/2014 and feedback from CDs, TAs, DOs and management in order to make steps

towards being able to respond to needs in the countries HEKS/EPER is working in. To succeed in this,

capabilities, knowledge, tools and a positive team spirit are required.

The lessons learnt summarised below were included in the process of drawing up the next HIP phase.

Systemic change

What is systemic change and what does it mean for programmes/projects? The participants explored their

experiences on systemic change and discovered promising practices based on HEKS/EPER projects.

Practical/theoretical frameworks helped to reflect the contribution of various practices towards systemic

change. HEKS/EPER wants to think bigger while planning and implementing to increase the impact of its

interventions. The module discussed systemic ‘socio-political’ changes as well as systemic ‘economic’ or

‘market’ changes.

HEKS/EPER does already work towards systemic change, but without naming it as such. A lot of

conceptual thinking and practical action also needs to be done. HRBA, a value chain with functioning

access to markets or working for peace through conflict transformation all have a ‘systemic’

component. HEKS/EPER wants to strengthen these approaches in future.

As ‘useful frameworks’ for analysing, planning, measuring and steering interventions, HEKS/EPER

identified: a) the systemic change framework, AAER framework (The Springfield Centre 2014, M4P

Approach); b) the reflection on peace practice matrix; and c) the human rights-based approach (HRBA).

19 IDF 2009 topics: HRBA; FFPG; HA response IDF 2011 topics: Stock taking of examples on conflict transformation; complexity; archetypes IDF 2013 topics: HIP 2013–17; Holistic Approach; PCM/M&E

HEKS annual learning cycle.


31

Success factors towards systemic change are: a) influencing duty-bearers (governmental authorities,

economic actors, etc.) through dialogue, cooperation and creation of trust; b) well-functioning

promising practices as role models; and c) networking, alliance building and spaces for exchange.

Management

Based on a broad discussion launched at ID Forum Bossey 2011, including ID HHQ and country staff, on

complexity and the need of a holistic approach, the HIP 2013-2017 and its results framework was drawn

up. Guidelines on specific topics followed: HRBA, conflict transformation, advocacy, resilience building

(DRR). At IDF 2013, the holistic approach was treated more in-depth and the revision process of the PCM

was started. Since 2013, HEKS/EPER has been implementing the HIP and is learning to improve steering of

its programmes. The expression ‘enabling management’ stands for the aim of achieving efficient

management with optimised processes and structures within HEKS/EPER to achieve the HIP objectives in an

effective and efficient manner. An ‘enabling management’ will result in steering HEKS/EPER’s projects and

programmes to foster implementation for the real benefit of the target groups.

HEKS/EPER has to strive for an operational ‘size’ in each country to make a difference and be effective

in managing the office and the CP. Increasing the amount of ‘bigger’ projects in the portfolio leads to

greater efficiency and a more systemic impact. As such, the HIP 2017-2020 will include details on the

set-up and ratios of the management structures of the programmes.

The partner portfolio will include different kinds of organisations with links and alliances amongst each

other and with other relevant stakeholders.

An important way to change systems positively is to connect with other stakeholders, creating alliances

and networks. Management has to foster this kind of thinking and implementation.

Improving capacities and set-ups to win tenders will be key to growing both in size and capability.

Management has to plan for achieving HIP objectives, but also act holistically and mainstream cross-

cutting issues systematically. Failing this, programmes will be less effective. COs and POs must be able

to absorb and implement new policies and manuals, which need clear and simple guidelines and

training.

Shrinking space / enabling environment

The presence of a vibrant, strong and free civil society is essential in order to guarantee sustainable

development and provide incentives for social, economic and democratic change. However, legislation

around CSO activities has become increasingly restrictive. Civil society, its organisations and especially

human rights defenders all over the world face considerable restrictions and risks. In some countries ,

HEKS/EPER staff, its partner organisations and, of course, individuals and communities are also affected.

The participants identified approaches, practices, room for manoeuvre and opportunities that have a

positive effect in moving from a shrinking space to a more enabling environment. They discussed how to

strengthen the resilience, capabilities and effective participation of civil society. They also discussed how to

deal with imbalanced power relations – e.g. HEKS/EPER and its HO/PO being confronted with strong

economic (extractive industries) or political players (NGO laws).

Key activities to create more enabling environments are: a) lobbying for changes to laws; b) peaceful

mobilisation of the people concerned; c) enhancing CBOs/NGOs’ independence; d) the right to speak

out and move freely; e) a just and independent juridical system; f) informed individuals and

communities; and g) linking communities and creating networks.

Analysing the dangers/risks for civil society is key to defining strategies/measures for protection, security

and ways to enhance space.

Definitions of civil society do vary; HEKS/EPER has to be clear what to include.

Dialogue is needed with duty-bearers, such as governments. Opportunities of even very limited spaces

have to be used. It is important that POs, HOs, CBOs shall work wisely and foster a non-threatening

dialogue.

Be aware of the first signs of stigmatisation and do not wait until there are major threats to react. Do

not wait until it is too late.

What is the role of HEKS/EPER? Do we contribute to fragmentation of civil society supporting just some

groups? How do we deal with competition between PO for partnerships?


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Value chain / inclusive market system development

Value chain approaches and their effective implementation are still a challenge for HEKS/EPER. Of

particular interest is how vulnerable population groups may be integrated into potentially profitable value

chains, including job creation opportunities for these groups along a value chain. However, many

HEKS/EPER projects still focus primary on (agro)production and do not sufficiently take into account the

whole market system, only partially looking for ways to influence the market at a systemic level, thus

crowding-in and up-scaling endeavours remain limited.

Until 2015, most projects focused on production, only a few on access to market, and even fewer on

changing the market system.

Shifting from a food security strategy with focus on production to a market-oriented approach that

emphasises income generation and market demand.

Classic value chain development approaches have limited success in delivering sustainable impacts

because of weak linkages between participants and other value chain actors downstream. Therefore,

HEKS/EPER interventions will shift towards a systemic perspective fostering inclusive markets and

changing the system, guaranteeing individuals and communities (farmers, producers) access to markets.

In-depth analysis of the market environment (key actors, demand, service provision, market

potentials, political environment, etc.) is key, including the identification of linkages to research and

other information resources. Systemic challenges in a market system involve many different actors and

solutions require coordinated action. It is absolutely essential that all relevant actors, and of course

project participants, are involved in the process of developing an understanding of the entire system,

identifying and addressing challenges and exploiting opportunities.

Fostering the capacity of individuals and communities towards self-organisation and establishing

business links. Training in marketing and business skills.

Building on existing skills and resources of local communities.

Encouraging continuous innovation in a dynamic market environment and use window of

opportunities.

Long-term commitment of all involved actors is needed.

The challenge of how to integrate the most vulnerable in a ‘market system’ remains.

Review of HIP from 2013 to 2015

Management and participants analysed and rated the progress HEKS/EPER has made since 2013, and

reviewed the extent to which objectives, mainstreaming of cross-cutting issues and the implementation of

the holistic approach were achieved. The review was a starting point to analyse the HIP 2013–17 and to

draw up the HIP 2017-2020. Overall, the ratings on achieving objectives were positive.

In DevCo, progress on access to land, resources, services and sustainable production was rated positive,

but access to market (for products of farmers and access to the job market) stagnated. Endeavours to

create inclusive market systems have not yet had the expected positive results, in part due to project

delays (e.g. in Georgia). Some remarkable progress has been achieved in projects enhancing space for

social and political actions and raising awareness about rights (although lots of work still needs to be

done). Less successful were activities on reducing violence due to the context being difficult and conflict-

ridden. On resilience, progress was ambiguous depending on the countries, but man-made disasters are

definitely still neglected.

On track were the HA projects in reaching their objectives in distribution, infrastructure, livelihood,

preparedness, however the sustainability of livelihood activities is questionable.

Strong aspects in CC were the social inclusion of minorities as well as the relationships created between

parishes in Switzerland and abroad. Professional implementation has improved, but there is still space for

improvement.

Cross-cutting issues are rated ranging from stagnation (gender and conflict sensitivity) to successful

(resilience and HRBA). Incorporating these thoroughly in the implementation of the next HIP will be

important.

Working in a holistic way seems to be achieved at country level, with good examples in Zimbabwe,

Bangladesh, Cambodia, Honduras and Israel/Palestine. Nevertheless, it is difficult to have on global level a

joint understanding. At project level, it is still necessary to increase awareness on the importance of acting

in a holistic manner as a part of a complex system.


33

Meta evaluation

In the context of revising its project cycle management system and of preparing a new strategy (2017 –

2020) for the International Division’s programme, HEKS/EPER has commissioned a meta-evaluation based

on a selection of 23 projects and 4 country programmes. This was carried out by a team from KEK-CDC

Consultants together with an independent consultant from CEval Saarbrücken.

The evaluation was (a) to determine the methodological quality of HEKS/EPER’s evaluations and identify

the opportunities for improvement and (b) to identify findings and recommendations in the evaluations

concerning the effectiveness of HEKS/EPER’s ‘holistic approach’.

Findings and conclusions

According to the evaluators, the quality of around 70% of the evaluations has been assessed as

satisfactory or good, whereas 30% were considered as not up to standards. The quality of good

evaluations is comparable with evaluations of other development agencies. Weaknesses are most

prominent with the ‘description of the operations’ and ‘formal requirements’, followed by the ‘description

of method’. Weaknesses in the method were the lack of sampling and the systematic collection and use of

quantitative information. Evaluators relied mainly on qualitative assessments and triangulation.

It should be noted that HEKS/EPER takes a more conservative and differentiated view on the

aforementioned 70% and, by applying exactly the same decision-making criteria as the evaluators, yet

interpreting and weighting them slightly differently, postulates a more realistic 50%.

Many findings reflect the review carried out at ID forum (Chapter 8.1) and the patterns of the recent ID

annual reports (Chapter 11). Key insight of the meta-evaluation were:

Strategy and approaches

Bottom-up and inclusive approaches which entail the involvement of the individuals and

communities in all aspects of planning and implementation are identified as an important element for

the support of rural communities. They create improved understanding of the intervention and

ownership by the communities, which is a vital condition for sustainability and are thus recognised as

important conditions for success.

Capacity building is acknowledged as being instrumental for individuals or groups involved in projects

to fulfil their roles and tasks, which in turn allows them to build up confidence and by that take

ownership of processes. However, a systematic follow-up of training courses is a weakness which

undermines the effectiveness of the intervention.

The strategy of combining the introduction of sustainable agriculture with the value chain approach

or income generation activities and with rights issues (access to land, food as a right) is improving

livelihoods of PooC and increases the chance for results to be sustainable.

The value chain approach does not always produce the expected results, mainly where the analysis of

market opportunities is weak and/or no proper marketing strategy is developed.

Conflict transformation projects can be successful if they integrate (human) rights issues and peace

building according to the specific needs and the opportunities in the context.

The participation of women in many cases is accelerates/improves the expected change. At the same

time, there is no clear evidence of a systematic integration of gender issues as a cross -cutting theme.

The role and involvement of young people is recognised and emphasised in some of projects, but

appropriate approaches to include them are not yet in place.

Partners

The careful selection of partner organisations is emphasised as an important factor because it

ensures a mutual understanding as a basis for joint action based on trust and clear roles. Usually, they

have the necessary capacity and competence, providing qualified staff open to new ideas, which is

frequently highlighted as relevant. Direct stakeholders such as cooperating community organi sations

show a mixed performance and are often dependent on the supporting organisation. POs are mostly

good at establishing cooperation and linkages between communities and important stakeholders at

local level which allows access to services and resources and by strengthening the local systems

increases the chance of sustainability.


34

Networks and alliances

Projects and programmes do reach out to different organisations at different institutional levels to

capitalise on possible synergies. They establish cooperation with different sectors and across

institutional levels for the purpose of harmonisation and for advancing the cause of the people

addressed by the projects. Networking is also used as an effective means for capacity building and

increasing outreach.

Planning and implementing

Analysis and observation of context, including stakeholder analysis, is not sufficient in a number of

projects. This leads to unrealistic, usually overambitious project designs, which in turn affects the

effective implementation.

The establishing and implementing of a good monitoring system for the purpose of steering is

stressed as critical factor for achieving planned results. Weaknesses are observed mainly with regard to

appropriate indicators and with the capacity of staff to collect and analyse the necessary information

and actually use it for steering.

Project performance is often influenced by implicit cultural patterns and power relations that are not

transparent and therefore are not considered sufficiently in the design and implementation of the

projects.

Findings about the effectiveness of the holistic approach

The evaluation reports do not provide evidence of a systematic link between the ‘holistic approach’ and

the results achieved. This does not mean that it does not exist, since the evaluators were not asked to

assess such a link and achievements are influenced by many other factors. However, the combination of

different themes which provide synergies is present in many projects and is mostly rated as added value.

Around 80% of the projects are rated as good, with relevance of the results rated highest. Partner

organisations are mostly highly motivated and in general sufficiently competent to implement projects.

The reason for projects with achieved results being unsatisfactory was mainly due to flaws in the design

(e.g. overambitious objectives and targets) and in the steering of projects, (i.e. shortcomings in project

cycle management).

