Our Projects | GCT Consulting & Training

2017

Project

External Evaluation and Strategic Plan Formation to The Jerusalem Legal Aid \& Human Rights Center (JLAC).

The Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC) is one of the key and major players in the fields of Human rights and legal aid. JLAC’s mission is to combat all forms of human rights violations regardless of perpetrating authority, through; facilitating access to justice, lobbying and advocacy, mobilizing social capital, and high professionalism. JLAC is providing its services now through 4 main offices in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Nablus and Salfeet. With the end of JLAC’s current Strategic Plan (2013-2017), it seeks to undertake an external evaluation of its operations and programming, in order to inform the development of a new strategy for JLAC’s work, address shortcomings, identified during the evaluation process, and build on existing strengths. The general objective of this assignment was to evaluate JLAC’s programming and wider institutional role of service delivery, as well as measure the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, structures, internal environment and sustainability towards the formation of new Strategic Plan (2018- 2022) which considers the identified strengths and shortcomings.More specifically, the assignment was aimed to:Measure extent to which the programming objectives align with the needs of the beneficiaries and donor strategies;Assess programmatic achievements (i.e. expected vs. obtained results);Measure manner of economic viability employed in achieving objectives Evaluate extent to which programming contributes to the attainment of overall development goals Examine to which degree the programming yields lasting positive changes continuing past the intervention;Identify gaps, challenges and obstacles, institutional/programmatic strengths and weaknesses;Examine reporting accuracy to what extend it reflects successes and weaknesses;Conclude lessons learnt and draw recommendations for institutional/programmatic improvements.To this end, JLAC has contracted GCT to undertake this assignment in line with its requirements and expectations.

The Jerusalem Legal Aid \& Human Rights Center (JLAC)

West Bank

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2017

Project

Endline Survey /Study for “Improved Access to Markets for Female and Male Small Scale Farmers in the West Bank “Project.

Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations working together with partners and local communities in more than 90 countries in order to find practical and innovative ways for protecting people from poverty.One of Oxfam’s development interventions in the OPT is a three-year pro-poor market development Program entitled “Improved Access to Markets for Female and Male Fresh Fruits and Vegetable (FFV) Small Scale Producers in the West Bank”. This project merges two existing projects in the West Bank which are a) Access to markets project and b) Its overall objective is to enhance productivity of women and men farmers and improve relations with the market and service providers, thus contributing to better connect the supply side with the demand side. This will be achieved by facilitating a process which should enhance the capacities and abilities of key actors to play their role along the selected Fresh Fruit and Vegetable (FFV) value chains.Specifically, the main objectives of the assignment are to: Document pre-intervention levels of the project indicators as defined in the log frame;Document pre-intervention levels of the project assumption and risks as identified in the log frame;Review and sharpen Program performance indicators through an evidence- based, participatory research and facilitation process, based on the baseline findings;Provide a broad assessment of the Program’s relevance and outline the project M&E steer on the basis of analysis of baseline data;Provide Recommendations for improvement of project log frame and MEAL system;Provide Recommendations for possible strategies / actions for greater impact.The final results of this baseline study will serve as the pre-intervention status description against which the follow-up assessments (Midterm, and End - line survey) will be compared during and after the end of project’s operation years.

Oxfam GB, Occupied Palestinian Territory

West Bank

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2017

Project

Final Evaluation of SAWASYA Program “Strengthening the Rule of Law: Justice and Security for the Palestinian People”.

