Evaluation of

corporate social responsibility workplace safety and

compensation

Safety and Rights Society Dhaka, Bangladesh

November 2012

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Evaluation Team A three-member team of external consultants led by Muhammad Taher conducted this evaluation. Taher is a management and social development consultant with extensive NGO experience. Laila Arzu Mand Banu, a senior Gender Specialist and Mahbubul Islam, a legal aid and organisational development consultant, also have extensive knowledge and experience of NGO development, poverty alleviation, empowerment of the marginalised and a rights-based approach to development programming. Besides undertaking an assessment of the Diakonia-supported project on CSR (corporate social responsibility) and workplace safety, the team has also undertaken an organisational review of Safety and Rights Society (SRS).

Acknowledgement This was a relatively brief yet intensive assignment. We conducted brainstorming sessions and close consultations with staff, and meetings with a number of stakeholders including a family member of a victim and employers from a real estate company including the vice chair of the board. The evaluation team wishes to express its gratitude to the staff of SRS for their excellent cooperation in facilitating the tasks of the consultants. The team of staff comprising a small group of young women and men led by Executive Director, Sekender Ali Mina, showed remarkable depth of knowledge in their own field of work and were open to our many different questions. This openness has helped us to gain a good understanding of both the project and the organisation quite well within a short span of time. Special thanks are due Mr Mina for patiently responding to our queries and providing us with useful updates a few months after the evaluation visit was held. Finally, the vice chair of SRS, Tahera Yasmin deserves our special thanks, not only for finding time in her busy schedule to see us in her new place of work at GIZ, but mainly for her extremely candid remarks about the organisation and its work which has been tremendously helpful to our understanding and analysis, and in drawing our conclusions for this evaluation.

Mahbubul Islam Laila Arzu Mand Banu Muhammad Taher June 2013

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Abbreviations

ASK Ain O Salish Kendra (Legal Aid Organisation)

BLAST Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust

BNBC Bangladesh National Building Code

CBO Community Based Organisation

CCA Centre for Corporate Accountability

CLTS Community Led Total Sanitation (campaign)

CSO Civil Society Organisation

CSR Corporate Social Responsibility

ED Executive Director

FGD Focus Group Discussion

GDP Gross Domestic Product

LGI Local Government Institutions

M & E Monitoring and Evaluation

OD Organisational Development

PNGO Partner NGO

PMEL Planning Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

PP Project Proposal

RBA Rights Based Approach

RMG Ready Made Garments

SP Strategy Plan

SRS Safety and Rights Society

SWOT Strength Weakness Opportunity and Threats

ToC Theory of Change

WPA Workplace Accidents

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Contents Evaluation Team ..................................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................... 1 Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... 2 Contents ................................................................................................................................. 3 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 4

1.1 Background............................................................................................................. 4

1.1.1 The problems addressed ................................................................................. 4

1.2 Structure of project .................................................................................................. 5 1.3 Purpose of Evaluation ............................................................................................. 6 1.4 Methodology ........................................................................................................... 6

2. Key observations ............................................................................................................. 7 2.1 General progress .................................................................................................... 7

2.1.1 Achievement of outputs ................................................................................... 9

2.1.2 Concerns ...................................................................................................... 10

2.1.3 The strategic significance............................................................................... 12

2.1.4 Tangible contribution ...................................................................................... 12

2.2 Review of the log-frame ........................................................................................ 12 3. Key indications of change .............................................................................................. 14

3.1 Effectiveness ........................................................................................................ 14 3.2 Relevance ............................................................................................................. 15 3.3 Impact ................................................................................................................... 16 3.4 Sustainability ......................................................................................................... 16 3.5 Efficiency .............................................................................................................. 17

4. Organisational preparedness ......................................................................................... 18 4.1 Rationale .............................................................................................................. 18 4.2 Self-assessment ................................................................................................... 18

4.2.1 Is funding a problem? .................................................................................... 18

4.2.2 Opportunities outside .................................................................................... 19

4.2.3 Building on the strengths............................................................................... 19

4.3 Systems and procedures ...................................................................................... 19 4.4 Work strategy ........................................................................................................ 20 4.5 Board .................................................................................................................... 20

5. Conclusions and recommendations ............................................................................... 22 Annex 1: Schedule of Meetings ............................................................................................. 24 Annex 2: Self-Evaluation Results .......................................................................................... 25 Annex 3: Terms of Reference ............................................................................................... 26 Annex 4: Reference documents ............................................................................................ 29

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1. Introduction

1.1 Background In June 2012, Safety and Rights Society (SRS), a social development organisation concerned mainly with general public safety (and with particular focus on safety in the workplace) implemented a short, seven month project, Corporate Social Responsibility, Workplace Safety and Compensation. SRS was founded in 2009 to assume responsibility for the work started by UK-based NGO, Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA), when the latter decided to wrap up its Bangladesh operation. Starting in 2006 with financial assistance from the Alistair Berkley Charitable Trust, CCA developed a programme of work on workplace health and safety. Beginning by gathering basic information on the incidence of injury and death, and its causes, it also reviewed the relevant laws and legal procedures to help victims obtain justice and compensation. This provided the new organisation, SRS, the basis on which to build its own programme of work, for which Alistair Berkley continued its support for a further two years. A small project with a budget of £10,000, Bangladesh Worker Safety Programme, continued till May 2012.

This is when SRS came in contact with Diakonia Bangladesh. As Diakonia was interested to learn about the effectiveness of work under corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Bangladesh, SRS developed a project proposal and received an initial grant of approximately Tk. 1.9 million (USD25k) for months for June-December 2012. SRS has another on-going project, Workplace Death and Injury: Prevention, Compensation and Accountability with financial support (GBP7500) from Anti Trust, running from 1 June 2012 to 31 May 2013. SRS’s 2012 Annual Report details the organisation’s achievements against these projects.

The purpose of this evaluation is to present an independent assessment of the performance of the project on CSR, safety and compensation, funded by Diakonia Bangladesh. The objective of SRS is to ensure that overall work conditions are healthy, hygienic, safe and in compliance with the provisions of law. This is further explained as part of consumers’ concern about the risks posed by contaminated and adulterated food, and the poor quality of goods, services and transportation. SRS is an emerging social development organisation with an innovative programme of work. It is relatively young, with about half a dozen staff, but considering its innovative approach, the value of its work in the context of Bangladesh and the guidance it enjoys from a group of highly-placed social development professionals and legal experts, SRS is potentially a very ‘high profile’ entity. That is why, in addition to evaluating the project, it was deemed important to briefly review its organisational preparedness and programme implementation capacity. This report will thus provide an assessment of its programme on CSR and workplace Safety and Compensation, followed by and an assessment of its organisational development and with recommendations for future.

