Draft Report on
Report on
Tri-partite Evaluation
of FAO’s German BTF Project GCP/AFG/039/GER
Supporting Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods
in Afghanistan
September 2008
For
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock of Afghanistan (MAIL)
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Federal Ministry of Nutrition, Agriculture and Consumer Protection of Germany (BMELV)
Contents
Acronyms
Preface
Executive Summary
Introduction 1
Background and Context 6
Project Design 15
Project Implementation, Efficiency and Management 22
Project Results and Effectiveness 30
Conclusions, Recommendations and Lessons Learnt 41
Annexes
Annex 1: Terms of reference of the evaluation mission
Annex 2: List of documents and other reference materials consulted
Annex 3: Project list Afghanistan Bilateral Trust Fund BMELV - FAO 2002- 2007
Annex 4: Objectives and related outputs that people who formulated the project probably had in mind
Annex 5: Achievements on output level
Annex 6: Note for the record on programming session; Kabul, 23/4/08
Annex 7: Building M&E systems related to food Security, nutrition and livelihoods in Afghanistan; notes for discussion by M. Grunewald
Acronyms
AALP FAO’s Alternative Agricultural Livelihoods Program
AGK Aga Khan Foundation
AGNP Nutrition Programmes Service (FAO)
AGST Agricultural and Food Engineering Technologies Service (FAO)
AKDN Aga Khan Development Network
ANDS Afghan National Development Strategy
BL Budget Line
BMELV German Federal Ministry of Nutrition, Agriculture and Consumer Protection
BTF Bilateral Trust Fund of BMELV with FAO
CDC Community Development Council
CIM Centre for International Migration & Development (German Dev. Organization)
CIMIC Civil-Military Co-operation
CP Counterpart
DAIL Provincial Department of MAIL
DFID UK Department for International Development
EC European Commission
EON Entwicklungsorientierte Nothilfe (Development oriented Emergency Assistance)
EWSD Gender, Equity and Rural Development Division
FAAHM MAIL’s Data Collection and Policy Analysis unit
FAO Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations
FAO-RAF FAO Regional Office for Asia and Far East
FLI Functional Literacy Initiative
FS Food Security
GCP Government Cooperative Programme
GERES Groupe Energies Renouvelables Environnement et Solidarités (French NGO : Group for Renewable Energies, Environment and Solidarity)
GoA Government of Afghanistan
GTZ German Agency for Technical Cooperation
HED MAIL’s Home Economics Department
HFSNE Household Food Security and Nutrition Expert
HFS Household Food Security
HSI Healthy Schools Initiative
ILO International Labour Organisation
INGO International Non-Government Organization
JICA Japanese International Cooperation Agency
LoA Letter of Agreement
LTO Lead Technical Officer
LTU Lead Technical Unit (major FAO backstopping unit)
MAAHF Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Food (renamed to MAIL)
MAIL Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock of Afghanistan
MAIL Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock
MoE Ministry of Education
MoPH Ministry of Public Health
MoWA Ministry of Women’s Affairs
MRRD Ministry of Rehabilitation and Rural Development
NGO Non-Government Organization
NPFS National Program for Food Security
NSDP National Skills Development Programme
NSP National Solidarity Programme
NYP National Youth Programme
PAL Project for Alternative Livelihood in Eastern Afghanistan
PBEE FAO’ Evaluation Service
PRT Provincial Reconstruction Team
SALEH FAO’s Sustainable Agricultural Livelihoods in Eastern Hazarajat
TL Evaluation Team Leader
ToR Terms of Reference
ToT Training Of Trainers
UNAMA United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan
UNDP United Nations Development Program
UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework
UNICEF United Nations Child Fund
PREFACE
Acknowledgment
The evaluation team would like to thank all project stakeholders, including the staff of FAO at headquarters and country representation, the MAIL, the BMELV and multi- and bilateral projects who contributed to this evaluation. Discussions were always frank, fruitful and stimulating, providing insights to the multi-dimensional issues related to food security, nutrition and livelihood.
The evaluation team is especially grateful to Ms. Charlotte Dufour, Chief Technical Advisor of GCP/AFG/050/GER and her staff, particularly Farida Lamay, Capacity Building Officer, and Ms. Nazifa Natique, Nutrition and Gender Officer in Badakshan; Ms. Nazeera Rahman, Director of Home Economics Department (MAIL’s HED, Kabul); Mr. Moeen ud Din Siraj, Operations Officer in the FAO Country Office Afghanistan (FAOAF); Ms. Florence Egal, Senior Nutrition Officer (FAO- AGNP, Rome); and Mr. Bernd Bultemeier, Evaluation Officer (FAO-PBEE, Rome), for the time and effort put into ensuring that the evaluation team could fulfill its function.
The evaluation team would also like to extend its gratitude to Ms. Swantje Helbing, Head of Division for International Food and Agricultural Organizations, World Food Affairs and Sustainable Development (BMELV) for her interest and critical questions; and Mr. Armin Klöckner, Planning Officer of the Policy Consultancy in Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Sectors Section (GTZ, Eschborn) for briefing the mission on the Support Concept of the German Government for the FAO Trust Fund on Food Security. We would also like to thank Mr. David Hitchcock, Senior Farming Systems Development Officer of FAO Regional Office in Bangkok (FAO/RAP) for sharing his experience and competence with the team.
Finally we would like to express our thanks to all people who provided support to the mission in one way or the other during the sometimes hectic days in April. 2008. Every village visited gave a warm welcome to the mission, and project counterparts provided thoughtful and comprehensive accounts of their activities.
Evaluation team and timing of the exercise
The evaluation team included the two authors of this report, Mr. Matthias Grunewald, Socio-Economist, FAO Consultant, and Dr. Herwig Hahn, German Trust Fund GTZ Bonn. The third member of the team was M. Hafizullah Rafiq, GOA representative of MAIL’s M&E Department. The evaluation work in Afghanistan took place during the period 6 - 25 April 2008.
Executive Summary
Major Findings and Conclusions
A tripartite-evaluation of Project GCP/AFG/039/GER Supporting Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan has been carried out in April 2008. The German Ministry of, Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV) is financing several of the FAO-executed Projects in Afghanistan via a bilateral trust fund (BTF) for food security. Project 039 formed the anchor project of the overarching Food Security Programme. The EUR 5 million 3-year Project with field activities in four provinces came to an end in December 2007.
The team evaluated Project 039 within the framework of a number of closely related FAO projects financed from this BTF. It looked at the relevance, design, implementation and results with emphasis given to project outcomes. The idea was to identify areas of necessary improvements especially for the successor Project 050.
In 2005???, the Human Development Index ranked Afghanistan at 173 out of 178 countries worldwide and its Millennium Development Goals indicators placed it below the majority of Sub-Saharan African countries. The depth of poverty in Afghanistan is reflected consistently in all human development indicators. The country remains one of the poorest in the world. Thirty-eight percent of rural households are short of food at least part of the year. Malnutrition is widespread. 57 percent of Afghan households had (same year?) low diet diversity and an estimated 30 percent did not meet their caloric needs.
A massive planning effort of the Government of Afghanistan (GoA) has taken place in collaboration with the international community in recent years (e.g. Afghanistan Compact, Afghanistan National Development Strategy) and numerous interventions have been carried out at different levels involving also the civil society and NGOs. Household food security (HFS), nutrition and livelihoods did not always receive the necessary attention in these efforts. The food-based approach that the Project followed aiming to improve the nutrition status of food-insecure households in rural and peri-urban areas with a high prevalence of acute malnutrition had been missing and clearly fell into the domain of the MAIL.
The Project’s strategy had all the decisive elements that promised success, and the underlying objectives of the project design were highly relevant. Confusion of terminology and underlying concepts of project elements probably contributed to an implementation approach that sometimes did not give sufficient emphasis to the achievement of objectives (lack of focus).
During the Project’s lifetime, the disbursement rate was according to expectations. Budget and expenditures were in line with plans. Only the outputs and related main activities were reviewed during the mission. Although the produced outputs were in some cases below the expected number (e.g. number of community based interventions), the taken measures were generally found to be necessary and sufficient to achieve the planned outputs.
The Government of Afghanistan provided excellent support to the Project but failed to assign Home Economics Officers at provincial level who were expected to become counterparts of FAO Project staff.
Project management performance, especially by the Chief Technical Advisor was adequate. Resources were put to good work, implementing partners were well chosen, and reporting was very informative; however, the orientation was more towards towards outputs than outcomes.
Technical backstopping by the lead technical unit and operational support by the FAOR benefited the Project decisively. The lead technical officer in FAO HQs provided valuable advice and mobilized some excellent FAO staff and consultants for the Project.
The achievements related to capacity building are outstanding. The Project succeeded within a very short time to bring the topics of HFS and nutrition to the attention of MAIL’s management resulting in institutional changes within the ministry. The Home Economics Department (HED) staff benefited first and foremost from project activities. The HED developed from a little loosely? structured unit with hardly any resources into an adequately staffed, well organized and equipped independent department with an endorsed strategy and implementation plan. Staff has put into practice skills acquired. The HED appears to be now widely recognized in MAIL and in other ministries as the focal point for nutrition, household food security, livelihoods and gender. It has become a recognized partner in networks especially at central level. The capacity building efforts have gone well beyond the training of MAIL staff. Other institutions, ministries, agencies and NGOs benefited from many training courses carried out through the Project.
A particularly encouraging feature of the Project has been its activities and achievements related to non-government organizations. NGOs have been invited to training courses and workshops, some benefited even from participation in study tours organized by the Project. In return many NGOs functioned as implementing agencies for the Project, bringing nutrition education to target groups and helping the latter in producing, processing, preserving and marketing food. More important perhaps in the long run, the capacity building activities have led MAIL to contract NGOs for implementing activities designed by the HED and financed by Government.
Ongoing programmes of other ministries and existing projects which had already established activities reaching the ultimate beneficiaries were used by the Project to ‘transport’ the nutrition education or HFS messages of the Project. Using a training-of-trainers (TOT) approach the Project usually only added a hitherto missing nutrition dimension or gave existing programmes a household food security focus.
The Project has to offer impressive figures related to its approach. It is said to have provided basic nutrition education training to over 1,200 community-level workers from 25 agencies (NGOs and government departments). This TOT strategy has obviously made it possible to reach an estimated 30,000 households. Further, the Project claims that the implementing partners have incorporated nutrition education activities into their programmes and are adapting projects to address malnutrition. Indeed, many positive effects have been observed during the field visits, cited by implementing partners, or brought up in workshops reports. However, a reliable general judgment on the achievement of objectives, i.e. the utilization by beneficiaries of the messages disseminated, is hampered as the Project lacked a systematic outcome monitoring approach.
Several potentially very useful, often co-funded, manuals, guides, booklets and posters on various subjects have been produced, translated into Dari and Pashto and distributed to implementing agencies, other projects and ultimate beneficiaries. Unfortunately, no information has been systematically collected on the use of these materials.
The achievements related to incorporating HFS, nutrition and livelihood considerations into policies and projects are positive. The Project has obviously made substantial contributions to major planning documents in the areas of HFS and Nutrition (e.g. MAIL’s Master Plan, the agricultural part of the Afghan National Development Strategy, and MAIL’s Investment and Implementation Plan). In addition, the Project team supported Public Nutrition Department of the Ministry of Public Health in updating its strategy which later became the inter-ministerial Action Plan for Nutrition.
The Project has been particularly strong in building partnerships. It has been regularly consulted by a wide range of stakeholders for technical assistance, advice and networking, which stems certainly also from its strong collaboration with several other UN agencies and ministries.
Generally, prospects for sustainability are good. The HED is well established, posts are funded from the Government’s regular budget. Management of the NGOs indicated that nutrition education activities continue to be a part of ongoing and future NGO programmes. Chances that Project activities will be sustained appear to be even better in Government programmes such as the Healthy Schools Initiative (school gardens) and the Functional Literacy Initiative (integration of nutrition component). The publications by the Project and the weight given to HFS/nutrition in policies and strategies will have long-lasting effects.
The measures taken to promote gender issues were adequate and highly relevant. Gender was an inherent part of the project approach and implementation, and attention to gender issues was strengthened through various activities. The Project supported the writing of the Gender chapter of MAIL’s Masterplan, and the HED is now fully recognized in MAIL and other ministries as the focal point for gender.
Generally the cost-effectiveness of Project activities was good. Examples include: (i) the ToT approach using existing programmes, (ii) the multi-purpose workshops leading to strengthened capacities, new field activities and active networks, and (iii) the use of FAO’s standard training material that only was adapted to the Afghan conditions.
Factors that have influenced the Project positively include: (i) the capabilities and personality of the CTA, (ii) the support of MAIL’s Deputy Minister, (iii) position of the Project having one leg in the policy formulation area and the other at field level, (iv) the strong technical backstopping especially from the very experienced LTO, (v) the donor’s long-term commitment and its policy focusing on food security and nutrition, (vi) the effective operational backstopping from FAOR’s office.
Whereas factors that have influenced the Project negatively include: (i) security situation, (ii) lack of HED personnel at provincial level, (iii) reputation and status of MAIL among MDAs, (iv) ability of HED staff to communicate in English, (v) institutional location of the Project, and (vi) poor outcome M&E.
Recommendations and Lessons learnt
|Main Addressee |Recommendations |
|Stakeholders of Project |Recognizing similar design weaknesses in the successor Project 050 as those identified in 039 (confusion of |
|050 |activities and objectives, irrelevant instead of meaningful assumptions, poor quality of indicators), |
| |consideration should be given by stakeholders to review the Logframe of Project 050 in a workshop. |
|MAIL |Home Economics Officer posts in provinces the Project is covering should be filled with qualified candidates |
| |as soon as possible. |
|Management of Project 050 |The action plan formulated at the end of the nutrition education interventions workshop have to be followed up|
| |by Project management as agreed. |
|Steering Committee (to be |The role of the HED should be reviewed by MAIL’s management, Project CTA and HED’s Director. HED staff should |
|established) |probably be less engaged in providing training directly to women groups in the future and rather reinforce |
| |activities related to ToT, guideline preparation, coordination, networking, policy and strategy formulation. |
| |In this way HED may become a model of MAIL’s work in focusing on the normative/regulatory functions while |
| |leaving actual implementation to NGOs and the private sector. These field level activities should be attended |
| |and assessed by HED staff from time to time to remain aware of the reality in the field and ensure quality |
| |work by implementers. |
|Stakeholders of Project |Proposals on a programme approach were based on a short review of existing elements of such an approach. The |
|050 and Management of BTF |proposals have been formulated in collaboration with FAO’s Lead Technical Officer from HQs, CTAs from Project|
|Projects |050 and 047 and a senior staff from FAO’s Regional Office (FAORAP) and were presented to the FAO |
| |Representative in Afghanistan. They are attached as Annex 6 and should be carefully considered and jointly |
| |discussed by all parties concerned. |
|Stakeholders of Project |Notes prepared by the Mission on Building M&E Systems related to Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in |
|050 |Afghanistan are attached as Annex 7 and should be discussed among stakeholders. |
|Management of Project 050 |The wide range of interventions supported left little time to test a critical mass of a specific type of |
| |intervention to accumulate sufficient experiences in order to subsequently offer sound advice. More analysis |
| |of the different models used should be undertaken to identify the most promising activities under prevailing |
| |circumstances. |
|Management of Project 050 |New efforts should be made to improve coordination of field activities by installing a periodically updated |
|and MAIL |inventory on community-based food security and nutrition interventions, and by convening the working group |
| |(with the same name) regularly, e.g. every six month, that could help to feed the inventory. Three draft |
| |guidelines on horticulture, food processing and poultry completed and translated under GCP/AFG/050/GER during |
| |the evaluation mission could be presented in the next meeting of this working group. |
|Management of Project 050 |Next to nutrition education more practical livelihood support to increase production, diversify food |
| |production, food processing and conservation, and marketing should be provided. Interventions should start |
| |from a more careful verification of assets over which expected beneficiaries dispose. |
|Management of Project 050 |There were often constraints for the target groups to the practical application of learnt messages. To ensure |
| |that households could follow the nutrition education messages and apply the proposed HFS/livelihood measures, |
| |the implementing partners need to be sensitized and supported to adjust the contents of their counselling and |
| |training to the particular situation of the beneficiaries. This might be done through discussing this issue in|
| |training and/or trainers’ manuals. |
|FAO/AGNP (LTO); Management|Having praised the good quality of FAO HQ backstopping, in the future the lead technical officer (LTO) at FAO |
|of Project 050 |HQs should perhaps rather encourage the CTA to consolidate and systematically document approaches than |
| |bringing up new ideas requiring additional time and efforts. Consolidation of activities and documentation of |
| |processes and approaches followed should have priority for the CTA now compared to further up-scaling and |
| |quick extension of activities to additional provinces. |
|Stakeholders of Project |Decision should be taken whether to establish a Project Steering Committee just for Project 050 or a Programme|
|050, and other BTF |Steering Committee that takes care of all German BTF projects related to FS and nutrition. The latter option |
|projects, esp. FAOR and |seems to be the better solution. Such a steering committee should preferably be co-chaired by the Minister or |
|MAIL |his Deputy and the FAO Representative. It is advisable to have as its members the most important ministries, |
| |UN organizations a representative of the donor organization, one representative of NGOs dealing with FS and |
| |nutrition, the CTAs and their counterparts. The committee should meet every six months. The CTA of Project 050|
| |may function as the PSC’s secretary. One of the first activities of such a PSC could be to review proposals |
| |towards strengthening a HFS/nutrition programme approach and take decisions on the way forward. |
|Main addressee |Lesson learnt |
|FAO/PBEE |There is valuable information stored from evaluations of similar projects elsewhere in FAO’s evaluation |
| |databank. It should become a routine procedure for PBEE to provide FAO evaluation teams with relevant |
| |information from its database. |
|FAO |The appraisal of draft project documents should always include a critical assessment of (i) the ‘theory of |
| |change’ displayed in the project document respectively in its Logframe (means-ends relationship); (ii) the |
| |structure of project components and their interrelationship; and (iii) the quality of outcome indicators. |
|FAORs |Establishment of steering committees to which project management is accountable has proved in general to be a |
| |useful feature in FAO field projects; there must be a good reason for not planning to have such a SC in a |
| |project. |
|FAORs |Capacity building of MDAs (Government organizational entities) should always follow closely a carefully |
| |defined and endorsed mandate of the institutional unit that the project is expected to strengthen. |
|FAO/PBEE |Ask evaluators in guidelines/TOR not only to assess relevance of the project’s objectives, but also to |
| |estimate the relevance of the project’s actual contributions towards development objectives/core problems. |
|FAO/AGNP |Results of further normative work dealing with the concepts of household food security, nutrition and |
| |livelihoods and their relationship should result into practical recommendations for governments on the |
| |organizational structure and functions of MDAs dealing with these subjects. |
|MAIL/M&E Directorate |The Government implementing agency should decide to what extent achievement of the development objective can |
| |and should be verified. The assistance of FAO in this respect may be requested. |
|MAIL/M&E Directorate |Make it a rule to assign (English speaking) staff to participate actively in project evaluations who then |
| |should be asked to follow up the implementation of accepted recommendations |
Introduction
A. Rationale, Members and Approach of the Evaluation
1. The overall objective of the evaluation of the Project ‘Supporting the Improvement of Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan’ (GCP/AFG/039/GER), referred to as ‘Project 039’ in the remaining text of this document, is to assess whether the German funds and the FAO technical assistance provided to Afghanistan are used efficiently and effectively. Since the follow-up project ‘Support to Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan’ (GCP/AFG/050/GER) has started in January 2008, it is expected that that recommendations would lead to improved performance of ‘Project 050’, the follow-up project, and that lessons can be learnt for future interventions. In addition, the ToR for the evaluation mission (see Annex 1) requested the team to review briefly the food security programme approach anticipated from the 050 and related projects.
