This report analyses findings captured from the Outcome Harvesting evaluation of the project “Reducing the Risk of Radicalisation and Violent Extremism in Lebanese Prisons” implemented by Search in partnership with two local organisations, Restart Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture (Restart) and Nusroto Al Anashid – Prison Fellowship Lebanon (Nusroto). The German funded project lasted from July 2019 to September 2021 and has an overall goal of “Reducing the risk of violent extremism in custodial and non-custodial settings”. This goal was shaped around three distinct specific objectives: 1) Strengthen capacities of detainees and prison staff to identify and use alternatives to violence; 2) Shift the attitude of community members to support the reintegration of former detainees; and, 3) Strengthen collaboration between key prison stakeholders to reduce the risk of recidivism among detainees.
This evaluation has exclusively utilised the Outcome Harvesting methodology and was able to generate 33 outcomes. These outcomes were predominantly positive and disproportionately distributed across the intended vs. unintended spectrum where 67 percent of outcomes gleaned are unplanned. The vast majority of these outcomes suggest the project has been successful in making recognisable progress in the three cornerstone components portrayed in the Theory of Change and the three distinct objectives, although inequitably. As per the findings of this evaluation, the most stellar results were populated by the first Capacity Building Component. In contrast, the Community Attitudes Shifting component appears to be average in terms of scale because it has mostly created changes on an individual level rather than on a community level as desired. In conclusion, the analysis of this evaluation suggests that it is imperative to consider the collective success of the project as an essential step forward towards realising the ultimate goal of the project and as an essential entry point for future programming that leverages these successes and scales up the potential impact of interventions that ultimately leads to endured results. Evidence provided by this report suggests alternative programmatic modalities that appear to be necessary to deepening this success, such as Organisational Capacity Development, and playing a leading, coordinating role in the sector.