1.1.1 The problems addressed With the rapid growth of the Bangladesh economy (average GDP growth rate of over 5% p.a. for the last 10 years) and its expanding industrial sector, the rate of industrial accidents and its human casualties have also been on the rise. The country has unfortunately made very little progress so far in securing rights of its millions of workers and ensuring their safety in the workplace. This includes the many factories that have emerged over the years flouting government rules and building codes. As a result, the incidence of workplace deaths and injury has been on the rise. Two of the key sectors of the economy in particular, readymade garments and real estate, (with the road transportation sector a close third), have seen a rapid rise in the number of accidents that have killed and injured hundreds of people each year. In terms of the response made to tackle the problem, SRS has carried out an excellent analysis of the problem in its project proposal, which is summarised as follows:

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a) the CSR initiatives in Bangladesh have remained a largely underdeveloped, if not unknown tool, providing very limited help to poor workers. Most people are unaware of the corporate obligations and real objectives of the corporate sector with respect to CSR;

b) there appears to be a lack of required expertise in Bangladesh to undertake effective investigation into the causes of work place deaths and procedures to claim compensation easily;

d) lack of awareness of legal provisions applicable to employers and families of victims is a big obstacle to claiming compensation or settling the claims;

e) lack of government capacity to enforce the rules, with only seven labour courts in the country and the Inspectorate of Labour lacking in manpower and logistical capacity; and

d) corruption and lack of skilled manpower in the regulatory bodies.

An illustration of some of the above problems can be found in the case stories given in this report.

1.2 Structure of project

The project comprised four different, closely interlinked components. These are:

a) a research component;

b) information gathering initiative on affected workers;

c) legal review of incidences to determine eligibility to compensation, and helping workers in this respect, and

d) development of a safety guide for real estate companies and workers.

The research component mainly probes into the nature and extent of CSR activities in the country. The information component systematically records incidences of workplace death, mainly based on newspaper reports. The legal review follows up actions on select cases of breaches of safety across the country and aim to ensure compensation for the families of victims (who are mostly poor). The fourth component is to develop an information manual to be used primarily by real estate companies and construction firms in order to make them and their workers aware of the need to adopt protective measures.

We have reviewed progress of work against the project plan, and made detailed observations in the following pages. In addition to that this evaluation has tried to establish how the project (its concept and work) relates to the Diakonia Bangladesh strategy plan as well SRS’s Theory of Change (ToC). A ToC is generally understood as depiction of the key assumptions underlying the objectives and plans of an organisation or a programme. The idea is to observe whether the organisation is implementing work in conformity with the core intentions of the organisation or not1. After reviewing the goals and objectives of SRS, the evaluation team has developed a statement that we believe reflects the theory of change of the organisation:

1 “Theory of change is often referred to by other terms, such as pathway of change, engine of change, blueprint, logic model and theory of action. Regardless of the label, a theory of change offers a picture of important destinations and guides one on what to look for on the journey to ensure you are on the right pathway.” Theory of Change: A Practical Tool For Action, Results and Learning, prepared by Organisational Research Services, 2004 www.organizationalresearch.com

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“Improvement of workplace conditions, safety of consumers and public safety in general is attained by the application of relevant laws and through increased public awareness.”

1.3 Purpose of Evaluation

The purpose of this evaluation was to:

a) assess whether the interventions were on track and likely to attain the objectives;

b) assess the effectiveness, impact, relevance, sustainability and efficiency of interventions;

c) highlight good examples and good practice, if any;

d) recommend (where applicable) improvement in the design and implementation;

e) review to what extent the projects were making an effective contribution to present results according to Diakonia’s current strategy plan and

f) recommend either the continuation or phase out of the project. In addition, particular attention was given to assessing SRS’s organisational capacity, as noted below. The objective was to learn about the level of preparedness the new organisation has in implementing projects of this kind and how it could further improve its current capacity. At the end of this report, a number of recommendations in this respect have been made.

1.4 Methodology

Desk review of literature, discussion meetings and workshops with staff, and separate meetings with different stakeholders comprised the key methodology of this evaluation. The evaluation began by a review of SRS’s project document, progress reports and a couple of publications produced by the organisation. The project proposal familiarised us with the organisation and its work, while the publication Legal Reform to Prevent Workplace Death and Injury including analysis of worker deaths, 2007-2009 was a useful study report on the major problems that the organisation has addressed through its programmes of work. Meanwhile, we made an introductory presentation to SRS staff on the purpose and process of the evaluation, and check-lists and questions were prepared in advance for meetings with the stakeholders.

The key source of knowledge and information for this evaluation, however, was the intensive interaction between the team and SRS staff. It helped the evaluation team understand the detailed nature and process of work the organisation is involved with. A structured process of meetings included a self-evaluation by staff on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of the organisation and their programme/project. Facilitated by the evaluation team, the results of this workshop greatly helped the evaluation process (see Annex 2 for the SWOT results). Following visits to SRS and its stakeholders at the end of November 2012, the team received some additional information in 2013, notably the Annual Narrative Report.

As a part of the OD assessment, a review of the management and administrative systems and procedures (including SRS’s governance) was also undertaken, by reviewing documents and holding discussions with the staff concerned, the executive director and the vice chair of the Executive Board.

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2. Key observations SRS has been in formative mode, treading ground that has hardly been visited by other development organisations in Bangladesh. The relevance and significance of its work to protect the interests of poor workers and their families cannot be exaggerated. Through its work on workplace safety, SRS has been making private sector companies of their obligations, while at the same time the workers themselves are becoming increasingly aware of their rights. In the process, the organisation has been gradually building its experience-base and expanding its scope of work. This project on CSR and workplace safety falls very much within the key area of interest for SRS, and it has been successful in adopting innovative and effective methods and approaches to address the problem. Workplace safety has recently become a major national concern, while widespread international concern has been expressed by different bilateral and multi-lateral trade bodies over the two recent ‘disasters’ in the readymade garments sector in Bangladesh2.

The issue of workplace safety and corporate social responsibility have thus recently been a much-talked about subject in the country. This modest project, implemented by a Dhaka-based, national NGO with only half a dozen staff, appeared to be a pioneering one. The project has been strategic in focusing its assistance to the poor right holders so that they can firmly establish their right to safer work environments. Further discussion on the issue has been made later in this report.

2.1 General progress

The project has achieved satisfactory progress with all major targets reached by the end of the phase in December 2012. It has created a positive impact among different stakeholders (such as employers, workers, government authorities and the media); this has been reported by SRS and observed by the evaluation team. The project has helped the staff of this young organisation by providing an increased level of information and experience in the course of their interaction with different private sector companies, government officials and right holders. At the same time, SRS staff have benefited from the different capacity building training programmes organised by Diakonia Bngladesh for its partners.

The key SRS project intervention areas can be divided into four:

a) Research on CSR: In the absence of reliable data on the nature, extent and effectiveness of CSR practices in Bangladesh on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the project has researched on specific facts and issues to produce an analytical report on the findings;

b) Study into workplace deaths: SRS has produced a study report on the causes and effects of workplace deaths. The report improves understanding of the causes of workplace deaths and provides ideas for improvement;

c) Helping with compensation: The project has offered the families of victims legal assistance and advice so that they can claim and receive appropriate compensations for the accidents that have caused physical disabilities or snatched away lives of their dear ones; and

2 The building collapse of Rana Plaza at Savar (April 2013) claimed 1129 lives; fire in the Tazreen Fashions garment factory (November 2012) killed 112 (mostly women) workers. These have drawn international attention to Bangladesh’s blatant neglect of safety issues.

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d) Safety guidance for building construction: The guide book produced in accordance with the national Building Code will help the ‘developers’ and their workers adopt appropriate protection measures to prevent accidents.