The results achieved by the projects on the basis of the mentioned approaches do contribute to the

overarching goals of the HIP 2013-2017. Country programmes which capitalise on programmatic synergies

do amplify this contribution. However, looking at single projects, results usually do not cover the full

impact hypothesis, depending on the mix of approaches applied.

Recommendations

Improve qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods, especially with regard to sampling, and more

systematic collection and use – i.e. triangulation – of quantitative and qualitative information. Use

rigorous methods for specific evaluations like, for example, impact s tudies.

Continue to use ‘holistic approach’ as a framework that (a) orients projects and programmes

thematically and conceptually towards the impact hypothesis of the HIP, (b) promotes a better use of

synergies and cooperation, and (c) helps to improve project designs, by better considering the multiple

interdependences.

Consider thematic clarification with a sharper definition of the relevance of different themes and their

interlinkages.

Review and revise the value chain concept in DevCo projects with regard to quality of implementation

and thus to effectiveness.20

Cooperation and networking across levels will continue to be stimulated and supported.

20 In October 2015, HEKS/EPER ID launched the ‘Market system development – guideline to plan and facilitate market system changes’ document, which will guide COs and POs in implementing coherent projects.


35

Country programme and project evaluations

During 2015, HEKS/EPER conducted four evaluations of country programmes (CP) and was able draw out

useful lessons for the next phases of the respective countries and/or to adapt its international programme

in 2016 as well as draw up the HIP 2017-2020. Key findings and recommendations of the CPs are below.

List of country programme project evaluations:

Czech Republic: CP (CC)

Israel/Palestine: (DevCo)

Moldova: CP (DevCo)

Senegal: CP (DevCo)

List of important project evaluations:

Albania: Review on relation/cooperation between Donor (HEKS/EPER) and implementing partner.

Brazil: Rural development of ethnic minorities in the Minas Gerais region 2012–2015 (Chapter 4.1)

Ethiopia: Rift Valley Drinking Water Project Phase II 2012–2014 (Osho).

Ethiopia: Access to Livelihood & Literacy Project 2013–2015 (Astad).

Haiti: Réhabilitation des Infrastructures et des Centres Ruraux d’Education Participative RICREP III 2013–

2015 (HEKS/EPER).

Kosovo: Social inclusion and improvement of living conditions for Roma, Ashkali , Egyptians and other

vulnerable groups in Kosovo 2013–2015 (TDH & VoRAE) (Chapter 4.1).

Serbia: Social inclusion and improvement of living conditions for Roma in Serbia 2013–2015 (EHO).

South Sudan: Food Security and Economic Empowerment of Youth and Adults Project at Mugwo,

Otogo, and Lasu Payams 2013–2015 (MDO).

South Sudan: Water Sanitation and Hygiene Improvement Project 2011–2015 (SSUHA).

Zimbabwe: Traditional Apprenticeship Programme for Unemployed Young Men and Women 2013–

2015 (Silveira House) (Chapter 4.1).

8.3.1 Findings and recommendations for DevCo country programmes

During the reporting period, 3 external DevCo country programme evaluations were conducted by local

consultants. According to HEKS/EPER’s evaluation policy, all CP evaluations have to address the following

key questions: (a) to what extent did project results contribute to the respective CP objectives?; (b) to

what extent did the CP objectives contribute to the achievement of the HIP objectives? In this regard, all

evaluations indicate satisfying levels of objectives coherence between projects, country programmes and

the HIP.

The evaluations further indicate that through most of their respective projects, country programs have –

though each of them at varying degrees – made considerable progress in contributing to the following

objectives:

communities’ awareness levels about rights and duties, as well as taboos (e.g. in Palestine/Israel) show

significantly improved levels;

rights-holders have been claiming their rights by lobbying local authorities (duty-bearers) to access

public services and resources;

communities were able to increase their agricultural yields through improved natural resource

management;

households increased their incomes, whereas special emphasis has been put on women

secured access to land.

However, according to the evaluations, there are several areas which need further improvement:

projects need to improve their networking, coordination and collaboration with like-minded

development actors (private sector, research institutes, NGOs and the public sector), while at the same

time coping with the fact that the space for civil society keeps shrinking;

duty-bearers take up their responsibilities only slowly;

local implementing partners’ institutional capacities need to be strengthened much more systematically

in order to add to the sustainability of project results;


36

better access to markets, and fostering more inclusive market systems;

promoting access to land still takes place in a peace-meal manner, requiring more lobbying, advocacy

and cooperation at a larger scale.

8.3.2 Findings and recommendations for CC country programmes

The Czech country programme was the first within the frame of church cooperation. Despite some

reluctance from partners in the beginning, the CP performed well. Outcome and recommendations per

objective were:

Objective: Strengthening the work for children and young people, broadening the base of ECCB and its

contribution to the society.

Outcome: The ECCB education department successfully implemented activities for children. The young

person department faced greater challenges in reaching young people, faced with a society offering

more and more leisure activities.

Recommendations: Closer coordination between young people and education department; better

analysis of the needs of young people and promoting attractive activities, especially towards ‘next

generation’; inclusion of family advisory activities.

Objective: Strategically important church buildings are renovated.

Outcome: The reconstruction projects revitalised church members (volunteer work, increased identity,

financial support) and the ECCB gained visibility. Using the premises to reach people outside of the

church was successful in one project.

Recommendation: Planning social projects to attract public attention or increase relevance; securing the

support of the congregation and motivating church community are essential; transparent standards on

construction (offers, supervision, etc.).

Objective: The quality of the work of pastors and vicars as well as their professional satisfaction is good.

Outcome: Supervision aimed at professionalising the work of pastors/vicars and backing them up in

difficult situations. Although the commitment of the supervisor was high, the acceptance of this service

amongst pastors remained low and did not meet expectations. Even so, needs are high.

Recommendation: Making supervision a compulsory part of pastor’s formation . HEKS/EPER will not

continue to support this aspect, continuous training of supervisors is needed, raising awareness among

synod/congregation/pastors of the importance of supervision.

Objective: DECCB has developed a project in a new field, which is financed sustainably.

Outcome: With a project aimed at informing and supporting exploited migrant workers, the partner

successfully developed a project in the new thematic field. The results are encouraging.

Recommendation: Expanding in other regions with field work and shelter; organisationally and

financially not in a position to continue without external support, therefore evaluating new funding

possibilities and incorporate more legal competence; more advocacy towards duty bearers needed (‘fair

employer certificate’; control mechanisms by government).

Overall, the process of planning, implementing and even evaluating the CP had a positive impact on

internal coordination and professionalization. Strengthening the children and young person aspects will

remain one of the most important challenges in ECCB. The same can be said about the infrastructure in

the congregations. For both outcomes, the needs are huge. In order to achieve a clear vision and impact ,

strategic thinking has to be developed.

Learning from mandates

HEKS/EPER considers mandates an opportunity for developing its institutional capacities and achieving its

growth ambitions. Mandates offer much more than just leverage of HEKS/EPER’s own means, as they

create a pull effect and have considerable potential to raise the profile and thematic competence of

HEKS/EPER. It often goes hand-in-hand with sophisticated modalities, high requirements by the donor, for

example for monitoring or reporting, new working approaches or different organisational structures.

HEKS/EPER’s experience is that mandates contribute considerably to institutional learning which, in turn,

increases HEKS/EPER’s capacity to implement its projects and programmes, all over the world,

professionally and effectively.

While HEKS/EPER strives to increase the share of mandates in its portfolio, a selective approach in its

acquisition strategy is applied. First and foremost, the mandates have to fit fully into HEKS/EPER’s


37

international programme, and secondly the organisational structure needs to be in place to effectively

implement the often relatively large programmes. Additionally, participation in various tender procedures

has proven to be resource-intensive. The financial volumes of the tendered mandates are trending

upwards and the need for strategic partnerships is increasing. Besides our traditional partners, HEKS/EPER

is investigating fostering collaboration with partners among the ACT Alliance, where HEKS/EPER is actively

participating in the working group for institutional funding of the ACT EU.

8.4.1 South Caucasus – MOLI, Georgia

The MOLI project is documented in Chapter 4.2.

8.4.2 Niger (PHRASEA)

In November 2014, a mid-term review took place that was commissioned by the SDC. The programme was

relevant and consistent with national and sectorial strategies. The programme has been effective in many

cases for (i) strategic options, (ii) control over communal projects. However, this effectiveness still requires

consolidation. The programme’s approach is pragmatic and realistic, which is welcomed by all those

responsible.

This overall positive assessment is the basis for drafting the next phase of the programme from the

beginning of 2016. In view of this new phase, HEKS/EPER will also evaluate the existing HSI/HEKS/EPER

cooperation model (HEKS/EPER role is as subcontractor) with regards to its added value.

8.4.3 Roma mandates

The activities for Roma inclusion in Eastern Europe are documented in the Appendices in the respective

countries (Romania, Kosovo, Hungary).

8.4.4 Water consortium

The activities of the water consortium in Africa are documented in Chapter 4.1.

Lessons learnt from MSC assessments

This year’s MSC stories were conducted in seven DevCo programmes21, involving nearly 30 different

projects. HEKS/EPER wants to highlight the following findings and lessons learnt:

Finding 1

Where project/programme success takes time to materialise, a mixed approach of short -term support (e.g.

distribution of livestock and seeds, or short-term income-generating activities) and long-term support (e.g.

advocacy campaigns relating to government land distribution) is recommended. However, short-term

support generally carries the risk of donor dependency and lack of sustainability, whereas long-term

support often carries the risk of undermining people’s ownership and contribution, due to the lack of

tangible short-term results.

Lesson learnt: The combination of short-term and long-term support is essential for successful projects in

many contexts. Successful projects are interventions that are ‘meaningful’, which essentially means that

they must be motivating and make sense to target communities. An increasing number of projects

(Bangladesh, India, Palestine/Israel, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Senegal and Brazil) are investing in designing

meaningful interventions by systematically combining short-term and long-term approaches.

21 Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Palestine/Israel, Philippines, South Caucasus and Zimbabwe.


38

Finding 2

Analogous to one of the main insights gained in the previous year, a recurring pattern identified is that

HEKS/EPER and a considerable number of its local implementing partner organisations still struggle with

the institutionally required shift away from a short-term, charity-based mind-set to a development

approach based on

long-term visions

(wide-ranging theo-

ries of change,

including exit

strategies), inter-

project synergies

(beyond infor-

mation sharing) and

the drive for

systemic change

and outreach. It

should be noted

however that the

above-mentioned

finding (number 1)

on combining

short-term and

long-term support

may to some extent

make it challenging

to enact the

required shift.

Lessons learnt: The required shift in mindset is a process that takes a long time, absorbs many resources

and has various implications in terms of HEKS/EPER strategic planning, our comprehension and application

of PCM and the way we measure results and success. As development organisations, HEKS/EPER and its

implementing partners need to be patient in terms of implementing HEKS/EPER’s growth strateg y,

pragmatic in terms of demanding adherence to state-of-the-art PCM standards and we have to maintain a

constructive organisational culture when it comes to handling these challenges.

Finding 3

From numerous MSC stories, we have found that project initiatives aiming at ‘breaking with taboos’ and

‘bringing up new topics’ in public often triggered unexpected negative as well as positive changes.

Examples include discriminated minority groups (e.g. Dalits in Bangladesh and India) expressing that they

do not wish to strive for social integration into mainstream society (it should be noted however that this

concern was raised at the initial stage of the concerned projects, when beneficiaries had not yet been

made more aware of their rights); or challenging historical ‘facts’ via empirical and archaeological research

(e.g. in Palestine/Israel), causing strong counter-reaction by the Israeli public, which however eventually led

to improved acknowledgment of the Nakbar; or, as indicated by various examples in Cambodia,

Bangladesh and India, the recurring abuse of drugs, alcohol and the related issue of domestic violence

‘doing harm’, thereby undermining projects’ effectiveness and susta inability.

Lessons learnt: Projects striving for breaking with taboos and raising new topics have the potential to

spur public attention, awareness and discussion about change-provoking issues at the socio-political level,

which in turn can promote positive change. However, it is often difficult to channel that change, let alone

foresee how it will influence other project activities (in order to avoid violating the ‘do -no-harm’ principle).

In order to be able to specifically and proactively identify constructive new topics and taboo-breaking

interventions, it is of the utmost importance that HEKS/EPER work with local partner organisations with

strong local legitimacy, solid knowledge about the context and high conflict sensitivity. These are key pre -

conditions for being able to (i) spot constructive ‘new topics’ and ‘taboo-breaking initiatives’, and (ii) in

the case of negative unexpected changes, handle the challenges through effective negotiation between

conflicting stakeholders.

Raising vegetables in Senegal.


39

9 Management for quality, progress and results

Relevance in access to land (competence, visibility, action)

OBJECTIVE 5.1 DEV CO

HEKS/EPER has thematic competence in Switzerland on the topic of land law, land conflicts and

access to land.

