Mokoro was commissioned to undertake an evaluation of the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Country Strategic Plan (CSP) in Lesotho 2019-2024. The evaluation provided an opportunity to take stock of progress and results achieved through the implementation of the CSP, and to identify lessons for the design of subsequent country-level support.

This was a theory-based evaluation, based on a reconstructed theory of change, which articulated the intervention logic of the CSP. Evidence was drawn from both quantitative and qualitative data sources, collected using mixed methods ranging from document review and analysis of secondary results data to primary data collection. Primary data collection took place over a three-week period and included key informant interviews and focus group discussions with stakeholders at the national and district levels. In total, 328 key informants, including 154 people receiving assistance from WFP, were consulted by the Evaluation Team.

The evaluation of country capacity strengthening was a particular challenge for the evaluation. The evaluation team developed an approach linked to the WFP corporate conceptualisation of country capacity strengthening and to a framework for assessing organisational readiness used by Mokoro in previous evaluations. The evaluation also integrated cross-cutting priorities, including gender equality and the empowerment of women, protection and accountability to affected populations, nutrition and environmental sustainability.