Box 1 Basic SRS service delivery mechanism

The above illustration represents SRS’s eight-step service delivery process. The organisation follows a particular methodology: scanning a certain number of national and regional newspapers every day forms the key source of information based on which the next steps are planned. Many cases conclude with the successful realisation of compensation from employers. For other kinds of case (such as CSR), desk-based analysis and (where necessary) direct consultation with the organisations concerned are carried out.

Step 1: Receive Information on WPA through scanning newspapers

Step 6: If step 5 fails, acquire legal advice and draft case

Step 7: Receive legal advice and file case in court of law

Step 5: Solving issues through mediation/ negotiation

Step 4: Analysis and preparation of victims’ claim rights

Step 3: Collection of evidence and information

Step 2: Fact-finding, Investigation, visit CRP/ place of accident

Step 8: Achieve judgment, order and decree

Prevent workplace accidents (WPA)

and ensure safety and rights of the

poor workers

Review

& R

eflection

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2.1.1 Achievement of outputs This first seven-month phase progressed without major set-back. It has achieved satisfactory progress in research, information collection, legal review and production of safety guide. Details can be found in the Annual Narrative report; a summary of progress against the six outputs is presented in the table below:

Table 1: Progress against outputs

Output planned Progress achieved Remarks

1 Research report on CSR practice by local and foreign companies in Bangladesh

CSR-related data gathered from 14 (of the planned 20) organisations (report available from SRS).

Unable to meet planned target of 20 due to a) lack of cooperation from the firms and b) time constraints.

2 Report on 300 to 400 workplace deaths that occur in Bangladesh each year analysing, among others, circumstances of deaths

Report published based on information pertaining to 490 deaths in 2012.

Report contains an analysis of the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 plus several recommendations.

3 Legal review of 150 investigations into workplace deaths throughout Bangladesh-

Reviewed 130 investigation reports regarding workplace deaths and injury. Thirty four were injury-related (CRP) and 96 deaths.

Legal assistance from SRS given to actually realise compensation from employers.

4 Drafting of 20 to 40 petitions relating to the seeking of compensation for dependent families

Eleven petitions have been drafted for filing before the labour courts.

Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) has been helping SRS with the process.

5 Informing Inspectorate of Factories and other relevant regulatory bodies on circumstances of 200 workplace deaths, encouraging them to take enforcement action and follow-up action

Sent information on about 300 workplace deaths during June-December 2012 (collected through newspaper monitoring)

Government inspector visited SRS; informed them that they would use this information to help workers and their families receive due compensation.

6 Preparation of guidance for developers on obligations in Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC)

Guidance has been produced in Bengali and English for the real estate companies and their workers

This is intended to be used also as a training manual for construction safety training sessions.

The above shows some variation in the achieving of some of the quantitative targets, but in our analysis this has hardly affected the quality of the overall outcome of the project. In fact, the value of experience gained by the organisation from this and the kind of wider effects it has generated are considered more important than reaching ‘numerical’ success. For

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example, in conducting research on CSR, it was learned that CSR activities undertaken by the large national and international firms are yet to be well-defined or well-planned. The study report that SRS has produced will help the corporate sector in Bangladesh become more conscious of their true ‘responsibilities’ and organise themselves better in this respect. Another positive outcome is the valuable rapport established with different private companies and government regulatory agencies in the course of the project implementation. Apart from different lessons learnt by the organisation by interacting with individual family members of the ‘victims’, this will help SRS develop a more effective programme of work in the future. More details on the impact and effectiveness of the project are discussed later in this report. What we want to present here is an assessment of the perspectives that the evaluation team considers valuable.

2.1.2 Concerns Despite the fact that concerns regarding workplace safety in Bangladesh are not new, few initiatives have been organised by civil society groups and NGOs to address it. Work in the area of CSR has also been limited, and by its nature and extent is not generally understood. SRS’s initiative in this respect is, although small in terms of timeframe and resources, quite comprehensive and to a large extent innovative considering its approach to ensuring “workplace safety”, which no other organisation in Bangladesh has yet taken up as their key concern. Meanwhile, there has been much discussion regarding the fact that labour rights have been systematically denied, and the factory accidents (which kill and maim hundreds of poor women and men every year) could be averted by adopting simple and inexpensive safety measures. We think the following brief background to the situation helps highlight the seriousness of the problem.

With an increasing trend in economic growth in the country over the past decade (average annual GDP growth rate has been over five per cent for more than ten years now), the country has witnessed a rapid rise of employment in the industrial sector, particularly in the export-oriented readymade garments (RMG) sector and in infrastructural development dominated mainly by housing and road construction. One of the most notable features of these industries is that they mainly rely on low-skilled and informally employed low-paid labourers. More than three quarters of an estimated four million RMG workers are poor women, and not only are most of the factories they work in dangerously congested, unhygienic and extremely unsafe, almost all are insensitive to their particular needs. Similarly, on building sites men (and some women) work without protective equipment and on flimsy bamboo-scaffolding. The collapse of an RMG factory building near Dhaka (Rana Plaza) in April 2013 has led to the highest recorded number of deaths in the history of industrial accidents (1129 dead, 2,438 rescued alive and 223 severely injured; see box below for details).

Fatal fires at work have also become a more regular phenomena, particularly in garment factories where workers in congested buildings often have no escape route. Horrific stories of the deaths in such fires occur a couple of times each year, when workers find themselves locked in with no trace of the owner or manager, while the guard holding the keys has gone missing. A report probing into the recent tragedy at Tajreen Garment factory where 112 people died concluded that the owner of the factory should be tried for his “unpardonable neglect” (The Daily Star, 12 June 2013, Dhaka).

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Box2: The biggest building collapse tragedy

The story of Rana Plaza illustrates the level of vulnerability to ‘disaster risks’ for the workers in one sector alone, and this is replicated in other areas of the economy, such as building construction, road and water transport. Individuals and authorities alike regularly voice their grave concerns, but little has been done to address them effectively. There has been huge national and international uproar surrounding such incidents. Within Bangladesh, meetings and talk shows discuss the need to enforce stricter building codes in factories, to change the Labour Law (2006) to better safeguard the interest of the workers and introduce severe penalties for those responsible. However, none of these seem to result in improved safety. Those guilty of negligence and causing death are protected by a powerful lobby of employers and almost always escape with impunity.

From the point of view of the poor workers, knowledge and awareness of risks, appropriate safety measures, worker rights, and their families’ rights to reasonable compensation are generally very low. In this respect, SRS can play a more proactive role. It has so far not worked directly with the RMG sector, but this is one of the largest sectors of the national economy accounting for about 12% of GDP and employing a labour force of about four million. This is also the home to the most risky and unsafe workplaces in the country (or possibly the world), if the recent tragic events at Tajreen and Rana Plaza are any evidence.