2. The evaluation can be called a tri-partite exercise since the donor, the UN executing agency and the Government were represented. Since the GoA representative did not speak English and the two other members of the team did not speak Dari, communication proved to be difficult and participation of the GoA representative in meetings and evaluation result presentation in the workshop at the end of the mission was limited. Although not members of the evaluation team, the CTA of Project 050, the representative of BMELV and the senior backstopping officer from FAO-RAF joined the team during the field trip and contributed their findings and conclusions to the evaluation. All three were deeply involved in the planning workshop related to the programme approach that followed the presentation of evaluation findings in Kabul.
3. The characteristic features of the evaluation comprised: a thorough look at the Project’s design based on the principles of the logical framework analysis; an assessment of the relevance of the Project; a review of the quality of Project’s major outputs; a focus on verifying to what degree the immediate objectives and other anticipated outcomes of Project 039 were realized. Light was brought to different project constraints and effects from a variety of perspectives. The evaluation was forward-looking in the sense that several recommendations were made for the implementation of the follow-up Project 050 and elaborated notes were prepared on an outcome and impact oriented monitoring and evaluation system. The FAO and donor representatives of the evaluation also participated intensively in the discussions of an FAO-led Food Security Program Approach in Afghanistan.
4. The evaluation team’s approach included a review and analysis of major documents (see Annex 2) and Project files; group and individual discussions with counterparts, stakeholders, implementing partners and beneficiaries; modified SWOT analysis of project activities; repeated feedback sessions with the CTA and project staff. The preliminary findings were presented on April 24, 2008 in Kabul to a wider audience, comprising FAO staff, policy representatives and other stakeholders. A planning session with project staff on the next day intended to integrate the findings and recommendations into the ongoing work of FAO on food security and nutrition. Intensive debriefing sessions were organized with the FAO Representative in Kabul and backstopping and evaluation officers in Rome.
5. Constraints faced by evaluators comprised language difficulties; a variety of partly vague expectations to what degree other projects should be reviewed during the mission and what shape a program approach should take; the logistics in a country that has still substantial security problems; the relatively large group of officials from the three major parties who joined the evaluators during their field trip, and the Project’s weaknesses in terms of documenting baseline situation and monitoring and studying its outcomes and impacts.
B. The Programme of the Evaluation Team
6. The evaluation started with a preparatory meeting of the two authors of this report (Dr. Herwig Hahn on behalf of GTZ and Mr. Matthias Grunewald, representing FAO). The evaluation approach and responsibilities were determined. They met Mr. Armin Kloeckner, Planning Officer, Section Policy Consultancy in the Agriculture Fisheries and Food Sectors in GTZ to briefly discuss the support concept of the German Federal Government for the FAO trust fund for food security[1]. A 1-day briefing of the mission leader in FAO headquarters followed (March 26th) that included individual meetings with backstopping officers from different services, including Ms. Florence Egal, (AGNP), Ms. Caroline von Gayl, (TCAP), Mr. Carlos Da Silva (AGSF), Ms. Ellen Muehlhoff (AGN), Mr. Michelle Gauthier (FOMC) and Mr. Jean-Louis Blanchez (FOIM).
7. On April 6, 2008, the evaluation team leader (TL) began his work in Kabul after UNDSS security briefings. He met frequently with Ms. Charlotte Dufour, CTA of 050 (previously 039), to identify major outputs and outcomes of 039 and ensure proper coverage during the evaluation, to plan the meeting schedule and prepare the field trip to Badakshan Province. Mr. Tekeste Tekie, FAO Representative, and his office staff were consulted on the FAO projects in Afghanistan.
8. Mr. Ghulam Mustafa 'Jawad', MAIL Deputy Minister, provided his summary assessment of the Project, and Ms. Nazeera Rahman, Director of MAIL’s Home Economics Department (HED), was interviewed to identify benefits that the project brought for her department. In addition, the TL also met the General Directors of Policy and Planning, Agricultural Extension and Natural Resources, as well as the Director of the M&E Department and his staff, Mr. Hafizullah Rafiq, who became the Government representative of this tripartite evaluation. He attended a meeting in the office of Ms. Christy Utulatum, the Minister’s Strategy Advisor financed by DFID, on MAIL’s Investment and Implementation Plan (IIP) and on indicators related to the objectives of the National Food Security Programme (NPFS). This meeting was attended, among others, by the Director of M&E and Mr. Khalil Ur Rahman, FAO’s CTA of the SPFS. Mr. Rahman’s project has supported the MAIL in the formulation of the NPFS.
9. The mission leader had a chance to attend the FAO Service meeting in which the CTAs of FAO Projects participate. He had talks with, among others, Mr. Keith Shawe, CTA of 047 `Biodiversity' project on changes Mr. Shawe would like to see in project plans as a result of his inception report, and on the extent wild plants and medicinal plants could make a contribution to improving the food security and nutrition situation of selected communities.
10. Mr. Tek Thapa, CTA of 040 ‘Dairy’ project, accompanied the TL to the Kabul Dairy Scheme where a meeting was held on the achievements and constraints of the scheme in general and related to food security and nutrition in particular. The manager of the dairy plant; Mr. Lutfullah Rlung, National Field Manager; the MAIL officer in charge, and several members of the farmers union, respectively the primary cooperatives, participated in the meeting. The visit of Mr. Kornelius Schiffer (GTZ; Northeast Afghanistan) in the Project office and a meeting in the office of the World Bank supported Horticulture and Livestock Project (HLP) with Dr. Karl Kaiser (GTZ-TL), Mr. Noor Akbari, Coordinator of HLP, and Dr. Jit Pradhan ‘Bhuktan’, M&E Specialist of HLP, provided further opportunities to discuss the performance and deficits of the FAO supported dairy schemes.
11. Since the planned trip to Bamyan Province had to be cancelled for logistical reasons, the mission leader had the chance to visit two schools supported by 039 respectively 050 in establishing school gardens. Meetings were held in both schools with the principles, head masters, parents, teachers of the ‘Greening Committees’ and pupils.
12. A visit to the HQ of the French NGO Groupe Energies Renouvelables Environnement et Solidarités (GERES) in Kabul allowed discussions with former participants (INGO and NGO) of the Project’s activities, i.e. ‘food processing training’ and ‘experience sharing workshop’
13. One week later Ms. Swantje Helbing, Head of Division for International Food and Agricultural Organizations, World Food Affairs and Sustainable Development (BMELV), arrived with Dr. Herwig Hahn, evaluation mission member on behalf of GTZ.
14. Most of the time Ms. Helbing and Mr. David Hitchcock, Senior Officer of FAO-RAF, Bangkok, and backstopper of one of the FAO projects financed through the German BTF, accompanied the evaluation mission for the remaining two weeks. Both of them contributed substantially to the notes on a programme approach prepared towards the end of the mission.
15. Being together for the first time the evaluation mission reviewed briefly the national and sector strategies related to food security and met in this respect with H.E. the Minister of Agriculture, the Vice Minister, the General Director of Policy and Planning, and advisors.
Further detailed information was provided by Mr. Rahman (SPFS) and Ms. Utulatum (IIP). The evaluation mission then visited UNDP to meet Mr. Ian Holland, Deputy Country Director UNDP, to discuss the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), UNDP’s activities related to food security and the renewed emphasis on agriculture on the international agenda.
16. The evaluation team attended an FAO Service Meeting of FAO project CTAs chaired by the FAO Representative. A short presentation of each project financed from the German BTF was organized for Ms. Helbing and the evaluation team. Meetings the TL had during the first week were followed up in the team with Ms. Dufour and Messrs. Tekeste, Tek Thapa, Keith Shawe and Karl Kaiser. Dr. Hahn met Mr. Shah Mahmood Khidri on the Project’s finances.
17. In the Kabul office of GTZ the team had discussions with Dr. Ingolf Vereno, GTZ Country Director, on GTZ’s country programme and with Mr. Carl Tästesensen, Regional Director Afghanistan/Pakistan on the Project for Alternative Livelihood (PAL) implemented by the GTZ, commissioned by the EC, and active in the Eastern provinces of Afghanistan. In the German Embassy a meeting was arranged with the First Secretary in charge of Development Cooperation and Economic Affairs.
18. A meeting in the EC Delegation with Mr. Christian Hell, Programme Manager Rural Development, centred around the EC’s Country Strategy Paper (CSP) that sets out the long-term priorities for the Commission's work on Afghanistan in the period 2007-2013, and MAIL’s and FAO’s role in developing the agricultural sector.
19. A visit was paid to the Public Nutrition Department (PND) of the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). Major contact person there was Dr. Zarmina, Director of the PND/MoPH. Joint efforts and activities of the PND/MoPH and the HED/MAIL respectively the Project were the major topic of discussions.
20. The 6-day field trip led the team together with FAOR and projects staff as well as Ms. Helbing and Mr. Hitchcock to the sugar factory of NBSC in Baghlan. The Manager of NBSC, Mr. Karim Wasiri (CIM, NBSC support), Mr. Azis, national responsible FAO expert, FAO/DAIL extension workers and farmer representatives participated in the discussions which centred around encountered problems for farmers and the company, and perspectives to ensure the supply of sugar beets.
21. At Kunduz a meeting was arranged with Mr. Schiffer (GTZ-EON) who did an economic assessment of the FAO supported Dairy Schemes (040) and shared his preliminary results with the team. On the way to Faizabad the team visited a milk collection point to discuss with farmers of the Mullah Gholam Producer Cooperative and children who were bringing the milk and taking the money home.
22. In Faizabad the team met several FAO staff: Ms. Nazifa Natique, the Project’s Provincial Nutrition and Gender Officer, who had arranged the visit and meeting programme for the team in Badakshan, and who accompanied the team in the following three days; Mr. Shamim Rehman (047), Mr. Akbar Sharestani (050), and Ms. Nazeera Rahman (MAIL) who joined the group from Kabul; and the Head of the FAO office in Kundus who was visiting Faizabad.
23. The evaluation team was given the possibility to meet provincial authorities such as Mr. Hadji Waid, Development Coordinator of Badakshan Province in Faisabad, and the Director of DAIL. (Badakhshan is the 5th largest province representing 5% of the total population of Afghanistan; it has 28 districts and is estimated to have 1540 villages with approximately 1,045,250 inhabitants. Badakhshan, due to its geography and history, is the most isolated and inaccessible province of Afghanistan.[2]) Discussions centered on the coordination of foreign assistance and the formulation of the provincial agricultural strategy that is planned to be formulated in 2008.
24. A meetings was held with Mr. Akhtar Iqbal, Regional Programme Manager of Aga Khan Foundation, to discuss the foundation’s program in Badakshan and its collaboration with the Project. A visit to the GTZ Office in Faizabad and discussions with Mr. Jörg Joder (GTZ EON) on GTZ’ program in the Province followed. Talks were held with Mr. Peter Stamer, BMZ Coordinator Badakshan Province, and Mr. Zahneisen, CIMIC Coordinator PRT Badakshan
25. A school was visited by the team where a school garden had been established with the help of the Project. A meeting with the principle, teachers and pupils was followed by an ‘inspection’ of the school garden.
26. In Faizabad the team went to the ‘Women’s Park’ used by the Department of Women Affairs (DOWA) where poor women go to practice vegetable gardening for which the Project provided the training together with nutrition education. Later a visit was paid to the DOWA and its training center where the team met the Director.
27. On the outskirts of Faizabad the Project had helped to establish vegetable gardens in an orphanage. The team talked to staff, women taking care of the children and orphans.
28. A trip to Baharak provided the opportunity for the team to see a cooking demonstration organized for patients and visitors of the Health Care Centre Baharak by a health worker of Care Afghanistan trained by the Project. It also provided the chance to talk to members of the audience and CAF’s health worker who provided nutrition information.
29. Talks were held with the Shura[3] of two villages on food processing initiated by the Project. Different male (fruit drying) and female (food processing) groups were interviewed, as well as individual farmers in their vegetable gardens. These activities were supported through AfghanAid community development workers who had been trained by the Project.
30. Before returning to Kabul the mission had an opportunity to interview two AKF participants of an ongoing Project training course on nutrition education. Finally a part of the team visited the Faizabad offices of Mission East and AfghanAid, two implementing partners of the Project to discuss with managing staff their monitoring and reporting arrangements.
31. Back in Kabul, Ms. Florence Egal, Senior FAO Nutrition Officer and major backstopping officer of 039 and 050, had arrived from Rome, among others, for discussions of the evaluation mission findings and the next steps towards a program approach of the German BTF projects.
32. The presentation and the discussion of the evaluation findings (including results of Mr. Schiffer’s economic analysis of dairy schemes) took place in the morning of 24th April and discussion of the program approach followed in the afternoon. The debriefing was organized next day before the departure of the team. Report writing took place in the first half of May with a debriefing of the mission leader at FAO HQs mid-May.
Background and Context
A. Country Context
33. The human development challenge for Afghanistan is enormous. According to Afghanistan’s National Human Development Report (NHDR) 2004, the Human Development Index ranks Afghanistan at 173 out of 178 countries worldwide and its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) indicators place it below the majority of Sub-Saharan African countries. The depth of poverty in Afghanistan is reflected consistently in all human development indicators, revealing a mosaic of a nation in need of sustained assistance. Not surprisingly, therefore, Afghanistan has been identified as a global priority for addressing the MDGs.
34. Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium, the basic ingredient for heroin. The drug economy permeates Afghanistan's economy, politics and society and promotes the political and social instability in the country. It also weakens the state and its power and prevents the development of good governance whilst posing a great obstacle to the reconstruction process, the achievement of national development goals and the successful implementation of projects. In addition, it has negative macro-economic consequences through its large equivalent proportion of the GNP (60%) and on the balance of payments. Nearly four-fifths of the income went to traffickers, not farmers. Over two million people (in a population of about 25 million) rely directly on the opium economy, and many more benefit from its indirect effects in construction, trade, transport, and other activities. Warlords and local rulers use the drug business to finance their arms and soldiers and secure their power position in the provinces.[4]
35. From April 1978 until the signing of the Bonn Agreement on 5 December 2001, conflict killed over a million Afghans, most of them civilians; over a million Afghans were orphaned, maimed or disabled; a third of the population was driven into exile as refugees, and many more were displaced from their homes; the villages where most of the population lived were devastated; and much of the country's educated class was forced into exile. Much agricultural land and pasture had been mined and was therefore unproductive.
