Would you like to learn more about Syspons and our services? In our publications you will find a selection of assessments and studies as well as numerous documentations of our work.
Since 2019, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has been promoting the civil society engagement of Muslim communities in the funding approach "Mosques for Integration". Syspons supports the BAMF and the various organisations in the implementation of the funding approach. The first issue paper written by Syspons provides an overview of the goals and actors as well as initial developments.
Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF)
As part of the project "Strategic Cooperation with International Organizations", GIZ supported various international organizations (WB, EU, UN, IFAD) and the international network Global Delivery Intiative (GDI) with human and financial resources. The evaluation results show that the project succeeded in supporting key reform processes within the partner organizations. In addition, the Syspons team also identified a number of levers to make the support to partner organizations and networks in similar projects even more efficient and effective.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
The project "heimspiel.für Bildung" in the Hamburg neighborhood of Neuwiedenthal works together with local actors to create a "local community of responsibility" for education and counseling in order to support kids' and teenagers' education. As part of the final evaluation, Syspons examined the extent to which the project was able to achieve its goals and developed impulses for a possible continuation of project elements and follow-up options.
heimspiel. Für Bildung
Sustainable change towards gender equality can only be brought about if development cooperation incorporates an intersectional perspective in its decision-making, strategies, and programs. This is a central finding of the study Syspons GmbH has conducted on behalf of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated existing and intersecting forms of inequalities and discrimination in drastic ways. The study provides insights into these effects and suggests concrete steps for action on how to embed intersectional approaches into German development cooperation’s work on gender equality and the Covid-19 recovery.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
The German Federal Cultural Foundation supports cultural insitutions in the areas of fine and performing arts, literature and music with the funding program "360° - Fonds für Kulturen der neuen Stadtgesellschaft" (360° - Fund for New City Cultures) to promote diversity-oriented processes of change at the institutions. In the publication "Diversitäts Kompass" the foundation compiles the experience gained so far in the program in order to make best practices and aggregated knowledge available to the general cultural sector. Syspons accompanied and evaluated the program as well as the 39 funded cultural institutions since 2018. Sypsons contributed four impact stories of four funded institutions to the publication, which are a result of the evaluation conducted and illustrate how different the initial situations have been and lay out the paths the institutions have taken to achieve change.
German Federal Cultural Foundation
The BMBF has commissioned Syspons GmbH to evaluate the nationwide competition "Democratic Action", which is funded within the framework of democracy education and education for democracy. The evaluation covered the success monitoring of the competition since 2015, taking into account current developments, as well as the associated questions of goal achievement, impact, and cost-effectiveness. The results led to recommendations for the further de-velopment of the competition.
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Syspons was commissioned by ZUG on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety to conduct a strategic evaluation of IKI projects in the area of „Forest Landscape Restoration“. The evaluation served to assess the achievements of the IKI FLR projects and identify relevant lessons learned. To this end, Syspons conducted a contribution analysis and a social network analysis of six FLR projects in El Salvador. The data collection process included qualitative interviews, focus group discussions, stakeholder workshops, and an online survey. Based on the results of the evaluation, strategic recommendations for the future design and implementation of IKI FLR projects were defined.
Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH
Syspons was commissioned to conduct an independent evaluation and evidence synthesis of the implementation of the WGA approach in Austrian development policy for the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA) and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA). The aim was to expand the existing knowledge base on the implementation of WGA - both in Austria and in the partner countries of Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) - and to create an evidence-based foundation for the further development of the approach as well as its coordination and effective implementation. The synthesis should also contribute to intra- and inter-institutional learning.
Austrian Development Agency (ADA)
DEG and OeEB commissioned Syspons to conduct a study on the transformative effects of gender-lens investing. The study generated findings on effective approaches of gender-lens investing to contribute to women’s economic empowerment. It highlights how development finance institutions can create incentives and foster women’s economic empowerment in their portfolio. In addition, it provides insights into effective business practices of organizations and companies (investess) to create empowering work environments and contribute to a transformation of gender inequalities. The study thereby provides a foundation for the development of an impact measurement of gender-lens investing at DEG and OeEB.