The ‘Rana Plaza killer’

Defying building codes, the nine-storied Rana Plaza was built illegally over a pond in Savar near Dhaka city by its owners. Among others, it housed four different readymade garments factories. Built upon soft soil, the foundations were wrong to start with. Meant for a six-story shopping centre, this was illegally extended to nine stories for factory purposes. This weak building now had about six thousand people working in it with lots of heavy machinery and equipments in it. Besides, there were a few large power generators installed in different floors to supply back-up electricity during frequent disruptions of power supply experienced in this densely populated urban satellite. Each time there was a power-cut (a number of times a day), the giant motors would wake up with a howl and a shake, sending shivers down the spines of the workers in the building. However, the owners of the building and owners of the factories remained nonchalant – pre-occupied with meeting deadlines given by their foreign buyers and counting more money as the building kept going up to create additional space needed to squeeze in more workers and more machinery to meet the demand of an increased volume of production. When the building was no longer able to bear the increased burden, its growing agony was expressed through the myriad calligraphy of cracks all over the building! Although everybody, including the factory workers could read the signs quite clearly, the business owners chose to ignore those.

Finally, two days before the tragedy, the local authorities woke up. They marked the site as unfit and instructed people to stop all their businesses there. But owner of the building, who was a local goon of a sort with close connections with the ruling political party, decided to give it a damn and kept the building open for use by all. However, as the workers were previously advised, they had come to collect their dues in the morning of the fateful day of the tragedy (24 April 2013), but were allegedly forced to resume work again (otherwise no pay), telling them that those were mere "plaster cracks" of the walls, so no reason to worry.

Soon after the work started, power went off. As the pack of illegally-installed generators came alive with their combined howl, the building shook again. This time, without mistake, the killer Rana Plaza caved in on a few thousand human souls at work - mostly poor women who barely survived on about US$ 60 a month each. The total count on death toll stood at 1,130. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the rescuers, over 2,437 people were rescued alive from the rubble, although many of those are maimed and crippled for life!

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So, SRS may wish to plan on how most usefully it can contribute in bringing about increased level of safety in the RMG industry, besides others.

2.1.3 The strategic significance As an implementing agency, instead of taking too many responsibilities on its own shoulders (as some NGOs often do) SRS has chosen to address discreetly a select set of work that they believe they can do better than others, while contracting out some of the more specialised work to reputed specialist organisations. For example, work related to court cases has been handled by an experienced human rights and legal aid organisation, BLAST (Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust). It has also established a partnership with reputed organisations such as BRAC and ASK (Ain O Salish Kendra) in order to further the work for the project. SRS has sent its collected data on workplace deaths and injuries sustained by the workers to the Inspectorate of Factories so that it could take the necessary action. A positive response in this respect has already been received from the Inspectorate, and SRS is hopeful that its complementary role will create a difference in the future. In addition, a few national and international organisations (such as the ILO and different media organisations) have been in contact with SRS for its information resource on workplace death and injuries. This is indicative of an expanding horizon of impact and the influence of SRS in the social development field.

The project’s focus on enhancing awareness of the affected people to claim their rights will go a long way in establishing improved workplace conditions and safety of workers (and consumers) through amendment and application of relevant laws in the country.

2.1.4 Tangible contribution One of the greatest values of the project was its approach to getting benefits to the hands of the right-holders directly. Due to lack of awareness, many families of the victims were not only not aware of their legal rights, most of them were found to be sceptical of the prospect of actually receiving any compensation. Similarly, many employers were not aware about their legal obligations to first ensure safety and then pay compensation in the event of an ‘accident’. The project has turned out to be the first instance (or instrument) to play an intermediary role in establishing rule of law in favour of the disadvantaged groups working people and their families. The SRS realises that although the legal provisions for penalty (for neglecting safety) against the powerful employers has been grossly inadequate under the existing labour law, the aim of SRS in this respect is to try and establish people’s rights first (even by receiving paltry compensations). Simultaneous efforts should continue (through advocacy and lobbying) to bring about necessary amendments into the existing laws. We think, its valuable work experience from the field is generating useful evidence and information base for more effective actions. Moreover, continuation of the types of work that SRS is currently engaged in, will lend itself an increased level of institutional credibility necessary to play a leading role in bring about change.

During the period, the project has dealt with a total of 87 cases of compensation of which 11 were newly drafted. Of a total twelve cases settled, half of them were settled in the court of law (5 of them were death related), and half of them were through mediations where dependent families and injured workers have actually received financial compensations. A number of similar cases were continuing during the end of the project phase.

2.2 Review of the log-frame

The project related documents indicate that SRS has a lot to catch up with in terms learning about systematic process of planning, monitoring and evaluation (PME). The logical framework of the project looked a bit unusual to start with. It was comprised of two separate

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matrixes; one for the higher level “project objectives” and the other one for ‘expected results’. The four Project Objectives actually comprised the four key components of the project, while the six ‘expected results’ appeared like ‘outputs’ (indeed, in the Annual Narrative Report after the completion of the project, these have been termed as Outputs). This four column results matrix (2nd one) had ‘Activities’ in the fourth column (instead of Assumptions or Risks) that gave detailed break-down of actions to be undertaken. This planning matrix and its structure was different from the usual ones though, it was clear enough in its presentation on what were the major aspects of the project and how those were to be achieved. However, its objectives hierarchy (of goal, purpose and outputs) was missing. This may really cause confusion in terms of discerning the long term objectives from the immediate ones. Similarly, it may also cause a big problem in comparing between different projects implemented by different organisations if each had chosen to devise and use their own special PME formats. This is a problem particularly when log-frame based project planning and analysis has attained a particular shape and structure over many years of practice in the field of social development. Although, it is still far from a perfect tool, one should try to adhere to the standard hierarchy of logic used in the LFA (Log-frame Analysis) structure, for the purpose of pursuing a systematic planning, monitoring and evaluation (PME) process.

The following basically highlights the limitations of the SRS planning matrix in order to advise on what must be done to improve it:

a) The Goal analysis did not actually respond to the question, “What is the desired situation at the end of the project?” It seemed that the organisation was not able to articulate the bigger idea behind the project; what would accomplishment of those four components lead to? The four project objectives may even fall short of the next level (down) of logic hierarchy known as “Purpose”. Because, e.g., the first objective does not answer why effectiveness of CSR should be assessed, nor does it say, what would be achieved by assessing effectiveness of CSR practices of companies in Bangladesh? We point out this to emphasise the importance of making the project holders aware of the cause & effect chain of an LFA process.

b) Understanding of the project regarding horizontal logic of indicators, means of verification and assumptions also seemed to have been different, and they were presented in an unusual, but not in a very consistent manner. This may not have been very useful for an effective monitoring and evaluation purpose.

c) Moreover, these differences may not be very helpful in making an inter-project comparison, if and when needed. This may therefore become equally problematic to both SRS and Diakonia.

It is therefore, advised that SRS invests some time and resources to train its staff on LFA approach as part of developing its PME system, while Diakonia Bangladesh, as a part of its partners capacity building assistance might help all including SRS to adopt a common planning, monitoring and evaluation (PME) framework.

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3. Key indications of change In this section we have tried to address some of the specific evaluation questions represented in the terms of reference of this evaluation (please see Anex 3 for details); relevance, effectiveness, sustainability and impact. Although, it was a short seven months project, it was not very difficult to find the elements of impact and sustainability in it. However, one over-riding conclusion was that since the project has performed well under a successful management system, it is essential to further continue the valuable efforts in order to sustain the benefits created by it. The following has further details:

3.1 Effectiveness

Within the short life-span of the project, SRS has successfully shown how it could meet the key project objectives:

a) Completing a study on CSR,

b) Completing a study on the reasons of workplace deaths,

c) Getting compensation from employers to the victims or their families

d) Production of a safety handbook to guide construction companies and their workers.