36. Fragile systems for managing the country's scarce supplies of water were devastated. Most basic infrastructure was destroyed, including roads, bridges, irrigation systems, and electric power lines, and that which remained was not maintained. Afghans were unable to use many schools and clinics, many of which had degenerated into crumbling structures, unsuitable for their intended purposes. One generation or more lost the chance for education. The printing of worthless money to fund militias sparked hyperinflation, which reduced the value of salaries to almost nothing. Demoralized government staff received neither genuine salaries, training nor the leadership and equipment they needed to do their jobs. Licit agricultural production fell by half.[5]
37. The country still face worse living conditions than any peoples in the region and all but a few national populations globally (per the human development index). Too many of the infants are still dying. Of the children who survive their early years, not enough go to schools. Afghanistan is losing its mothers, wives and daughters to some of the worst maternal mortality rates ever recorded.
38. Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Thirty-eight percent of rural households are short of food at least part of the year. Malnutrition is widespread. Even among Afghans aged 15-24, the most educated group, only 34% are literate, including only 18% of women, the lowest female literacy rate in the world. Half of all school-age children do not attend school. Life expectancy is only forty-four and a half years, and child, infant, and maternal mortality levels are among the highest in the world.
39. In Badakhshan, the province visited by the evaluation team, one in three women can expect to die from complications of pregnancy or childbirth. Water quality has declined, the water table has sunk in many areas, and only 24% of water sources are safe for drinking. Fewer than 1% of households have safe or sanitary toilet facilities. Malaria is prevalent in 60% of the country and is spreading. Afghanistan is among 22 countries with the highest rates of tuberculosis. HIV/AIDS are spreading rapidly.
40. Regarding agriculture, only 12% or 7.9 million hectares of the country's total land area is classified as arable. Geographically, nearly 75% of the arable area is concentrated in the north, northeast, and western regions of the country. Of the total arable area, not more than half is actually cultivated annually, mainly because of water availability. The agricultural economy is dominated by subsistence farming. The poor have no effective rights to land or other assets. The prevalence of the informal sector makes it difficult for the state to intervene against criminal or uncompetitive practices to protect the rights of the poor, labour, or small entrepreneurs. Relevant productive skills are not being transferred quickly enough, either in schools or families, as many have been displaced from their land or other productive assets for decades. Forest cover has been cut in half.
B. Recent National Planning
41. At the London Conference in February 2006 Afghanistan and the international community agreed to the Afghanistan Compact, which identified three critical and interdependent areas or
pillars of activity for the following five years
1. Security;
2. Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights; and
3. Economic and Social Development.
Public investment is planned to be structured around six sectors of the pillar on economic
and social development of the Interim Afghanistan National Development Strategy (I-ANDS)[6]:
1. Infrastructure and natural resources;
2. Education;
3. Health;
4. Agriculture and rural development;
5. Social protection; and
6. Economic governance and private sector development.[7]
42. For Sector 4 of the I-ANDS Government's goal is to achieve pro-poor growth in rural areas by enhancing licit agricultural productivity, creating incentives for non-farm investment, developing rural infrastructure, and supporting access to skills development and financial services that will allow individuals, households and communities to participate legally and productively in the economy.[8]
43. Agriculture has been identified as a key source of growth in Afghanistan’s economic strategy; high-value agriculture, pastoralism, agro-processing and rural industries are considered the sub-sectors with the greatest potential. Agriculture historically included not only subsistence farming, but also high-value horticultural crops, such as fruit (often processed into dried fruit) and cotton, which in the past supplied a small state owned textile industry. Pastoralism produces not only milk and meat but also wool, which serves as the basis for Afghanistan's carpet industry.
44. Community and rural enterprise development programmes are highlighted in the I-ANDS, and NGOs are expected to play a prominent role in these, particularly those who worked in Afghanistan before and through the Taliban years and have demonstrated both their commitment to the poor and their professional competence in servicing them.
45. Food security and nutrition got a lot of public attention in the years right after the Taliban period. The Public Nutrition Department was established in the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) with the help of UNICEF and Tufts University. It became the protagonist of the Public Nutrition Strategy, covering all nutrition-related activities, across ministries. Coordination was very active, especially from 2002 to 2004, when a nutrition task force and working groups were established, with support from MOPH, UNICEF, Tufts, WFP, and FAO, to implement the Public Nutrition Strategy. Improvement of livelihoods and food security figured also still very prominently in the Policy and Strategy Framework for the Rehabilitation and Development of Agriculture and Natural Resource Sector of Afghanistan (January 2004)[9].
46. But the Afghanistan Compact which summarizes the country’s main development goals has hardly mentioned food security and nutrition. Also the I-ANDS has not given much attention to the topics. They have neither been discussed under education and health nor under agriculture and rural development, and are also not among the five crosscutting themes dealt with, although malnutrition is recognized as a key obstacle to Afghanistan's rural development. Nutrition has somehow fell off the political agenda[10].
C. BTF Interventions related to Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihood
47. Although there are many projects of different donors related to the subjects mentioned in the title of this section, it seems that FAO with the help of its German bilateral trust fund (BTF) on food security, in particular the project under evaluation and its follow-up project, brought the topics back on the national development agenda.
48. During the period 2002–07 ca. 20 projects have been supported in the agricultural sector through this German fund established in FAO. They cover a wide range and have a financial volume of about EUR 25 million. The German Government has deliberately chosen FAO as the implementing agency, an organization that maintained its presence during particularly difficult periods and has a high reputation among Afghans. FAO’s technical competence and well established working relations with the Government made it the ideal partner for the German Government[11].
49. In the first years after the war emergency interventions dominated the portfolio of the BTF. More than 100,000 poor farming households were provided with seed, fertilizer and tools. For most of the families this meant survival and a new beginning. The emphasis of the fund has slowly shifted from emergency to development interventions. Other agencies and finance institutions have taken up concepts of and approaches developed in pilot projects supported by the BTF. This is happening in the poultry and dairy production sub-sectors where support is being provided by the World Bank and USAID. In addition, FAO has also attracted additional American funding (“Poultry Production Programme” GCP/AFG/030/USA).
50. The evaluation team had the chance to visit sites of the ‘Development of Integrated Dairy Schemes in Afghanistan’ (GCP/AFG/040/GER) and held discussions with representatives of the various stakeholders including beneficiaries. The funding of this project is about to end after several phases have been financed through the fund, and there was obviously no intention so far to further support this project from the German side. The mission however got the impression that some additional support should be considered since it seems there are many positive effects that can be sustained with relatively little resources. This was also the tenor of the conclusions of a financial analysis of the schemes carried out at the time of the mission[12].
51. The activities of 040 yielded a number of benefits for the participating farmers and look promising for the future. Among the strengths of the scheme one can cite: the integrated approach from production to marketing; the steadily increasing numbers of poor participating farm families in the production cooperative; farmers’ ownership of the plants; the substantial attitude/behaviour changes from subsistence farming to producing for the market; the contribution to farm families’ cash income; the effect that the uncollected afternoon milk has on improved food security at household level; the confidence encountered among milk producers / cooperative members; the practical work that some university students of animal production undergo at the plant; the fodder component added to the plants’ activities; the veterinary services provided to target groups; the substantial production increases realized; and the additional funds raised by the FAO Dairy Project.
52. There are some questions and issues however that informed stakeholders are well aware of, e.g. the ownership of the land on which the Kabul plant is constructed, the formal zero-representation of women in the cooperatives and in the apex organization (although they do 90% of the work); the low use of plant capacity due to spoilage (especially in summer due to a missing gold chain); the inadequate milk quality checks; the poor packaging; the missing marketing strategy; and the lacking business attitude are weaknesses that need to be addressed[13]. Many of these weaknesses should still have been expected in a situation that, not long ago, had to be characterised as subsistence production. The project seems to fit well into the fund’s portfolio although further evidence of its benefits in terms of nutrition and food security may need to be collected. Meanwhile the donor seems to look more positive at future support to overcome some of the remaining weaknesses mentioned above.
53. It seems the dairy project is one of the most successful projects in terms of generating sustainable benefits for poor farmers although the number of 1,200 families that have benefited to date may still be considered small in view of the extent of poverty and the potential that the dairy sector holds. It is encouraging therefore to see that the model is now replicated in the province of Herat through an Italian financed FAO Project. Further investment on a larger scale is required but should take into account the lessons that can be drawn from experiences made in the FAO dairy projects.
54. In the sub-sector of irrigation the World Bank has now developed the USD 55 million Project ‘Emergency Irrigation Rehabilitation’ that builds on concepts and trained personnel of pilot projects GCP/AFG/024/GER und GCP/AFG/ 041/GER financed by the BTF.
55. Some projects of the BTF had and have at its major function to strengthen the institutional framework for agricultural development. A policy advisory unit established in the MAIL with resources of the BTF between 2004-2006 is now supported by the EC. The development of a national marketing information system was supported by (“Strengthening the FAAHM Unit in the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry” GCP/AFG/034/GER). The Planning and Information Unit of the Ministry was supported in building its capacity to collect key data and information on agriculture, nutrition and living conditions of the Afghan population.
56. Since 2007 the BMELV is pursuing a more programmatic approach that is characterized by more coordination and a stronger strategic orientation. Presently there are three projects operational which can be seen to form the basis of a food security programme. The core project ‘Support to Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan’ (GCP/AFG/050/ GER) started in January 2008 as a direct follow-up to the project ‘Supporting the Improvement of Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan’ (GCP/AFG/039/GER) which began in August 2005 and ended in December 2007.
57. The project ‘Managing Biodiversity for Sustainable Food Security and Nutrition in Afghanistan’ (GCP/AFG/047/GER) started in April 2007. It tries to capture local knowledge of wild plants and aims at a community based sustainable utilization of these plants that contributes to food security of poor families. Although the project will focus on only a limited a number of species, it is expected to help local institutional partners build their capacity and establish the mechanisms for sustainable management of biodiversity, such that they can replicate similar work (surveys, marketing, processing, promotion, etc.) with a wider range of plant species in the future.
58. The third of these projects is ‘Initiating Participatory Forestry in Support to Sustainable Livelihood in Afghanistan’ (GCP/AFG/052/GER) for which a CTA has just been selected. This forestry project which also has a duration of 3 years is expected to contribute to the implementation of recently endorsed forestry legislation. It aims at reducing deforestation by introducing community forestry management schemes which lead to sustainable agro-forestry systems. Increased use of fruits, nuts, and other non-wood forest product can be seen as complementing and diversifying local diets. Timber and fuel-wood harvesting also generate supplementary incomes for rural families allowing them to supplement agricultural food production or to cope with food shortages.
59. The project ‘Small Farmer Livelihoods and Income Enhancement in Baghlan Province’ (GCP/AFG/053/GER) is about to start, and is in part a follow-up to the project ‘Rehabilitation of the Sugar Industry in Baghlan: Technical and Managerial Support for Small Family Farmer Participation in the Sugar Beet Supply Chain’ (GCP/AFG/038/GER), which is phasing out.
60. Some three years back, the German authorities decided to support a public-private partnership that had been established between Afghan private businessmen, the country’s government and a group of German investors, with the goal to rehabilitate a sugar processing plant located in the region. The New Baghlan Sugar Company (NBSC) was established in 2005 and has been investing in the recuperation of its facilities and equipment, the training of technical personnel and in agronomic research to promote sugar beet growing under contracts with small farmers in the region. The Project 038 strengthened farmers’ organization, financed farm inputs for growing sugar beet and supported the extension services provided by NBSC.
61. During briefing sessions in Rome and a visit at the sugar production plant in Baghlan the evaluation team learned about the problems encountered by this project. They included agronomic production difficulties with Nematodes that led to substantial crop losses, and socio-economic difficulties, i.e. a reluctance of farmers to run further risks and produce sugar beet for the price offered by the factory.
62. The new Baghlan Project 053 is still committed to the 2000 farm families that were expected to benefit from the sugar project as the expectations created among farmers in the region for a potentially attractive cash crop are yet to be met. Besides sugar beet, there is potential to diversify farm production and introduce new crops and livestock enterprises and other agro-based income generation possibilities. Diversification into alternative enterprises, some of which can be grown in rotation with sugar beets, seems to have considerable potential and will be promoted to contribute to enhancing farmers’ income. Lessons can apparently be learnt from the implementation of two FAO livelihoods development projects in Afghanistan (Development of Sustainable Agricultural Livelihoods in Eastern Hazarajat, and Alternative Agricultural Livelihoods Programme (AALP) – Phase I).
Timeline of Projects
|2005 |2006 |2007 |2008 |2009 |2010 |
| | | | | | |
|Professional |405.600 |381.600 |381.600 |393.244 |-12.356 |
|National Personnel/Consultants |257.686 |257.686 |241.686 |235.042 |-22.644 |
|Contracts |102.097 |102.097 |122.097 |122.097 |20.000 |
|Temp. Assistant/Supplement |17.160 |17.160 |33.160 |33.160 |16.000 |
|Travel |65.000 |89.000 |89.000 |89.000 |24.000 |
|Training |81.900 |81.900 |61.900 |79.640 |-2.260 |
|Expendable Equipment |19.500 |19.500 |19.500 |24.543 |5.043 |
|Non Expendable Equipment |107.900 |107.900 |107.900 |80.117 |-27.783 |
|Technical Support Services |41.600 |41.600 |41.600 |41.600 |0 |
|General Operating Expenses |52.000 |52.000 |52.000 |51.255 |-745 |
|General Overhead Expenses |0 |0 |0 |745 |745 |
|Support Cost (13%) |149.558 |149.558 |149.558 |149.558 |0 |
|TOTAL |1.300.001 |1.300.001 |1.300.001 |1.300.001 |0 |
63. The project was able to attract some additional funding by sharing costs of e.g. training activities and printing of materials.
In terms of project expenditure, Table 2 shows the expenditures by budget line after closing the project operationally.
Table 2: Project Expenditure
|Budget Item |approved Budget|actual |% |Residual |
| |Rev "C“ |Expen-ditures |alloaction | |
|Professional |393.244 |394.481 |32 |1.237 |
|National Personnel/Consultants |235.042 |239.402 |19 |4.360 |
|Contracts |122.097 |68.757 |6 |-53.340 |
|Temp. Assistant/Supplement |33.160 |33.071 |3 |-89 |
|Travel |89.000 |84.002 |7 |-4.998 |
|Training |79.640 |73.294 |6 |-6.346 |
|Expendable Equipment |24.543 |24.553 |2 |10 |
|Non Expendable Equipment |80.117 |79.787 |6 |-330 |
|Technical Support Services |41.600 |46.599 |4 |4.999 |
|General Operating Expenses |51.255 |50.742 |4 |-513 |
|General Overhead Expenses |745 |645 |0 |-100 |
|Support Cost (13%) |149.558 |140.235 |11 |-9.323 |
|TOTAL | |1.235.568 | |-64.433 |
64. The remaining funds amount to US$ 64.433 or, taking the actual cash received of US$ 1,281,631 as the basis, to a residual of US$ 46,063. The final financial report, which is due until June 2009, will set the Project Budget to US$ 1,281,631 as actually received and will also account for hard commitments of around US$ 44.000 and expenditures for the evaluation in April 2008, balancing the budget almost entirely.
65. More than half of the project budget (51%) was spent on staff (international and national staff), which exceeds the around 40% average of other FAO trust-fund projects. This reflects, however, the focus of the project in developing concepts, advising on policy level and engaging in normative work.
66. The capacity building focus of the project is reflected in the expenditures out of BL Training. For the selected field activities and due to the unstable security situation implementing partners were engaged through Letter of Agreements (LoAs) booked under BL Contracts.
The savings in BL Non Expendables was possible, since much of the equipment of the predecessor project GCP/AFG/037/GER could be used.
Over the project execution time, the disbursement rate was according to expectations. Budget and expenditures were in line with the planned.
B. Activities and Outputs
67. Project activities and their outputs are well documented in the half-yearly Progress Reports and the draft Terminal Report.
68. Only the outputs and related main activities were reviewed during the mission. Although the produced outputs were in some cases below the expected number (e.g. number of community based interventions), the taken measures were generally found to be necessary and sufficient to achieve the planned outputs. The lack of a consistent M&E system led to a number of indicators left unmeasured and allowed estimates only on the number of households actually reached through trainings and activities.
An account is given below on the outputs by the four components of the project. A synoptical comparison of the output achievements along the LogFrame format can be found in Annex 5: Achievements on output level. These results had been presented in the last half-yearly Progress Report and the Draft Terminal Report and were validated through the mission.
1. Capacity-development of MAIL and partner institutions
69. Capacity-building (CB) has been an integral part of all project components, and the main type of activity implemented through GCP/AFG/039/GER. Over 70 in-country trainings were provided to different audiences on various subjects since the project inception.
70. The Household Economics Department (HED) within the MAIL was the main counterpart institution. The project assisted the HED in defining its strategy, implementation plan, staff structure, and staff terms of reference, through a consultative process. The strategy enabled the project team to prioritise capacity-development efforts and organise trainings accordingly.
Other institutions, ministries, agencies and NGOs benefited from many training courses carried out through the project.
71. The major challenge in the CB effort has been the generally low staff capacity and the fluctuation of ministry staff.
2. Household Food Security, nutrition and livelihoods interventions supported
72. The project was mainly designed to build upon existing community development processes and to add missing food security, nutrition, and livelihood dimensions to achieve an integrated approach and promote inter-sectoral synergy.