SAWASYA Joint Program (UNDP/UN Women) was launched on 1st of May 2014, with contributions secured from the Government of the Netherlands, SIDA/Sweden, the UK/DFID, and the European Union, as well as corporate investments by UNDP. It is overall objective was to strengthen the rule of law by developing efficient, accountable and harmonized justice and security institutions, which are gender-sensitive and rights-based while improving access to justice and security services for disadvantaged social groups, particularly women and girls. With approching the end of the program in (April 30th.2017), UNDP/PAPP and UN Women intended to conduct an independent-extrnal final evaluation to assess the level of progress achieved by the Sawasya Program against the planned output and outcome results as set out in the program documents. The main objective of this final evaluation is to provide insight into program achievements, challenges and lessons learnt, as well as providing recommendations for UNDP/UN Women and other stakeholders to consider in the development of the follow-up phase of the program.Specifically, the final evaluation focused on the following relevant items : Assessing the relevance of the program in the context of the State of Palestine and the actual needs of targeted groups;Determining the extent to which the program has achieved its overall goal, specific objectives and expected outputs since its inception;Addressing the gaps and highlighting challenges in achieving the desired results and outcomes;Analyzing the processes, efficacy of used model/practices/strategies, the effectiveness of program monitoring and learning processes, relations with relevant justice sector actors and stakeholders,Assessing the overall impacts of program on the targeted groups both at the ‘supply’ and the ‘demand’ side Identifying and highlighting lessons learned best practices, challenges faced, and providing recommendations.Within this context, UNDP/PAPP has contracted GCT to undertake this final evaluation assignment in line with their requirements and expectations.

United Nations Development Program/ Program of Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP) and UN Women (Joint Program).

West Bank \& Gaza Strip

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2016

Project

Midterm Survey /Study for “Improved Access to Markets for Female and Male Small Scale Farmers in the West Bank “Project

Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations working together with partners and local communities in more than 90 countries in order to find practical and innovative ways for protecting people from poverty.One of Oxfam’s development interventions in the OPT is a three-year pro-poor market development Program entitled “Improved Access to Markets for Female and Male Fresh Fruits and Vegetable (FFV) Small Scale Producers in the West Bank”. This project merges two existing projects in the West Bank which are a) Access to markets project and b) Its overall objective is to enhance productivity of women and men farmers and improve relations with the market and service providers, thus contributing to better connect the supply side with the demand side. This will be achieved by facilitating a process which should enhance the capacities and abilities of key actors to play their role along the selected Fresh Fruit and Vegetable (FFV) value chains.Specifically, the main objectives of the assignment are to: Document pre-intervention levels of the project indicators as defined in the log frame;Document pre-intervention levels of the project assumption and risks as identified in the log frame;Review and sharpen Program performance indicators through an evidence- based, participatory research and facilitation process, based on the baseline findings;Provide a broad assessment of the Program’s relevance and outline the project M&E steer on the basis of analysis of baseline data;Provide Recommendations for improvement of project log frame and MEAL system;Provide Recommendations for possible strategies / actions for greater impact.The final results of this baseline study will serve as the pre-intervention status description against which the follow-up assessments (Midterm, and End - line survey) will be compared during and after the end of project’s operation years.

Oxfam GB, Occupied Palestinian Territory

West Bank

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2016

Project

Final Evaluation for “Enhancing Youth Employability”Project.

“Enhancing Youth Employability” is a three year TVET/LM project implemented by Islamic Relief Palestine (IRPAL) in partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) during the period from ( Jan 2013- Feb 2016), in order to improve youth employability in the Gaza Strip while, at the same time, improving the overall TVET system in Gaza .The key objectives of the project was to adopt and implement key elements of the National TVET strategy in the Gaza Strip, revitalize the capacity of public TVET centers in terms of improved facilities and curricula and human resource that will contribute to the delivering of vocational training based on new national standards and successful trainees find employment. Its overall goal was to enhance employability of young women and men in the Gaza Strip through an improved and unified TVET system with public TVET centers providing trainees with labor Market relevant skills and employment services. With approaching the end of project, a final review was necessary to evaluate the progress realized, in addition to SDC decision to exit from the TVET sector and to focus only on skills development/vocational training in the field of agribusiness which led SDC to consider the importance of consolidating results of TVET projects and to the possible extend ensure sustainability and continuity. The main objective of this final evaluation was to provide a comprehensive and sufficient analysis of the project’s three years of operation (Jan 2013- Feb 2016)that by conducting an independent assessment of the level of achievement and impact of set targets and expected results- with a major focus on effectiveness and sustainability, outputs and outcome listed in the project’s documents and log frame, determine the successes and shortcomings, identify lessons learned and best practices, in addition to provide recommendations on how to improve sustainability of results while proposing options to further develop vocational training in the field of agribusiness particularly, in line with SDC’s new cooperation strategy of focusing on this sector only , in addition to provide recommendations for preparing the phasing out of IRPAL project , as well as for similar projects in future.