In 2015, HEKS/EPER´s recognition and legitimacy – primarily in Swiss, but also in international networks –

concerning access to land further increased. For example, HEKS/EPER joined the ‘global network for the

right to food and nutrition’ in 2015, which opens political space for dialogue and debate, as well as for

building synergies and pursuing joint actions at global level related to the right to food. One major

thematic focus of this network is access to land and HEKS/EPER has started to bring in its experience on

this issue and benefit from fruitful exchanges with like-minded organisations within the networks. It is

envisaged that HEKS/EPER will play a more active role within this network in global processes accompanied

by the network such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests,

the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People in Rural Areas and the Global Convergence

Process on Land and Water Struggles, which are all linked to the theme of access to land.

In addition, HEKS/EPER hosted a meeting of the Swiss Forum on Rural Advisory Services in November 2015

and presented its experiences in linking the HRBA and rural advisory services within projects on access to

land.

Institutional progress

This chapter describes how HEKS/EPER fosters the relevance and efficiency of its activities as postulated in

its institutional objective.

OBJECTIVE 5.2 DEV CO / HA / CC

The HEKS/EPER International Programme’s work is relevant and implemented professionally.

With the HIP 2013-2017, the issue of the ‘resilience’ of our rural communities came onto the agenda and

since 2014, HEKS/EPER has been investing more in training and support.

Key management objectives have and will continue to be relevant presence on four continents and to

continue increasing the financial volume per country, also through mandates. An adequate overhead and

useful instruments (PCM, FFAG, learning, etc.) for effective and efficient implementation will remain

important. Maintaining the number of focus countries with country offices at around 16 is also important

from the perspective of the ID programme portfolio. In the focus countries, humanitarian and

development work are implemented based on programme needs by country office staff and POs.

CC fostered it presence by new applying solid PCM and evaluation exercises as well as a programm e

approach in the three main CC countries (Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic). Partners are

appreciative of this systematic follow up and project/programme backing.

Programmatic approach, geographic coverage and thematic focus

Under ID’s overarching programme objective, HEKS/EPER is carrying on the process of geographic and

thematic concentration in order to foster competence and efficacy. HEKS/EPER aims to implement

coherent country programmes where the various partners and projects create synergies and contribute to

HEKS/EPER’s theory of change.

In 2015, HEKS/EPER intervened with 142 international and 37 HHQ staff in cooperation with more than

100 partner organisation through more than 250 projects in 33 countries. HEKS/EPER has local

coordination offices in 17 DevCo priority programmes (for reports by country and map, see Appendix A).

The ongoing reduction to 16 DevCo priority programmes (by the middle of 2016) enables HEKS/EPER to

achieve the objective of a cost volume of at least one million Swiss francs per country. In eight countries,

the yearly expenses in 2015 were above one million Swiss francs. The overall volume of project spending

(DevCo and HA) increased from CHF 30.2 million in 2014 up to CHF 34.5 million in 2015. In 2015, one

country programme came to an end. The phasing out process in Albania was mainly carried out in 2014

and finalised in 2015. A specific evaluation on relationships between donors and implementing partners

was carried out in 2015, which provided important feedback on how to manage implementation set-ups.


40

Since 2013, the ratio of large vs small projects in country programmes has improved gradually, with less

than 30% large projects in 2012/2013 and more than 50% in 2015, meaning that interventions have

become more efficient and gained relevance.

Strengthening PCM and M&E competence in developing an updated learning and steering cycle under the

finalised HIP 2013–2017 monitoring framework was an ongoing key activity in 2015 for supporting this

objective (Chapter 9.4). As such, substantial external expertise was brought in by working together with a

senior advisers and short-term consultants from KEK Consultants22. This was to support the roll out and

use of the tools and templates to improve monitoring and steering in all priority countries. Specific staff

training was carried out at the HHQ and for 10 COs and selected POs, which will increase professional

implementation in 2015.

An additional 70% of internal-staff resources for CT and gender were allocated to the team of thematic

advisers during the course of 2015. With the thematic resources, specific HKIs and gender guidelines were

finalised in 2015. HHQ as well as CO staff were trained in their implementation.

Programme management

HEKS/EPER’s formulates its objectives in institutional capacity and coherent programme managements in all

three working section (DC, HA and CC) as ‘to deliver professionally implemented and relevant programme and

project work’. To achieve this, high standards in management and technical skills within country offices and

local partner organisations are required. Finding suitable HEKS/EPER staff and local partners is therefore an

essential and constant challenge. In various countries, new programme and admin staff were recruited in the

HEKS/EPER offices and new partner organisations have been selected (Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Moldova, Georgia,

Colombia, etc.).

The challenge of finding partners with the ability to implement projects of a certain financial scale (CHF

100’000 to 250’000 per year) was an ongoing challenge in 2015. Stronger efforts need to be undertaken

and HEKS/EPER will thus itself be more involved in project definition, management and coordination.

Larger mandates are implemented in cooperation with other iNGOs or acting as a subcontractor. Fostering

a multi-stakeholder approach, with a main partner organisation and various service providers (government,

private sector, partner NGOs, research institutes, etc.) is a promising option in proj ects with bigger annual

volumes.

Implementation methods

According to the context and sector, HEKS/EPER uses different implementation methods. In general,

HEKS/EPER continues with its approach of acting close to local realities in mainly rural areas via qualified

staff. The main stakeholders are the people and communities we work with, rural families organised in

locally rooted organisations of civil society such as CBOs, associations and producer groups. Implementing

partners are local or national NGOs or lobbying platforms and networks. If there is no specific qualified

partner organisation present in the programme region, HEKS/EPER can act as a self -implementer through a

project implementation unit (PIU), as is already the case in a few priority countries (Niger, Moldova, Haiti,

etc.).

In DevCo and HA, HEKS/EPER selects POs and works to build a coherent partner portfolio to achieve its

objectives. POs must have valid competences, capacities, resources and credibility to professionally

implement projects and make progress. Stronger efforts need to be undertaken, either to build the

capacities of existing partners – HEKS/EPER will continue investing substantial resources in training – or to

find new partners in order to meet HEKS/EPER’s requirements and be able to handle projects of up to CHF

250,000 or more per year. The aim is also to implement mandates in cooperation with other iNGOs or

acting as a subcontractor. Acting as part of a multi-stakeholder approach, with a main partner

organisation and various service providers (government, private sector, partner NGOs, research institutes,

etc.), is a promising option.

Highlights of international capacity building

HEKS/EPER invests substantial resources in training partners every year (see list below). In 2015, CHF

116,577 was spent on training DevCo partners in 14 programmes. There have been additional

assignments in various countries included in the ‘regular’ costs of the country offices.

22 KEK Consultants: www.kek.ch


41

HEKS/EPER workshops on PCM and M&E for the programmes in Bangladesh, Columbia Ethiopia, India,

the DR Congo and the South Caucasus as well as refresher workshops for Moldova, Honduras, Brazil

and Cambodia.

Workshops on resilience mainstreaming were held for the programmes in Bangladesh, India,

Cambodia, Honduras, Colombia and Brazil.

Advocacy and peace building: the DR Congo and Niger.

Management, finances and administration: the DR Congo, Palestine, Moldova and Senegal.

Value chain/inclusive market: Cambodia and Niger.

Technical skills: Senegal, Haiti and Georgia.

Security

HEKS/EPER ID works mainly in fragile contexts, which involve risks such as lack of security, trust and/or

reliability and lack of progress, combined with difficulty in providing proof of impact. In summer 2015,

HEKS/EPER introduced a new security policy, setting up processes and structures to safeguard HEKS/EPER’s

personnel in Switzerland and abroad, as well as its assets. This also facilitates responsible and safe

implementation of programmes in insecure contexts. The implementation of these guidelines requires

training at the various levels – the administrative management of these guidelines is supported by a new

(2015) focal point on security. Overall policy is specified in three separate guidelines:

Headquarters Security Guidelines: Instructions for HQ staff before, during and after travelling abroad.

Field Security Guidelines: Country security plans with regularly revised country risk assessments and

contingency planning.

Task Force Security Guidelines: Crisis management at HQ and in the field in case of major security

incidents.

Monitoring and evaluation

The main focus in 2015 was on continuing to revise HEKS/EPER’s evaluation practices, HKI concept and

PCM standards/handbook. The corresponding highlights included:

A meta-evaluation of 23 projects and 4 country programmes conducted between 2007 and 2015,

indicating for the bulk of evaluations

(> 60%) satisfactory to highly satisfactory methodological quality. The lessons learnt helped us, for

example, to further refine our evaluation policy.

The official launch of our revised PCM handbook and key indicators concept, both central elements of

our global approach to M&E in all focal countries.

The mainstreaming of these elements by running eight training workshops, including three refresher

workshops. In total, 10 focal countries and nearly 40 local partner organisations were covered by these

workshops.

Two decisive milestones in view of a more systematic compilation and analysis of a global body of

‘evidence’ include: i) The continued focus on setting up a digital data gathering, storing and reporting

system for our key indicators concept. We expect to systematically collect global data from 2016 and to

report against our global objectives from 2017 onwards. And ii) carrying out and accompanying several

rigorous impact evaluations (Bangladesh, Georgia and Lebanon).

Finances

HEKS/EPER’s overall expenditure in 2015 amounted to CHF 70 million (CHF 62.9 million in 2014).

For activities in the International Division, HEKS/EPER spent CHF 34.5 million (CHF 30.2 million in 2014),

including humanitarian aid.

Total ‘DevCo South’ project costs amounted to CHF 15 million, while ‘DevCo East’ project costs totalled

CHF 4.4 million. In 2015, SDC contributed 31% to the costs of DevCo South and East (32% in the

previous year).

The purely DRR portion totalled CHF 0.4 million, not taking into account that HEKS/EPER is mainstreaming

more and more DRR activities in their ‘regular’ projects.

In addition to the CHF 7.6 million contribution, the SDC financed the setting up of the thematic advisory

team with CHF 0.4 million.


42

SDC’s contribution to the overall costs of the international cooperation activities was 23%. For financial

sustainability, it is vital to not depend on just one key source, which is why HEKS/EPER takes care to have a

diversified ‘income portfolio’.

Controlling ID at HEKS/EPER’s headquarters

Last year was marked, on one hand, by the involvement of the controlling team in the internal project on

the development of a new IT and process structure (ERP) and by the continual increase i n accounting

requirements in Switzerland and abroad. Many processes which have become established over time had to

be redefined and set out in writing for the ERP. The head of Controlling is also deputy sub-project

manager and much time had to be dedicated to this task. The new system is set to be introduced

throughout HEKS/EPER next year.

The total revision of the finance and administration handbook (FFAG) for our coordination offices abroad

is also a major project. The previous one was introduced in 2011. It was time to revise this handbook as

many new provisions have since been introduced to ensure accounting and administration in accordance

with the regulations. This is an extremely resource-intensive task and requires a high level of

concentration. This work will continue in the New Year. Global introduction is planned for the end of

2016/start of 2017.

The Controlling department was reinforced at the beginning of the year with the arrival of Ms Patricia

Senning. The team now consists of three people with total working hours of 240%. Ms Senning brings

extensive controlling experience from the private sector.

The team visited eight different countries during the year under review. An internal audit of the respective

coordination office was carried out in each case. Certain partner organisations were also visited and

financing issues discussed. The opportunity is also taken to provide training on financial and administrative

matters for employees at the HEKS/EPER offices. Attention is also paid to raising awareness of corruption

issues. The audits did not uncover any irregularities.