The study on CSR practice in Bangladesh has been completed and the report is being published. It is known to have shed useful light on how this mechanism of social/labour welfare could be more widely used in the country. Although the project has faced a problem in collecting data (due to the non-cooperation of some of the organisations) it approached, in the end SRS has succeeded in gathering a useful body of information and understanding of the CSR practice in the country which will be helpful in trying to use this instrument in future for the interest of poor workers. Through the other study on workplace death, the SRS has gained useful information and insight into the causes of workplace deaths including its relevance to the Labour Act 2006.

With the help of the project, some of the affected workers and their families have received compensation due to successful mediation by SRS. The bilingual (Bengali and English) safety guidance for building construction produced in accordance with the legal provisions of the BNBC (Bangladesh National Building Code), will be used for construction safety as well as for training on safety in building construction.

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Box 3: Compensation - a tool to establish rule of law

The story of Rumanur above as told by SRS has a positive tone in that the organisation has successfully helped the survivors of a deceased worker realising a small sum of financial compensation (Tk.100,000) which has helped the process of establishing right of a worker and thus ‘rule of law’. At the same time it has also raised questions like why hospitals won’t admit critically injured people when that is their key mandate, how the cost of treatment of an injured worker is to be met and what is the real value of compensation to the bereaved family? In order to be a more effective advocate of workers’ rights SRS needs to directly or indirectly address these questions.

A strong advocacy and lobbying effort may produce results in this respect, while campaign to raise awareness for both workers and employers is also essential. SRS needs to build stronger institutional credibility through a) forging links to broaden its networks and b) building rapport with the relevant representatives of both the government and civil society.

3.2 Relevance

The operation of SRS is focused on an essential public concern: safety. Although a relatively new organisation, SRS appears to play a leading role in this field, one which needs to be upheld, strengthened and extended. As mentioned above, the continued fast growth of the economy is likely to lead to the further expansion of the urban economic and industrial sector in coming years. Given the particular nature, trend and process of growth of the national economy – namely, one that largely relies on the availability of ‘cheap’ local labour – the violation of workers’ rights and compromising of safety are not likely to stop. The problem thus needs to be addressed with seriousness of purpose and on an urgent basis.

As SRS is a dedicated safety and rights organisation, the project under discussion is closely aligned with its key objectives; there is also close relevance with the strategic objectives of its sponsor, Diakonia Bangladesh. The country strategy of Diakonia Bangladesh (2012-15) supports work in three key result areas: gender equality, human rights, and democracy and good governance. Corporate social responsibility and workplace safety would appear closely linked to all three.

Tale of a luckless worker

Rumanur Rahman was a supervisor working in Dhaka on a Desh Aluminium Company construction site. One day, at work as usual with no safety equipment, he was seriously injured, and sensing little chance of survival, no hospital would admit him. Finally, Rumanur’s brother Musfiq convinced Square Hospital, Dhanmondi to attend to him. However, treatment came too late, and Rumanur could not be saved.

Learning about the tragic incident from a newspaper report, SRS contacted Rumanur’s family, who said that Desh Aluminium had paid the hospital bill, but had not offered compensation. On behalf of the family, SRS sent the company a legal notice reminding them of their obligations and demanding compensation. After delaying, the company finally paid up.

Rumanur’s brother told SRS he had not known about the family’s right to compensation and the company remained conveniently quiet. Rumanur’s family did not believe that they would ever get any compensation, but with SRS’s support they finally gained what was rightfully theirs.

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Moreover, the project could not have been more relevant and timelier than now, as public concern about unsafe work conditions in the factories has been at its peak recently following two major industrial accidents within five months (Rana Plaza and Tajreen Fashions) that have killed hundreds of innocent poor workers, mostly women. Meanwhile, almost daily accidents by transport vehicles and construction projects claim dozens of lives, making public life extremely insecure3.

Although the focus of SRS’s work has so far been mainly on safety of the labour force engaged in building construction, it cannot help but extend its attention to the RMG sector. This is the key sector of the economy, accounting for the highest export income (USD20 billion annually) and employing about four million people, three quarter of who are poor women. SRS could also usually consider covering the other areas of risk and growing public concern e.g., road transport, brick kilns, adulteration of processed food and agricultural mechanisation – each of which leads to accident, injury and death on a daily basis in Bangladesh.

3.3 Impact

Although a project of short duration, the innovative nature of the Corporate Social Responsibility, Workplace Safety and Compensation project has left a deep impression on those concerned, including government authorities and members of the civil society. It has particularly impacted upon poor workers and their families, many of whom accepted death and disability at work as their fate, but who have now learned that these are avoidable. That they are entitled to compensation in law was known neither to them nor to many of their employers. This project has raised awareness of worker rights and employer obligations, resulting in a safer work environment for many of Bangladesh’s most vulnerable workers.

In the course of its work (particularly in relation to CSR) SRS has liaised with industrial concerns in the RMG, tanning, food and beverage, electronic and banking sectors. This has enabled the organisation to establish formal contacts with companies which will continue to aid its future work in the promotion of safety and rights. At the same time, such companies are now aware of SRS’s existence: one indication of how SRS has influenced the right-holders was found when labour representatives of a company came to SRS asking for its help realizing their dues from the employers.

3.4 Sustainability

Apart from offering one-off support services to individual people and families affected by safety violations at their places of work, SRS is also engaged in other relevant work that has longer terms effects. This includes its efforts to influence the government to amend the existing labour law (2006), institutionalising CSR in different corporate bodies, and enforcing building codes that ensures safer buildings. The practice of compensation-giving by the owners of factories and the real estate companies is likely to reduce the level of accidents in the future. The support service that SRS has begun to provide to poor workers aims to create a level of awareness such that its intermediary role will become redundant: the affected people will themselves claim their rightful compensation and demand a safer work environment.4 An improved and safer working life will thus be fostered for every workers throughout the country.

3 One of the saddest examples was the sudden death of about a dozen passers-by in early 2013 by the fall of girders from an under construction flyover in Chittagong. 4 For example, the safety guide written in Bangla will make the workers aware of the importance of using safety gear at work.

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3.5 Efficiency

That SRS has an eye on obtaining maximum impact with limited resources is reflected in its organisational arrangement which enables them to judiciously use its in-house capacity, and at the same time hire outside assistance where it is more convenient and cost-effective. It has a small core staff who are qualified and to a large extent experienced in some of the technical areas (such as conducting research, carrying out field level investigation into ‘safety-victims’, and negotiating with the companies responsible to pay compensation to the families of victims). Its decision to collaborate with BLAST, who on behalf of SRS pursues the legal cases, has been a very wise decision.

The annual budget for the project, compared to similar projects by other CSOs, is reasonable. The work is strategic in nature and the benefits it generates certainly outweigh the costs. SRS has selected a set of very effective interventions, comprising information gathering, research and follow-up on victims and their cases. All of these activities bear a very high value considering the helplessness of the families in establishing their rights and rule of law in general. A close scrutiny of its budget reveals that SRS is indeed managing its work on a shoestring budget, but generating results which are of very high social and economic value. There is the potential to achieve an even higher level of cost efficiency when the size and duration of the operation is increased.