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

Gaza Strip

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2016

Project

End-line Survey for “Project for Sustainable Tourism Development Through Public-Private Partnership in Palestine- (PSTP)” – Phase 2.

The “Project for Sustainable Tourism Development Through Public-Private Partnership in Palestine Phase 2 (PSTP)"has been implemented by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MOTA) and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) from June 2013. The main goal of the project is to contribute to developing tourism in Palestine; hence, enhancing the quality of life from social and economic perspectives through community-based tourism (CBT) by involving local communities as main partners and in the same time beneficiaries. Promoting tourism in Palestine to the international market is another pillar of the project. Based on the successful experience and the lessons learned from Phase 1 of the project (2009-2012), the project will aim to achieve three main objectives: 1) Boosting tourism promotion in Palestine 2) Strengthening CBT activities in Jericho 3) Introducing CBT modeled in Jericho to other five areas.By the end of the project duration, JICA was intended to conduct an End-Line survey to measure the key indicators of the project.The ultimate objective of this assignment (End-line survey) was to update the tourism situation in the areas of project and collect its impacts/effect on tourism and the community as well. Specifically, the survey was aimed mainly to collect and analyze the:Statistical data and update information on overview of the tourism sector in Palestine and the six target areas of Jericho, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Al -Bireh, Nablus, and Tulkarem;Institutional development and human resource development by the Project;Baseline data on the indicators of the overall goal of the Project.The End line survey will serve also the assessing of the change of tourism situations from the beginning of PSTP (first phase) in 2009 to its end (second phase) in 2016 by comparing the figure with the baseline survey in 2012.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

West Bank (Jericho, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Al -Bireh, Nablus, and Tulkarm)

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2015

Project

Feasibility Study for Establishment of Al-Dahrieh International Football Stadium.

The MDP is a multi-phase national program which is implemented by the Municipal Development and Lending Fund (MDLF). Its first phase was spanned over a three years period from 2010 to 2013 targeting all 134 municipalities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and has provided municipalities with a combination of technical assistance and annual performance-based grants for priority sub-projects to improve municipal finance and municipal planning. The second phase of MDP(Phase II) is planned to support municipalities - over the short-term- in improving their municipal management practices for better municipal transparency and service delivery. It is designed to address the core issues in municipal service delivery, including: poor management practices that compound an already severe budgetary crisis, lack of local budgets for capital investments, and low revenue generation.The French Development Agency (AFD) has contributed to the 1st cycle of Phase II of the Municipal Development Program (MDP) with a 1M€ grant. This grant mainly serves to finance technical assistance and capacity building services to a few pilot municipalities across West Bank and Gaza to enhance their capacities to design and manage Local Economic Development (LED) approaches/projects. In that matter, MDLF shall support the packaging and emergence of pilot LED projects, as well preparing to play the role of a mediator/facilitator between the private stakeholders and qualified municipalities. Within the frame work of AFD grant and windows 4 of MDP, MDLF is intend to use part of the grant to contract with consulting firm to undertake an assignment entitled “Feasibility Study for Establishment of - Al-Dahrieh - International Football Stadium”, for the benefit of Al-Dahrieh municipality. The main objective of this assignment was to conduct feasibility study for establishment of -Al-Dahrieh - International Football Stadium, to help the municipality to decide whether to proceed with this LED project or not, and if this project will be feasible to catalyze economic activities not just in its surroundings but also throughout the city.Within this context, the study will focus on the project impacts on the different key aspects of local development (economic, financial, urban and social) at the individual, local and national level. As a result of the study, the municipality will be provided with logical justifications enriched with evidence - based research to proceed with the project or not. Furthermore, this study will examine the expected impacts on the mid and long term of the project to assess the degree of project success be a viable and sustainable financial, urban, economic model.

Funded by AFD ; MDLF, for the benefit of Al- Dahrieh Municipality.

West Bank-Hebron

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2015

Project

Assessment Study of Ramallah Trademark Clothes Market .

