DFID 7024 Independent Evaluation of Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA)

Actual CPV code is ‘75211200 Foreign Economic-Aid Related Services’.

Objectives

This is an evaluation to assess the impact of the TMEA programme on trade, inclusive economic growth, and poverty reduction, and understand causal pathways and the mechanisms at work. As an impact evaluation, it emphasises causality and where possible attribution or at least contribution to outcomes and impacts.

Growth and poverty reduction are high level goals. It may not be possible to measure an attributable impact of TMEA on these goals. However, the evaluation will need to analyse pathways and understand the way in which the TMEA programme has affected poor people, and the way in which it has contributed to growth.

The core objectives of the evaluation are:

1. Test the Theory of Change (TOC), assessing all causal links and the robustness of underlying assumptions (including links between trade, growth and poverty reduction), and adjusting the TOC to serve as a reliable guide to interpret the programme and to make programme improvements.

2. Analyse and, to the extent possible measure: the regional integration programmes’ impact on regional trade, growth and poverty (and on the various stakeholders, in particular on men and women separately, poor and vulnerable groups, as well as traders and consumers); and sustainability.

3. Assess the effectiveness of the TMEA programme, including organisational effectiveness, and whether the programme represents Value For Money.

4. Throughout, identify lessons learnt relevant beyond TMEA, i.e. insights on enabling and constraining factors, critical actions and gaps which would be generalizable to future programmes or to other contexts.