73. To this end
▪ Guidelines were drafted
▪ Direct support was given like “consultancy services” to a wide range of ongoing projects
▪ Direct financial and technical support was provided to a number of pilot projects
74. At central level, a working group on community-based food security, nutrition and livelihoods interventions was established, composed of MAIL, FAO and NGO staff members. Through this working group, a number of trainings and seminars were organised for sharing experiences and disseminating technical knowledge. Outputs of these seminars included three draft guidelines: “Making Horticulture Projects Work for Food Security in Afghanistan”; “Making Food Processing Projects work for Food Security in Afghanistan”, and “Making Poultry Projects work for Food Security in Afghanistan”. However, due to the project staff’s workload, and prioritisation of other manuals, these were not finalised during the course of the project.
75. At provincial level, “training-cum-planning workshops” on malnutrition and livelihoods were organised to initiate project activities in Bamyan, Badakshan, and Herat. These workshops provided participants with an understanding of the causality of malnutrition of different vulnerable groups, and also served to establish a network of partners. Subsequently projects of at least 25 partners were indirectly supported.
76. Direct financial and technical support was also provided to 6 community-based nutrition and food security projects, as detailed in Annex 5. This was less than originally planned (16). However, the reduction to key interventions and their validation was more sensible than engaging in further pilots.
3. Increased knowledge and awareness of nutrition, food security and livelihoods at central, provincial and local levels
77. The project’s strategy with regards to nutrition education entailed work on two fronts:
a) Building a network of partners that can disseminate nutrition education at provincial and community levels, by integrating basic nutrition education in ongoing development projects.
b) Better understanding local feeding practices and beliefs, including cooking and food processing methods, so as to develop locally adapted nutrition education materials, which can help transfer practical skills to household, for them to put into practice the nutrition knowledge they acquire.
78. The network was successfully established through a training of trainers (ToT) strategy, whereby FAO staff provided basic nutrition education training to 25 agencies and government departments.
79. The training materials used were nutrition education booklets and posters prepared by the MOPH and MAIL (joint publications) with support from Tufts University and the American Red Cross in 2005. The poster presents 9 key messages for improving nutrition and the booklet provides information for educators to explain these messages to students. 3,000 booklets and 30,000 posters in Dari and 1,000 booklets and 10,000 posters in Pashto were reprinted for the purpose of the project.
80. Furthermore, an intensive process of “Trials of Improved Practices” (TIPs), was conducted between October 2006 and July 2007, to do detailed assessments of household feeding practices and to test improved local complementary feeding and family recipes. Two rounds of household trials were organised in a total of 64 households in project areas: one in the winter, one in the summer. The main output of this work is a “Guide on Improved Feeding Practices and Recipes for Afghan Children and Mothers”, which is the third joint MAIL / MOPH publication. At least 700 English copies, 3100 Pashto copies, and 6000 Dari copies of the Guide will be printed.
4. Food security and nutrition components of national policies strengthened
81. The Project was active in advocacy to ensure food security, nutrition and gender objectives to be integrated in government policies and strategies at different levels:
1. Within MAIL, through the MAIL Master Plan and the ANDS strategy for agriculture
2. In the ANDS, through the Consultative Groups on Health & Nutrition and on Gender
3. At inter-ministerial level
4. Through Joint UN programs
5. Through other FAO-assisted projects (in particular poultry, dairy, seed and integrated livelihoods projects)
82. At MAIL level, the Project team actively participated in the formulation of three Master Plan chapters: Food Security, Food Safety, and Gender. It also contributed to the formulation of the MAIL’s ANDS strategy, and notably ensured that food security and poverty reduction were primary objectives of this strategy.
83. The Project Team participated in the ANDS Consultative Group on Health and Nutrition to ensure that nutrition objectives became explicitly part of the sector strategy, and that linkages to other ministries were clear. This lobbying work was partly successful (inputs were repeatedly lost and re-integrated as different versions of the document were produced). The Gender and Community Development Officer actively participated in the ANDS Consultative Working Group on Gender.
84. The Project team also supported the MOPH Public Nutrition Department, in updating its Public Nutrition Strategy, in partnership with UNICEF. This strategy was updated as an inter-ministerial Action Plan for Nutrition. A workshop was organised in February 2007 with representatives from 6 ministries (MOPH, MAIL, MRRD, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Ministry of Religious Affairs) and other partners (WHO, WFP, NGOs); participants provided recommendations for updating the strategy. These were then integrated in the strategy by a small task force composed of MOPH, FAO, and UNICEF staff.
85. Finally, the Project team also worked towards integrating FAO (and thus food security activities) in Joint UN programs, notably the Healthy Schools Initiative and the Functional Literacy Initiative (led by MOE and UNICEF), and the National Youth Program (led by the Deputy Ministry of Youth and UNDP).
C. Government Support
86. Although still referred to as technical assistance projects, a term that tends to stress an unequal one-way relationship between the donor/executer and receiver of assistance, it has long been recognized that cooperation is the key to success of FAO projects. This is particularly true for capacity building activities. Concepts like ‘ownership’ which have gained more attention in the development debate recently reflect the need for identification and commitment from the side of the Government that is still the major partner of FAO’s Field Programme. Government support is also often taken as an indication during project implementation for chances of sustainability, another key term figuring prominently in development discussions.
87. Government support and collaboration took different forms in the case of Project 039. Mr. Ghulam Mustafa „Jawad“, Deputy Minister of MAIL, facilitated Project activities decisively. At MAIL level, Dr. Fazel, Director of the Extension Department, was formally the National Project Coordinator. Ms. Nazeera Rahman, Director of HED, was working very closely with Ms. Charlotte Dufour, Chief Technical Advisor of the Project.
88. To realize the capacity building function envisaged in terms of qualifications of personnel, the targeted personnel had to be available in the first place. The staff in MAIL’s Home Economics Department (HED) at central level has been increased over time. The Inputs Section of the 1st Progress Report 2007 states: “The total numbers of national personnel was 1 male and 5 female technical staff, and 4 support staff”. Nazeera Rahman (Director of HED), Lailoma Akbari & Amina Afizi (Home Economics Officers) and Sharifa Stanakzai (Extension Officer). Zikria Faizi, Food Security officer in the HED joined the project in 2007.” At central level the HED is sufficiently well staffed – although without a nutritionist – a professional category that simply does not exist in Afghanistan to date.
89. The situation is different at provincial level. At the time of the mission none of the Home Economics Officer posts was filled there. This had been highlighted as a risk already at project formulation stage, and was reported as outstanding in several Project Progress Reports. According to the workplan of the Project Document the training of provincial home economics officers was planned to start already in 2005. FAO has been assured several times that the recruitment would start.
90. A year into the Project, the MAIL realized the important role that the Home Economics Unit could play with the support of 039 and upgraded it to become a department. Its Director meanwhile represents the MAIL in many fora and workshops.
91. Other MAIL extension staff at HQs and provincial level were assigned to attend training under Project 039, participated in Project activities such as collecting qualitative, and when relevant, quantitative information on food availability and food consumption patterns in project areas, or gave essential contributions in pilot school garden activities.
92. Although office space was scarce, FAO Project staff has been provided with rooms in MAIL facilities at central and provincial level which allows FAO experts to be close to their counterparts and other MAIL staff important for their work. When the Evaluation Mission was received by the Minister, his Excellency emphasized that FAO is always close to the MAIL, not only physically.
93. Indirectly also other Ministries such as the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA), the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture and Youth supported the Project through their collaboration. This is particularly true for the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) where cooperation with its Public Nutrition Department was particularly close, e.g. in formulating the public nutrition strategy, publishing the Afghan Family Nutrition Guide or using its community health workers for disseminating nutrition messages and material.
94. Finally it should also be mentioned that the Policy and Planning Directorate of the MAIL assigned one of its staff to participate in this evaluation as a Government representative during the mission. This allowed the other two members insights which they otherwise would have missed, and thereby enriched the findings and conclusions of the evaluation team.
D. Project Management
95. As most FAO field projects 039 was managed on a daily basis by a chief technical advisor (CTA) who headed the FAO team of experts[25], and represented the Project from FAO’s side in MAIL meetings and other technical workshops as well as FAO staff meetings chaired by the FAO Representative. The latter had the overall responsibility for the Project and was supported in this function by the Senior Projects Operations Officer (SPOO) in Afghanistan. Technical Guidance was provided by the Nutrition Division of FAO HQs (AGNP), the Lead Technical Unit (LTU). From Government’s side there is the Project Coordinator, the direct counterpart of the CTA, who formally was the Director of Extension. De facto, however, the CTA appears to have been mainly working with the head of the HED. At higher level the Deputy Minister was in charge. No coordination or steering committee was established for the Project.
96. The CTA has prepared an Inception Report, 5 Project Progress Reports and a Terminal Report with inputs from her team. Without these reports the Evaluation Team and any outsider would have had difficulties to get an overview of what the project is involved in. The Evaluation Team looked at the last two semi-annual Progress Reports, and the draft Terminal Report of 039. These reports were prepared thoroughly and covered implementation of activities including trainings, study tours and reports as well as project outputs comprehensively. The Progress Reports cite success criteria and provide some information on indicators of the Logframe included in the Project Document[26]. The draft Terminal Report provides a good picture of the project results (mainly on outputs) organized by project component, summarizes project limitations, makes a number of recommendations most of which in expectation of the follow-up project 050, and includes appendices on Project staff, trainings, workshops, study tours, equipment provided, and documents/material prepared.
97. There is quite some ‘double-reporting’ in the Progress Reports resulting from following strictly the Logframe structure and sensing the requirement to report as many activities as seem to fit under an indicator which has (and unfortunately could have) sometimes interpreted very widely. Activities that actually belonged together have been reported at different locations in the Progress Reports which does not always facilitate a quick adequate understanding of what was going on. Although only activities carried out during the reporting period should have been included, there is the temptation to report cumulative figures without necessarily mentioning this. In addition, activities that are planned for the near future are sometimes incorporated, ‘blowing up’ the reports even further.
98. The second but last progress report includes an overall workplan for the last 6 months of the Project. It is organized by the four project components and can be called result-oriented. Repeated efforts have been made to prepare work plans for/by individual Project staff members and for staff of the HED regularly, but were not always sustained and sometimes such plans were found to be of limited value. Project staff meetings were held when the majority of staff was present; they are not organized regularly. This was explained with the fact that staff was often out of the office e.g. for training.
99. Implementing partners (mainly NGOs) seem to have been systematically chosen by applying relevant selection criteria. These included e.g. the relevance of their programmes for subjects the Project was supporting; the cost-effectiveness and realism of the proposal made following an invitation to submit such proposals.
100. No systematic internal M&E system has been developed for the project by management. A thorough assessment of different approaches carried out based also on effects and impact of these approaches has not been made. And yet, convincing conclusions were drawn in the draft Terminal Report and in other documents prepared by the CTA[27].
E. Technical and Operational Backstopping
101. The technical backstopping of the Project from FAO Headquarters was obviously of excellent quality. This can certainly be attributed to the energetic character of the Senior Officer in AGNP, Ms. Florence Egal, who is in regular contact with the CTA and has mobilized good support from other services in FAO.
102. After FAO teams had collected baseline information in project areas on food availability, seasonal variation, local recipes, local food processing techniques and food beliefs in Bamyan, Badakshan, Herat and Kabul (Seh Bangi), the Consultant, Ms. Emily Levitt (Cornell, PhD student) who spent 2.5 months in Afghanistan compiled and analysed the information. The CTA however was not fully satisfied with the report prepared subsequently.
103. The Trials of Improved Practices methodology (TIPS) for improved complementary feeding recipe was pushed forward during the missions of Mrs. Charity Dirorimwe, Nutrition Education Consultant (AGNP), who visited the Project five times. Among others, she produced a draft of the complementary feeding manual, based on winter TIPS results (trials were also conducted subsequently during summer 2007) and discussions with participants during a workshop.[28]
104. Ms. Stephanie Gallat (AGST) came on a 2-week mission in May 2007, to review local food processing techniques, and conducted an introductory training on simple home-based food processing. The results of her mission enabled her to produce an outline of a ‘Home-based food processing manual’, which was subsequently written by another consultant, Ms. Susan Azam-Ali.
105. The activities during Mrs. Charity Dirorimwe’s last mission in November 2007 included an analysis of the Project’s nutrition education interventions that became part of the Literacy Programme and the Healthy Schools Initiative of the Ministry of Education. The Project’s School Gardening Programme was considered part of the latter. Towards the end of the Nutrition Education Consultant’s Mission a two-day inter-ministerial Nutrition Education Review and Planning Workshop was facilitated by the Consultant and the CTA in which apparently also several non-Government and 2 UN agencies (UNICEF and WHO) participated during the second day[29].
106. The Evaluation Mission had an in-depth look at the Mission Report by Mrs. Charity Dirorimwe (December 2007) and on the Proceedings of the Workshop prepared by the Project Team. These documents include valuable findings, conclusions and recommendations related to Nutrition Education Activities of the Project and summaries of what other NGOs and UN agencies do in this area of work. Promising ideas on joint activities have been identified during the workshop that are expected to be followed up under Project 050.
107. Next to the excellent technical backstopping, the non-bureaucratic operational support of the FAO Representation in Kabul, especially by the Senior Operations Officer, and collaboration of other project CTAs has apparently eased the life of the Project team.
Project Results and Effectiveness
A. The Achievement of Immediate Objectives[30] and other Effects
1. Outcomes related to the Immediate Objective 1 stated in the Project Document:
Capacity of relevant MAIL and other partner institutions at central, provincial and local levels increased
108. Capacity-building has been an integral part of all project components, and the main type of activity implemented through GCP/AFG/039/GER. Although staff from several MAIL departments participated in the Project’s activities, the Home Economics Department staff benefited first and foremost from several project activities some of which were exclusively geared to strengthen the HED.
109. Although the baseline situation is not documented, the Evaluation Team got an impression on what the status and conditions of the HED had been before the Project started its capacity-building activities. A little unit of the Extension Department, poorly equipped and staffed, lacking ideas on its potential functions, characterized by a missing management structure and undefined institutional relationships, consisting of untrained staff members lacking the culture of work planning and accountability. Meanwhile the Home Economics Unit has become an adequately staffed and equipped independent department (distinct from Extension) with an endorsed strategy and an implementation plan. It has a clear staff structure with firmly established posts paid from the regular budget, and each staff has his/her terms of reference.
110. The HED counterpart staff has benefited from an impressive in-country training programme[31] and study tours to Iran, Pakistan and Philippines[32]. More important for judging the objective achievement is that staff has put into practice skills acquired in nutrition counselling and cooking demonstrations through trainings by implementing a community-based livelihoods project in Seh Bangi, a Kabul suburb. The HED also developed its own nutrition training module and provided nutrition trainings to MAIL extension staff and NGO partners in Kabul area, although still with FAO staff support. It is increasingly organizing training courses and school gardens without the support of FAO. Without FAO support, the HED has also identified, prepared and submitted for regular Government funding five micro-projects such as for instance support for women’s self-help groups producing honey, mushrooms and fruit-tree seedlings. Meanwhile HED staff provides direct assistance and, possibly more important for the future, has engaged NGOs to provide this assistance to beneficiaries, still an innovation in the MAIL.
111. Capacity-building of provincial MAIL staff was more difficult because no home economic officers (HEOs) were in place; extension workers tended to have too many other activities if available, and, as men, did not have access to women. The Project supported Ms. Nazeera Rahman in advocating for the creation and budgeting of HEO positions at provincial level, in continuation of similar efforts initiated under GCP/AFG/026/GER. She succeeded in her efforts so that two female HEO posts per province are in the national budget while staff cuts have occurred in many other departments. The recruitment process of HEOs was ongoing for seven provinces at the time of the Evaluation Mission, although extremely slow.
112. A major function of the Project was to enable MAIL to be an active player in promoting Food Security and Nutrition on a national level. The Home Economics Director has become increasingly engaged in ANDS coordination mechanisms on agriculture, on health and on gender. The HED appears to be widely recognized in MAIL now, and in other ministries as the focal point for nutrition, household food security, livelihoods and gender. It has become a recognized partner in networks especially at central level. Thus, for instance HED is an active member of
o the Working Group on Community-based Food Security Interventions;
o the Healthy Schools Initiative (for school gardens);
o the National Youth Program ; and
o the Public Nutrition network
The Home Economics Director has also been fully participating in the Joint UN program on Youth led by UNDP and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) with the Ministry of Culture and Youth.
113. The capacity building focus of the project was obviously successful, going well beyond the training of MAIL staff. Other institutions, ministries, agencies and NGOs benefited from many training courses carried out through the project whereby partnerships have often been developed. Four NGO staff were also invited to the Food Processing course in Pakistan, another rather unorthodox feature which the MAIL management approved[33]. The last Progress Report claims that 14 NGOs[34] have effectively collaborated mainly at provincial level after training courses and workshops organized under the Project. The 1st Progress Report in 2007 even highlighted that nutrition education has been integrated into the activities of 23 agencies.
