Evaluation report : mid-term performance evaluation of the KNOBIT program

Social Impact?s Haiti Evaluation and Survey Services project conducted an independent mid-term evaluation of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Haiti?s Capacity Building Mechanism (Konbit) Activity implemented by Papyrus S.A. Konbit was designed to increase the number of local development partners influencing and achieving development results in Haiti. The evaluation report aims to inform USAID/Haiti about possible mid-course corrections and Konbit?s future program orientation.

Konbit provided a range of capacity development (CD) services, primarily targeting 23 USAID local awardees and nine other Haitian entities aiming to become awardees and/or deliver CD services to others. Three awardees have achieved significant improvements in internal capacity, and at least four have new or improved core systems and procedures. However, half of all targeted organizations did not actively engage with Konbit for reasons including reluctance or inability of awardees and USAID technical office staff to focus efforts on CD and poor USAID-Konbit communications.

Thus, three years of training and technical assistance (TA) from Papyrus and international partners has been absorbed by about ten organizations that participated consistently, while most others attended sporadically. Although participant feedback is generally positive and capacity assessments indicate some progress, Konbit monitoring has yet to capture the effects of training and TA on organizations. CD grants show promise in helping to overcome capacity gaps, but slow grantmaking processes have limited their impact. Moreover, Konbit has taken few steps towards strengthening and using the expertise of Haitian CD service providers, which could undermine its success as a capacity building hub.