German Investment and Development Company (DEG) and Austrian Development Bank (OeEB)
On behalf of the Federal Cultural Foundation, Syspons evaluated the programme "TRAFO - Models for Culture in Transition". In the evaluation, Syspons investigated the impact of TRAFO from the regions of the first funding round on the regional and Germany-wide discourse on culture in rural areas. This was ascertained by means of a discourse and network analysis. In addition to measuring the impact, the focus throughout the evaluation was on joint learning and the development of recommendations for action for the second funding round.
German Federal Cultural Foundation
Syspons has been commissioned by the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) to evaluate the Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) initiative, investigating the impacts of the CmiA initiative on livelihoods of smallholder cotton farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of the evaluation was twofold: First, it sought to assess to what extent the CmiA initiative has contributed to achieving positive impacts among the smallholder farmers. Second, the evaluation served the objective of learning, by identifying which elements of the implementation work well and which ones do not, in order to improve the initiative in the future.
Aid by Trade Foundation
Syspons was commissioned by the Bertelsmann Foundation to evaluate the "Lehrkräfte Plus" (Teachers Plus) program - a cooperative project between the Bertelsmann and Mercator foundations, the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Schools and Education, and the Statewide Coordination Office of Community Integration Centers. The goal of the one-year qualification program is to open up new professional perspectives in Germany for teachers with a refugee background and to contribute to their successful integration into the labor market. The evaluation examined the effects of Lehrkräfte Plus, identified success factors and challenges in project implementation, and derived recommendations for the further development and future design of the program.
Bertelsmann Foundation
The BAMF's initial orientation courses (EOK) aim to convey initial orientation, values, and first German language skills. These 300-hour courses are characterized by low-threshold access and a strong focus on applicablility to everyday life. In this way, they provide asylum seekers who do not (yet) have access to an integration course with an initial orientation in their new environment. Syspons supported the BAMF in the first funding phase of the nationwide roll-out of the EOK. Specifically, Syspons organised and facilitated networking events, implemented an online monitoring and an evaluation. In this context, Syspons GmbH examined the effectiveness of the courses, investigated different ways of implementation, and identified success and inhibiting factors.
German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF)
Commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Syspons conducted a Central Project Evaluation of the project „Rural electrification through renewable energies”. The evaluation was conducted along the OECD-DAC criteria. Next to serving the project’s accountability, the evaluation was used to generate learning experiences for the follow-up phase. Data was collected during a two-week field mission.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
Civil society engagement plays an important role in social cohesion and local integration. Since 2019, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, with the help of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), has been supporting the social engagement of more than 50 Muslim communities in the funding approach "Mosques for Integration. Opening, networking and cooperation" within the framework of the German Islam Conference (DIK). Syspons accompanies the funding approach and evaluates its goal achievement. In the DIK interview, we explain what exactly we do, how we understand our mission and what motivates us in particular.
German Islam Conference (DIK)
Syspons conducted the central project evaluation of the project "Supporting the G7 and G20 Development Agendas". The project supported the BMZ in anchoring sustainable development issues of German development policy in the G7 and G20 agendas, especially in view of the German G7 Presidency in 2015 and G20 Presidency in 2015. The evaluation was based on the OECD-DAC criteria. It served primarily as an accountability exercise, but also generated learning experiences for the follow-up.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
Syspons conducted the central project evaluation of the Good Financial Governance project in Ghana. The evaluation was based on the OECD-DAC criteria. It primarily served accountability purposes, but also generated valuable information for the follow-up project, especially with regard to a stronger integration of the topics of decentralisation and good financial governance.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
Syspons conducted the first strategic evaluation of the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC)'s Good Governance Engagement from 2007 to 2017 on behalf of ADC. The overarching aim of the evaluation was to generate insights relevant for the future development of ADC's Good Governance engagement. To this end, Syspons evaluated the Good Governance engagement along the criteria relevance, effectiveness/impact, efficiency and coherence-coordination-cooperation (CCC).
Austrian Development Agency (ADA)
Syspons supported the German Investment and Development Company (DEG) in conducting research and writing a publication on gender-lens investing. The aim of the assignment was to investigate the effects of gender-lens investing on the economic promotion of women as well as local and global development effects and to review the contributions and offers of DEG in this context, among others by developing a theory of change. To this end, Syspons conducted a comprehensive literature review and developed the publication in close cooperation with DEG.