2. Outcomes related to Immediate Objective 2 stated in the Project Document:
‘Community-based food security and nutrition initiatives in food insecure areas supported and promoted’
114. As reported in the previous section, the capacity that had been built at the MAIL led to food security and nutrition initiatives by the HED. However the Project launched most community-based interventions indirectly through NGOs, programmes of other ministries and existing projects which had already established activities reaching the ultimate beneficiaries. It often only added a hitherto missing nutrition dimension or gave existing activities a household food security focus.
115. There is an impressive range of such type of Project interventions through (implementing) partners as has been summarized earlier and is detailed in Annex 5[35]. If not much is being reported here in terms of objective achievements or outcomes, it does not mean that these activities have not led to the desired effects. It rather reflects the insufficient evidence for such effects/outcomes which should have been produced systematically as part of these activities.[36]
116. The already mentioned ‘training-cum-planning workshops on malnutrition and livelihoods’ led to networks of partners. These partners were later involved in nutrition education activities and trainings.
117. From some analysis of the information on nutrition education[37] provided through literacy classes we learned that
a) some of the 9 key messages[38] disseminated were completely new to many beneficiaries;
b) students who got the posters prepared by the Project which illustrated the 9 messages took them home and hung them on the walls for other family members;
c) some literacy students shared the information with neighbours
118. From the analysis of information on the pilot school gardening scheme[39] we learned that school gardens
a) varying in size from 160-800 m² were established in all schools;
b) gardens were appreciated as they contributed to a good green environment and served as a laboratory for learning life skills in different subjects
c) influenced home gardening and food consumption of teachers’ and students’ families
119. In July 2007, Mission East in collaboration with FAO started the food processing activities in four districts (Baharak, Shuhada, Warduj and Jurm) of Badakhshan. The training (food processing and fruit trying) and education (nutrition) sessions funded under Project 039 were conducted by FAO and extension staff for 6 Middle East staff and 12 female community facilitators who thereafter brought the skills of food processing to 500 women who had benefited from a kitchen garden project of Mission East; also 500 men received training on fruit drying. Seed and fertilizer was purchased by the Project and distributed through Mission East. Then 14 women and 9 men self-help groups were formed consisting of 159 and 200 members respectively. Marketing training was given to 14 women.
120. The Mission East Completion Report submitted to Project 039 claims that
o 8,994 kg[40] was the total production in 4 districts
o 3,801 kg was consumed by respective beneficiaries
o 2,792 kg was stored for the winter
o 2,401 kg was sold in the market
o 120,050 Afs (2401 US$) was earned in the last 5 months
121. Although it is not completely clear to what extent this can be considered the exclusive impact of Project 039, the interaction of the Evaluation Team and other members of the group with some beneficiaries confirmed that with their new skills on food processing and fruit drying the beneficiaries were able to store some food for future consumption and sell surplus food at the same time. Moreover it was noted that the women beneficiaries organised into different self-help groups and had started regular savings. This initiative had obviously developed confidence and also ‘can do’ attitude amongst the participants.
122. Mission East participated in Badakshan Agriculture Fair held in Faizabad on October 29 and 30, and setup a stall where members from self-help groups displayed their products. Small-scale traders and storekeepers showed interest in products like tomato paste, pickles, honey, jams and dry fruits and hence there was an unforeseen demand for these commodities. People from other districts approached Mission East and requested to initiate similar projects in their respective areas.
123. The Evaluation Mission observed similar positive outcomes of the same type of activities implemented by Afghanaid providing support to 170 men and women in vegetable and fruit processing techniques, in four districts of Badakshan province from August to December 2007. Beneficiaries reported improved food availability and potential for income generation.
124. Positive effects were also observed in an orphanage visited by the Evaluation Team. Women who lived with the orphans had been instructed with Project funds to establish kitchen gardens and green houses next to their homesteads. They subsequently produced a variety of vegetables for home consumption and were planning to sell more in the local market.
3. Outcomes related to Immediate Objective 3 stated in the Project Document:
‘increased knowledge and awareness of nutrition, food security and livelihoods at central, provincial and local levels’
125. Knowledge and awareness has also been produced under two components dealt with above. What has been reported by the CTA in progress reports under component 3 next to information on material produced is quantitative information on (i) the (implementing) partners / agencies involved, (ii) the community-level workers instructed and (iii) the households reached in each of the four provinces.
126. The Project claims that 60% of the 40 NGOs and GOA agencies which participated in so called action planning workshops have incorporated nutrition education activities into their programmes and are adapting projects to address malnutrition.
127. It seems that FAO staff provided basic nutrition education training (directly or indirectly) to over 1,200 community-level workers (literacy teachers, extension workers, community mobilizers, community health workers, etc.) from 25 agencies (NGOs and government departments[41]). This training of trainers (ToT) strategy made it possible to reach an estimated 30,000 households[42].
128. As mentioned in section B of the previous chapter and comprehensively listed in Annex 5, a lot of potentially very useful work has been carried out in the field of producing manuals, guides, booklets and posters on various subjects, translating them into Dari and Pashto and distributing them to implementing agencies, other projects and end-users. Unfortunately, hardly anything has been said on the use of these materials. The fact that a number of organizations and other Projects collaborated and co-funded the preparation, translation and publication of the material[43] can be considered a positive outcome of the Project’s efforts to ensure strong justification for, as well as quality preparation and joined ownership of the material.
129. From monitoring the Pilot School-garden Scheme in 7 schools only one mentioned the use of ‘the nutrition book and poster’ when asked about the nutrition education offered to students; this does not mean however that the others have not used the material, they simply had not been asked this question explicitly.
130. During field visits evaluators saw the posters with the nine key messages in almost every office, school, clinic, cooperative and individual household visited. Being asked what was depicted on these posters, most people could explain the messages very well which the pictures tried to get across. It must be emphasised however that this is still only anecdotal evidence for an impact at this level and the positive overall impression may be influenced by the places selected for visits and the people available for interviews.
4. Outcomes related to Immediate Objective 4 stated in the Project Document:
‘household food security, nutrition and livelihoods considerations incorporated into relevant Afghanistan policies and projects’
131. This component includes the Project’s contribution to the formulation of policies, strategies (sector-)plans and other FAO projects and the collaboration with other UN agencies and ministries. Activities have been mentioned in the section B of the previous chapter. This section looks briefly at the outcomes, i.e. the effects of these activities which resulted from these activities without further support from Project 039.
132. The Project was actively involved in and has contributed to the preparation of MAIL’s Master Plan and the ANDS for agriculture. Both have been completed. Thus the Project has successfully raised its voice to make food security and poverty reduction primary objectives of this strategy. This should help in the future to give projects and GOA programmes from other technical disciplines an orientation towards these objectives and will facilitate resource allocation for efforts to eliminate food insecurity and poverty.
133. The goals of MAIL’s ANDS Strategy Document prepared in June 2007, respectively the Investment and Implementation Plan, have also been influenced by the Project so that they explicitly include food security in addition to the Program 1 which is the National Programme of Food Security. This Program 1 has been developed by the Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS) team. The CTA of 039 had a chance to comment on the draft of Programme 1 and feels that her concerns have been incorporated.
134. We have mentioned earlier that the Project team supported MoPH’s Public Nutrition Department in updating its strategy, in partnership with UNICEF. Later this strategy became the inter-ministerial Action Plan for Nutrition. It has also been used for the ANDS Health and Nutrition Sector Strategy in the meantime.
135. Productive (including agriculture) and life skills in the form of a modular approach are said to have become part of the national Literacy Program due to the Project’s advocating.
136. The project team has been regularly consulted by a wide range of stakeholders for technical assistance, advice and networking which stems certainly also from its organization of workshops and trainings and its strong collaboration with several other UN agencies and ministries (e.g. with UNICEF and the Ministry of Education on school garden pilot project; with WFP on training of all WFP-supported literacy teachers in Herat province; and with UNIFEM and UNDP on support to collaboration between MOWA and MAIL on gender issues and the role of women in agriculture; in addition see last paragraph of section B of previous chapter).
137. Household food security, nutrition and livelihoods considerations could be integrated into several other FAO projects, such as
(i) Alternative Agricultural Livelihoods Program (AALP; GCP/AFG/036/UK) for food processing related activities;
(ii) RISE (ERU) Project (GCP/AFG/036/UK) providing nutrition education to extension and NGO staff, and community representatives from RISE project areas;
(iii) Sustainable Agricultural Livelihoods in Eastern Hazarajat (SALEH) nutrition education in Bamyan province; and
(iv) Special Program for Food Security (SPFS) Project preparing the National Programme of Food Security; and
(v) “Strengthening the FAAHM[44] Unit in the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry” (FAAHM; GCP/AFG/034/GER)
138. But also non-FAO projects such as the GRM-executed DFID-funded SSPSRL[45] project for MAIL capacity-building) was influenced by 039 through the collaboration in organising TOT for women staff of ministry or when there was joint support to Home Economics and Extension staff for designing a nutrition training course, or in drafting the ANDS for the agriculture sector.
139. Finally, new FAO projects have been approved the formulation of which was influenced decisively by the CTA of Project 039. In the first place, there is the follow-up project “Support to Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan” (GCP/AFG/050/GER) to which 039 made substantial contributions. “Managing Biodiversity for Sustainable Food Security and Nutrition in Afghanistan” (GPC/AFG/047/GER) started its activities in May 2007, and was firmly established in the General Directorate of Natural Resource Management at the time of the Evaluation Mission. Two other Projects, namely “Initiating Participatory Forestry in Support to Sustainable Livelihood in Afghanistan” (GCP/AFG/052/GER), and “Small Farmer Livelihoods and Income Enhancement in Baghlan Province” (GCP/AFG/053/GER) were about to start when the Evaluation Mission was launched.
B. Sustainability and Environmental Impact of Results
140. The focus on Project’s activities related to component one was clearly the capacity building of the HED. The Project recognized that training of staff alone would not lead to the desired sustained effective operation of the unit that later became a department. Therefore emphasis was put early on activities that had institution building character. A strategy for the HED formulated with the help of the Project was formally endorsed. An implementation plan operationalized the strategy and staff’s job descriptions ensured that officers had clear responsibilities and felt that they were contributing to something bigger that was worthwhile pursuing. Also the firmly established posts at central level and more recently at provincial level for which funds come from the regular budget contribute to increased chances of sustainability. Finally, it is the growing reputation as a department whose staff is actively involved in policy formulation and field activities alike that gives the HED a good chance to survive restructuring efforts that are a continuous feature of MDAs in Afghanistan in these days.
141. As we learned earlier there has been a wide range of collaboration with programmes, projects and NGOs who functioned for the project as implementing agencies. To what extent these partners will continue the nutrition education activities once the active support from FAO projects will seize has to be seen. In Badakshan the discussions with management of the two NGOs indicated that nutrition education activities continue to be a part of ongoing and future NGO programmes. The chances that such activities will be sustained appear to be even better in Government programmes than in projects or NGO activities as they come and go whereas Government authorities remain.
142. Looking at the school gardening programme as an example of a programme with relatively good chances of the Project’s intervention being sustained the following factors have contributed to these chances: Participation in the Pilot School Gardening Project (objectives defined by ‘Greenery Committee of school’; establishing of school gardens by teachers and students) obviously increases sustainability as indicated by individual pupils and teachers bringing additional seeds/seedlings, watering garden during holidays, caring about fencing of gardens, and requesting further technical support e.g. in managing pests and increasing soil fertility. However the school garden visited in Mazar was obviously maintained by wage labourers which is probably not conducive to the development of ownership feeling. Indeed, teachers being asked why the garden was fenced explained that pupils had crossed the garden thereby destroying what was cultivated there.
Requests for tree seedlings and ornamental plants show how the ‘greenery effect’ of gardens is appreciated. The justification of such activities from an environmental point of view was also felt strongly when visiting two schools in Kabul.- The plan of integrating gardening and nutrition education into syllabi increases chances for sustainability of the Project’s efforts in this area. Some schools have sold small quantities of vegetables in the local market to purchase additional implements or replace broken ones. The Evaluation Team also talked to parents who showed interest in supporting the school garden; they had already provided seed at the beginning of the season.
C. Gender Equity in Implementation and Project Results
143. The project was designed to work primarily with women, both at central, provincial and community levels, to address the needs of rural women, and build the MAIL’s capacity to address these in the long term.
Gender was an inherent part of the project implementation, and attention to gender issues was strengthened through the following activities:
• Most of the work undertaken was done with female staff, women as implementing partners and women in communities
• Trainings were largely designed to be adapted to women’s needs and opportunities
• Community-based activities were designed to support women’s groups and increase women’s economic opportunities
• Gender awareness workshops were organised for men and women from different institutions in all provinces where FAO is working
144. Capacity building for the Home Economics Department, included gender issues, so were they made part of HEDs strategy. The department is now fully recognized in MAIL and other ministries as focal point not only for nutrition, household food security, and livelihoods, but also for gender. The director is representing MAIL in the Afghan National Development Strategy (ANDS) Gender Working Group.
145. The project supported the writing of the Gender chapter of MAIL’s Masterplan. It tried to facilitate a working group in MAIL on gender, but faced problems for the lack of commitment at higher levels, time and resources.
146. A FAO backstopper (Ms. Regina Laub) has prepared during her last mission a strategy for supporting gender mainstreaming and TOR for an international gender advisor for project 050.
147. The measures taken to promote gender issues were adequate and highly relevant. Only through the involvement of female staff and their intensive training, could women be reached in the households.
D. Cost-Effectiveness
148. It is difficult to imagine a different approach that would have led to an equally well performing HED under the prevailing circumstances. Having the CTA speaking the same language next door and other FAO staff working side by side with the Government staff on a daily basis for a number of years represents an excellent learning environment. This is certainly more effective than sending staff abroad for a degree course (language barrier and impossibility to adapt training to Afghan conditions), especially since HED staff was given the opportunity to go on study tours abroad thereby being exposed to situations in other countries. The support provided was also not limited to the CTA and the national FAO Project staff but was complemented by highly qualified and experienced international consultants. However their input and the study tour experiences would probably have been more effective had the MAIL personnel been able to communicate in English.
149. It has already been pointed out that the approach of using existing programmes from Government, NGOs and other donor projects for bringing nutrition education to the Afghan communities is a cost effective approach even if there is little hard evidence that trainers (literacy teachers, extension workers, community mobilizers, community health workers, etc.) trained by the Project brought the knowledge effectively to people lacking this.
150. The Evaluation Mission found that the mass media have not yet been used to bring the messages to a large number of people, although this had been recommended in the baseline study report. This would certainly be a cost-effective approach regardless of whether all people for whom the messages are particularly relevant can be reached or whether all nutrition messages can be brought effectively to the targeted groups through mass media. Efforts were obviously made during an FAO Mission in this respect but did not lead to the desired results[46].
151. The principle of maximizing effects and minimizing costs of Project activities has been adhered to as far as this can be judged by this Evaluation Team. Training events for instance were usually taken as an opportunity to invite a number of representatives from FAO projects and other ministries, and thereby forming partnerships. Workshops and training courses were often multi-purpose activities for the Project. The training-cum-planning workshops were building capacity and networks and were at the same time used to identify and prepare joined activities. Using existing training material and adapting it to the Afghan situation rather than starting from scratch is a good example for saving resources, especially since several publications were co-financed as a result of the CTA’s efforts.
152. Looking at the objective of sectoral or national policies and strategies reflecting food security, nutrition and livelihood concerns one probably has to admit that though achievements are visible, the institutional location (at home economics department instead of, for instance, the department of policy and planning) gave the Project perhaps not sufficient political weight to operate more cost effectively. Often repeated efforts were necessary to integrate the Project’s concerns into policy statements and strategy objectives. Penetrating technical programmes such as agricultural irrigation or horticulture production therefore remains a challenge for Project 050.
153. And finally, advocates of strong M&E arrangements would always argue that an outcome-oriented M&E system could also have contributed to an increased emphasis on those activities that were more cost effective than others.
A. Major Factors Affecting the Project Results
154. The results of the Project have been described and analysed at some length in the previous chapters. What follows here is an attempt to synthesise the key elements and conditions which have affected negatively and positively the efficiency and effectiveness of the project. Six negative factors are highlighted that kept the Project from becoming even more successful, and an equal number of positive factors that were particularly conducive for the success of the Project have been distilled from the rest and are believed to have had a decisive influence on the Project and its results.
155. There is the security situation that has hampered free movements in many areas. Restrictions such as the need for travelling in convoys, requirements for security clearances and some Government staff’s reservations about travelling to the field have influenced every day’s working life of the Project team.
156. The lack of HED personnel at provincial level kept the FAO team to strengthen capacity of staff who could have carried on activities beyond the life of the Project. Such home economics officers would often also have been a reinforcement for the FAO staff who sometimes had to fight a battle all by themselves.
157. It appears that the reputation and status of MAIL among MDAs e.g. compared to that of the MRRD could be stronger. Obviously the international community has also not fully appreciated the role that the MAIL can and must play. The contact between the two ministries has not been particularly intensive.
158. The ability of HED staff to communicate in English is still rather limited and the CTA’s offer to arrange English language courses for them has obviously not been echoed by everybody with great enthusiasm. The handicap of not being able to communicate in English must also have been experienced during study tours and missions of international consultants as a major constraint.