US21 is a leading supplier of integrated products, services and logistics to the DoD, national security agencies, federal civilian agencies, prime contractors, and non-profits worldwide. Focused on supply, sustainment and logistics, we design and develop solutions that support a broad range of mission critical programs, national security programs, foreign assistance and aid programs. In 2015, it has contracted GCT in order to implement an assessment study .The main objective of this assessment study was to conduct an assessment study of trademarked clothes/apparel Market within Ramallah area covering (men, women, children, and those specialized for Lingerie), by assessing the opportunity which the market has, and the viability of such opportunities. Based on the results the market assessment reveals, US 21 decided on further steps to study the technical and financial feasibility of possible investments in the market.

US 21 Company

West Bank- Ramallah

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2015

Project

Baseline Survey /Study for “Improved Access to Markets for Female and Male Small Scale Farmers in the West Bank “Project

Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations working together with partners and local communities in more than 90 countries in order to find practical and innovative ways for protecting people from poverty.One of Oxfam’s development interventions in the OPT is a three-year pro-poor market development Program entitled “Improved Access to Markets for Female and Male Fresh Fruits and Vegetable (FFV) Small Scale Producers in the West Bank”. This project merges two existing projects in the West Bank which are a) Access to markets project and b) Its overall objective is to enhance productivity of women and men farmers and improve relations with the market and service providers, thus contributing to better connect the supply side with the demand side. This will be achieved by facilitating a process which should enhance the capacities and abilities of key actors to play their role along the selected Fresh Fruit and Vegetable (FFV) value chains.Specifically, the main objectives of the assignment are to: Document pre-intervention levels of the project indicators as defined in the log frame;Document pre-intervention levels of the project assumption and risks as identified in the log frame;Review and sharpen Program performance indicators through an evidence- based, participatory research and facilitation process, based on the baseline findings;Provide a broad assessment of the Program’s relevance and outline the project M&E steer on the basis of analysis of baseline data;Provide Recommendations for improvement of project log frame and MEAL system;Provide Recommendations for possible strategies / actions for greater impact.The final results of this baseline study will serve as the pre-intervention status description against which the follow-up assessments (Midterm, and End - line survey) will be compared during and after the end of project’s operation years.

Oxfam GB, Occupied Palestinian Territory

West Bank

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2015

Project

Institutionalizing Local Economic Development and Developing Local Economic Development Plans for Selected Municipalities.

Global Communities (Formerly CHF International) is a non-profit international development organization acting as a catalyst for long-lasting positive change in low and moderate-income communities, helping them improve their social, economic, and environmental conditions. With funding provided by the (USAID), Global Communities is implementing a program titled "Local Government and Infrastructure - LGI". The program aims mainly at promoting an enabling environment for good local governance and providing the basic infrastructure necessary for sustainable improvements in the quality of life for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. A key intervention of the program is to strengthen local government capacity to respond effectively and efficiently to community needs by promoting and institutionalizing good democratic governance practices. Within this context, it has developed over the past few years to encompass numerous activities through complementary components as follows:Assistance to develop the capacities, functions, and relations of national actors, particularly of the Ministry of Local Government (MoLG) and its regional directorate offices.Local community development which encompasses a) assistance to local communities and councils to identify needs and priorities, b) supporting the implementation of priority service and basic infrastructure projects, and c) developing strategic development and investment plans for partner Local Government Units (LGUs).Assistance to partner local councils in improving their service delivery and internal structure through training of councils' and staff members, introduction of modern systems, in addition to development of critical planning and development tools (e.g. master physical planning for the target towns and cities, etc.)Enhancement of opportunities for effective public participation and engagement in local governance matters which is pursued.Under the framework of point No.2 and following the successful implementation of the Strategic Development and Investment Plans in 10 partner LGUs under LGI and the official approval and endorsement of the modified SDIP methodology by the Ministry of Local Government (MoLG), LGI decided to continue working on this initiative, guided by the unified SDIP methodology, with Hebron Municipality.The main objective of this project is to provide technical assistance and support Hebron municipality in developing and institutionalizing their Strategic Development and Investment Plan (SDIP) in accordance to the SDIP national methodology and approach adopted by the Ministry of Local Government (MOLG).For that purpose, Global Communities has contracted the association of GCT and NCD to implement this project in an effective manner within the highest possible quality standards.