German Investment and Development Company (DEG)
To gain insights into key stakeholders in Zimbabwe working on the prevention of and response to violence against women and girls (VAWG), their cooperation and capacity needs, the GIZ Partnerships for Prevention (PfP) programme commissioned Syspons GmbH to conduct a comprehensive stakeholder and network analysis. The analysis identified key stakeholders’ efforts to prevent VAWG, examined their activities and forms of engagements, analysed the extent and quality of cooperation between stakeholders and identified capacity needs for increased cooperation.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
In 2019 Syspons supported the Goethe-Institut e.V. in conducting the study "Pre-integration of professional migrants". The aim of the study was to develop recommendations for the improvement of language, regional studies and counselling services based on a stocktaking of current offers and programmes of pre-integration support and a needs analysis for migrants with professional qualifications. Therefore, Syspons conducted a broadly based online survey of 1,000 professional migrants and focus groups and interviewed numerous experts from theory and practice in order to be able to classify the results.
Goethe-Institut e.V.
The evaluation examined the interaction of the organisational and operational structure (structures and processes) as well as the strategies (e.g. corporate strategy, sustainability programme) and instruments (e.g. Corporate Sustainability Handprint, sustainable procurement, sustainable mobility) at GIZ, which are designed to enable or promote sustainable action in operational procedures domestic and abroad. The aim of this strategic Business Evaluation, was recording and describing the actual state of the operational sustainability management in the GIZ. On this basis, analyses were implemented (including governance analysis, risk analysis in the field of sustainable procurement, scenario and potential analysis in the field of sustainable mobility), which identified the need for action and improvement in corporate sustainability management.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
On behalf of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Syspons carries out the mid-term evaluation of the programme “Bilateral SDG Graduate Schools”. The programme encompasses seven projects establishing bilateral graduate schools in Africa, Latin America and Asia in cooperation with German universities. The purpose of the evaluation is to contribute to learning and accountability through an assessment of the OECD-DAC criteria relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, as well as (projected) impacts and sustainability. In addition, the quality of the M&E systems, gender aspects and the incorporation of ICT in teaching and research are examined as cross-cutting issues.
German Academic Exchange Service
The Participation and Integration Law of the Federal State of Berlin (Partizipations- und Integrationsgesetz des Landes Berlins [PartIntG]) which was passed in 2010, was the first of its kind. After almost 10 years of application, the evaluation should prepare the amendment of the law, which the governing parties provide for in their coalition agreement for the current legislative period. For this reason, the evaluation is highly informative and focuses on the further development potential of the law.
Berlin Senate Department for Integration, Labour and Social Affairs
On behalf of the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR-UOS), Syspons carried out a thematic evaluation ‘Creating the Conditions for Impact’. The evaluation focussed on (research) uptake as precondition for the impact of university cooperation. The evaluation report reflects on success factors identified by the evaluators and provides insight in the concept of ‘uptake’. These were further developed by VLIR-UOS in the form a brochure ‘Creating the conditions for Uptake’ which is meant help project promoters to create better conditions for uptake of project results in society.
The Belgian Development Cooperation
Within the framework of the "Einstieg Deutsch" (Entry Point German) project, adult education centres, associations and other organisations throughout Germany are implementing learning opportunities for initial language orientation. The German Adult Education Association (DVV) has commissioned Syspons to scientifically monitor and evaluate the project. In cooperation with the University of Paderborn, Syspons identified critical success factors, areas of improvement and challenges. The presentation gives an insight into the results.