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4. Organisational preparedness

4.1 Rationale

SRS may be a new organisation with a very small team of staff, but the problem they are trying to address is deep and complicated. There is a growing global concern about ‘safety’ in every sphere of life, with particular emphasis on workplaces which engage poor labourers. Throughout the world, Bangladesh is known for its notoriously uncaring attitude towards this problem and its weak capacity to deal with it. The particular issue of workplace safety is integrally linked with the future of our national economy. Foreign buyers of Bangladesh’s export commodities have recently been seriously irked by the criminal negligence in regard to workplace safety, particularly that shown by RMG factory owners, which continues to leave the fate of a few million workers hanging in the balance.

Although very small in size, SRS is a pioneer organisation, being the first in Bangladesh to have taken up the issue of safety as its central concern. The limitation of staff capacity is being partly compensated for by the active back-stopping support provided by some of the members of the governing board. This arrangement has been effective for the short-term, but for the future, as the size of the operation grows, it may practically not be feasible to a similar level of assistance and patronage to continue. The organisation is therefore very much in need of an increased level of professional capacity to match its growth and seriousness of purpose. To achieve this, SRS needs to have a longer term institutional perspective, and a strategy to guide its forward progress. If this is not implemented, there is a risk of its drifting away. It is thus time for SRS to concentrate on establishing its organisational goals, structures, systems and plans with a longer term view and with closer guidance from the board and its development partners.

This last section of the evaluation report is intended to give a brief assessment of the organisational capacity of SRS, its current strengths, limitations and future potential.

4.2 Self-assessment

4.2.1 Is funding a problem? It was helpful to hear critical observations by SRS staff members about their own organisation during the SWOT analysis facilitated by the evaluation team: their openness about their weaknesses as well as strengths was refreshing. Insufficiency and uncertainty of funding for its work was unanimously identified as one of the key problems the organisation faces. When asked if they had thought about the root causes of this problem and what actions might help overcome it, they seemed somewhat unsure. Discussion revealed that funding-related uncertainties for SRS was in reality a short term concern, as most development partners were yet to know about SRS’s work. Moreover, SRS’s work is not guided by appropriate strategy plans, and its current organisational capacity to manage larger volume of work was limited.

With an increased level of organisational maturity, SRS is likely to emerge as a more credible institution with the effectiveness of its work clearly demonstrated and documented. Hopefully, findings from research undertaken by SRS (such as the study on CSR, workplace deaths, and investigation into causes of deaths and compensation) will greatly help the organisation to plan weightier projects and successfully seek donor support. Meanwhile, SRS might also look for alternative avenues of funding and means to generate revenue for the organisation and its work. There is no known short-cut to gaining that level of maturity and institutional credibility. The good news is that the organisation has so far been on the right track.

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The current insufficient resources for SRS may not necessarily be a problem. On the contrary, a sudden rise in the financial flow and consequent escalation of work with new staff members and assets might pose a threat to SRS’s stability. It is thus important to devote time to developing a coherent and realistic plan of work with appropriate financial proposals. There may also be a need to invest in enhancing staff capacity, and developing a thoughtful staff development plan with the future needs of the organisation in mind.

4.2.2 Opportunities outside Although the organisation has a wider mandate of work, until now SRS has mainly concentrated on workplace safety issues. However, staff expressed the view that with the rapid growth in the volume of consumer goods and services on the domestic market, there is scope to expand work to the protection of consumer rights (for legal instruments on consumer rights, see http://www.dncrp.gov.bd/images/contents/whc4ec7c0e222927.pdf), and to work to ensure the safety of children, and the promotion of equal rights for all using the relevant legal and constitutional provisions.

We do not see either a strong civil society movement or a coalition of organisations in the country working to actively protect the rights of the consumers. There may thus be scope for SRS to fill this void by addressing consumer rights in the key service sectors, such as health, education, food, police, transport and housing. At the very least, it can take a leadership role in terms of workplace safety issues. This calls for SRS to adopt a well-defined scope of work including a clear definition of what it means by ‘safety’. Before adopting an expansion plan, it would be advisable to rationalise any such expansion through a strategy planning process, to ensure that all work is coherent and interlinked.

4.2.3 Building on the strengths The staff of SRS are – with good reason – proud of both their organisation and its work, and produced a list of many ‘strengths’. Important among those were the positive work environment, with a good team spirit among the staff and the high quality of governance of the organisation, characterised by transparency and accountability, particularly with the government and donors. The staff expressed their happiness at working for an organisation which espouses the values of a democratic culture, equality, gender sensitivity and team spirit. An outstanding feature of SRS is that colleagues conduct their work with a sense of mutual respect and equality, and are proud of having eminent members of civil society as executive board members.

The staff however did not identify limitations that could be helped by training or a learning process. This could be due to lack of vision (in terms of their work) or lack of organisational ambition or plan. We consider it of utmost importance for a growing organisation to have a learning perspective. One of the most basic tools that a development organisation requires to plan and implement its work efficiently is a PMEL (planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning) system. Our discussions with SRS staff and review of documents revealed a relatively underdeveloped PMEL capacity: this needs urgent attention.

4.3 Systems and procedures

As a growing organisation, SRS has yet to formulate detailed policies and procedures to cover all aspects of programme operation and administration. In the main, it has been guided by the organisational values mentioned above. For example, behaviour of the staff is largely guided by the principles of equality, irrespective of gender, social, economic and cultural background; they appear gender sensitive in their work and decision-making. They have decided that eighty per cent of the rights holders (clients) that make up the CSR component will be women, thus employing the policy of positive discrimination. Although the

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direct victims in the construction sector are mostly men, SRS tries to ensure that the any compensation goes to dependent women family members. In the RMG sector, the direct victims there are mostly (about eighty per cent) women, and when SRS extends its work into this field, such work will clearly need to be guided by different principles and policies. These will need to be gradually formalised by adopting written resolutions. The organisation is known to have made some progress in this respect already by adopting written policy manuals on gender and for financial and administrative management.

The current management practice of holding informal monthly meetings to review and track progress of work may be sufficient for now, but with the growth of the organisation and expansion of its work, it would be difficult to manage those unless appropriate monitoring and evaluation systems and processes are adopted. Without a good PMEL (Planning Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning) capacity, SRS’s organisational development process will remain weak. This may in turn impact negatively on the quality of results generated by the programme work. Having a proper PMEL system in SRS is thus as important as having a strategy plan.

4.4 Work strategy

The goals and objectives of the organisation need further clarity through well-articulated statements, possibly breaking those down into short, medium and long term aims. The current overall objective statement stipulates, as a basic minimum, the need to have a decent workplace environment in compliance with the law. Another statement regarding the expansion of the future scope of work states that SRS would like to ensure the protection of the general public “from unacceptable risks from the food they eat, the goods they purchase, the transport they use” and so on. However, in the absence of a detailed situational analysis (or ‘problem analysis’), the rationale for SRS’s work and objectives remain somewhat unclear. Moreover, the methods adopted to address any problems need to be defined so that a clear work strategy emerges. A review of its current intervention strategy reflects that SRS focuses mainly on the ‘post accident’ situation rather than on prevention (of course, a compensation-giving approach has a deterrent effect that can be interpreted as preventive, but a close review of the practical value of compensation (in accordance with law) might appear rather ritualistic in approach. Under current law, the maximum financial compensation that can be claimed by the family of a deceased worker is valued at BDT100,000 which, at the current market value, is ludicrously low. In addition, the lengthy process and time required to realise this compensation is likely to be a discouragement, while an employer might be encouraged by this comparatively low sum not to adopt more expensive safety measures. From a strategic point of view therefore, the review and update of legal provisions are vital to compel employers to adopt compulsory safety measures rather than asking for paltry compensation.