Figure 8: Budget and closing of the HEKS/EPER International Programme 2015. Country/programme Budget expenses Closing expenses Closing SDC

contribution DRR

Closing SDC contribution others

% of SDC contribution

Development cooperation south ASIA

Asia general 317'000 119'020 0 0 0%

Bangladesh 1'012'000 1'152'474 25’870 562’218 51%

Cambodia 937'000 808'766 124’489 207’075 41%

India 627'000 529'280 0 238’124 45%

Palestine/Israel 1'507'000 1'336'853 0 671’608 50%

Philippines 627'000 549'987 0 130’122 24%

Vietnam 57'000 39'919 0 0 0%

total Asia 5'084'000 4'536'299 150’359 1’809’147 43%

AFRICA

Africa general 0 0 0 0 0%

Ethiopia 1'768'000 1'344'375 18’815 340’888 27%

Eritrea 65'000 523 0 0 0%

Niger 1'455'300 1'577'983 60’003 525’128 37%

Senegal 1'044'800 921'268 72’083 573’684 70%

Zimbabwe 805'000 909'313 9’656 641’756 72%

South Sudan 1'647'000 1'385'072 0 250’219 18%

DRC 895'000 991'671 0 153’311 15%

total Africa 7'680'100 7'130'205 160’556 2’484’986 37%

THE AMERICAS

Americas general 89'000 60'497 0 34’545 57%

Brazil 1'062'000 785'836 23’335 233’813 33%

Columbia 949'000 691'195 0 166’300 24%

Guatemala 0 77'771 0 0 0%

Haiti 1'200'000 1'117'205 42’653 258’741 27%

Honduras 704'000 560'138 9’407 124’245 24%

total Americas 4'004'000 3'292'642 75’396 817’645 27%

total DevCo south 16'768'100 14'959'146 386’310 5’111’779 37%


43

Development cooperation east EUROPE

Europe general 420000 371866 0 162’839 44%

Albania 5000 9749 0 0 0%

Armenia 230'000 252'014 0 45’481 18%

Azerbaijan 1'168'300 564'827 0 0 0%

Georgia 1'331'710 944'315 0 84’874 9%

Kosovo 520'000 522'514 0 0 0%

Moldova 1'040'000 1'112'443 13’369 240’046 23%

Romania 700'000 619'529 0 25’952 4%

total DevCo east 5'415'010 4'397'259 13’369 559’553 13%

total DevCo south&east 22'183'110 19356405 399’681 5’671’331 31%

Humanitarian aid HA south

Asia reserve 200'000 0 0 0 0%

Israel/Palestine 0 10’603 0 0 0%

Indonesia 41'000 38091 0 0 0%

Iraq 0 321’885 0 0 0%

Lebanon 1'220'266 1’823’851 0 0 0%

Pakistan 1'137'150 1'193'530 0 0 0%

Philippines 1'745'000 1'026'990 0 0 0%

Africa reserve 150'000 0 0 0 0%

Niger 0 72'539 0 0 0%

South Sudan 158'000 340'254 0 0 0%

Americas reserve 150'000 0 0 0 0%

Haiti 285'000 648'955 0 0 0%

Honduras 0 132'174 0 0 0%

total HA south 5'086'416 5’610’873 0 0 0%

HA east Hungary 0 41’499 0 0 0%

Serbia 1200000 1’567’290 0 0 0%

total HA east 1200000 1’567’290 0 0 0%

total HA 6'286'416 7’187’163 0 0 0%

Church cooperation CC Europe regional 297000 167’199 0 0 0%

Albania 60000 51’328 0 0 0%

Czech Republic 253000 212’104 0 0 0%

Hungary 230000 182’922 0 0 0%

Italy 60000 53’968 0 0 0%

Romania 439550 426’326 0 0 0%

Serbia 600000 561’362 0 0 0%

Slovakia 50000 40’178 0 0 0%

Ukraine 148700 167’868 0 0 0%

total CC 2138250 1’863’255 0 0 0

Other global projects 1'174'000 1’202’989 0 0 0%

Management costs Programme management 2'583'000 2'564'502 45’084 642’824 26%

Thematic advice 720'000 711'108 0 400'000 56%

Management ID HHQ 1'617'000 1'618'140 30’056 428’550 28%

total management 4’920’000 4'893'750 75’140 1’471’374 31%

Contributions to other HEKS/EPER departments total contributions 0 0 25’180 357’294 ---

.

HIP total Int. cooperation total 36'701'776 34’494’562 500'000 7'500'000 23%

Country / programme Budget expenses Closing expenses Closing SDC contribution

DRR

Closing SDC contribution

others

% of SDC contribution


44

Alliances and networks

Since HEKS/EPER often works with community-based organisations and local partners, and is itself a rather

small player – also when implementing directly – the integration of its activities into thematic or

advocacy/lobbying networks is of crucial importance. HEKS/EPER strives to bring communities, partner

organisations and other stakeholders into contact with each other. HEKS/EPER’s endeavours to openly

search for and cultivate cooperation, partnerships, dialogue and networking contributes to a more

effective and efficient achievement of its set objectives. Through networking, HEKS/EPER is committed to

expanding knowledge and expertise for the benefit of its own international cooperation work, to lobby for

the interests of the people and communities we work with.

HEKS/EPER is therefore strategically affiliated with specific coalitions and cooperation partners. In this

section, the most significant national and international networks that HEKS/EPER belongs to are described.

In addition, HEKS/EPER is a member of many national and multinational networks relating to specific

priority countries.

Figure 9: Major networks/specialist groups HEKS/EPER participates in. At country level, COs engage in additional networks.

Networks Topics Benefits / Contributions

ACT Alliance (global network of more than 140 FBOs and

churches active in 140 countries in development cooperation, humanitarian aid and advocacy)

Development policy, cooperation, CoP, working groups: Rights and

Development, Acquisition and others. Cooperation at the country level (joint projects, knowledge

exchange, advocacy, etc.).

Knowledge sharing, networking, joint activities on DC.

Joint advocacy, local and international level with

intergovernmental institutions.

Joint capacity building in HRBA and joint studies/analysis and work on enabling environment.

Alliance Sud (policy platform of 6 big Swiss iNGOs advocating for just global structures)

Programme group and different working groups on development policy, lobbying.

Joint public relations, knowledge sharing on policy and DC principles.

Swiss NGO Platform (incl. subgroups)

Policy development, lobbying and cooperation.

Knowledge sharing, networking, joint activities on DC, development of an online course and setting up a capacity building and advocacy hub.

Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition

Right to food, access to land and resources, advocacy.

Knowledge sharing, joint activities, documenting good practices, coordination of actions/exchange (also for CBOs).

Swiss NGO DRR platform Specialist group on DRR/CCA. Knowledge sharing, setting standards in the field of DC and HA, collaboration and partnerships, advocacy work.

HEKS/EPER is a member of the platform core

group and carries out mandates in the name of the platform.

SDC networks Professional groups: Agriculture and

Food Security, Conflicts & Human Rights, Climate Change and Environment, Decentralisation &

Governance, Employment & Income, Water, Gender, Disaster Risk Reduction (Resilience).

Knowledge sharing, reflecting on our own work.

Joint capacity building.

Swiss Forum on Rural Advisory Services

Agriculture and Rural Advisory Services.

Knowledge sharing on good practices.

Aguasan Specialist group on water. Knowledge sharing on water.

Swiss Water Partnership Thematic network on water. Knowledge sharing on water.

KOFF / Swisspeace Specialist group on peacebuilding. Knowledge sharing on peacebuilding.

Bread for all Development policy and

cooperation.

Knowledge sharing and cooperation on climate

change, gender, religion and right to food.

EFECW Ecumenical Women’s Network. Knowledge sharing.


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WIDE Specialist group on gender. Knowledge sharing on gender and DC.

FAO NGO Working Group FAO processes, agriculture and food systems in general.

Knowledge sharing, development policy development and networking.

Swiss Fair Trade Fair trade promotion, advocacy and

importing.

Reflections on fair trade and networking.

Max Havelaar Foundation Foundation for fair trade. Strengthening fair trade in Switzerland. HEKS/EPER is a founding member.

SEVAL (Swiss Evaluation Society) Evaluations. Experience sharing on evaluations and networking.

Alliance Sud: As a member of Alliance Sud, HEKS/EPER contributed to the development process of the

next phase of AS strategy. HEKS/EPER staff are participating in various AS working groups.

ACT Alliance: In 2015, HEKS/EPER was active in various national forums of ‘Actions by Churches

Together’. For example, in Honduras, Ethiopia, India, Palestine/Israel or the Philippines, this allows us to

make use of synergies in knowledge sharing, advocacy and capacity building. Coordinating the

humanitarian response after a catastrophe is also an important joint action. The main ACT partners of

HEKS/EPER are DanChurchAid, Norwegian Church Aid, Christian Aid, the Church of Sweden, the ICCO

and Bread for the World.

In the ‘rights and development working group’, HEKS/EPER was active in coordinating and pushing

forward the implementation of the strategy to cope with shrinking space for civil society.

ACT EU: The working group on institutional funding of APRODEV/ACT-EU aims at facilitating exchanges

on funding opportunities among like-minded European organisations. HEKS/EPER actively participated and

considers the working group a potential opportunity for closer collaboration and a place for learning from

organisations that have a wealth of experience in the acquisition of third-party programme funding.

Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition: In 2015, HEKS/EPER became member of the

Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition. The network is an initiative of public interest civil

society organisations and social movements that share an understanding of the meaning of the human

right to adequate food and nutrition. Taking advantage of the diversity of its members’ activities and

expertise, the network primarily opens political space for dialogue and debate, as well as for building

synergies and pursuing joint actions at the global level.

KOFF: HEKS/EPER is a member organisation of the Centre for Peacebuilding platform. An exchange forum

meets frequently to discuss developments, debates, challenges and concepts , to improve conflict

transformation work and conflict sensitivity. Apart from mutual learning on best practices and the

development of tools, HEKS/EPER has been actively participating in following up on projects by the conflict

sensitivity retreat and the development of an online learning course.

Swiss NGO DRR platform: HEKS/EPER is an active member of the platform and is part of the platform

core group. In 2015 HEKS/EPER organised a learning event on climate change adaptation in small-scale

agriculture – Focusing on adapted seeds and varieties on behalf of the Swiss NGO DRR Platform. In the

learning event, expert knowledge was shared by FiBL and through case studies presented by HELVETAS

Swiss Intercooperation, Caritas and HEKS/EPER. HEKS/EPER/EPER also led the development of a ‘Learning

Curriculum’ for the platform. The idea of the curriculum is to develop a self-paced e-learning course which

can be used for capacity building in the field and in Switzerland.

SDC networks: Individual members of HEKS/EPER’s staff belong to various SDC networks, such as the

networks on agriculture and food security, employment and income, climate, energy and environment,

disaster risk reduction, and conflicts and human rights.

Enabling environment working group: HEKS/EPER is a proactive member of the ‘Enabling Environment’

working group of the Swiss NGO forum and is the leader for one of the two focus countries. While

HELVETAS is coordinating exchange activities on Laos, HEKS/EPER is facilitating exchange platforms to

develop projects which aim at further enhancing an enabling environment. The work involves intense

exchange with other Swiss and international NGOs, the SDC and the EDA.

Informal climate change working group: HEKS/EPER is a member of an informal working group,

composed of representatives from five Swiss and German faith-based organisations (HEKS/EPER; Bread for


46

all, Fastenopfer, Bread for the World and the Diakonie Emergency Aid). The 2015 meetings led to a rich

exchange of practical knowledge concerning climate change and DRR issues, which also stimulated

working contacts between the partner organisations of the various agencies and dialogue with research

institutions in the countries.

FAO NGO working group: HEKS/EPER is a member of an informal working group of Swiss NGOs

(Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, Swissaid, Biovision, Alliance Sud, Declaration of Berne, Fastenopfer,

Uniterre and HEKS/EPER) dealing with different FAO processes and other issues related to the agricultural

development sector.

Swiss Forum on Rural Advisory Services (SFRAS): SFRAS is an informal group of experts from Swiss

development, research, education and private sector organisations, who are involved in rural advisory

services (RAS) in developing countries. HEKS/EPER regularly participates in meetings of this forum and

organised an exchange on the link between the HRBA and RAS in 2015.

BFA cooperation community: HEKS/EPER is active in the groups on the right to food, religion and

development.

Swiss Fair Trade: This is the umbrella organisation for Swiss fair-trade organisations, advocating for

strengthening fair trade in Switzerland, fostering fair-trade structures, maintaining the high standards of

fair trade and further promoting the principles of fair trade.

AGUASAN: Established in 1984, it is an interdisciplinary Swiss community that brings together a wide

range of specialists to promote wider and deeper understanding of key issues in water supply, sanitation

and hygiene in developing countries. It is helpful for increasing HEKS/EPER’s competence in water-related

matters.

Swiss Water Partnership: HEKS/EPER benefits from SWP, which brings together relevant stakeholders to

promote a sustainable and equitable use and management of water resources and universal access to

water and sanitation, as well as being a strong voice on water policies and a dynamic learning platform.

WIDE Switzerland: WIDE examines Swiss development politics, as well as economic policy and foreign

affairs, with a focus on gender relations, to engage in the public debate and to convey knowledge in

these subject areas. HEKS/EPER uses this knowledge to improve the mainstreaming of gender issues in its

programmes.

United Nations humanitarian clusters: HEKS/EPER is a member of the relevant humanitarian response

clusters. These clusters can change depending on the sectors/countries HEKS/EPER is responding in. For

example, in the Philippines, HEKS/EPER/TFM is involved in the food, shelter and early recovery/livelihoods

clusters (Roxas City/Panay Island).

The Swiss Evaluation Society: The Swiss Evaluation Society helps HEKS/EPER share experience and

improve the quality of its field evaluations, involving politics, academia, administration, NGOs and the

private sector.


47

10 Communication

HEKS/EPER’s communication department supports the activities of ID with fundraising, public events, media

coverage, thematic campaigns and advocacy work. Below is a selection of the most relevant activities:

Media and public relations: In 2015, HEKS/EPER provided the public with information through press

releases about emergency aid projects for refugees of war in northern Iraq, Lebanon, Serbia and

Hungary. In its monthly newsletter, HEKS/EPER reported, amongst other things, on emergency aid for

smallholding families in drought-hit Honduras, about the peacekeeping efforts of a human rights

observer in Colombia and the progress of Georgian smallholding families in the marketing of hazelnuts.

HEKS/EPER provided further information about particular project work topics in the four editions of its

magazine handeln.

