Findings

Overall, the evaluation team found that project activities aimed at improving the capacity of local stakeholders for inclusive and resilient urban development are likely to be sustained by local and national government agencies that SURGE engaged and partnered with during the project.

The key factors that will contribute to the sustainability of each sub-component are enumerated in Table 9.

As Table 9 shows, SURGE’s well-structured implementation helped ensure the sustainability of most project activities. In particular, the project pursued integrated approaches that emphasized the importance of operating under existing policies; helped organizations acquire the skills required to run new programs and, in several cases, created partnerships to provide continuity in project capacity building activities; and helped SURGE’s local government counterparts improve local resource mobilization.

Some key informants, mostly from the LGU planning offices, cited the following challenges to the sustainability of Component 1 activities: 1) re-assignment of SURGE-trained personnel to other departments; 2) lack of follow-up capacity building activities; and 3) changes in political leadership in 2022, which may result in a shift of LGU priorities and derail the implementation of some PPAs identified in local plans.

In general, SURGE activities under Component 2 are likely to be continued after project completion. Policy support, stakeholder participation, and benefits derived from the intervention are key factors that contribute to the sustainability of most Component 2 activities. Key contributing factors to the sustainability of Component 2 activities are described in Table 10.

Key factors that may hinder sustainability are:

1. city personnel may need the incentives and guidance to properly execute their SAMPS and SFMPs
2. digitalization of business processes and the digital linkage of different units in the city may be affected by computers that are not powerful enough to handle the data, limited bandwidth, poor Internet connectivity, and power failures
3. improved relations with the business sector may be affected by changes in city leadership

In general, SURGE activities under Component 3 are likely to continue after project completion. Policy support, stakeholder participation, and benefits derived from the intervention are key factors that contribute to the sustainability of most Component 3 activities. Key contributing factors to the sustainability of Component 3 activities are described in Table 11.

Stakeholders from Tagbilaran City cited two key factors that may hinder sustainability of project activities initiated by SURGE:

1. inadequate stakeholder engagement and follow-through activities (e.g., Bohol seaweed network and PADTEC)
2. changes in political leadership in 2022 which may result in a shift of LGU priorities. The COVID-19 pandemic hindered the conduct of follow-through activities

W-GDP was an addition to the six-year SURGE project. It was implemented virtually in 2020, shortly after restrictions were imposed on the movement of people due to COVID-19. It is difficult to measure the sustainability of interventions concerning women entrepreneurs who attended various W-GDP activities. In its June 2021 report, ICMA reported that 74 percent of women participants were first-time participants. There was no indication whether there were attempts to follow up with the participants or monitor their entrepreneurial activities after the first encounter. There was also insufficient information to determine whether webinars on topics such as digital marketing had any impact on the businesses (see Appendix D’s section on gender analysis).

Social media accounts of women participants were tabulated to determine the number of digital platforms established or enhanced. However, there was no assessment to determine whether the Facebook pages improved as a result of the project’s online training. Though the establishment or enhancement of five online portals was referenced, it was not clear how the project assisted the creation or enhancement of the portals. Moreover, no information was available on the usage of such portals and how many items were sold and purchased through them.

To determine the number of new business registration by women, the project would have needed to obtain disaggregated data from CDI cities. However, there were no such data presented even if the city could produce disaggregated information. Thus, the only measure of success was the registration of 311 women entrepreneurs in Puerto Princesa.

To determine the number of women assisted in entrepreneurial development, there was a count of all women who had at least one instance of participating in any of the project’s W-GDP activities, even if it was just to receive a safe store kit or software. There were no data on whether the 69 recipients from five CDI cities used the software.

A list was compiled to determine the number of laws, policies, and procedures proposed or adopted. However, there was no report on the progression of the proposed legislation. Some proposals did not progress into adopted legislation, even three years after initial reporting.

It is difficult to ascertain the effectiveness of the various activities, especially because most of the women entrepreneurs did not receive continuous support for a reasonable period. There were indications that a mentoring program was adopted but little was said about it.

However, there is one W-GDP indicator suggesting that gains may be sustained post-SURGE. This refers to the number of business service centers for women entrepreneurs and women-managed SMEs that were established or improved. These include the Ginama Entrepreneurial Development Center for Women in CDO, Negosyo Center in Puerto Princesa, City Economic Management and Cooperative Development Office in General Santos, Western Mindanao State University Shared Service Facility Center in Zamboanga, and Tagbilaran City Livelihood and Community Development Office.