Evaluación Externa 2012-2015

Background In 2016, NCA planned an external evaluation of the impact of the work of COPAE.The evaluation focused on the impacts of the politic, legal and communicationinitiatives and processes implemented by COPAE as part of its Strategic Plan 2012-2015. It is intended to assess their experience and learnings to produce valuableinputs that could be useful for the preparation of their new Strategic Plan 2016-2020. Purpose/ Objective Identify the tangible and intangible impacts resulting from the political and operational strategies implemented by COPAE to achieve the institutional objectives to promote the collective rights of indigenous peoples; and its contribution to the construction of a democratic country with social justice for human dignity and the care of the common house. Methodology Two were the main techniques used: structured and semi-structured interviews andfive focus groups were developed in San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango,Quiché and Chimaltenango. In all these meetings, the Theory of Change criteria wereapplied to stimulate ideas and learnings in different dimensions. More than 45documents were read and studied. There were also bilateral talks with the staff ofCOPAE and international cooperation agencies with whom it has built a strategicalliance. 53 people participated in the interviews and focus groups. Key Findings The evaluation found that COPAE's central strategy became its main challenge because the stimulated political linkage of COPAE evolved amidst the intersectionof actors, paradigms and powers (habits, attitudes, ways of acting, etc.) andepistemologies (knowledge, ideas, perceptions, etc.) different and even adverse to the political horizon that COPAE itself proposed and deployed through the closealliance with Council of Peoples of the West (CPO) COPAE contributed to the construction of a new epistemology of the indigenouspeoples of Guatemala. COPAE has contributed in the creation of knowledge on theindigenous being. This construction of imaginaries has a significant relevance forGuatemala because the indigenous population constitutes the majority of citizensand, in turn, suffers the most serious social exclusion, one of them being thestructural racism. COPAE established a historic alliance with indigenous peoples through the CPO,which has stimulated mobilization dynamics of the communities due to ethnicawareness and impelled transformations and demands aimed at raising the dignityand self-determination of the indigenous population. Their joint participation in thegeneral elections of 2015 shows that COAPE/CPO are recognized as the politicalforum for indigenous peoples; and are a direct reference in the struggle for aplurinational State in Guatemala. It warns of COPAE's ability to set up a media platform based on alliances, made upof more than 26 radios, most of them linked to the Catholic Church. This platformalso provided other audio-visual capabilities, whose virtue has been to consolidatea chair to analyse the Guatemalan reality from the perspective of indigenouspeoples. The construction of technical knowledge and scientific arguments, from thecommunities, about the socio-environmental impact, mainly linked to the miningexploitation projects. Recommendations COPAE /CPO need to be prepared to show a compelling platform on the exclusion of indigenous peoples as new citizenship, creating in turn a plan to outline thestructures of opportunity required to place a new correlation of forces in theirfavor. COPAE and CPO need to rebuild their priorities and agreements to ensure morequalified outward political action and a better division of labor internally, so thatclear and specific tasks and responsibilities assumed by both bodies are needed. Plan a new management and financial strategy, shared between COPAE and CPO,nourished by its strategic alliances with religious actors and leaders and withinternational cooperation agencies with whom have already been built strongrelationships of solidarity. Comments from Norwegian Church Aid COPAE has been assessed by NCA as a one main core partner in Guatemala for thecurrent country strategy and programmes. The work of COPAE responds strategicallyand contributes to the results framework defined by NCA for the period 2016-2020.Besides that, COPAE is considered as a main actor for the E8 Joint CountryProgramme in Guatemala. Their efficiency and their capacity to incorporate the recommendations of theevaluation to their actions allow us to value positively their contribution both in their own and ours strategy plans.