Fundraising campaign on developing rural communities in Brazil: ‘If you are asking yourself

whether making donations is worthwhile – ask him,’ is what HEKS/EPER called upon the public to do

while entering into dialogue with people in new ways. HEKS/EPER answered questions about donating

on its campaign website for development projects in general and for emerging countries, such as Brazil,

in particular. A Brazilian smallholder supported by HEKS/EPER and employees of HEKS/EPER and the

local partner organisation CAA fielded questions from donors and the general public. An advert, a

documentary film and comprehensive resources for collection campaigns by the parishes were also

included in the campaign.

Corporate responsibility initiative: The initiative launched by HEKS/EPER and 76 further

organisations in April 2015 calls for binding regulations on Swiss companies operating internati onally.

They should also be legally obliged to adhere to human rights and environmental standards abroad.

People who are victims of human rights violations should be able to take legal action against companies

and claim compensation in Switzerland. A total of 65,000 of the 100,000 signatures required had been

collected by the end of 2015.

Climate alliance: In May 2015, the ‘Climate Alliance’, of which HEKS/EPER and 60 other organisations

are members, presented the Federal Council and Parliament with their climate petition. Switzerland

should completely convert its energy supply to renewable sources by 2050 and provide developing

countries with financial support for climate protection and adaptation measures. The ‘Climate Alliance’

also held campaign days in seven Swiss cities ahead of the Paris Climate Summit and organised the

‘Train2Paris’ to campaign for an ambitious and fair climate policy in the French capital, with like -minded

people from all over the world.

‘Together for Syria’: In view of the humanitarian crisis in Syria, HEKS/EPER and seven other aid

organisations launched the ‘Together for Syria’ campaign in April 2015 , together with Swiss Solidarity.

The public expressed their solidarity with the victims of war through donations and via social media and

appealed to politicians to work towards achieving a diplomatic solution to the conflict. HEKS/EPER also

supported the ‘A Tear for Syria’ online campaign. A graphic artist from Basel sold self-designed t-shirts

and pullovers and donated the proceeds to the HEKS/EPER project for Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Info visits in Swiss parishes: HEKS/EPER employees regularly provided information at public events in

parishes, podium discussions or confirmation classes about the aid organisation and its project wo rk

abroad. HEKS/EPER made 140 such appearances in 2015.

‘Eastern Europe Day’: Twenty-five years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, HEKS/EPER carried out a

review on Eastern Europe Day 2015. HEKS/EPER evaluated what it had achieved in Eastern Europe and

in the Balkans as an aid organisation and outlined what the priorities of project work would be over

coming years. While Béla Kató, a reformed bishop from Siebenbürgen and HEKS/EPER contact person

from the outset, reported on the period after the change and set up of agricultural and social projects,

guests from Eastern Europe discussed the current challenges facing HEKS/EPER partners at the

workshops, with around 200 participants.

EAPPI Onlookers exhibition: The Onlookers exhibition also gave a presentation of HEKS/EPER at

various locations in Switzerland in 2015. At the exhibition, former participants in the ecumenical

support programme EAPPI, which assists HEKS/EPER with public relations and awareness -raising work,

reported on their deployment as human rights observers in the West Bank using texts, photos and

videos.

‘Goat machine’: HEKS/EPER employees were again present at events in various Swiss cities with the

goat machine in 2015. The goat machine illustrates how poor farming families can escape hunger and

poverty thanks to the donation of a goat and how goat donations quite literally multiply.


48

11 Emerging patterns of HEKS/EPER’s international cooperation

At HEKS/EPER’s headquarters, the 2015 annual country reports from DevCo country offices, humanitarian

aid projects and church cooperation as well as the results of various M&E tools were shared, analysed and

rated. As in previous years, emerging patterns of HEKS/EPER’s various interventions – either opportunities

or challenges – most relevant to HEKS/EPER have been identified and are described in this chapter.

HEKS/EPER will work on these identified issues during 2016 onwards to aim towards more effective

implementation of the HIP and in this way make significant contributions to improving equality and

prosperity among people and communities in need.

Patterns from 2011 to 2015

Identified patterns from previous years proved to be landmarks for new developments within HEKS/EPER,

refining its profile and actions. Figure 10 shows the ‘major pattern lines’ since 2011. HEKS/EPER ID used

and uses these learnings for steering its programme, incorporating new guidelines, tools, capacity building

measures and learning events such as the ID Forum 2015 (Chapter 8.1). Below is a compilation of how

HEKS/EPER dealt with the clearest patterns:

Access to land: As in previous years, the topic of access to land remains of key importance for

HEKS/EPER’s work that combines various aspects: local and international governance, conflict

transformation issues, economic and social empowerment and inclusion, the fulfilment of the right to

food, etc. HEKS/EPER will continue to refine its profile with regards to access to land and further expand

its thematic competence and experience (see also Chapter 4.14.1 and Chapter 9.1).

Systemic perspective: Achieving systemic change has become increasingly important in the

implementation of HEKS/EPER’s programmes and projects. HEKS/EPER seeks to foster transformations in

the structure or dynamics of a system that lead to impacts on large numbers of people, either in their

attitudes and values, material conditions, behaviour or access to information, services and p roducts. At the

ID forum, a workshop was held on the systemic perspective, which was the basis incorporating this

principle in the new HIP phase 2017–2020.

Networks: HEKS/EPER’s endeavours to cultivate cooperation, partnerships, dialogue and networking

contribute to more effective and efficient achievement of its set objectives , aiming at relevance, up-scaling

and systemic change. Through networking, HEKS/EPER is committed to expanding knowledge and

expertise for the benefit of its own international cooperation work and lobbying for the interests of the

people and communities it works with. An important step made in 2015 was the strengthening of

cooperation with the ACT Alliance in certain countries (Honduras and Zimbabwe).

Rural urban interdependencies: The fast rate of urbanisation and rising migration to cities brings with it both

risks and opportunities for migrants, communities and governments. HEKS/EPER identified that in its contexts,

rural urban migration leads to brain drain in rural areas, decreasing basic services, shrinking economic and social

power and reducing prospects, especially for younger generations. Therefore, HEKS/EPER’s programmes have to

be sensitive to the following topics: How to deal with project where there are participants who ‘lose out’? How

to work with highly ‘migratory’ communities (decreasing vs. managing migration)? Also, HEKS/EPER decided to

keep manly to rural areas in the HIP 2017–2020, but of course took into account the linkages to local or

national centres relevant for rural communities (markets, decision power, etc.).

Resilience building: Acknowledged as a key opportunity for people and communities to be able to

withstand shocks and stresses, HEKS/EPER invested remarkable amount of resources to mainstream resilience

into its projects and programmes. This has resulted in meaningful progress at institutional level and initial

results that are encouraging in the countries. Resilience has to be followed up with in the next HIP phase.

Insecurity and fragility: There is little evidence that the number of fragile states will reduce over the

next half decade. Rather, it is the case that the pressure on resources will continue to increase, which in

turn may result in further internal conflicts in developing countries. Government development agencies,

including the SDC, are shifting the focus of their programmes towards countries or areas with a fragile

context. The rationale behind this is that countries in these conditions can barely provide the basic needs

of its people, namely the poor. With HEKS/EPER having already been operating in such contexts for many

years now, it is of interest to understand whether its projects have a particular impact, due to the

approach, or whether the critics are right who claim that support based on the development model is not

feasible in such situations.


49

Enabling management: How to manage successful and effective international cooperation was and is an

institutional key concern of HEKS/EPER. Therefore, HEKS/EPER has invested in new management tools

(PCM, monitoring, guidelines, etc.), has held workshops at HHQ and in the COs to increase capabilities

and has implemented its ‘focus strategy’ rigorously (Chapter 9.2).

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Taking into account the many

dimensions of ‘access to land’

Taking into

account the many dimensions of

‘access to land’





Taking into

account the many dimensions of

‘access to land’

Networks / Partnerships to

be effective


be effective


be effective


be effective

Networks /

Partnerships to be effective

Link short-term and long-term support

for ‘meaningful’ projects







Focus on young people / migration / urban vs rural …



Focus on young

people / migration / urban vs rural …

Striving for systemic change

for sustainable change

Striving for systemic change

for sustainable change

Striving for

systemic change for sustainable

change

Space for reflection, knowledge sharing,

and learning as development sources





DRR / Resilience building for

sustainable change

DRR / Resilience building for

sustainable change

DRR / Resilience

building for sustainable change

How to cope with increasing

insecurity and fragility

How to cope with increasing

insecurity and fragility

How to cope with

increasing insecurity and

fragility

Complexity challenges our reading

and assessment of impact and RBM

Complexity challenges our reading

and assessment of impact and RBM

Complexity

challenges our reading and assessment of impact and RBM

Holistic approach and HRBA to spot

diapraxis, handling conflict sensitivity





Enabling manage-ment: strengthening

PCM, human re-sources, expertise…





Abuse of drugs, alcohol, and

increased domestic violence

Abuse of drugs, alcohol, and

increased domestic violence

Figure 10: At knowledge-sharing workshops during the reporting process, HEKS/EPER identified recurring patterns affecting its work.


50

Patterns of HEKS/EPER work in 2015

In 2015, the HHQ team identified more than 20 relevant patterns of HEKS/EPER’s work, including issues

like capacity development, access to land and enabling environment for civil society actors. However, it

deliberately analysed six emerging patterns that had not been discussed in-depth in previous years.

11.2.1 Connecting development cooperation, humanitarian aid and church cooperation

To work towards a more humane and equitable world, responding to poverty, inequality, discrimination,

conflicts or disasters and respecting the dignity of people and communities worldwide, HEKS/EPER’s

International Division works in the three sections of development cooperation, humanitarian aid and

church cooperation. This is an opportunity for joint tackling of global challenges. The intensity of the

interaction and joint programming of the three sections have to be defined by the needs, set -ups,

capacities and scope for relevance and effectiveness on the ground in the respective countries.

Relief, reconstruction/rehabilitation and development do not always follow a direct line from relief

activities after a disaster to reconstruction to development. A disaster can disrupt the daily life of people

and communities to such an extent that relief is necessary. More often, humanitarian aid and development

work take place at the same time, side by side in the same communities. Priority countries such as Niger,

South Sudan and the DR Congo oscillate between DevCo programmes and HA interventions. Shocks and

stresses such as recurrent droughts or conflicts hamper the successes of DevCo. In Niger for instance,

timely limited HA interventions complement DevCo projects, but in future, regular programming of DevCo

will include these ‘gaps’ and integrate resilience building and humanitarian components. Ideally and in the

long-term, with the idea of linking relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD) and resilience building,

people and communities should be able to cope with shocks and stresses without HA interventions. Thus,

resilience building is to be mainstreamed more rigorously in DevCo, HA and also in CC (Chapter 7.4).

While a HA component may be necessary, a ‘receiver mentality’ among individuals and communities must

be avoided, along with a ‘charity mindset’ among partner organisations and country offices. HA and CC

could be entry points for DevCo, but clear distinction of the sectors (e.g. Middle East) is needed to

coordinate appropriately and to not hamper other interventions. Of course, high volume HA projects need

a clear and strong management set-up (e.g. the Philippines).

Coordinated programming exists in the Roma-inclusion projects in Hungary and Romania, combining CC

and DevCo. In addition, possible synergies may arise in Lebanon and Syria with CC pilots that have so far

been ‘isolated’ on their way. Also, the LRRD approach that HEKS/EPER is committed to links the activities

in the different phases in order to provide sustainable long-term solutions to affected people and

communities. In particular, HA livelihood projects should be designed in the direction of LRRD. Distribution

itself should not last longer than six months, after which transfers to food/cash for work should be

initiated.

To intervene adequately, it is imperative to take into account the capacities and experiences of country

offices (CO) and partner organisations (PO). In addition, building on and intentionally strengthening local

capacities in cooperation with local communities (participation), partners, authorities and other iNGOs, but

not overloading POs by forcing them to work in sectors they have no competences, is essential.

Strengthening the capacities of POs in priority countries through training and setting up a disaster

response plan (Chapter 4) is necessary to enable them to play a relevant role, if a humanitarian role is

needed, while not neglecting the DevCo programme.

In addition, HEKS/EPER will invest in CC partners with the potential to implement projects in DevCo (e.g.

EHO in Serbia or Diakonia in Romania) or HA (e.g. EHO in Serbia).

11.2.2 Creating space for innovation

Alternative ways of designing and implementing programmes and having the flexibility to adapt

management set-ups, knowledge and activities are an asset for coping with complexity and changing

contexts. Furthermore, NGOs should reflect on their habits, approaches and institutional organisation in

order to not become biased towards applying the same routine for a long time in many places. Also the

latest findings in human, technical or environmental science should be taken into account. Innovation,

how to foster ownership and sustainability are key in finding ways to make long-term local investments.

Therefore, innovation can make a difference in addressing challenges of international cooperation and

enhancing progress in favour of people and communities in need. Agents of innovation may be NGO staff


51

and partners themselves, but can certainly also be other stakeholders such as universities, private sector,

grassroots organisations, think tanks, etc. It is also key to find partners and networks to cooperate with

(duty-bearers, rights-holders, experts, etc.) that enhance progress and can leverage HEKS/EPER’s inputs. At

the same time, people and communities that HEKS/EPER is working in favour of must be involved.

