Assessment Report of the Community Stabilization Project implemented by IOM in Hodh El Chargui, Mauritania

The armed conflict that broke out, in 2012 in Mali, had led to a complicated humanitarian situation with the massive influx of tens of thousands of Malian refugees and their livestock to settle in southeastern Mauritania. In this area, the majority of the local population and the Malian refugees rely on pastoralism for their livelihood. And scarce natural resources are extremely limited in comparison with the increased needs created by the influx of Malian refugees and their livestock.

To deal with the situation, NGOs and international humanitarian and development agencies, including IOM, had decided to support Mauritania who was then in an inextricable situation threatening the peaceful coexistence of local communities and refugees. This support was meant, in the first instance to target the search for voice and means to prevent conflicts and defuse possible tensions between the two communities around the joint exploitation of natural resources.

In this context, the IOM, with funding from the Government of Japan, has implemented a community stabilization project called “Conflict Prevention and Food Security Interventions in South-Eastern Mauritania II” from 31 March 2014 to 31 January 2015 (for ten months) which is subject of this evaluation. This evaluation should primarily provide the assessment on the level of achievement against the targets set in the Result Matrix (as attached as ANNEX I to Terms of Reference) at output (direct product by activity), outcome (observed changes during the project) and objective levels based on the current status, conditions, utilization of the outputs (direct products by the activities) and the satisfaction of beneficiaries though the implementation of the activities in the framework of the project