Evaluation Learnings Search

Learning Description

It is important to support institutional development, and work with those government staff that will remain in place within each organization despite political changes. This should help Paraguay Okakuaa Project (POK) better address the upcoming change in national authorities, ministries and regional governments in 2018.

Learning Description

Focusing Paraguay Okakuaa Project (POK’s) direct interventions (e.g. education and livelihood) in one sole geographic region has contributed to a more efficient use of project resources, as opposed to distributing work among several distant regions.

Learning Description

Building on existing capacities and linking with existing programs and networks in the country. Constructing the program processes from existing resources (human, technical, and material) avoids both overlapping and/or isolating program interventions from other actions. Even when these networks and programs have significant weaknesses, seeking to strengthen them represents an investment in the future and an assurance that the project is acting in accordance with the local pace and priorities. Paraguay Okakuaa Project (POK) has demonstrated this approach by using the Tekoporá committees to establish its presence in the communities and by linking with Servicio Nacional de Promoción Profesional (SNPP) and Sistema Nacional de Formación y Capacitación Laboral (SINAFOCAL) to conduct the training program.

Learning Description

Applying the participatory approach to identify the need for and the design of materials. This approach has been a relevant strategy to create ownership of outputs and to incorporate different perspectives into documents—making them more likely to be used and applied by state institutions.

Learning Description

Using local languages in various program materials and in the dissemination of messages at the central and local level as part of the communication campaign. This action has enhanced the inclusiveness of the project and increased the chances of reaching out to rural and indigenous communities.

Learning Description

Making explicit and deliberate efforts to help synchronize and harmonize project activities with the pace and dynamics of the local communities. This has been particularly evident with regard to the dates, timetables, and frequency of project activities. Project demands on community structures and individuals must be realistic; otherwise they may generate community fatigue and confusion.

Learning Description

Setting up the tutoring services to reach out to the most vulnerable cases of children and adolescents, and to engage them in project activities and, by extension, in the education system. Due to its personalized character, this type of service is very demanding in terms of human resources, making it difficult to integrate into the educational or social structures, but it proved very effective in preventing children from leaving school and reincorporating dropouts into the education pathway.

Learning Description

Schools are a key ally in reaching out to the community and identifying beneficiary groups. Education facilities, due to their stable presence in communities, can be the entry point to complete the selection process and help introduce project activities. In communities where the occurrence of child labor (CL) has been verified, the school could be the channel to enroll most of the children and adolescents as future participants in the project. Since a project like Paraguay Okakuaa Project (POK) needs to ensure that the most vulnerable children are included, and some of them are out of school precisely because of their involvement in CL or hazardous child labor (HCL), identification of these cases could be conducted through an outreach service (tutoring that searches across the community to identify families and institutions to include in the caseload). Although not all the participants will meet the eligibility criteria (some of them will not be necessarily at risk of CL), this mechanism can speed up the selection process (enabling the timely start of the activities) and still ensure that those in need are not left out.

Learning Description

Involving schools also enhances the prospects of instilling messages against child labor (CL) in a permanent structure. Working through the schools also enables the possibility of strengthening a protective environment that will stay in place once a project is finished. A project like Paraguay Okakuaa Project (POK) might enhance the role of the school as a mechanism to prevent CL in the communities. Conducting the educational component through the schools has shown that, although it does not directly offer economic alternatives to families, it has a protective effect on working children and adolescents.

Learning Description

Involving schools also enhances the prospects of instilling messages against child labor (CL) in a permanent structure. Working through the schools also enables the possibility of strengthening a protective environment that will stay in place once a project is finished. A project like Paraguay Okakuaa Project (POK) might enhance the role of the school as a mechanism to prevent CL in the communities. Conducting the educational component through the schools has shown that, although it does not directly offer economic alternatives to families, it has a protective effect on working children and adolescents.