159. The institutional location of the Project has probably blocked the Project to some extent from integrating food security and nutrition concerns firmly into technical MAIL programmes. It is not clear whether this had also restrained the Project from pushing the subjects in the inter-ministerial arena.
160. Weaknesses in the Project design have probably contributed to generally poor outcome M&E and a strong emphasis on starting new activities while disregarding to some extent the need to assess and compare the effectiveness of the completed ones.
161. The personality of the CTA has no doubt contributed substantially to the success of the Project. She somehow managed to turn what many people would have considered disadvantages in her position (being a female of relatively low age) into assets. She certainly benefited from years of experience working with NGOs in Afghanistan, and her knowledge of Dari brought her many sympathies and her knowledge of the local culture opened her many doors. Her strong and highly motivated team consisting of national experts at central and provincial level has also done an outstanding job under difficult conditions.
162. The Project enjoyed the support of MAIL’s Deputy Minister, Mr. Ghulam Mustafa 'Jawad', who helped the project in difficult situations. It is well known that a supporter in such a position can make all the difference.
163. The position of the Project having one leg in the policy formulation area and the other at field level enabled it to make meaningful contributions on both ends.
164. The strong technical backstopping especially from the very experienced LTO, Ms. Florence Egal, has been appreciated by the CTA at all times. Communication between Kabul and Rome has been called by both ‘regular and effective’.
165. The donor policy putting a lot of emphasis on food security and nutrition and its commitment to civil support for reconstruction and development in the North and North-western provinces has favoured the efforts of the Project. The long-term character of this commitment has made the present Project 050 already the fourth generation of its kind. The strong interest by the donor in the direction the Project takes has never been interpreted by FAO as an unnecessary let alone disturbing interference, but always as a welcomed interest and encouragement.
166. An effective operational backstopping from FAOR’s side has been highly appreciated by the CTA. Everybody who has worked in FAO field projects knows about the importance of competent and non-bureaucratic assistance from that end.
Conclusions, Recommendations and Lessons Learnt
167. In view of the enormous problems of the majority of the Afghan population struggling for survival, a project putting emphasis on improving household food security, nutrition and livelihoods was certainly not difficult to justify. More so since a food-based approach to improving the nutrition status was missing and there was some fluctuation in attention given to food security and nutrition by Government of Afghanistan and the international donor community. It was good therefore to see the continuity in support by the German Government and FAO in the form of a BTF and a series of projects striving to improve the situation over the years.
168. Projects 039 and its successor 050 as core projects of a larger programme - formed the anchor projects of the overarching Food Security Programme of the German BTF. Promoting and protecting HFS, nutrition and livelihoods in Afghanistan must have appeared essential at the time of design of these projects, both from a rights-based approach and from a development perspective. The ultimate target group of Project 039 was the food-insecure households in rural and peri-urban areas with a high prevalence of acute malnutrition in three provinces, namely Bamyan, Badakshan and Herat.
169. The strategy section of the Project Document is describing four major problems and in the subsequent design of project components these problems are addressed. During implementation, achievements were realized predominantly in those areas that a technical assistance project of this nature can influence, i.e. improving knowledge, building institutional capacity and sensitizing Government staff to gender issues. It was possible to overcome deficits in these areas, but it was obviously much more difficult to solve the first problem area mentioned in the Project Document, the problems of limited agricultural production, vulnerability to seasonal variations and shortages, and high dependency on subsistence agriculture. In some communities the Project made efforts to remedy the existing situation in these areas but country-wide or in view of the magnitude of the problem in the provinces covered by the Project its impact in these areas has definitely been marginal. The achievements in the other areas, (improved nutrition knowledge, strengthened institutional capacity and an increased number of female staff leading to more attention given to gender in agricultural policy and programming), are factors that have probably an instrumental character in solving problem area one and contributing to overcoming food insecurity and malnutrition. Yet, many skeptics would like to see this verified. Consequently, on the cover page of the Project Document it is announced that interventions combining food-based approaches and information education and communication activities would be tested in selected communities, their impact on food and nutrition assessed and the lessons learnt documented. Unfortunately this has happened, if at all, only to a marginal extent.
170. The Project was to build capacity of relevant MAIL departments and ensuring that food security, livelihoods and nutrition issues were clearly addressed in national policies and programs. However, it is not completely clear in which fields capacity was believed to be required; is it the capacity to ensure that food security, livelihoods and nutrition issues are clearly addressed in national policies and programs? The Project has provided the HED staff with all types of training (see footnote 31). Yet it is not obvious whether this training has produced this capacity or whether the training has solved another problem that the Project was expected to address, i.e. the lack of coordination between different sectors and different institutions which was undermining the quality and potential impact of nutrition education initiatives.
Recommendation: Recognizing similar design weaknesses in the successor project 050 as those identified in 039 (confusion of activities and objectives, close to irrelevant assumptions, poor quality of indicators), consideration should be given by stakeholders to review the Logframe of Project 050 in a workshop.
171. In terms of activities the Project team organized an impressive number of short-term training courses for various audiences; collected data on local feeding practices and beliefs including cooking and food processing methods; developed locally adapted nutrition education material; used a training of trainers (ToT) approach so that partner organizations disseminated nutrition education messages; and participated in the formulation of policy, strategy and project documents. Although less intensively as foreseen, the Project also provided technical and financial support to community-based nutrition and food security projects and took the lead in a working group on community-based food security, nutrition and livelihoods interventions composed of MAIL, FAO and NGO staff members.
172. The Government provided good support to the Project, especially if one considers its situation (access to management was made easy; office space was made available at HQs and at provincial level although this was scarce; extension staff at HQs and provincial level were assigned to attend training, and participated in Project activities. Whereas at central level the HED is sufficiently well staffed – although without a nutritionist – at provincial level none of the Home Economics Officer posts was filled. This has hampered the capacity building process. Other Ministries supported the Project through their collaboration.
Recommendation: Home Economics Officer posts should be filled with qualified candidates as soon as possible.
173. The technical backstopping from Rome was very effective (provision of advice, documents and sending international experts in several disciplines). Particularly the support in the Trials of Improved Practices methodology (TIPS) for improved complementary feeding recipes was useful, and the analysis of the Project’s nutrition education interventions produced valuable findings, conclusions and recommendations. A workshop with NGOs and other UN agencies produced summaries of what other NGOs and UN agencies do in this area and generated promising ideas on joint activities.
Recommendation: The action plan formulated at the end of the nutrition education interventions workshop has to be followed up by Project management as agreed.
174. The achievements related to capacity building (component one) are outstanding. The Project succeeded within a very short time to bring the topics of household food security and nutrition to the attention of MAIL’s management resulting in institutional arrangements within the ministry. It was extremely successful in furthering the issues of household food security and nutrition within all relevant actors in the country. The autonomy of Home Economics staff continues to grow, as they engage in more activities (preparing and implementing micro-projects) with decreasing support from FAO. A major function of the Project was to enable MAIL to be an active player in promoting Food Security and Nutrition on a national level. The Home Economics Director has become increasingly engaged in ANDS coordination mechanisms. The HED Director meanwhile represents the MAIL in many fora and workshops.
Recommendation: The role of the HED should be reviewed by MAIL’s management, Project CTA and HED’s Director. HED staff should probably be less engaged in providing training directly to women groups and rather reinforce activities related to ToT, guideline preparation, coordination, networking, policy and strategy formulation. In this way HED may become a model of MAIL’s work in focusing on the normative/regulatory functions while leaving actual implementation to NGOs and the private sector. These field level activities should be attended and assessed by HED staff from time to time to remain aware of the reality in the field and ensure quality work by implementers.
175. The achievements related to the promotion of community-based food security and nutrition initiatives (component two) in terms of realizing the outcomes (e.g. improved nutrition knowledge of ultimate target group) are difficult to assess. Many positive effects were observed during the field visits, were reported by NGOs or were brought up in the Nutrition Education Review and Planning Workshop and have been cited in previous chapters, however a reliable general judgment is hampered as the Project lacked a systematic outcome monitoring approach and documentation of case studies and success stories.
Recommendation: Notes prepared by the Mission on Building M&E Systems related to Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan are attached as Annex 7 and should be discussed among stakeholders.
176. The wide range of interventions supported left little time to test a critical mass of a specific type of intervention to accumulate sufficient experiences in order to subsequently offer sound advice. Until now there is no thorough analysis of the different models used. Questions remain on the right target group, respectively the suitability of messages for recipients. Feedback from the field on the nutrition education activities led to the identification of complementary interventions (e.g. gardens, preservation of food) to improve the nutrition situation. The number of such interventions remained relatively small until the end of the Project. Calculations of cost/benefits of different options would be required, e.g. selling fresh fruit versus dried fruit in case income opportunity is pursued.
Recommendation: More analysis of the different models used should be undertaken to identify the most promising activities under prevailing circumstances.
177. Initially some efforts were made by the Project related to the coordination of interventions which, according to the Project Document, had to be improved. A working group was initiated to share experiences and to disseminate technical knowledge on community-based food security, nutrition and livelihoods interventions. This working group has not met for some time. An inventory on community-based food security and nutrition interventions was started but could not be maintained. Three draft guidelines on horticulture, food processing and poultry could not be finalized and used during 039. But they were completed and translated under GCP/AFG/050/GER during the evaluation mission.
Recommendation: New efforts should be made to install a periodically updated inventory on community-based food security and nutrition interventions, and the above mentioned working group (members of which could help to feed the inventory) should be convened by the Project regularly, e.g. every six month. The guidelines mentioned above could be presented in the next meeting of this working group.
178. Without sufficient own resources to implement, the project was successful in attracting implementing agencies. The TOT approach allowed the delivery of nutrition education to a large number of households in a short time. However, investigations on the literacy classes by the Project in a sample of villages and feedback from IPs brought to light that there were often constraints to the practical application of learnt messages. They included constraints which the evaluation team also got to know from interviewing beneficiaries:
o No access to land to cultivate vegetables
o Poor access to fruits by pregnant women
o Limited food supplies for diversifying consumption, particularly by poor households
o Unavailability of soap or clean water for washing hands
o Limited access to protein-rich foods (milk and milk products not being produced and/or too expensive to buy in the market)
Recommendation: Next to nutrition education more practical livelihood support to increase production, diversify food production, food processing and conservation, and marketing should be provided. Interventions should start from a more careful verification of assets over which expected beneficiaries dispose.
179. There seems to be little effort and/or capacity among the implementing partners (IPs) to adapt the general topic of the interventions to particular situations of the communities and HH. This may result in ill-suited advice.
Recommendation: To ensure applicability and replicability within households and communities the implementing partners need to be sensitized and supported to adjust the concepts and messages to the particular situation of the communities and households. This might be done through discussing this issue in training and/or trainers’ manuals.
180. The achievements related to increased knowledge and awareness (component three) are positive in terms of the diverse nutrition education/training material that has been produced. Potentially very useful work has been carried out in the field of producing manuals, guides, booklets and posters on various subjects, translating them into Dari and Pashto and distributing them to implementing agencies, other projects and end-users. Unfortunately, hardly anything has been said on the use of these materials. Although some feedback gained from the spot monitoring rounds showed use of material by trainers and knowledge retention by beneficiaries, no representative data is available on the utilization of nutrition education/training material, and less is known about the use that recipients make of the handouts developed for them. At the same time many IPs have M&E systems in place that reach down to field level. And IP managers being asked by the evaluators whether the Project could make use of these systems by adding simple questions on the use of material to existing questionnaires, the answers were positive.
Recommendation: Project staff should collaborate with implementing partners in designing participatory mechanisms which ensure that data is collected on a few outcome indicators through existing reporting systems.
181. According to the Project’s progress reports FAO staff provided basic nutrition education training (directly or indirectly) to over 1,200 community-level workers (literacy teachers, extension workers, community mobilizers, community health workers, etc.) from 25 agencies (NGOs and government departments). The training of trainers (ToT) strategy made it possible to reach an estimated 30,000 households. Building a network of partners through which nutrition education has been distributed can be considered as one of the great achievements of the Project. The very good networking is mainly due to the active role of the CTA.
Recommendation: It is necessary to further strengthening the active role of MAIL (HED) in pushing/leading the networks of implementing partners.
182. The achievements related to incorporating HFS, nutrition and livelihood considerations into policies and projects (component four) are positive. The FAO Project 039 has obviously made substantial contributions to major planning documents (e.g. MAIL’s Master Plan and the ANDS for Agriculture) in the areas of FS and Nutrition. MAIL’s Investment and Implementation Plan that was under preparation during the Mission has also been influenced by the Project. In addition, the Project team supported, in partnership with UNICEF, MoPH’s Public Nutrition Department in updating its strategy. Later this strategy became the inter-ministerial Action Plan for Nutrition. The Project is recognized for these contributions by staff of various ministries and UN agencies working in Kabul. Household food security, nutrition and livelihoods considerations could be integrated into several other projects. New FAO projects have been approved the formulation of which was influenced decisively by the CTA of Project 039.
Recommendation: The evaluation team recommends that the Project contributes to further improvements of the Investment and Implementation Plan, and especially the sections on indicators of the logframes included in the Agricultural Strategy at goal level and in Programme 1: Food Security. It believes that the project should continue to collaborate with MAIL staff (Home Economics Department and M&E Directorate) and consultants of the DFID-funded SSPSRL project as they are willing to collaborate, or better. call for that cooperation. This involvement could help to mainstream nutrition and food security objectives in the other technical programs, in particular horticulture and livestock, natural resource management and irrigation.
183. The Evaluation Mission realised that Provincial agricultural strategies are about to be prepared. The Director of the Department of Agriculture in Faizabad informed the team that the process has started there.
Recommendation: The Project should ensure that household food security and nutrition objectives figure prominently in the formulation of agricultural strategies of the provinces. Especially in those provinces where the Project had HFS and nutrition activities it should work together with GOA staff, multilateral/bilateral aid agencies and NGOs towards the integration of realistic HFS/nutrition objectives and relevant activities. It is recommended that further efforts are made by the Project that the lessons of wider relevance learnt from its field activities are increasingly fed into the planning documents.
184. Mobilizing funds for HFS/nutrition related projects has been a strength of the CTA of Project 039. This can be seen to be also a result of greater awareness of the importance of HFS and nutrition-related interventions created among GOA’s MDAs as well as other development agencies.
Recommendation: The Project in collaboration with the FAO representation should continue its advocacy with GOA and donors to ensure that resources are made available in order to achieve the HFS and nutrition objectives of policies and strategies.
185. Generally, prospects for sustainability are good. The HED is well established. Several NGOs seem to continue to include nutrition education in their programmes. The Project claims that 60% of the 40 NGOs and GOA agencies which participated in so called action planning workshops have incorporated nutrition education activities into their programmes. Chances that activities will be sustained appear to be even better in Government programmes such as the school garden activities. The publications by the Project and the weight given to HFS/nutrition in policies and strategies will have long-lasting effects.
Recommendation: Periodic verification of and possibly encouragement by Project staff is required to ensure continued inclusion of nutrition education activities in programmes of those NGOs that functioned as implementing partners of the Project. The sustainability of Project activities in Government programmes should also be checked from time to time, and means to increase chances of sustainability should be identified in studies and reviews.
186. The measures taken to promote gender issues were adequate and highly relevant. Women in rural households could only be reached by the consequent involvement of female staff and their intensive training. An FAO backstopper, Ms. Regina Laub, has prepared a strategy for supporting gender mainstreaming in her last mission and included TOR for an international gender advisor for project 050.
187. Generally the cost-effectiveness of Project activities was good. Examples provided earlier included the capacity building in HED, the ToT approach using existing programmes, the multi-purpose workshops, and FAO’s standard training material that has been adapted to the Afghan conditions.
Recommendation: In order to reach a much larger audience, the mass media should be used by the Project to get its messages across.
188. Factors have been mentioned earlier that have affected project results negatively or those that were conducive to the Project’s success. Many cannot be influenced, but those that can should be worked on. The latter probably include the negative ones: ability of HED staff to communicate in English; and poor outcome M&E; whereas the positive ones that can possibly be maintained or even enhanced comprise: support of MAIL’s Deputy Minister; position of the Project; technical backstopping; donor policy; operational backstopping from FAOR’s.
189. In general, Project management deserves to be called adequate. Project resources have been put to work efficiently and effectively. Decisions taken with respect to the Project’s strategic direction make sense. Comprehensive progress reports and an informative forward looking terminal project report have been prepared. However, looking at these reports one cannot help but getting the impression that there was a certain bias towards an activity (or at best) output orientation as opposed to an outcome orientation. Insufficient attention seems to have been given to the (proper) utilization of the outputs by the target groups. The use of what has been produced under the Project has hardly been verified. Looking for other possible weaknesses one may cite the lack of regular staff meetings and the missing ‘culture of work planning’ especially by individual Project staff. One may speculate whether this contributes to the impression that the CTA is overburdened with tasks. At least during the Evaluation Mission one could sense a certain danger of overstretching the capacity of the CTA.
Recommendation: Having praised the good quality of FAO HQ backstopping earlier in this report, in the future the lead technical officer at FAO HQs should perhaps rather encourage the CTA to consolidate and systematically document approaches than bringing up new ideas requiring additional time and efforts. Consolidation of activities and documentation of processes and approaches followed should have priority for the CTA compared to further up-scaling (like plans to cover 80 schools in the school garden programme) and quick extension of activities to additional provinces.