Funded by VNG International; Municipal Development and Lending Fund (MDLF).

West Bank- Ramallah, Al Bireh, AL- Samou’, BirZeit and Tubas).

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2015

Project

Developing Strategic Development and Investment Plan- SDIP for the benefit of Hebron City.

Global Communities (Formerly CHF International) is a non-profit international development organization acting as a catalyst for long-lasting positive change in low and moderate-income communities, helping them improve their social, economic, and environmental conditions. With funding provided by the (USAID), Global Communities is implementing a program titled "Local Government and Infrastructure - LGI". The program aims mainly at promoting an enabling environment for good local governance and providing the basic infrastructure necessary for sustainable improvements in the quality of life for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. A key intervention of the program is to strengthen local government capacity to respond effectively and efficiently to community needs by promoting and institutionalizing good democratic governance practices. Within this context, it has developed over the past few years to encompass numerous activities through complementary components as follows:Assistance to develop the capacities, functions, and relations of national actors, particularly of the Ministry of Local Government (MoLG) and its regional directorate offices.Local community development which encompasses a) assistance to local communities and councils to identify needs and priorities, b) supporting the implementation of priority service and basic infrastructure projects, and c) developing strategic development and investment plans for partner Local Government Units (LGUs).Assistance to partner local councils in improving their service delivery and internal structure through training of councils' and staff members, introduction of modern systems, in addition to development of critical planning and development tools (e.g. master physical planning for the target towns and cities, etc.)Enhancement of opportunities for effective public participation and engagement in local governance matters which is pursued.Under the framework of point No.2 and following the successful implementation of the Strategic Development and Investment Plans in 10 partner LGUs under LGI and the official approval and endorsement of the modified SDIP methodology by the Ministry of Local Government (MoLG), LGI decided to continue working on this initiative, guided by the unified SDIP methodology, with Hebron Municipality.The main objective of this project is to provide technical assistance and support Hebron municipality in developing and institutionalizing their Strategic Development and Investment Plan (SDIP) in accordance to the SDIP national methodology and approach adopted by the Ministry of Local Government (MOLG).For that purpose, Global Communities has contracted the association of GCT and NCD to implement this project in an effective manner within the highest possible quality standards.

Funded by USAID Global Communities, Local Government and Infrastructure program – LGI.

West Bank -Hebron

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2014

Project

Final Evaluation of Livelihoods Security and Civil Society Strengthening in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (TATWEER) project.

Livelihood Security and Civil Society Strengthening in the occupied Palestinian territory (TATWEER), is a six – year project funded by the Australian Government, as part of the Australia - Middle East NGO Cooperation Agreement (AMENCA II). The project has been implemented by CARE International (WB&G) during the period between (May 2009- April 2015), in partnership with Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ); Economic and Social Development Center of Palestine (ESDC); and New Farm Company (NFC).The overall objective of this project was to reduce vulnerability among communities in Jenin and Tubas Governorates through improved and sustainable livelihood security and increased capacity of civil society organizations. Its specifics objectives were as follows:Improve food security, livelihoods, and natural resource management;Increase the participation of women and youth in the Palestinian development process; Strengthen the role of community organizations in the development process; and Contribute to efficient and effective management of the AMENCA II program.After 6 years of operation, CARE International (WB&G) has intended to conduct an independent assessment of the performance and achievement of TATWEER project, identify lesson learned and drawing recommendations to improve future programming through: Determining the extent to which the project has achieved its overall goal, specific objectives and expected outcomes;Analyzing the processes, efficacy of piloted models and approaches, as well as the effectiveness of project monitoring and learning processes;Assessing the intended and unintended impacts of the project on the target beneficiaries (farmers, women, youth, CBOs) and vulnerable communities in Jenin and Tubas;Providing recommendations to improve quality and impact to CARE and project’s partners;Identifying and highlighting lessons learned, good practices and strategies to enhance the success of a subsequent phase, related programming, future interventions and opportunities for scale-up or replication.For that purpose, CARE International (WB&G) has contracted GCT to undertake the intended evaluation assignment in a professional, subjective and comprehensive manner.

Funded by Australian Government; for the benefit of CARE International (WB\&G).

West Bank (Jenin and Tubas)

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