4.5 Board

One of SRS’s strongest points is that it has a very strong and supportive executive board comprising eminent personalities in the field of social development and human rights. With such an experienced group, the governance of the organisation is considered very strong, transparent, accountable and credible by all concerned, including government, the Bangladesh civil society, ‘employers’ and donors. The board has confidence in the management and allows the staff the independence to innovate work and to introduce new methods and approaches that are effective and efficient. However, one possible downside of having such a high profile board is that individual members often do not have time to spare

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for the organisation. The SRS board meets two to three times a year, and for the young executives a more intensive guidance mechanism is necessary.

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5. Conclusions and recommendations 1. SRS is addressing one of the most fundamental and pressing public concerns of the

time, namely ‘safety’. Few organisations in Bangladesh focus specifically on this, and SRS thus has the scope to emerge as the lead organisation that champions public safety, with particular reference to poor workers. Its project on CSR and workplace safety was small, but relevant, effective, well-managed and has achieved good progress. The evaluation thus recommends that the project is extended to allow SRS to further consolidate its success and learning.

2. To increase the impact of its work, SRS needs to build stronger credibility through a more substantial volume of work and experience. This obviously takes time, but better planning, sharper strategy and enhanced staff capacity will help it achieve rapid progress. Fortunately, the organisation has a strong executive board, with a number of experienced and well-respected leaders from Bangladesh civil society. The organisation must use their support to a) undertake a serious awareness-raising campaign on ‘safety and rights’ issues and b) develop a perspective plan for the organisation.

3. As well as a longer-term perspective plan for the organisation, SRS also needs to develop a strategy plan as early as possible so that the institutional perspectives in relation to its vision, mission and strategy are clear. This is required not only to maintain coherence of work and attain greater impact: it will also help the organisation build its institutional identity more effectively and clearly. Among other advantages, this should assist the organisation in seeking donor assistance to implement more substantial and significant projects.

4. SRS needs to define its scope of work (or areas of work) more clearly with appropriate rationale. Currently, much of its work is responsive in nature and is focused on only one or two sectors of the economy. While the organisation does not need to spread itself too thinly over many different areas of work, it is useful to have its boundary well marked out. A strategy plan will surely help it in this respect though, it would be useful to maintain a balance between responsive and preventative types of work. In relation to safety, a ‘risk reduction’ approach as practised by people in disaster management discipline may be adopted. Mainstreaming DRR (Disaster Risk Reduction under the auspices of the UN) has proved to be an effective safety promotion approach globally, which may have useful lessons for SRS.

5. Currently, SRS appears to concentrate mainly on adult men and women working in the urban sector of the economy. Although RMG is the largest single employer (of nearly four million poor workers) and accounts for the highest number of workplace deaths, have not yet been covered by SRS work directly. While there is scope to focus on specific vulnerable groups (such as women and children), SRS could also consider safety risks to the majority poor living in rural areas, posed by threats from new technologies such as mechanised agricultural tools and implements, improvised motorised vehicles (such as boats, tempos) and the use/misuse of pesticides and chemical substances.

6. SRS needs to be better prepared with appropriate systems and tools for administrative management as well as programme implementation. The evaluation team has noted that SRS has already made a progress in this respect by developing financial manual, gender policy, and HR policy. However, before it grows bigger in its operation and staff size, it would be advisable to fill any gap in this respect. For example, to enhance institutional capacity of SRS professional capacity of its staff needs to be further enhanced. At the same time, depending on the need, a future plan for hiring additional staff resource may be adopted. A staff development plan

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may also be adopted and the cost of its implementation may be distributed among different current and new projects.

7. Of particular importance to SRS now is to develop and adopt a PMEL system. Without this, for a learning organisation like SRS that has significant knowledge management component (e.g., information collection and research on workplace death and CSR actions), there can be no alternative but to have a robust system of recording the experience and impact generated by its work. The review of the project proposal and narrative reports indicates the existence of a significant gap in the PMEL capacity of SRS.

8. The articulation of the project objectives in the project proposal is not very clear. An improved understanding of logical framework analysis and a proper use of the matrix would help the organisation improve their articulation of the rationale for work in a particular area or theme, which would in turn help establish the appropriate monitoring and evaluation process.

9. It is thus advised that SRS invests time and resources to train its staff on the Logical Framework Analysis (LFA) approach as part of developing its PMEL system, while Diakonia Bangladesh, as a part of the capacity building assistance it gives to partner NGOs, might help SRS (along with its other partners) to adopt a (common) planning, monitoring and evaluation framework.

10. While developing a suitable staff development plan is essential, SRS staff would need (particularly at this early stage of organisational development) stronger guidance from the board with regards to planning and management. However, expecting a great deal of time and effort from the busy board members is not very realistic. Therefore, the members of the Board may focus on providing SRS with ideas, wisdom and advice on how to strengthen and streamline the planning and management systems so that it can emerge as a leading Safety organisation in the country.

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Annex 1: Schedule of Meetings

Date/time Activity Location Facilitated/supported by

24 Nov 2012

9.30-10.00 Introduction to Evaluation by evaluation team

SRS office, Mohammadpur, Dhaka

Evaluation team

10.00-10.30 Introduction to SRS and the project by SRS

SRS office SRS

10.45-13.00 Staff self-evaluation of project and organisation (SWOT analysis)

SRS office Evaluation team

13.00 Meetings between evaluation team and individual department members

SRS office Evaluation team

13.30-14.30 Lunch 14.30-15.00 Meeting with rights holders SRS office Evaluation team

Meeting with Executive Director SRS office Evaluation team

Meeting with Finance/admin

staff

28 Nov 2012 10.00 Meeting at BLAST

Segun Bagicha Evaluation team

12 Noon Meeting with a ‘Developer’ Banani Evaluation team

14.30 Meeting with Vice Chair of SRS,

Tahera Yasmin GIZ office, Gulshan Evaluation team

29 Nov 2012 All day

Review Notes, seek clarification etc. (Open day)

Evaluation team/SRS

19 December 2012

Feedback presentation Diakonia office Evaluation team

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Annex 2: Self-Evaluation Results SWOT: programmes/projects

Strengths Weaknesses

Builds awareness about rights of people and responsibilities of the government

Tries to ensure protection for workers ensures work place safety Honesty, accountability and unity of staff Patience Links with other programmes Specialty of work/innovation Cost effective Speedy service

Limited time for implementation of the programme

Programme dependent on support from other organisations

Unable to keep with time Lack of adequate staff resources Not yet a fully-established

programme/organisation Inability to pay adequate

remuneration

Opportunities Threats

Ability to train people in awareness and capacity building

Advocacy on a broader spectrum New scope for CSR research Sustainability of the results of work Recognition of contribution to society Ensure safe workplace

Lack of access to information (CSR study)

Unhelpful attitude of some victims, organisations and police

Pressure from employers Uncertainties around funding Lack of government cooperation Bias of lawyers Dishonesty of court officers

SWOT: organisational

Strengths Weakness

Good team spirit among staff Accountable to government and donors Transparent Good work environment Solid experience in particular field of work Quick disposal of work Gender sensitive Follows democratic norms

Shortage of support staff Uncertainty of funding/ fund crisis No regional branch offices Insufficient/shortage of staff Structural limitation Inadequate response from families

of victims Ignorance among people about

relevant issues

Opportunities Threats Scope to expand work on child rights,

equal opportunities, gender and food security

Gradual/thorough mode of expansion Being on the right track Having impact on national development

process; Helping establish rule of law Being pioneer in this sector

Insufficiency of funding Only two on-going projects Imposing allegation of political

biasness Dishonesty of members of the law

enforcing agencies

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Annex 3: Terms of Reference

TERMS OF REFERENCE Evaluation of three Diakonia funded projects that are scheduled to end in December 2012.