190. The project has no steering or coordination committee which could help project management to solve problems, give direction and focus on priorities. Since such a committee was not foreseen at formulation stage, it has not been established, although the Project was obviously dealing with cross-cutting issues that required close collaboration with other organizations and partner agencies. Problems as e.g. the slow process of recruiting home economics officers at provincial level who function as counterparts of the FAO staff working in provinces could possibly be solved more easily. Such a committee could give the Project more weight and can make it more visible among GOA agencies and in the international donor arena. It could strengthen the Project’s influence on policies and help to take the FS and nutrition subjects higher up on the ministerial and inter-ministerial agenda. A committee like this could facilitate the inter-ministerial coordination and collaboration. To save resources and strengthen a more programmatic approach, such a committee could in principle also be established for all German BTF projects related to FS and nutrition.
Recommendation: Decision should be taken whether to establish a Project Steering Committee just for Project 050 or a Programme Steering Committee that takes care of all German BTF projects related to FS and nutrition. The latter option seems to be the better solution. Such a steering committee should preferably be co-chaired by the Minister or his Deputy and the FAO Representative. It is advisable to have as its members the most important ministries, UN organizations a representative of the donor organization, one representative of NGOs dealing with FS and nutrition, the CTAs and their counterparts. The committee should meet every six months. The CTA of Project 050 may function as the PSC’s secretary. One of the first activities of such a PSC could be to review proposals towards strengthening a HFS/nutrition programme approach and take decisions on the way forward. In case a Project Steering Committee for Project 050 will be established one of its first activities should be to rethink the current focus of Project 050 on nutrition versus household food security and address the role of HED in this context.
|Major addressee |Lesson to be learnt |
|FAO/PBEE |Provide FAO evaluation teams with relevant information from PBEE’s database as a routine procedure |
|FAO |The appraisal of draft project documents should always include a critical assessment of (i) the ‘theory of |
| |change’ displayed in the project document respectively in its Logframe (means-ends relationship); (ii) the |
| |structure of project components and their interrelationship; and (iii) the quality of outcome indicators. |
|FAORs |Establishment of steering committees to which project management is accountable has proved in general to be |
| |a useful feature in FAO field projects; there must be a good reason for not planning to have such a SC in a |
| |project. |
|FAORs |Capacity building of MDAs (Government organizational entities) should always follow closely a carefully |
| |defined and endorsed mandate of the institutional unit that the project is expected to strengthen |
|FAO/PBEE |Ask evaluators in guidelines/TOR not only to assess relevance of the Project’s objectives, but also to |
| |estimate the relevance of the project’s actual contributions towards development objectives/core problems, |
| |e.g. how many households realized food security, nutrition and livelihoods improvements through project |
| |activities as compared to the number of households that need such an improvement in Afghanistan, |
| |respectively in the provinces where the project had activities’ (direct impact). It is more difficult to |
| |estimate the number of households that can be expected to realize improvements as a result of activities |
| |that are and will be conducted by the strengthened HED and implementing agencies which have integrated |
| |nutrition education (and ‘direct interventions’ such as food processing activities) into their programmes |
| |(indirect impact). The latter may be rather a topic for evaluation research that selected projects can |
| |undertake in partnership with universities. |
|MAIL and other government |The Government implementing agency should decide to what extent achievement of the development objective can|
|implementing agencies |and should be verified (here: MAIL, in collaboration with other relevant ministries and partners, to decide |
| |how it can be verified to what extent ‘Household food security, nutrition and livelihoods have improved in |
| |Afghanistan’ (monitoring the HFS, nutrition and livelihood situation at government level). The assistance of|
| |FAO in this respect may be requested. |
|FAO/AGNP |Results of further normative work dealing with the concepts of household food security, nutrition and |
| |livelihoods and their relationship should result into practical recommendations for governments on the |
| |organizational structure and functions of MDAs dealing with these subjects |
|MAIL/M&E Directorate |Make it a rule to assign (English speaking) staff to participate actively in project evaluations who then |
| |should be asked to follow up the implementation of accepted recommendations |
Annexes
Annex 1: Terms of reference of the evaluation mission
Annex 2: List of documents and other reference materials consulted
Annex 3: Project list Afghanistan Bilateral Trust Fund BMELV - FAO 2002- 2007
Annex 4: Objectives and related outputs that people who formulated the project probably had in mind
Annex 5: Achievements on output level
Annex 6: Note for the record on programming session; Kabul, 23/4/08
Annex 7: Building M&E systems related to food Security, nutrition and livelihoods in Afghanistan; notes for discussion by M. Grunewald
Annex 1: Terms of Reference of the Evaluation Mission
General Terms of Reference for Joint Evaluation Mission by
The Federal Republic of Germany (commissioned to GTZ),
FAO and the Governments of Afghanistan
5-26 April 2008
1. Background
The German Ministry of Consumers Protection, Food and Agriculture (BMVEL) is financing several of the FAO-executed Projects in Afghanistan via a bilateral trust fund. The German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) supports the BMVEL to administer the trust fund and monitor progress.
Presently there are three projects operational which will form the nucleus of a food security programme. The core project ‘Support to Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan’ (GCP/AFG/050/ GER) started in January 2008 as a direct follow-up to project ‘Supporting the Improvement of Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan’ (GCP/AFG/039/GER) which began in August 2005 and ended in December 2007. The project ‘Managing Biodiversity for Sustainable Food Security and Nutrition in Afghanistan’ (GCP/AFG/047/GER) started in April 2007. ‘Initiating Participatory Forestry in Support to Sustainable Livelihood in Afghanistan’ (GCP/AFG/052/GER) also started in January 2008.
The project ‘Small Farmer Livelihoods and Income Enhancement in Baghlan Province’ (GCP/AFG/053/GER) is about to start, and is in part a follow-up to the project ‘Rehabilitation of the Sugar Industry in Baghlan: Technical and Managerial Support for Small Family Farmer Participation in the Sugar Beet Supply Chain’ (GCP/AFG/038/GER), which is phasing out. A fifth project called ‘Development of Integrated Dairy Schemes in Afghanistan’ (GCP/AFG/040/GER) started in April 2005 and is coming to an end in September this year.
2. Purpose of the Evaluation[47]
The purpose of the project evaluation is:
• to assess the relevance, design, implementation and results of the predecessor project of GCP/AFG/050/GER, i.e. GCP/AFG/039/GER
• to learn lessons about the effectiveness and replicability of the chosen approach
• to provide accountability to the donor country, the donor and FAO regarding the project’s performance
The purpose of the programme assessment is:
• to review the relevance, design, implementation and results of the programme approach related to the above-mentioned projects
• to learn lessons about the potential effectiveness and synergies of the chosen approach
The project evaluation as well as the programme assessment will both be forward-looking, i.e. areas for improvement will be identified especially for 050/039, and suggestions will be made for further integrating the projects 047, 050, and 052 in their implementation phase, and draw lessons in order to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of similar endeavours in the future.
3. Scope of the Evaluation
For the project ‘Supporting the Improvement of Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan’ (GCP/AFG/039/GER), the mission will assess the:
a.) Relevance and Design
• Relevance of the project to development priorities and needs
• Significance of the project outputs for the beneficiaries
• Sustainability of the approach and implementation
b.) Effectiveness
• Project results (against work plan/logframe targets)
• Management and oversight of project implementation
• Project integration with host government structures
• Cooperation with other GTZ-assisted projects and projects of other organizations
c.) Results and Impact
• Use made of project results and direct impact on beneficiaries
• Unintended positive and negative impacts
• Impact at the level of the development objective
d.) Efficiency
• Efficiency of project management
• Cost effectiveness of the project interventions
• Timeliness of result produced
• Coordination with other projects active in the same sector
e.) Sustainability
• Sustainability of project contributions in long term
• Assessment of key factors for longer term sustainability
• Potential changes in the project environment (such policies, economic and social developments, etc) likely to affect sustainability of project results
Based on the above analysis the mission will draw specific conclusions and make recommendations.
4. Composition of the Mission
The whole missions comprises of various experts that are assigned different tasks covering specific projects only.
1. Matthias Grunewald, specialist in evaluation on behalf of FAO Evaluation Service (Team Leader)
2. Dr. Herwig Hahn, Expert of Food Security and Project Planning and for assessment of programme approach for nutrition related projects in Afghanistan.
3. NN, Food Security and Planning Expert (National Expert)
Mission members should be independent and thus have no previous direct involvement with the project either with regard to its formulation, implementation or backstopping. They should preferably have experience of evaluation
5. Timetable and Itinerary of the Mission
A: Tentative mission schedule
6. Consultations
The mission will maintain close liaison with the Representatives of the donor and FAO and the concerned national agencies, as well as with national and international project staff. Although the mission should feel free to discuss with the authorities concerned anything relevant to its
assignment, it is not authorized to make any commitments on behalf of the Government, the donor, or FAO.
7. Reporting
The mission is fully responsible for its independent report which may not necessarily reflect the views of the Government, the donor or FAO. The report will be written in conformity with the headings shown in the Appendix.
Major findings, conclusions and recommendations will be presented by the evaluation team and fully discussed with stakeholder during a workshop at the end of the mission; wherever possible, consensus should be achieved on major issues. Mission members will also participate in a planning exercise attended by project staff to ensure accepted recommendations are incorporated into further plans.
The mission will also complete the FAO Project Evaluation Questionnaire.
Before finalizing the report, the Team Leader will have a debriefing meeting in FAO HQ to present the results of the mission. He bears responsibility for finalization of the report, which will be submitted to FAO within four weeks of mission completion. FAO will submit the report to Government(s) and donor together with its comments.
Appendix: Draft Project Evaluation Outline
I. Executive Summary (Main Findings and Recommendations)
II. Introduction
III. Background and Context
IV. Assessment of Project Objectives and Design
A. Justification
B. Objectives
C. Project Design
V. Assessment of Project Implementation, Efficiency and Management
A. Project Budget and Expenditure
B. Activities and Outputs
C. Government Support
D. Project Management
E. Technical and Operational Backstopping
VI. Assessment of Results and Effectiveness
A. Effects and Impact
B. Sustainability and Environmental Impact of Results
C. Gender Equity in Project Implementation and Results
D. Cost-effectiveness
E. Major Factors Affecting the Project Results
VII. Conclusions and Recommendations
A. Conclusions
B. Recommendations
VIII. Lessons Learned
Annexes
1. Terms of Reference
2. List of places visited and key persons met by the mission
4. List of documents and other reference materials consulted by the mission
Annex 2: List of Documents and other Reference Materials consulted
Documents directly related to Projects
Core Project
1. Förderkonzept der Bundesregierung für den FAO-Treuhandfond zur Ernährungssicherung; 9.9.2005
2. Project Document of GCP/AFG/039/GER, Supporting Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods (only in electronic form)
3. Project Progress Report of GCP/AFG/039/GER; Supporting Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods covering the period Jan-Jun 2007 (both, in paper and electronic form)
4. Project Progress Report of GCP/AFG/039/GER; Supporting Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods covering the period Jul-Dec 2007 (both, in paper and electronic form)
5. Project Visit Report (039) by Martina Park, GTZ; December 2005
6. Terminal Report of GCP/AFG/039/GER; Supporting Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods; 2007
7. Stellungnahme zu dem Schlussbericht des Projekts: „Supporting Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan”, GER-FAO 2004-10, GCP/AFG/039/GER, von Dr. H. Hahn; Januar 2008
8. Mission Report on Nutrition Education Component of the Project by Charity Dirorimwe, Nutrition Education Consultant (AGNP), December 2007 (only hard copy)
9. Project Document of GCP/AFG/050/GER, Support to Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan (only in electronic form)
Other German FAO/BTF Projects related to Food Security
10. Project Document of GCP/AFG/047/GER, Managing Biodiversity for Sustainable Food Security and Nutrition in Afghanistan (both, in paper and electronic form)
11. Project Progress Report of GCP/AFG/047/GER; Managing Biodiversity for Sustainable Food Security and Nutrition in Afghanistan; covering the period Jul-Dec 2007 (only in electronic form)
12. Project Document of GCP/AFG/052/GER, Initiating Participatory Forestry in Support to Sustainable Livelihood in Afghanistan (only in electronic form)
13. Project Document of GCP/AFG/053/GER; Small Farmer Livelihoods and Income Enhancement in Baghlan Province (only in electronic form)
14. Project Progress Report of GCP/AFG/040/GER; Integrated Dairy Schemes in Afghanistan covering the period Jul-Dec 2007 (only hard copy)
15. Project Progress Report of GCP/AFG/038/GER; Rehabilitation of the Sugar Industry in Baghlan: Technical and Managerial Support to Small Family Farmer Participation in the Sugar Beet Supply Chain (only in electronic form)
16. Public-Private Partnerships in Economic Development: The New Baghlan Sugar Company (only hard copy)
Background Papers which cover (aspects of) German FAO/BTF Projects related to Food Security
17. Mission Report: Analysis of Agro-Business Value Chains; GTZ- Regional and Administrative Development in North-Eastern Afghanistan; by Sigrid Giencke, April 2007
18. Regionale Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungsförderung im Nordosten; Bericht über die Projektprüfung; vorgelegt von Ralph D. Meyer für die GTZ; Oktober 2006
19. Erfolge in Afghanistan: Das Engagement des BMELV für Landwirtschaft und Ernährungssicherung in Afghanistan; BMELV, January 2008; (includes Project List Afghanistan Bilateral Trust Fund BMELV - FAO 2002- 2007)
20. SV Welternährung und Agrobiodiversität - Umfeldmonitoring Afghanistan; (includes overview of organizations and their emphasis/priorities in Kunduz und Takhar provinces grouped in UN and international/national organizations)
21. Kurzfassung einer Studie, die, basierend auf langfristigen Vor-Ort Analysen und einem zusätzlichen Aufenthalt in den Provinzen Kunduz, Takhar und Paktia im November 2007, die Kontextbedingungen für die GTZ-Arbeit untersuchte mit Schwerpunkt auf Akteuren und Netzwerken
22. Sachstand Wiederaufbau: Der Beitrag der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit zum Wiederaufbau Afghanistans (mit Antworten auf die Frage: Was wurde erreicht?); Mai 2006
23. Evaluation Report 028: Assessing the Impact of Development Cooperation in North East Afghanistan - Interim Report
Official GOA Documents
24. Interim Afghanistan National Development Strategy (I-ANDS) An Interim Strategy for Security, Governance, Economic Growth & Poverty Reduction; Summary Report
25. The Afghanistan Compact - Building on Success, the London Conference on Afghanistan; February 2006
26. Making Agriculture and Productive - Management and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources - the Engine of Socioeconomic Development in Afghanistan; a Policy and Strategy Framework for the Rehabilitation and Development of Agriculture and Natural Resource Sector of Afghanistan; Kabul, 17 January 2004
27. MAIL’s Strategy Document; June 2007 (includes logframes for the seven programmes identified in the Agricultural Master Plan; Program 1: Food Security; and mentions projects contributing to each program)
28. Home Economics Directorate Strategy (includes draft of a general 5-year work plan)
From GCP/AFG/050/GER:
Mission Report on Nutrition Education Component of the Project by Charity Dirorimwe, Nutrition Education Consultant (AGNP), December 2007
Annex 3:
|Project List Afghanistan Bilateral Trust Fund BMELV - FAO 2002- 2007 | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
|Code |FAO Symbol |Short Title |Volume | | |
|GER | | | | | |
| | | |Total |actual |actual finish|
| | | | |start date |date |
| | | |(EUR) | | |
|2002-1 |OSRO/AFG/206/GER |Procurement and processing of quality seed |1.239.245 |Jun 02 | |
| | | | | |Dec 03 |
|2002-2 |OSRO/AFG/209/GER |Coordination of emergency agricultural relief |171.884 |Jul 02 |Dec 02 |
|2002-3 |GCP/AFG/ 020/GER |FAO/WFP crop and food supply assessment mission |91.706 |Jul 02 |Jun 03 |
|2002-5 |GCP/AFG/ 024/GER |Community based irrigation infrastructure rehabilitation |2.000.000 |May 03 |Sep 05 |
