UBALE DFAP Final Performance UBALE DFAP Final Performance Evaluation Presentation Evaluation Presentation TANGO International
Meet our Presenters Lori Du Trieuille, BHA Malawi Team Leader, USAID/ BHA Emmanuel Ngulube, Humanitarian Assistance Officer, USAID/ BHA Luis Ramirez, Team Leader, UBALE DFAP Evaluation Monica Mueller, Senior Technical Advisor, TANGO International (moderator) Photo Credit: Jonathan Hyams/Save the Children Dr Stephanie Martin, Quantitative Analyst, TANGO International Jeanne Downen, Livelihood Specialist and Chief of Party for IMPEL, TANGO International (alternate presenter)
Context and Methods
UBALE Context Southern districts: Chikwawa, Nsanje, Rural Blantyre Endline: 88% households experienced shocks • High climate variability; droughts and floods • Low crop productivity • Rain-fed agriculture, low soil fertility, small landholdings, pests, o limited use of agriculture inputs March 2019: Cyclone Idai destroyed crops • Market variability • High disease burden; poor sanitation • Chronic malnutrition • Inequitable gender roles •
Methods Qualitative Study Quantitative Survey Oct 23 – Nov 15, 2019 July 24 – Aug 4, 2019 • Three targeted districts • Population-based survey Purposive sample • • 1,260 households 50 FGDs w/ 548 • participants (276 F, 272 M) • 72 KIIs w/ project participants (17 F, 55 M) • Desk review • Field observations
What worked? Helped achieve outcomes Challenges • Working through government • External shocks: and traditional structures: • Floods, dry spells, uneven Promoted and coordinated • rainfall (El Niño 2015/16) project field activities • Fall armyworm (2017) • Working w/ local and Market changes (pigeon pea • traditional authorities price drop 2016) affected • Resulted in innovative ideas for reinforcing mobilization, production and sales participation, compliance • Project delays; misalignment of • Integrated design and project cycle and agriculture approach calendar Provided opportunities to • reinforce messages between • Reduced time available to purposes and to complement train, transfer and implement and integrate activities at agriculture activities community level
Purpose 1: Vulnerable households increase income
Purpose 1: Vulnerable households increase income Successfully strengthened and built • the capacity of government and traditional structures to monitor and implement agriculture extension activities Successful agriculture extension • strategy, working through Agriculture Extension Development Officers (AEDOs) to support lead farmers to transfer skills Transfer of low-tech, low-cost • technologies to increase sustainability and yield, increase knowledge in farm management and business planning
Purpose 1: Vulnerable households increase income Capacity Building • AEDOs >> lead farmers o Successful but low AEDO : farmer ratio • DiNer fairs o Successful to promote farm diversification but not sustainable • Seed multiplication o Successful and sustainable to increase local availability (sorghum, OFSP, fortified beans) o Linking seed multipliers to larger structures is important for sustainability
Purpose 1: Vulnerable households increase income Capacity Building • Shift to crop diversification o From local maize and sorghum to faster-maturing varieties + beans, cowpeas, OFSP; mixed cropping o Increased production of nutritional foods needed to achieve P2 objectives o Farmers continued to practice Conservation Agriculture techniques because they could see the improvement in their soils and yields • High acceptance of low-cost and simple technologies o Sasakawa technique, mulching, soil conservation, manure making, pit farming (Conservation Agriculture)
Purpose 1: Vulnerable households increase income Improved storage: PICS bags NRM via Food for Assets Tree nurseries, tree planting, • Durable, low-cost protection • erosion control, bylaws for forest against post-harvest losses and use, beekeeping. Successful and aflatoxin contamination sustainable. • Promoted in marketing clubs, • Happy with training and results lead farmers, DiNER fairs but FFA payment delayed Increased demand after 2 ½ • Threats: free-roaming livestock, • years but few purchases due to termites (working w/ Forestry cost, availability, low harvest Dept; mixed success) after cyclone
Purpose 1: Vulnerable households increase income Capacity Building Population-level data show effect of shocks
Purpose 1: Vulnerable households increase income Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILCs) • Successful mechanism for poor households to save money and access credit Followed PSP model from WALA (some WALA SILCs still active) o 3,699 SILC groups with 86,224 participants (75.1% F) (Sep 2018) o USD 1.4M in savings; return on savings 38.1% o USD 1.2M in outstanding loans (FY19); defaults rare o • Formed male SILCs to avoid impression that SILCs only for women • Allowed women to purchase livestock for first time • PSPs still forming new SILCs after UBALE ended SILCs contribute to resilience
Purpose 1: Vulnerable households increase income Value Chain Activities Decrease at population level • Pigeon pea production: • o did well FY16; sold 153 MT o FY17: bumper crops in India and China, and India import ban, affected markets (increased local availability) o Chikwawa KI: 250 MT harvested in 2018 but could not sell; stopped growing it
Purpose 1: Vulnerable households increase income Marketing Clubs • Successes/challenges in collective marketing • Marketing club and association members were selling a larger volume of crops at higher prices as a result of the training from UBALE NASFAM Training: NASFAM Support: Club formation Collective sales Business planning Sustainable market connections; liaison clubs – buyers Marketing Supervision Higher-level marketing assoc.