German Adult Education Association (DVV)
To gain insights into key stakeholders in Zambia, Southern Province, working on the prevention of and response to violence against women and girls (VAWG), their cooperation and capacity needs, the GIZ Partnerships for Prevention (PfP) programme commissioned Syspons GmbH to conduct a comprehensive stakeholder and network analysis. The analysis identified key stakeholders’ efforts to prevent VAWG, examined their activities and forms of engagements, analysed the extent and quality of cooperation between stakeholders and identified capacity needs for increased cooperation.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
To gain insights into key stakeholders in South Africa working on the prevention of and response to violence against women and girls (VAWG), their cooperation and capacity needs, the GIZ Partnerships for Prevention (PfP) programme commissioned Syspons GmbH to conduct a comprehensive stakeholder and network analysis. The analysis identified key stakeholders’ efforts to prevent VAWG, examined their activities and forms of engagements, analysed the extent and quality of cooperation between stakeholders and identified capacity needs for increased cooperation.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
To gain insights into key stakeholders in Lesotho working on the prevention of and response to violence against women and girls (VAWG), their cooperation and capacity needs, the GIZ Partnerships for Prevention (PfP) programme commissioned Syspons GmbH to conduct a comprehensive stakeholder and network analysis. The analysis identified key stakeholders’ efforts to prevent VAWG, examined their activities and forms of engagements, analysed the extent and quality of cooperation between stakeholders and identified capacity needs for increased cooperation.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
The Challenge Fund Powering Agriculture is a multi-donor initiative of USAID, Sida and GIZ. It aims to promote sustainable innovations for accelerating the use of renewable energies in agricultural value chains and increasing agricultural productivity in developing countries. In the evaluation, Syspons analyzed the structures and processes of the Challenge Fund and its initially attained impacts. Moreover, it developed recommendations for the future strategic direction of the Fund.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
The Special Evaluation Office of the Belgian Development Cooperation commissioned Syspons and Nuffic with an impact evaluation of the Belgian university development cooperation. The focus was on developing a methodology that was as robust as possible and appropriate to the topic, e.g. to measure the impact of scholarship programmes. To that effect, Syspons and Nuffic carried out a detailed evaluability analysis. Based on their findings, the partners evaluated the Belgian university cooperation using a novel mix of methods and a quasi-experimental design.
Special Evaluation Office of the Belgian Development Cooperation
The "One-World Promoter"-programme provides, among other things, education on development politics in Germany. Syspons evaluated the programme according to the OECD/DAC criteria. The final evaluation report summarises the impacts achieved and recommendations for further development of the programme.
One-World Network of Federal States (agl) e.V. and the Foundation North-South-Bridges (SNSB)
Save the Children supported six collective accommodation facilities in Germany in improving the conditions for children and families who have fled to Germany. Syspons helped Save the Children develop quality criteria and indicators for appropriate and resource-conscious refugee social work. The linked report "Accommodation TÜV" (Inspection) by Save the Children and Syspons elaborates on the said quality criteria.
Save the Children
In 2010, the Berlin Senate adopted its industrial policy strategy, the "Berlin Industrial Master Plan". It was developed by the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Enterprises (SenWEB) together with chambers, associations, trade unions and other partners. Syspons designed and moderated the participatory process of updating the master plan from 2017 onwards. The master plan linked here is the result of this process and documents measures in four fields of action. For the strategic governance of the implementation process, Syspons also developed an integrated project management and transferred it to the master plan management office.
Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Enterprises (SenWEB)
Commissioned by Enabel Belgian Development Agency, Syspons is carrying out an evaluation of the organisation’s results orientation, assessing to what extent it is “fit for purpose”. The evaluation encompasses the quality and quantity of results products, the quality of result-based management processes (including how well the information is used on different levels of the organisation) as well as the factors which determine the quality of results products and their use for steering, accountability and learning. In doing so, the evaluation assesses to what extent results management system is “fit-for-future” and what kind of changes need to be made to improve it.
Enabel Belgian Development Agency
In this article for the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), Syspons scrutinised how the impact of scholarships can be measured when a long-term study is not feasible. Syspons describes an alternative method for the evaluation of higher education cooperation, which generates robust results.
Special Evaluation Office of the Belgian Development Cooperation
Syspons evaluated the three-year pilot phase of the North-South component of the programme "weltwärts", a development volunteer service for young people. Among other analyses, the North-South component was compared with similar programmes in Germany and abroad. Building on the evaluation results, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) was able to improve and further develop the programme component.
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
The voluntary humanitarian organisation Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe e.V. (Die Johanniter) offers initial orientation courses for asylum seekers. These courses have been further developed by Die Johanniter with a focus on conveying values and fundamental rights. Syspons evaluated this model project. The report serves the purpose of learning as well as the measurement of impact and legitimation of the project towards the public.