Certainly, HEKS/EPER should strive to create space for innovation internally as well as in its programmes,

involving various actors, fostering platforms and dialogue. Bringing together actors with different

backgrounds and perspectives can create synergies and innovation.

Examples of innovation within the HIP are the ‘Open Forum’ in Israel/Palestine, the broad regional

approach towards Roma inclusion in Eastern Europe with DevCo and CC partners, the joint HRBA training

and programming in Zimbabwe or the phase-out in the Philippines ‘forcing’ partners and communities to

find new ways of continue the work.

To ‘create’ innovation, there has to be an appetite for risk, in-depth knowledge in the respective field of

action, low bureaucratic hurdles, financial and human resources, as well as drive for action. If an

innovation was identified as relevant, there must be mechanisms for integrating it into regular

programmes.

11.2.3 Impact of projects on household level and gender relations

Any project intervenes directly or indirectly in the decision-making processes and power dynamics of

households. Gender relations in particular are affected. Selecting individuals as project participants is

therefore very sensitive. With monitoring and evaluation focusing more on systemic changes, impact at a

‘higher level’ and possible simple men/women ratios, it remains a challenge to monitor the effects within a

family and its nearest environment (community level) to ensure that no harm was done with the

intervention.

As early as the Annual Report 2012, a ‘family vision survey’ of a fair-trade project in the Philippines for

promoting a more gender-just household decision-making process identified some unintended negative

effects. Through discussions with the 440 small-scale farmer households involved in the project,

HEKS/EPER analysed and reflected on the use of (increased) income. Talks within the family helped create

awareness of different needs and was a basis for shared responsibility between men and women and a

participatory decision-making process.

Therefore, HEKS/EPER has to find ways to link conflict sensitivity, its ‘do no harm’ c laim and the cross-

cutting issue of gender with its human rights-based approach. Observing dynamics at household level

might also be a delicate matter causing conflicts, frustration or expectations. In particular, more emphasis

has to be put on gender relations, understanding that in choosing, for example, women as participants,

we aim to empower them but may cause jealousy, disturb the current balance and – in a worst-case

scenario – generate violence against women in households or communities. Broadly speaking, analysis may

overwhelm the implementing partners. However, COs and partners should be made aware and meaningful

spot checks could be introduced to monitor this field.

11.2.4 Lack of prospects causing migration, apathy and radicalisation

In many contexts, real or perceived deprivation23 and inequalities (Chapter 2, page 6) lead, in the long-

term, to disillusioned individuals and groups. Remote rural communities with limited access to resources,

low incomes and insufficient services (health, education, etc.) are prone to losing opportunities to become

part of a just, stable and prospering society. Rural-urban migration itself leads in rural areas, where

HEKS/EPER mainly works, to brain drain, decreasing basic services, shrinking economic, social and political

power and fewer prospects, especially for the young people (Chapter 2, page 7).

Refugees and internally displaced people affected by humanitarian crises living for years abroad in difficult

circumstances (camps, guest families, slums, etc.) with no prospect of return, income, independency,

recognition, etc. are also in a long-term difficult situation.

23 Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (2012): Relative deprivation operates through an awareness of what others have in relation to the perceiver (materially, culturally or in terms of social status) and when they perceive these differences to be meaningful and potentially unjust.


52

The lack of

prospects or relative

deprivation play a

facilitative role in

migration (searching

for prospects in

urban areas or

abroad in developed

countries), apathy

or radicalisation24.

As a NGO, it is

difficult to set up

effective projects

with up to 50% of

the participants

leaving within a

single phase.

Projects and

programmes must

take into account

this rotation. Also,

they must have a

strategy for creating

prospects and dea-

ling with migration

positively. HEKS/EPER therefore confirms its strategic decision to maintain its focus in rural areas. Increased

income and job opportunities as well as participation in political processes are key for development and

prospects. Many examples show positive effects such as home care programmes in Moldova and Romania

bringing social services to the elderly, handicapped and the sick in remote and neglected areas. Another

example is access to land and resources (water) in many rural areas (Brazil, Cambodia, India, Niger, South

Sudan, etc.).

In HA projects, HEKS/EPER will strive to lobby for the inclusion of refugees in the local society , with access

to ‘regular public services’ instead of keeping them apart in isolated camps. HEKS/EPER also wants to have

a holistic HA perspective through broad context analysis and linking activities and actors at all levels.

11.2.5 Opportunities of diapraxis

HEKS/EPER ID identified several promising examples demonstrating the positive effects of diapraxis.

Practical work/projects will be combined towards joint aims of different groups to enhance positive

relationships and trust and to foster economic progress (yields, income, etc.) at the same time. Thanks to

‘regulated’ access to water and land for pastoralists and farmers in Niger (Zamtapo project), violence in

this areas was able to be reduced. A value chain project in Bangladesh (cattle fattening and services for

better production and market access) fostered social cohesion and mitigated conflicts between minority

and mainstream communities. In Cambodia, it was important to include conflict transformation

components into a water project to create acceptance for building new, more sustainable water

infrastructure. Afterschool projects in Kosovo and Romania increased education opportunities for

minorities, but also fostered social inclusion as well as cohesion with children of the mainstream

community. It also linked up services and mobilised government resources (infrastructure, finances).

Fostering access to basic services through dialogue between duty-bearers (such as local authorities) and

rights-holders (such as minorities) proved to be successful if a common interest could be identified, e.g.

better education for all or increased income for all. Solutions must be negotiated in transparent processes.

Spaces for exchange are key for positive effects and deconstruction of stereotypes and prejudices.

24 Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (2012): ‘One of the most consistent findings in the research is that involvement in violent radicalisation is a group phenomenon, with social relationships and networks (peer pressure and codes), playing a key role in pathways to participation.’

Fostering prospects for the young generation.


53

In coming years, ID will strive to explore the diapraxis approach and promising practices in-depth, in order

to identify opportunities for more projects and programmes around the world (Chapter 4.3).

11.2.6 Fragility and its effects on security, sustainability and progress

HEKS/EPER is working in many fragile contexts and insecurity affects individuals and communities as well

as HEKS/EPER’s staff and partner organisations. Criminality, impunity, corruption and violent conflicts

hinder development progress and put international cooperation programmes at risk. To set and achieve

objectives, in-depth knowledge of the context is needed: they got to be adapted to reality. Risk

assessments and management at programme, financial and security level are compulsory. Furthermore,

activities in remote areas may also hamper implementation. Access to the project can be time-consuming,

monitoring progress may be limited and so effectiveness may be low.

The holistic approach combined with the core components of ‘overcoming violence’ and ‘strengthen civil

society’ is especially appropriate in dynamic and fragile contexts. A holistic perspective incorporates and

addresses key drivers of fragility, such as weak governance institutions, violent conflicts, environmental

stresses, competition for resources, economic decline and poverty with state and non-state actors

shrinking the room for manoeuvre for civil society, also fostering criminality and impunity. Implementation

and monitoring methods must be adequate (direct or outsourced implementation). Flexibility to react to

the context is important. Overall, the fragility factor has to be included in project and programme design

with strategies to adapt to the context and to handle the risks.

Further patterns in 2015

Other opportunities identified, but which are rated as less important by HEKS/EPER staff, for increasing the

relevance of HEKS/EPER’s activities were:

Capacity, resources and competence of partners and staff adequate to carry out sound analysis,

coherent programming and implement projects/programmes according to the HIP and to adapt to

changes.

Working effectively with strategic alliances and in networks as well as advocating and fostering

dialogue to enhance progress.

Working with service providers in a M4P approach shows positive results for small-scale farmers.

Institutionalising a systemic perspective in the programmes.

How to select and use networking effectively – moving from talking to taking action – with

‘measurable’ results on gaining knowledge, access to stakeholders, influencing policies, advocacy or up-

scaling impact.

Importance of agro-ecological production for sustainable agriculture, yields and income.

Church partners gained relevance with its programmes on social inclusion.


54

12 Perspectives on the implementation of the HEKS/EPER International Programme

Through the ID forum in 2015 (Chapter 8.1), the meta-evaluation (Chapter 8.2), evaluations of the

country programmes and partner projects (Chapter 8.3) as well as analysing all yearly country reports, a

set of patterns (Chapter 11.1), conclusions and recommendations were composed. Out of these various

meetings, workshops and learning events, the 2015 annual report created a reference document for the

HIP implementation perspective for 2015 and beyond.

The outcomes of the ID forum and the meta-evaluation reveal the meaningfulness of HEKS/EPER’s holistic

approach at country level, with promising practices on diapraxis (Chapter 11.1.5) indicated in country and

field visit reports. These include the implementation of the human rights-based approach for access to

food, land, resources and services. Multi-stakeholder approaches involving the private sector, research

institutes, local governments and producer groups at a local level have proven to be relevant (e.g. Georgia,

Moldova and Cambodia).

Capacity building, exchanges and field visits are important conditions for institutional perspectives. A good

example of HEKS/EPER competencies in this area is the PCM training and the resilience workshops as well

as the ID forum (Chapter 9.3). The continuation of training provided at HHQ and in the countries during

the initial capacity-building stage had visible impact in 2015 and will be followed up on in 2016 with the

aim that both aspects will be implemented fully and in good quality from 2017 onwards (new HIP phase).

With its reflective approach, HEKS/EPER/EPER continues to be a learning organisation reflecting on its

activities with the progress and documenting of lessons learnt as well as steering decisions included in its

reporting.

Access to Land: At the beginning of 2016, a new overarching project on access to land will be developed

with the aim of increasing the recognition and legitimacy of HEKS/EPER/EPER’s interventions concerning

access to land. This project will comprise the objective to increase the innovation potential of

HEKS/EPER/EPER through an active portfolio management of projects and initiatives related to access to

land, the identification and documentation of flagship projects, a consolidation of in -house understanding

on access to land combined with regular publications of experiences and positions related to access to

land and the strengthening of linkages with relevant national, regional and international processes (e.g.

the Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and

Other People in Rural Areas or the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Tenure of Land, Fisheries and

Forests) and networks (e.g. the Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition).

Managing programmes/projects: HEKS’ objective for institutional capacity and coherent programme

management in all three working sections (DC, HA and CC) will be fostered via four regional meetings at

the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, focused on management topics with the aim to:

Transfer programme management knowledge/approaches/guidelines from HHQ to COs (discussion of

management roles and responsibilities of different programme levels).

Carry out sound professionalization in finance and administration (introduction of the updated FFAG

and link it with the ERP and PCM).

In the DevCo sector, with the withdrawal from the Philippines (end of 2015) the process of geographical

focusing will be ended for the time being. The main target remains for coming years to deploy funds and

resources effectively and to gain relevance. HEKS/EPER strives to work with 7 to 10 partner organisations

per country and to implement two or three projects per country with a budget of over CHF 250,000 per

year. The ratio between HHQ costs and total ID programme costs will become more efficient. CO budgets

should not exceed 15–20% of the programme volume. In addition, an increase of overall programme

volume seems realistic. The growth may not take place in every country, but in a few where HEKS/EPER

has potential to become a more relevant player and where more management and thematic capacities can

be deployed. Strategies on a moderate decentralisation will be evaluated.

In order to be able to respond quickly and professionally to crises and disasters with its humanitarian aid

sector, HEKS/EPER/EPER launched a capacity assessment and building project in 2016 in countries with

DevCo priority programmes with the aim establishing disaster response plans (DRP) for each CO,

enhancing the response capacity in crises.


55

The church cooperation collaboration scheme is based on partnerships with reformed churches and their

social bodies. The programme volume as a whole for CC might increase through new project initiatives

(mainly social inclusion) in Eastern Europe and expanding to the Middle East.

The perspectives developed with this annual report will be a bas is for the HIP 2017–20. Already,

HEKS/EPER can clearly state that, overall, continuity will be a hallmark of the next phase, building on the

strengths of the international programme 2013–2017. HEKS/EPER will adapt its strategy gradually by

refining objectives, approaches and principles. Possible adaptations or continuations are:

Emphasising the importance of the systemic perspective for enhancing systemic changes to overcome

inequalities at their roots up to governance level, meaningful for individuals, households and

communities. This means HRBA has to be the foundation of all programmes and projects fostering

human rights, enabling environment or conflict transformation, as well as enabling access to land,

resources, services or an inclusive market system (learnings from Chapter 7.1 and Chapter 8.1).

Striving for ‘inclusive and efficient market systems’ will expand the focus on ‘value chain development’

and ‘access to markets’ (learnings from Chapter 8.1).

Assessing how synergies among the three sections (DevCo, HA and CC) can be used in a

complementary way, stimulating effective and relevant interventions to respond to the needs of people

and communities (learnings from Chapter 11.1.1).

Resilience is now an inherent part of the DevCo theory of change and HEKS/EPER continues to

mainstream the topic; this also applies for HA and, if appropriate, in CC (learnings from Chapter 5.4,

Chapter 7.4 and Chapter 11.1.1).

HEKS/EPER has to place more emphasis and invest more resources on gender, including a process of

mainstreaming the topic (learnings from Chapter 7.3, Chapter 8.1 and Chapter 11.1.3).

