Evaluation of Lao People's Democratic Republic WFP Country Strategic Plan 2017-2021

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Publication language
English
Pages
105pp
Date published
01 Oct 2021
Type
Evaluation reports
Keywords
Evaluation-related
Countries
Lao People's Democratic Republic

The evaluation was commissioned by the WFP independent Office of Evaluation to provide evaluative evidence for accountability and learning to inform the design of the next WFP Country Strategic Plan (CSP) in Lao PDR. Conducted between July 2020 and April 2021, the evaluation assessed WFP’s strategic positioning and role and the extent to which WFP has made the strategic shift expected by the CSP; WFP’s contributions to strategic outcomes; efficiency and factors that explain WFP performance.

The evaluation concluded that:

Overall, the CSP is aligned with the direction of the government, and has remained a relevant approach to supporting the government to meet the food and nutrition needs of the country.

The CSP provided the space for WFP to adapt its operations to support the government’s response to flooding and COVID-19.

  • Development partners appreciate WFP for its traditional strengths and extensive reach, while it is encouraged to engage in further strategic partnership to effectively deliver development work.
  • There has been a significant movement to address the root causes through school meals though some challenges remain for its sustainable handover.
  • Strengthening WFP’s contribution to the broader nutrition efforts requires to articulate the areas in which it is making progress and having influence through strategic partnerships with other international actors.
  • Considering the COVID-19 pandemic and climate-related challenges, it is important to have a comprehensive approach to mainstream resilience across different strategic outcomes.
  • The CSP design with engagement on the generic challenge of strengthening national and local governance institutions to ensure improved service delivery especially in hard-to-reach areas was appropriate, though results are limited so far.
  • Gender has been widely mainstreamed and incorporated in the implementation of the CSP.
  • The CSP would have benefited from a stronger analysis and comprehensive approaches across the strategic outcomes to support a more strategic engagement.