1. PURPOSE

1.1. Evaluate whether the interventions are in track and are likely to reach objectives through assessing the effectiveness, impact, relevance, sustainability and efficiency

1.2. Highlight good examples, practices, if any, within the projects

1.3. Where applicable recommend to improve the design and implementation of the interventions

1.4. Assess to what extent the projects are making effective contribution to the present results according to current Strategy Plan for Diakonia

1.5. Recommendations regarding continuation/phase out of the evaluated projects

2. BACKGROUND

4.1. Diakonia committed SEK 5,837,180, to five Diakonia supported projects during years 2010-2012 that are scheduled to end in December 2012. Breakdown as below:

Project Budget

Partner: MKP, Thakurgaon

Project: Quality and Value-Based Pre-primary Schooling for Disadvantaged, Poor and Ethnic Minority Children

Period: January – Dec 2012

BDT 2,990,000

SEK 260,000

Partner: PARTNER, Rajshahi

Project: Gender and Good Governance

Period: Jan 2010 – Dec 2012

BDT 20,142,132

SEK 1,870,240

Partner: Safety and Rights Society (SRS), Dhaka

Project: Corporate Social Responsibility, Workplace Safety and Compensation in Bangladesh

Period: June 01- December 31, 2012

BDT 1,587,000

SEK 158,700

4.2. The major thematic areas of these projects are: Gender equality, human rights, democracy

and access to social and economic resources. 4.3. Among them, evaluation costs of the three years’ projects of MKP and SARA are included in

their respective project budgets. 4.4. Therefore, Diakonia intends to evaluate the other three projects valued SEK 2,288,940

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3. RECIPIENT

The recipient of these evaluations is Diakonia Bangladesh and relevant partner organisations

The evaluation, once completed, will be shared with other relevant stakeholders as necessary

4. SCOPE OF WORK

The evaluation will assess progress over the past years considering projects’ effectiveness, relevance, impact and efficiency of the criteria as below:

4.1. Effectiveness: Has the intervention achieved its objectives or achievable using the current design.

To what extent have the agreed objectives been achieved? Are the successfully achieved activities sufficient to realize the agreed outputs What are the reasons for the achievement or non-achievement of outputs or outcomes? What could be done to make the interventions more effective

4.2. Relevance: are the interventions consistent with the needs are priorities of the rights holders and the polices of partners and Diakonia. Are objectives in line with needs, priorities of rights holders and problem analysis Do the interventions have potential for replication and/or expansion

4.3. Impact: what are the overall effects of the intervention, intended and unintended, long term and short term, positive and negative.

How the interventions affected the wellbeing of different groups of stakeholders What would have happened without the interventions What are the positive and negative effects Do the positive effects outweigh the negative ones What do the rights holders and other stakeholders perceive to be the effects of the

intervention on themselves To what extend does the intervention contribute to capacity development and t he

strengthening of institutions

4.4. Sustainability: will the benefits produced by the interventions be maintained after withdrawal of project support.

To what extent does the positive impact justify continued investments Did stakeholders participate in the planning and implementation of the intervention to

ensure local engagement Do relevant partner possess sufficiently strong governance structures and professional

capacity to sustain the activities Is the technology utilized are appropriate to the economic, social and cultural conditions of

the country Are the interventions harmful to the environment

4.5. Efficiency: can the costs of the interventions justified by the results:

What measures have been taken during the planning and implementation phase to ensure that resources are efficiently used

To what extent have the development components been delivered as agreed Could the intervention have been done better, more cheaply or quickly Could an altogether different type of intervention have solved the same problem as a lower

cost

5. STAKEHOLDER

The work will be carried out in a transparent manner in consultation with the people relevant to the interventions.

This should include Diakonia staffs, key personnel of partners, stakeholders, rights holders and other designated persons as appropriate.

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There should be active participation from relevant implementing partner organisations

It is essential that the evaluation is designed to enable target groups to constructively participate in the evaluation process

6. METHODOLOGY Desk study, field visits, focus group discussions, interviews (with individuals/groups) as required, according to work plan.

7. WORK AND TIME SCHEDULE

Diakonia will receive a work plan prepared by consultant, based on the present terms of reference and on the time expected to carry out the tasks. The length of the consultancy should be within five-six weeks. Preferred deadline for submitting the tasks are by December 2012 or according to agreed work

plan of the evaluator The deadline for submitting the report will be stipulated in the contract signed between the

consultant and Diakonia according to agreed work plan.

8. EVALUATOR

The assignment will be carried out by a team/group of external evaluators who have: knowledge of local context experience of project evaluations, relevant issues and method gender sensitive and possess knowledge of gender equality issues proficiency in Bengalis and English language skills

9. REPORTING AND DELIVERABLES

Draft reports should be presented within reasonable time for feedback from Diakonia and partners.

Final report: Three evaluation reports based on three projects One summarized report for Diakonia based on key observations and recommendations

Printed and digital copies of the reports should be presented to Diakonia’s country office in Bangladesh.

10. OWNERSHIP AND CONFIDENTIALITY

Consultant should respect the confidential nature of all information acquired during this consultancy with Diakonia. Diakonia is the sole copyright owner of the products stemming from this consultancy. 11. FORM OF PAYMENT

Diakonia will pay the consultant, upon certification that the services have been satisfactorily delivered, no later than 15 working days after the submission of the reports. A part of the evaluation cost will be borne by SARA according to their project budget, net of applicable taxes.

12. ATTACHED

Diakonia policy Relevant Project Proposals

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Annex 4: Reference documents

1. Project Proposal (revised) “Corporate Social Responsibility, Workplace Safety and Compensation in Bangladesh”, June-December 2012.

2. Legal Reform to Prevent Workplace Death and Injury including analysis of worker deaths, 2007-2009 (SRS study report, undated).

3. One-month Narrative Report: 1-31 June 2012, SRS, Dhaka.

4. SRS Introductory brochure.

5. Audit Report and Accounts.

6. SRS Annual Report, (Jan-Dec 2012).

7. Annual Narrative Report for the project “Corporate Social Responsibility, Workplace Safety and Compensation in Bangladesh” (June-December 2012).

8. Directorate of National Consumers Rights Protection: http://www.dncrp.gov.bd/