Creating more prospects for refugees (HA) and for young people in rural communities (DevCo) – with

topics such as education, employment, income, social cohesion and security – to avoid brain drain,

recruitment into violence, apathy, etc. (learnings from Chapter 11.1.4)

Rephrasing DevCo, HA and CC objectives to point out how programmes and projects will generate

impact.

The holistic perspective works and therefore remains key. It enhances in-depth contextual analysis with

‘broad holistic lenses’ and links the various fields of actions of programmes/projects, making progress

towards the ToCs of each section (learnings from Chapter 8.2).

Dealing with root causes of violent conflicts and enabling space for civil society actions will continue to

be a core topic of HEKS/EPER, especially in fragile contexts. Projects will foster dialogue between duty-

bearers and a vibrant inclusive civil society (learnings from Chapter 4.4).


56

HEKS/EPER – Swiss Church Aid

Headquarters Phone +41 44 360 88 00 Seminarstrasse 28 Fax +41 44 360 88 01

Postfach Email [email protected]

8042 Zürich Web www.heks.ch

HEKS/EPER is a member of


57

Appendices

A) Activities by country (DevCo, HA and CC)

This chapter highlights the main activities and achievements by the 33 countries HEKS/EPER/EPER was

active in in 2015. The respective programme costs are published in Chapter 9.4. Key insights on

programme progress are summarised in Chapters 4 (DevCo), 5 (HA) and 6 (CC) according to the

overarching objectives. In addition, you will find in-depth analysis in Chapter 8 for countries where

evaluations have been carried out.

Interested readers can check the yearly country reports for 2015 for each DevCo priority programme and

HA intervention, available on request.

A.1 Africa

DR Congo (DevCo)

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is rich in natural resources, but poverty is nevertheless widespread.

The socio-political situation is also very unstable and the crime rate is high owing to poor governance and

conflict. HEKS/EPER operates in North Kivu, where local partner organisations are involved in the

prevention of violence and helping young former militiamen and soldiers enter working life. Violence

against women is widespread. In 2015, HEKS/EPER provided psychosocial support for almost 700 victims ,

supplemented by medical care. Conflicts over land continually lead to violence and ethnic tension.

HEKS/EPER contributes towards the prevention and resolution of conflic ts through its projects and

supports farming families in securing rights to their own land and increasing agricultural production.

Appendix, figure 1: Countries HEKS/EPER worked in with its three sections in 2015.


58

Ethiopia (DevCo)

Although Ethiopia is making progress in the fight against hunger and poverty thanks to comprehensive

government programmes, the country is still threatened by severe droughts and hunger crises owing to

climate change and the overexploitation of soil. HEKS/EPER and its local partner organisations support

around 55’000 people in the rural population with improving access to drinking water, developing

sustainable farming methods, promoting biodiversity and increasing their resilience to droughts and

flooding, especially in the semi-arid region of Borana. To provide the rural population with access to

natural resources, HEKS/EPER is intensifying cooperation with specialist Ethiopian organisations and

networks and commencing activities in new regions. Individuals are also to be provided with greater

support in asserting their rights with the authorities.

Niger (DevCo and HA)

In Niger, people are suffering from food shortages, malnutrition and epidemics as well as at the hands of

the terrorist group Boko Haram, which is terrorising the south-east of the country from Nigeria. Hundreds

of thousands of people have been displaced. Together with its partner organisations, HEKS/EPER is

improving food security as well as access to land and natural resources. In 2015, just under 21 ’000 people

obtained improved access to water thanks to the construction of water points, improved hygienic sanitary

facilities and the connection of schools and healthcare centres to the drinking water supply. The ongoing

drought also threatened the harvests and food situation in the Goulbi N’Kaba valley where HEKS/EPER

promotes the sustainable use of doum palm. HEKS/EPER provided 3’500 individuals at particularly high risk

of poverty and hunger with ‘cash for work’ for a three-month period to prevent people from emigrating,

falling into debt and having to sell their livestock.

Senegal (DevCo)

Having their own plot of

land is a key economic

and cultural factor for

smallholding families in

Senegal. However, their

country is increasingly

threatened by land-

grabbing. Private and

state investors acquire

land for large-scale

projects for which the

local population does not

possess any official land

deeds. HEKS/EPER and its

local partner organi-

sations are supporting

families with small-

holdings and which breed

cattle in protecting their

interests, asserting their

rights and securing access

to land. As a result of this support, the authorities awarded land deeds to around 700 people in 2015,

three-quarters of whom were women. In addition to the representation of interests, HEKS/EPER ’s partners

also undertook efforts to raise awareness. Public events and radio and TV programmes provided

smallholding families with information about land rights issues and land reform, seeking to improve the

rights of smallholding families. HEKS/EPER also promoted the sustainable farming of vegetables and fruit

and the creation of new sources of income. 3’300 project participants increased their income in 2015.

South Sudan (DevCo and HA)

Despite the peace agreement in the civil war between the government and the opposition, the situation

remains very precarious in South Sudan. Around 2.3 million people had been displaced by October 2015.

A total of 63,000 people have sought refuge in the province of Central Equatoria where HEKS/EPER is

active. HEKS/EPER provided around 9’000 displaced people and host families with support in improving

their food security and access to drinking water and sanitary facilities. HEKS/EPER constructed wells and

latrines and implemented hygiene campaigns. In total, 376 families received nets and canoes for fishing or

Well in Ferlo, Senegal.


59

seeds, saplings and tools for farming. In addition to its humanitarian aid, HEKS/EPER is also implementing

10 projects concerning the development of rural communities in South Sudan in the fields of access to

water, hygiene, access to land, farming, fishing, literacy, training in crafts and trades and income

generation. Around 29’000 people obtained improved access to water in 2015 thanks to HEKS/EPER.

Zimbabwe (DevCo)

Living conditions remain precarious in Zimbabwe. The unemployment rate stands at over 80% and food is

particularly scarce in rural areas. The El Niño phenomenon resulted in a severe drought for the second year

in succession. HEKS/EPER stepped up its efforts in 2015, doubling both the budget and number of partner

organisations. Families with smallholdings acquired knowledge about organic and diversified farming,

increased their food security and diversified their sources of income. As young people, in particular, are

being affected by the precarious economic situation, HEKS/EPER helped 13 ’000 young people obtain

access to education. The political situation remained relatively stable despite the power struggle between

the government and opposition. The people nevertheless face great uncertainty and are distrustful of one

another. Around 34,000 young people received support in peaceful conflict resolution and presenting

their needs to the authorities.

A.2 Asia

Bangladesh (DevCo)

Millions of people live in extreme poverty in Bangladesh, including many Dalits and Adivasi who are

discriminated against. HEKS/EPER and its partner organisations are assisting the economic and social

integration of these minority groups. People are learning how to secure their food supply through

sustainable farming methods and cattle breeding and are receiving support with setting up small

businesses and obtaining access to local and regional markets. In 2015, 82% of the 4’700 households

supported increased their income. HEKS/EPER and its partners are also strengthening core organisations

which are asserting the rights of the Dalits and Adivasi vis-à-vis the authorities – such as their right to land

access as well as access to education. Some 79% of children attending a pre-school supported by

HEKS/EPER in the villages were admitted to state schools.

Cambodia (DevCo)

Cambodia is one of the

poorest countries in South

East Asia. It is still being

affected by the adverse

impact of the Khmer Rouge

regime. Authoritarian

governance and weak

democracy are hindering

economic development. The

agricultural sector, from

which around 80% of the

population earns their

livelihood, still has significant

development potential. In

order to improve the self-

belief, self-determination and

livelihoods of Cambodian

smallholding families,

HEKS/EPER is deploying a

broad-based national programme. Various projects aimed at improving agricultural production and

promoting peaceful social coexistence complement one another here. In 2015, HEKS/EPER supported over

18’000 smallholders, 2’000 of whom improved their income and 1’200 their access to water supply.

India (DevCo)

In India, HEKS/EPER is supporting food security and improving the income of marginali sed population

groups, such as the Dalits and Adivasi. As the government is promoting land acquisition by major

investors, secure access to land is of fundamental importance to smallholders and day labourers.

HEKS/EPER is supporting two land rights forums in two federal states which assist local committees with

HEKS/EPER‘s seed and market access project in the village of Kampong Os.


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asserting land deeds and is conducting advocacy work. In 2015, 1,750 smallholding families obtained

access to 919 hectares of land with the support of HEKS/EPER. HEKS/EPER is also promoting agri -

environmental farming. In 2015, HEKS/EPER launched two pilot projects which provide support to 750

smallholding families for the production and marketing of crabgrass and cashew nuts. Thanks to a cattle-

breeding programme, 11’500 families boosted their income and 22’650 disadvantaged families secured

income as part of state-supported employment programmes thanks to mediation by HEKS/EPER ’s partners.

Indonesia (HA)

HEKS/EPER completed its humanitarian aid projects in Indonesia in 2015. The aid organisation looks back

on successful reconstruction work on the island of Nias and in the Padang and Parianam region in West

Sumatra. In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami in 2004 and the earthquake in 2005, HEKS/EPER,

together with the partner organisation Holianaa, distributed emergency aid parcels. The economic basis

for life of recipient families was restored and sustainably improved in six villages from 2006. Women, in

particular, were given support with setting up small businesses as pig farmers, traders in vegetables, cacao

and rubber, or as shop owners to provide families with multiple sources of income. Credit and saving

groups were founded and courses were held in accounting, organic farming and animal husbandry. To

ensure the people are better protected during the next disaster, HEKS/EPER ’s ‘LP2M’ partner organisations

– in cooperation with the local population – improved disaster management provisions.

Iraq (HA)

Millions of people have fled to the Kurdish regions or abroad owing to the advance of Islamic State (IS)

forces in Syria and Iraq. The population in the Kurdish regions of Iraq has increased by half owing to the

arrival of displaced persons. Around a third of them are living with host families but most have to rent

precarious accommodation at inflated prices. In 2015, HEKS/EPER, together with its partner organi sations,

provided emergency aid for displaced persons and host families in need. In the first half of the year, 2,282

families in Sulaymaniyah were supplied with food parcels. A further 281 particularly needy families also

received blankets and mattresses, 436 families heating stoves and 171 families financial support or cash

for work. In the second half of the year, HEKS/EPER supported around 45,000 refugees at three refugee

camps by supplying hygiene products, above all soap, baby products and washing agents.

Israel/Palestine (DevCo & HA)

Growing tension and use of violence were seen in 2015 and civil society’s freedom of movement was

further restricted. The causes of the conflict must be tackled and violations of human rights addressed if

the situation is to be improved. HEKS/EPER strengthened civil society actors which are using non -violent

means of overcoming existing conflicts and inequality and helped to establish networks between local and

international organisations to contribute towards a fair peace settlement based on human rights.

HEKS/EPER also sought to improve the protection of the civilian population by dispatching in ternational

human rights observers as part of the ecumenical support programme EAPPI and carried out awareness -

raising measures in Switzerland. Over 100’000 people were reached through peace initiatives and

protective measures in 2015. In total, 4’000 people were provided with access to drinking water, 25 ’000

with access to land and 55’000 obtained or improved their access to state services, such as education or

healthcare.

Lebanon (HA)

The situation in Syria and neighbouring

countries further deteriorated in 2015.

Around four million people have now fled

from Syria to bordering countries with

almost 1.5 million going to Lebanon. In

the refugee camp in Shatila, a district of

Beirut, Syrian refugee families are living in

temporary accommodation without

windows and running water. The rent is

so high that families have barely any

money left for food and household goods.

In 2015, HEKS/EPER supported around a

thousand refugee and 190 very needy

host families who took in refugees. They

were given bankcards to which 100 or 50 Shatila camp in Lebanon – gas for heating/cooking.


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US dollars were credited each month. This enabled the families to buy food and medicines or to pay for

rent and medical care. HEKS/EPER also distributed blankets and ovens to 1 ’100 families during the winter

months. In addition, 1’600 families received vouchers to buy fuel for their ovens.

Pakistan (HA)

Even five years after the devastating floods in Pakistan, access to clean drinking water has not been

secured for a large proportion of the population concerned and living and hygiene conditions are

precarious. Since the end of emergency aid and reconstruction work, HEKS/EPER – together with its

partner organisation Research and Development – has been supporting the provision of access to clean

drinking water and the construction of sanitary facilities. With the support of Swiss Solidarity, a project is

currently being implemented in the district of Naushehro Feroze which aims to improve access to drinking

water for 15’000 families in 300 villages. In 2015, HEKS/EPER distributed hygiene kits, installed hand

pumps and built communal latrines and shower cubicles. The population’s awareness of hygiene measures

was also raised and they learned how to maintain the sanitary facilities. The village committees drew up

disaster plans to better protect the population during the next catastrophe.

