Final evaluation of the project Pe.R.Co.rrere to foster resilience of communities hit by earthquake in Center Italy

Title “Pe.R.Co.rrere” – Percorsi di Resilienza Comunitaria

Location Amatrice, Accumuli, Arcquata del Tronto, Camerino, Borbona e Alto Nera

Duration Augusto 2018 – January 2020

Head of project ActionAid Italy

Partners PsyPlus

Funding Fondo di Beneficenza Intesa San Paolo

Context

The seismic sequences that hit Central Italy (Abruzzo, Marche, Lazio and Umbria) between August 2016 and January 2017 produced huge human and material losses, the effects of which continued over time. Population residing in the the affected area is still experiencing a very difficult situation linked to numerous material and immaterial conditions, including the slowness of the reconstruction process. This forces many people and families to live in emergency housing solutions module and causes post-traumatic symptoms in the inhabitants such as the difficulty to adapt, parental problems, relationship problems and isolation experiences.

resilienza comunità dimensione benessere percorrere centro italia valutazione resilience

Housing modules-  Photo by Linda Terenzi

The project Pe.R.Co.rrere aims at promoting the recovery of the dimension of individual and social well-being of the communities of Amatrice, Accumoli, Arquata del Tronto, Camerino, Borbona and Alto Nera by increasing the active participation of citizens to different aspects of the process of reconstruction and enhancement of local and personal resources. Thus, Pe.R.Co.rrere aims at processing the trauma caused by the seismic phenomenon in local communities.

The project includes multiple activities aimed at girls, adolescents and adults, with particular attention to school and the educational community.

General Objective

To understand the impact and which results has been achieved by the intervention in the 18 months of implementation, ARCO Researchers were involved to carry out the final evaluation of the project.

What have we done?

ARCO Researchers together with the ActionAid during the planning phase elaborated the Theory of Change from which they chose the evaluation strategy and tools to carry out the final evaluation. The Theory of Change is a tool that allows to clarify what kind of change can be generated from determined activities and how the expected results, specific objectives (outcomes) and general objectives (goals) will be produced.

In January 2020, ARCO Researchers carried out a field  mission to visit areas of intervention, met with the referents and project operators and involved a sample of beneficiaries.

To fully understand the peculiarities of the changes generated and the transformative actions triggered by the project in the beneficiaries and in the main stakeholders, Researchers chose a participatory and qualitative methodology, combined with the pre-post analysis of the data collected through questionnaires administered before and after specific activities of the project, and to the desk analysis of the project documents.

Read more on our M&E and Impact Evaluation Unit