Purpose 1: Vulnerable households increase income Value chain commodities: • green gram, sesame, red beans Five associations with 1,172 farmer- members (528 F, 644 M) earned >MWK 83M on sales of value chain commodities in 2017-18 (registering with GoM) Challenges: Aggregated crop storage facilities • Uncertainty of marketing PSP fees • Standard approach to crops regardless • of agric-eco zone Photo Credit: Jeanne Downen The marketing group concept is understood by farmers but needs time to mature and become effective
Purpose 1: Vulnerable households increase income Financial Services Population level: significant decrease in use of financial services; • one third using services at endline Loss of crops, assets and income after flooding in 2018-19 season; o used savings for emergency needs 22% keep savings in SILCs (most common) o Very low use of credit o • UBALE data: More loans from SILCs went to men (154 percent of target) than o to women (69 percent of target)
Blantyre, Nsanje, Chikwawa (BNC) SACCO Challenges Overview • Not enough demand for its services Intent = diversify options • Needs external financing to be sustainable • for project participants (IFAD/MUSCCO) • Began offering services • Needed a feasibility study, earlier start, Oct 2018 more partner engagement, 3-4 years to ~ 2,800 members (63% F) • mature >USD 41,000 in assets Not sustainable without substantial ongoing • • financial, technical and managerial support from gov’t and external organizations
Purpose 1: Vulnerable households increase income Youth participation (age 18-35) Community Animal Health Workers Some youth were PSPs • Trainings, vaccines and other • Youth Clubs – Office of Social Welfare • services appreciated Messaging on health, nutrition, • Certification as paravets was • sanitation, teen pregnancy, early an issue marriage, school dropout prevention, gender Sustainability questionable: uncertainty of fee payment; Lack of clear agenda for youth; no storage place for vaccines missed opportunity
Purpose 1: Vulnerable households increase income • Men became more inclusive in decision-making about their self- earned cash • Women improved their decision-making power over their own cash
Purpose 2: Improved nutritional status among PLW and CU2
Purpose 2: Improved nutritional status – PLW and CU2 • Community mobilization efforts and integration of P1 and P2 activities, intense agricultural support to access to nutrient-dense, diverse foods • Despite deterioration of household food access and decreased dietary diversity due to multiple shocks, consumption of nutrient-rich value chain commodities (esp. OFSP), increased among women of reproductive age and CU2
Purpose 2: Improved nutritional status – PLW and CU2 Strengthening GoM MCHN system management Major achievement: full-scale-up of National Care Group Model; Scaling Up Nutrition • Supported gov’t expansion of Care Group model in all project districts • Strengthened supporting structures at district, TA, GVH and community levels Established committees; developed 23 management plans: District Nutrition Coordination Committees, District Coordination Teams for WASH • 17 TA-level Area Nutrition Coordinating Committees • Focus on the first 1,000 days works
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