Philippines (DevCo and HA)

HEKS/EPER withdrew from development cooperation projects at the end of 2015. HEKS/EPER and its

partners supported marginalised population groups on the island of Mindanao. In 2015, 12,000 people

enjoyed improved access to land or a better harvest. HEKS/EPER nevertheless remains active both on

Mindanao and on Panay in the fields of humanitarian aid and disaster management provisions. In 2015,

HEKS/EPER supported efforts to set

up and secure the basis of existence

for 17’600 people. Fishing, farming

and seasonal worker families,

particularly under threat from the

frequent typhoons, were provided

with tools, diversified their

production or set up small

businesses. Disaster committees

drew up evacuation plans for

emergency situations and mangrove

woods were reforested. Four

evacuation centres are currently

being built that will be used outside

of times of disaster for educational

purposes and sporting activities. A

total of 41’000 individuals

benefitted from these measures.

Vietnam (DevCo)

The Tri Ton region in southern Vietnam where the Khmer minority live is one of the poorest parts of the

country. Many children, in particular orphans and those who have lost one parent, have to work to

contribute to the family income. This means they attend school irregularly and that the school dropout

rate is high. HEKS/EPER has been supporting orphaned children and their host families since 2007 and is

assisting their social integration. The children received a balanced diet, access to the healthcare system

and remedial teaching. The school dropout rate in the project area was reduced to below 5%. HEKS/EPER

handed the project over to the local authority at the end of June 2015. Well -trained project staff and the

local women’s association continue to support the children and host families.

A.3 The Americas

Brazil (DevCo)

The current political and economic crisis in Brazil continues to restrict the rights of many people.

Indigenous and traditional communities but also HEKS/EPER’s local partner organisations, which support

minorities with protecting and asserting their rights, are also under threat. Despite the reduced room for

manoeuvre, the partner organisation CAA was able to support the communities in 2015 in securing their

rights to a total of 63’166 hectares of land. The indigenous population group, the Xakriabá, was able to

extend its area to 43’357 hectares. CAA also launched a project in agro-environmental production, which

Reconstruction of houses on Panay Island.


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increases the income of the rural population through commercial picking and the development of value-

creation chains, and promotes biological diversity. With the partner organisation FIAN, HEKS/EPER is

undertaking legal action that supports the Guaraní-Kaiowá in asserting their rights to food and land and is

to be submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2016.

Columbia (DevCo)

The armed conflict between the Colombian government and the FARC rebels has now lasted for over 50

years. An end to the peace negotiations, which have been going on for over three years, now appears in

sight. However, people are still suffering from violence, displacement, poverty and hunger. HEKS/EPER is

supporting local partner organisations with peacebuilding efforts and improving the basis for existence of

displaced families and rural communities in conflict regions. HEKS/EPER withdrew from the Chocó region

in 2015 and set up new projects in the Santander region. These promote organic and diversified farming

and access to indigenous seed varieties. The HEKS/EPER partners OFP and FIAN are monitoring the food

situation of the rural communities in order to assert their right to food. They are calling upon the

government to promote the use of indigenous seed varieties that are economically viable ove r the long

term and to restrict the cultivation of expensive, resource-wasting genetically modified plants.

Haiti (DevCo)

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas. Some 75% of the population live beneath the poverty line

and 50% in extreme poverty. HEKS/EPER is focusing on the remote region of Grand’Anse in the south-

west of the country and is supporting rural municipalities with the promotion of agricultural production

and the set-up of infrastructure. With the support of HEKS/EPER, around 2 ’000 smallholding families

improved their coffee, cacao and fruit production and expanded the breeding of pigs and goats in 2015.

Five earthquake and hurricane-proof municipal schools were also built for 840 children and water supply

secured for 3’300 people. Access roads were also renovated to improve links to a remote regions with a

population of 20’000 and to improve market access for smallholding families.

Honduras (DevCo and HA)

Honduras suffered a major drought in 2015 as a result of El Niño. The missing rainfal l after the first

planting in spring caused a huge crop failure in the south of Honduras, above all affecting the staple foods

of maize and beans, and jeopardised the food security of the population. In cooperation with local partner

organisations, HEKS/EPER distributed maize, beans and millet seeds to just under 4’000 particularly needy

families for the next planting and supported them with the growing of additional foods. In addition, 40

extra irrigation systems were installed. Honduras also saw an increase in militarisation and violence in

2015 which again restricted civil society’s room for manoeuvre. HEKS/EPER, together with its partners, is

promoting knowledge on human rights so that civil society can assert and defend them.

A.4 Europe

Italy (CC)

The social and economic situation in southern Italy remained tense in 2015 owing to the high level of

unemployment and the refugee situation. The Waldensian Church’s Centro Diaconale in Palermo is

supporting and helping to integrate children and young people with disabilities, from difficult family

circumstances or migrant backgrounds. The core element of the centre is its school with 200 children –

around a quarter of whom are disabled or immigrants. As they attend school with local and non -disabled

children, they are socially integrated and provided with optimal support. The centre also has a therapeutic

unit where 70 disabled children received support with their development in 2015. At its residential facility

the centre also looks after eight minors who are refugees and arrived in Italy unaccompanied. Eight

mothers and their children obtained shelter at the crisis intervention centre. A new programme for the

reintegration of former prison inmates into professional and family life was set up.

Kosovo (DevCo)

The living conditions of the Roma and other minority groups in Kosovo are characterised by poverty and a

lack of prospects. They have only limited access to education, work, healthcare, living space, electricity

and water. HEKS/EPER is supporting their social integration into school education, the improvement of

living conditions, healthcare provision, vocational training and income generation. Major progress was

achieved in 2015. The integration of the 22 learning centres for Roma and other children set up by

HEKS/EPER into the Kosovan education system took a further step forward. A total of 500 students are

now benefitting from the grant programme initially launched for 80. A total of 85 families were provided


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with building materials in the Roma settlement of Fushe in Kosovo and renovated their houses,

demonstrating great initiative themselves. Thanks to successful advocacy work by HEKS/EPER ’s partners,

the municipalities assumed 25% of the investment costs and also improved the public infrastructure in the

settlements.

Moldova (DevCo)

The Republic of Moldova is the poorest country in Europe and endured a severe economic and political

crisis in 2015. The unstable government, corruption and the Russian trade boycott weakened the

agricultural sector significantly. People in the countryside are moving to the cities or abroad. Elderly

people, some living in precarious circumstances, are being left behind. HEKS/EPER and its partner

organisation CASMED are facilitating access to medical care for the elderly. In 2015, home care provision

was extended to four new villages. A total of 2,602 elderly people benefited from the service. To curb the

rural exodus, HEKS/EPER is also providing farmers with support in improving the quality and with the

marketing of their products – in particular in the EU. In 2015, 1’952 table grape producers increased their

income. A highly promising project to support berry producers was also launched.

Romania (DevCo and CC)

The HEKS/EPER programme aimed at the social and economic integration of the Roma is one of the largest

in Romania as a whole. It focuses on improving access to education, healthcare, employment and income.

Thanks to a SDC mandate, HEKS/EPER was able to extend its project work from three to six districts in

2015 and to introduce a total of 71 new after-school classes for Roma children in 54 municipalities.

HEKS/EPER also launched a project to promote vocational training which provides Roma with facilitated

access to micro-loans for setting up small businesses. Roma were assisted in obtaining ID cards in order to

gain access to healthcare services. The home care programme for elderly and sick people was also

extended to over 150 villages in seven provinces. The shelter for victims of domestic violence was also

successfully continued in Braşov. The victims now receive professional advice and support in three districts.

The HEKS/EPER partner Diakonia also launched four projects aimed at integrating people with disabilities

into the employment market.

Serbia (DevCo, HA and CC)

HEKS/EPER is active in the fields of development cooperation, church cooperation and humanitarian aid in

Serbia. HEKS/EPER has been providing emergency aid for 120 ’000 refugees on the Balkan route since

September 2015. Its partner organisation, the Ecumenical Humanitarian Organisation (EHO), distributed

food, clothing, sleeping bags, hygiene products and provided medical aid. EHO made accommodation

available during the winter months. In 2015, the reconstruction of 420 houses in Roma settlements, which

had been destroyed by flooding a year earlier, was completed. In cooperation with the municipal

authorities, the living conditions of 154 Roma families in 22 villages were also improved and 453 Roma

children in eight schools received help with their homework. The EHO extended its diaconal home care

service for sick and elderly people to eight municipalities. In addition, 16 nurses made over 22,000 visits to

200 patients.

Slovakia (CC)

Some 10% of the population are Roma in Slovakia. Most Roma live in isolation and in difficult conditions.

Their houses are often in poor condition and they face food shortages and inadequate hygiene facilities in

their day-to-day lives. Over 90% are unemployed and their access to education, a balanced diet and

medical services is poor. More than any other organisation in Slovakia, the reformed church, which is

aware of the situation facing minorities with its 85’000 Hungarian-speaking members, has the potential to

build bridges with the Roma population and the Slovakian-speaking community. HEKS/EPER has therefore

been supporting the reformed church parishes with the set-up of projects aimed at the social integration

of the Roma since 2015. From 2016, Roma children and young people will receive remedial teaching to

improve their educational opportunities as well as life skills courses.

South Caucasus: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan (DevCo)

In spring 2015, HEKS/EPER had to withdraw from Azerbaijan after 11 years. The authorities did not extend

its authorisation making any project activities impossible. HEKS/EPER was nevertheless able to continue its

work to improve the living conditions of the rural population in Georgia and Armenia. Smallholding

families improved their knowledge of organic farming and obtained facilitated access to infrastru cture,

micro-loans and markets. In 2015, 28’000 improved their harvests and income thanks to HEKS/EPER. To

promote peaceful coexistence, HEKS/EPER also supported its partner organisations in setting up a network


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– in cooperation with opinion leaders, media and civil society organisations – that provides participants

with neutral information about politics, society and the current conflicts in the South Caucasus.

Czech Republic (CC)

HEKS/EPER has maintained a close relationship with the Evangelical Church of the Bohemian Brothers

(ECBB). This cooperation focuses on strengthening the church and social welfare work. As part of its child

and youth work, the ECBB organised various holiday camps in 2015 for a total of 800 children – including

disabled children and their families. As part of its parish development work, the ECBB renovated buildings

in three parishes which are available to both church parishes and the public for cultural events and social

projects. The advisory centre on protection against labour exploitation and human trafficking provided

1’200 predominantly Romanian and Bulgarian economic migrants with information on their rights and

how to exercise them. A total of 58 of them received temporary accommodation at the shelter. In order to

combat the exploitation of economic migrants more effectively, HEKS/EPER stepped up cooperation with

the Czech authorities.

Ukraine (CC)

Around 30% of the population live below the poverty line in Transcarpathia in the south -west of Ukraine.

The war in eastern Ukraine has seen the situation deteriorate further. People are suffering from high

unemployment and the rising cost of living. The Ukrainian state does little to support them. The reformed

church, with the support of HEKS/EPER, is therefore working to help elderly and destitute people in

Transcarpathia as well as single mothers and young people. In 2015, it provided warm lunches daily for

240 needy people and to three primary schools. It also held holiday camps for around 1 ’800 young

people. It looked after 50 disabled children at two care centres, 40 mothers and their children found

refuge and support at the women’s shelter and it provided care for 23 people at the home for the elderly.

Hungary (CC)

In Hungary, young Roma have a lower level of education, poorer job opportunities and suffer greater

poverty and prejudice than the overall population. HEKS/EPER’s project work therefore focuses on their

social integration. HEKS/EPER supports projects in 11 reformed parishes which in 2015 provided

educational support for a total of 100 Roma children and life skills courses in farming, cookery and crafts.

HEKS/EPER also supports the integration of people with disabilit ies, 900 of whom were able to enjoy a

holiday in 2015 at the Berekfürdo church centre. HEKS/EPER also arranged partnerships between Swiss

and Hungarian church

communities for the

exchange and

financial support of

project work. There

are currently 11

partnerships.

HEKS/EPER is also in

dialogue with the

Hungarian Reformed

Church and its

partners over an

appropriate response

to the refugee

situation. In autumn

2015, HEKS/EPER

provided 15’000

refugees travelling

through the region

with food parcels.

After-schooling in Hungary with focus on Roma inclusion.


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B) Acronyms

ACT ACT Alliance (coalition of faith-based organisation working in international cooperation) CC Church cooperation CBO Community-based organisation CD Country Director HEKS/EPER CMS Change monitoring system CO Country office CSO Civil society organisation CT Conflict transformation DevCo Development cooperation DRR Disaster risk reduction EAPPI Ecumenical accompaniment programme in Palestine/Israel FBO Faith-based organisation FDFA Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FFAG Field financial and administrative guidelines FIAN Food First Information and Action Network (international organisation for the right to food) FO Fastenopfer HA Humanitarian aid HHQ HEKS/EPER headquarters HIP HEKS/EPER international programme HRBA Human rights-based approach ID International division of HEKS/EPER iNGO International non-governmental organisation KI Key indicator KOFF Kompetenzzentrum Friedensförderung / Center for Peacebuilding KS Knowledge sharing M&E Monitoring and evaluation M4P Making markets work for the poor MSC Most significant change NGO Non-governmental organisation PCM Project or programme cycle management PIU Project implementation unit SDC Swiss agency for development and cooperation WCC World council of churches ZEWO Swiss certification foundation for non-profit organisations collecting donations

ANNUAL REPORT 2015 - Heks Jahresbericht...

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