St. John Accident Assistance (JUH)
The gender strategy of the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) addresses the issues of corporate culture, gender equality, gender competence, processes and accountability in the work of the GIZ. Syspons evaluated the strategy on the basis of an impact model developed jointly with the GIZ. The report summarises the evaluation results and illustrates them using tangible examples.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
In view of the steadily increasing number of co-financing cooperations with other donors, the German Corporation for International Cooperation's (GIZ) Executive Board commissioned a strategic evaluation on co-financing. Syspons was charged with carrying out the evaluation and analysed a number of aspects, such as transaction costs and scaling up. In their report, the GIZ incorporated a management response which specifically addresses the recommendations of the evaluation.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
The Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) - WOTRO Science for Global Development launched an "Integrated Programmes" scheme in 2007-2010. It serves to support problem-centred, interdisciplinary research in the Global South. Syspons evaluated this component through analyses, surveys and interviews using the OECD/DAC criteria. The report presents the results of the evaluation in detail.
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) - WOTRO Science for Global Development
In 2016, the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation (FES) convened a commission of experts consisting of representatives from politics, administration, business and society. The Commission was tasked to draw up guiding principles for Germany as a country of immigration. Syspons moderated the process of developing these guiding principles on behalf of the foundation. The final report contains the jointly developed guiding principles. Based on this output, Syspons moreover developed event formats for the dissemination of the guiding principles.
Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES)
Since 2015, the "Engaged City" program has been supporting the establishment of lasting civic engagement in cities and municipalities in Germany. Syspons has accompanied and helped to shape the development process of the participating cities, as well as preparing an impact analysis for the entire programme for the period 2015-2017. This video summarizes the results of an online survey from spring 2017 and indicates options of action for the participants in the engaged cities.
Körber Foundation
Syspons accompanied the ABCami project on literacy and basic education in mosque communities. Part of the support was the coordination of the cooperation between the Design Akademie Berlin and the project. In various seminars, the students discussed the topics of education, written language and mosque communities as places of learning. Many different products resulted from this process, among them several videos. The visual poem “Who decides? The second impresion” was recognized as the best video (Students: Nathalie Araya, Onur Fis, Mane Friedrich, David Heuer, Sara Schwab, Alissa Verj).
Association for Intercultural Coexistence (Gesellschaft für interkulturelles Zusammenleben e.V.)
On behalf of the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), Syspons evaluated the so-called accessible women's courses. These low-threshold courses aim at encouraging immigrant women and at helping them integrate. The evaluation provides the BAMF with a detailed analysis of the effects of the courses and a series of concrete recommendations.
German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF)
The project evaluations (PEV) of the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) were examined by Syspons in a meta-evaluation. The quality of the evaluations was systematically assessed using a detailed analysis grid. The results of the resultant report were presented at international conferences.
German Corporation for International Development (GIZ)
Syspons supported the Ministry of the Interior of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein with the integration-focussed reception of refugees. The aim of the project was to improve the cooperation between the actors and to develop processes. As a pivotal product, Syspons conceptualized and graphically prepared ideal-typical support processes for linguistic and labour market-oriented integration. The linked presentation interactively presents these model support processes.
Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of the Interior, Rural Areas, Integration and Equality
Syspons has supported all districts and autonomous cities of the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein in optimizing their processes of integration-oriented admission of refugees. The processes have been visualized by flowcharts. The final report presents an overview of the results in all eight fields of action. Many of the administrative districts and cities have published their processes online (search for: „Integrationsorientierte Aufnahme von Flüchtlingen“), here at the example of the district Ostholstein.
Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of the Interior, Rural Areas, Integration and Equality
Syspons accompanied the ABCami project on literacy and basic education in mosque communities. The article on religious places as special places of learning was developed within the framework of this project.
Association for Intercultural Coexistence (Gesellschaft für interkulturelles Zusammenleben e.V.)
Since 2015, the "Engaged City" program has been supporting the establishment of lasting civic engagement in cities and municipalities in Germany. Syspons has accompanied and helped to shape the development process of the participating cities, as well as preparing an impact analysis for the entire programme for the period 2015-2017. This video explains the role of impact and impact monitoring in the programme, how impact-oriented work works and how Syspons intends to evaluate the process.
Körber Foundation
Since 2015, the "Engaged City" program has been supporting the establishment of lasting civic engagement in cities and municipalities in Germany. Syspons has accompanied and helped to shape the development process of the participating cities, as well as preparing an impact analysis for the entire programme for the period 2015-2017. In this video, the interim results of an online survey and from the 1st Engagement Forum 2016 are presented and, based on these results, advice is given regarding the approach proven to be favorable.
Körber Foundation