|2002-6 |GCP/AFG/ 025/GER |Development of a sustainable seed programme in the south |1.800.000 |March 03 |Feb 05 |
|2002-7 |GCP/AFG/ 021/GER |Development of livestock production activities in selected |1.137.986 |Oct 02 |Sep 04 |
| | |districts | | | |
|2002-8 |GCP/AFG/ 026/GER |Support to the improvement of food security, nutrition and |1.000.000 |Oct. 02 |Dec. 03 |
| | |livelihoods | | | |
|2003-1 |GCP/AFG/ 032/GER |Training of rural families and technical staff to extend |1.102.146 |Jan 04 |Mar 05 |
| | |proven animal health and livestock production packages | | | |
|2003-2 |OSRO/AFG/ 304/GER |Coordination and Provision of Essential Agricultural Inputs |1.100.000 |Nov 03 |Dec. 04 |
| | |to Returnees and IDP | | | |
|2003-3 |GCP/AFG/ 034/GER |Support to the Food and Agriculture Information and Policy |1.000.000 |Apr 04 | |
| | |Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry | | |Aug 06 |
|2004-1 |GCP/ AFG/ 037/ GER |Advise to and Coordination of Food and Nutrition Relevant |422.000 |Apr 05 |Apr 06 |
| | |Projects in Afghanistan | | | |
|2004-3 |GCP/ AFG/ 040/ GER |Development of Integrated Dairy Schemes in Afghanistan |1.788.993 |Apr 05 |Sep 08 |
|2004-6 |GCP/AFG/ 038/GER |Improving Food Security of Smallholders by Recovery of Sugar|1.050.000 |Feb 05 |Dec. 07 |
| | |Beet Production | | | |
|2004-7 |OSRO/AFG/402/GER |Provision of Agricultural Inputs to Vulnerable Rural |2.400.000 |July.04 |Dec. 05 |
| | |Population in AFG | | | |
|2004-8 |OSRO/AFG /408/GER |Grain Storage for Northern Afghanistan |2.000.000 |Nov 04 |Aug 06 |
|2004-10 |GCP/AFG/ 039/GER |Improving Food Security for Smallholders in Afghanistan |1.000.000 |Aug 05 |Dec 07 |
|2005-8 |GCP/AFG/ 041/GER |Improved water management in the Western Region of AFG |1.165.000 |Oct. 05 |Dec 06 |
| | |(Phase II of 2002-5) | | | |
|2007-2 |GCP/AFG/ 047/GER |Biodiversity: Wild Plants for |1.300.000 |Jul 07 |Jun 10 |
| | |Food Security in Northern Afghanistan | | | |
|2007-3 |GCP/AFG/050/GER |Support to HH Food Security AFG; Phase II of 2004-10 |1.900.000 |Jan 08 |Dec 10 |
|2007-4 |GCP/AFG/052/GER |Participatory forestry for livelihoods in AFG |1.860.000 |Jan 08 |Dec 10 |
| | |TOTAL ALL PROJECTS |25.528.960 | | |
Annex 4: Objectives and related outputs that people who formulated the project probably had in mind
IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE 1:
OUTPUTS:
IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE 2:
OUTPUTS:
IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE 3:
OUTPUTS:
IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE 3:
OUTPUTS:
Annex 5: Achievements on output level
|PROJECT ELEMEMTS/ COMPONENTS |SUCCESS INDICATORS | |
| |(Objectively-verifiable Indicators) |ACHIEVEMENT |
|Development Objective |Improved diet diversity | |
|Household food security, nutrition |Improved use of available foods | |
|and livelihoods in Afghanistan |Reduced incidence of acute malnutrition and | |
|improved. |micro-nut. deficiency at community level | |
|Immediate Objectives |Nutrition, HFS and livelihoods support unit |Achievement |
|1. Capacity of relevant MAAHF and |operational in MAAHF extension dept |The Home Economics Department is firmly established as focal point in MAIL for nutrition and household food |
|other partner institutions at |Institutional mechanism defined and operational |security; it is operational at central level. HED staff are conducting trainings for NGO partners (with FAO |
|central, provincial and local levels|at central and provincial levels |support) and supporting an increasing number of projects (currently 2) (see 1.1.1, below) |
|increased |Functional networks/partnerships for local level| |
| |action on FS, nut. and livelihoods |Achievement |
| | |The Home Economics strategy clearly defines the HED’s role for supporting food security and nutrition |
| | |interventions; HED has started implementing and facilitating this strategy. HED is building a network of |
| | |partners, at central level, and increasingly at provincial level |
| | | |
| | |Achievement |
| | |HED is now an active member of the following networks: |
| | |Working Group on Community-based Food Security Interventions |
| | |Healthy Schools Initiative (for school gardens) |
| | |National Youth Program |
| | |Public Nutrition network (C.f. 1.1.4, 1.3) |
| | | |
| | |Achievement |
| | |Local level networks developed by FAO are strong (c.f. 3.2 and 4.3.2). Direct linkages between DAIL and |
| | |partners at provincial and local level need to be strengthened. |
|Outputs (Results/Products) |1. 3 ministry staff trained and taking on |Achievement: |
|Nutrition, HFS and Livelihoods unit |responsibilities in Nutrition dept |The autonomy of Home Economics staff continues to grow, as they engage in more activities with decreasing |
|within extension department |2. Recognition of Nutrition unit by MAAHF and |support from FAO. |
|operational |other relevant ministries | |
| | |Achievement: |
| | |The Home Economics Department is now fully recognized in MAIL and other ministries as focal point for |
| | |nutrition, household food security, livelihoods and gender. The director is representing MAIL in the Afghan |
| | |National Development Strategy (ANDS) Gender working group, in nutrition working groups with the Ministry of |
| | |Public Health (MOPH), and in the Joint United Nations (UN) programs on Healthy Schools and on Youth. |
| | |The Home Economics Department is officially recognised as the main focal point for the upcoming |
| | |GCP/AFG/050/GER. |
|Extension and home economic officers|16 Home Economic Officers (HEO) trained (1 per |Achievement |
|of MAAHF at provincial level trained|province, 4 regions) |CVs for provincial HEO are being collected by provincial offices in 7 provinces. |
|and operational. |48 provincial Extension officers trained on the |The government recruitment process, however, did not start until April 2008 |
| |job | |
| |16 Home Economic officers operational | |
|Collaboration on household food |Number of ministries, agencies and other |Achievement |
|security, nutrition and livelihoods |institutions effectively collaborating at |4 Ministries: MoPH, Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Culture and Youth |
|between relevant institutions |provincial and central level |6 UN agencies: UNICEF, WFP, World Health Organisation, Habitat, UNDP, ILO, UNIFEM |
|strengthened at central and |Inter-institutional networks set up/strengthened|17 NGOs (AKDN, GERES, Groupe URD, ACF, Solidarités, AADA, AREOA, RSDO, ActionAid, AfghanAid, GTZ, WVO, DACAAR,|
|provincial levels |Number of projects/products resulting from or |OBS, CRS, Mission East, EAC) |
| |supported by network |Achievement |
| | |3 working groups set-up by 039/GER: Community-based food security and nutrition interventions, Nutrition |
| | |education task force and food safety |
| | |Collaboration with civil society network on food security (N.B. this was dismantled but replaced by a campaign|
| | |on right to food to be launched in August 2007 by ActionAid) |
| | |Achievement |
| | |Nutrition education integrated in the activities of 25 agencies (see activities under 3.2). 7 projects |
| | |supported (see output 2.4) so far but it is expected that nutrition education will constitute advocacy for |
| | |follow-up activities in the area of homestead food production and food processing. |
|2. Community-based food security and|At least 16 community-based interventions |Achievement |
|nutrition initiatives in food |supported/generated by the project |A total of 6 direct interventions had been implemented: |
|insecure areas supported and |Satisfaction of Implementing Partners (IPs) with|A tailoring and nutrition project was directly implemented by MAIL counterparts and community members in the |
|promoted. |FAO support |outskirts of Kabul |
| | |Kitchen gardens established in Faizabad with the Department Of Women’s Affairs (DOWA) and the Faizabad |
| | |orphanage |
| | |2 integrated nutrition projects implemented by 2 communities in Panjab and Waras districts |
| | |2 food processing micro-projects implemented by Afghanaid and Mission East in Badakshan |
| | | |
| | |2 new projects designed (Biodiversity & Follow-up to nutrition); contribution to design of forestry and |
| | |rangelands projects; concept note submitted on youth and employment |
| | |Projects of at least 25 partners indirectly supported by trainings on food security and nutrition |
| | |Achievement |
| | | |
| | |As an indirect indictor of §”customer satisfaction” it can be said that the FAO household food security, |
| | |nutrition and livelihoods team is now recognized as a reference point for technical support on these issues. |
| | |Many NGOs, consultants and donors consult the team. The team also acts as a ‘hub’, directing partners to other|
| | |FAO projects. All training requests have been honored by FAO. Demands for technical trainings and financial |
| | |support by the project are increasing. |
|2.1 Successful community-based |Reports and documentation of success and lessons|Achievement |
|interventions documented and |learnt prepared |5 seminars on lessons learnt from community-based interventions have been organised) and guidelines on a |
|disseminated |Relevant ministries, NGOS and development |number of topics drafted (see 2.1.1 |
| |partners informed | |
|Technical guidelines developed for |Technical guidelines/fact sheets on at least 5 |Achievement |
|use by field workers |specific interventions produced and disseminated|Next to the nutrition education manual and the the Guide on Improved Recipes and Feeding Practices, three |
| |(and type of recipient organisations) |technical guidelines have been produced: |
| | |Making Horticulture Projects Work for Food Security in Afghanistan; |
| | |Making food processing projects work for Food Security in Afghanistan, and |
| | |Making poultry projects work for Food Security in Afghanistan”. |
|Training of ministries and partner |At least two technical training workshops on |Achievement: |
|institutions on food-based |specific food-based interventions organised |4 day training on home-based food processing, by AGST |
|approaches to improve nutrition |Concrete follow-up activities agreed upon |2 three day trainings on Trials of Improved Feeding Practices (September and April) |
| |10 field visits to successful projects organised|2 day training on oil processing (in Herat), by AGST (in partnership with GCP/AFG/036/UK) |
| |30% of staff participating in workshop use | |
| |knowledge in their activities |Achievement: |
| |Basic support services operational |TIPS implemented in 3 provinces and Kabul. |
| | |Oil expeller piloted by CRS in Herat province and selected communities in Balkh (with AALP) |
| | |2 food processing projects implemented in Badakshan with Afghanaid and Mission East. |
| | | |
| | |Achievement: |
| | |4 field visits for counterparts organized since beginning of project + regular visits to Seh Bangi and TIPS |
| | |visits in Kabul. |
| | |Field visits with extension staff to 5 villages in Balkh for introduction of oil expeller. |
|2.4. Micro-projects on food |30% of activities discussed at result of |Achievement: |
|security, nutrition and livelihoods |workshop are followed-up |- Workshops have identified integration of nutrition education in ongoing projects as the most valuable input |
|implemented at community level |Inter-disciplinary partnerships established |GCP/AFG/039/GER could provide, such that this has become a priority activity (c.f. objective 3). |
| |Linkages established with other FAO-assisted |- 2 Integrated nutrition and community development projects with Panjab and Waras districts of Bamyan |
| |projects |completed. |
| | |- 2 micro-projects on food processing supported, as follow-up to food processing training. |
| | |- Oil expellers integrated in activities of CRS (Herat) and AALP (Mazar) |
| | | |
| | |Achievement: |
| | |- Nutrition education integrated in livelihoods projects including literacy, agricultural, animal husbandry |
| | |and poultry activities. |
| | |- Partnerships with MOE & UNICEF strengthened through small pilot project on school gardens, as part of joint |
| | |UN program initiative; (see 3.2 below) |
| | |- collaboration with MOPH and UNICEF on nutrition education material development (see 3.1 below) |
| | | |
| | |Achievement: |
| | |Joint activities carried out with: Sustainable Agricultural Livelihoods in Eastern Hazaradjat (SALEH) project |
| | |(GCP/AFG/029/UK), Alternative Agricultural Livelihoods Program (AALP: GCP/AFG/036/UK), successive poultry and |
| | |dairy projects (training of project staff on nutrition education and participation in various trainings |
| | |organized by the project). |
|3.Increased knowledge and awareness |30% of people trained and informed have |Achievements: |
|of nutrition, food security and |incorporated knowledge in behaviour and |60% of NGOs and agencies which participated in training-cum-planning workshops have incorporated nutrition |
|livelihoods at central, provincial |activities |education activities and are adapting projects to address malnutrition. |
|and local levels | | |
|Nutrition education and |Necessary materials developed in English, Dari, |Achievements: |
|communication materials developed |and Pashtu |Basic nutrition education for Afghan families’ booklet and posters reprinted (3,000 booklets and 30,000 |
|and disseminated | |posters in dari / 1,000 booklets; 10,000 posters in pashto). Of these, the following have been distributed |
| | |(following nutrition education trainings): 3,000 booklets & 25,965 posters in dari; 500 booklets and 7260 |
| | |posters in Pashto |
| | |Another 5000 dari copies and 2000 pashto copies of the booklet are being printed for use under |
| | |GCP/AFG/050/GER. |
| | | |
| | |The Afghan Family Nutrition Guide, has been adapted to Afghanistan. 20,000 copies were printed (14,000 Dari |
| | |and 6,000 Pashto). This is a joint publication between MAIL, MOPH and FAO. |
| | | |
| | |The Guide on Improved Recipes and Feeding Practices for Afghan Mothers and Children (focusing on Complementary|
| | |Feeding Recipes) has been finalised by Charity Dirorimwe and translated in Dari and Pashto. (see 3.1.1).. 500 |
| | |English copies and 9000 Dari copies were printed together with 27,000 recipe booklets for distribution to |
| | |mothers will also be printed by April 2008. The Pashto version will be printed by MOPH with UNICEF funding). |
| | |This manual is a joint publication between MAIL, MOPH, FAO and UNICEF. |
| | | |
| | |The Manual on Home-Based Fruit and Vegetable Processing techniques was translated in Pashto and Dari and 500 |
| | |English copies, 1000 Pashto copies and 4000 Dari copies were printed after the project ended. This is a joint |
| | |MAIL & FAO publication. |
|Nutrition education incorporated in |At least 30% of projects and programmes involved|Achievements: |
|agriculture, livelihoods, rural |have integrated nutrition education and |In total, 24 out of 40 (60%) of NGOs and government departments participating in training-cum-planning |
|development projects and programmes,|information |workshops have integrated nutrition education in their field activities. |
|as well as existing education / | |-In Bamyan: SALEH, FAO poultry, Solidarités, AKDN, AADA (former IMC), RSDO, AREOA (=50% of participating |
|communication initiatives. | |agencies in Action Planning workshop) |
| | |-In Badakshan: DOWA, AKDN, DoE, Afghanaid, Concern, Medair, NAC, Acted, PEP, CFA |
| | |-In Herat: DACAAR, WVO, OBS (FAO poultry implementing partner), WFP, FAO AALP |
| | |- in Kabul: EAC and GERES |
| | | |
| | |It is estimated that through its partners the project has assisted in the provision of nutrition education to |
| | |approximately (cumulative figures): |
| | |Bamyan: 15,000 households through 362 educators (through 9 agencies) |
| | |Badakshan:7,960 households through 610 educators (through 11 agencies) |
| | |Herat: 6,430 households through 200 educators (through 5 agencies) |
| | |Kabul: 1200 households through 30 educators (through 2 agencies) |
| | |In total, the project is reaching an estimated 30,000 households, through over 1230 community-level workers |
| | |(literacy teachers, extension workers, etc.) and in partnership with 25 agencies (NGO and government |
| | |departments) who has their own plans to follow up this subject. |
| | | |
| | |The 8 school gardens proved to be very successful. A strategy for upscaling this activity has been prepared |
| | |through an action-review workshop and evaluation by Charity Dirorimwe (consultant). |
|4. Household food security, |At least 50% of MAAHF policy documents include |Achievements: |
|nutrition and livelihoods |nutrition and food security |- Nutrition, food security, and food safety are addressed in the MAIL Master Plan, the Master Plan |
|considerations incorporated into | |Implementation Plan and the ANDS MAIL strategy: Improving food security is now the prime objective of Master |
|relevant Afghanistan policies and | |Plan. (100% of key policy documents) |
|projects | |- Work is ongoing to ensure that nutrition is more explicitly addressed in relevant programmes of the Ministry|
| | |of Agriculture (notably the Food Security, Livestock and Horticulture Programmes) |
| | |- Gender and women’s role in assuring national and household food security is now clearly integrated in the |
| | |Master Plan. (strong FAO contribution to gender chapter) |
|4.1 Awareness raising and training |At least six seminars organised on nutrition, |Achievement: |
|incorporated into relevant workshops|household food security issues |- three seminars organised on ‘Linking Nutrition, Agriculture and Livelihoods’ in MAIL in September 2005 |
|(MAAHF, MRRD, MEW) | |- one workshop in November 2005, |
| | |- one training on “gender awareness” (July 2006), |
| | |- one training on “Sustainable Livelihoods” in July 2006, |
| | |- one training on “food requirements for good nutrition” in November 2006; |
| | |- one inter-ministerial workshop on ‘Working together for Nutrition in Afghanistan’, in January 2007 |
| | |- one Seminar on “Linking relief and development: Evolving approaches to food security in Afghanistan” |
| | |(January 31st 2007) with Groupe URD. |
| | |- A one day workshop on “Working with women and rural youth for Agricultural Development” in October 2008 |
|4.2 Feedback of information on |Information regularly received and used at |Information on food availability, seasonal variations, food beliefs and practices, food processing and use of |
|nutrition and food security from the|central level |wild foods has been collected in Bamyan, Badakshan, Herat and one neighbourhood of Kabul, and a preliminary |
|provinces to relevant ministry |Monthly meetings with FAAHM |analysis has been completed. |
|levels | | |
| | |Regular information exchange is done, though not on a monthly basis. |
|4.3 Assistance provided to |Response to request appropriate and timely | |
|interested projects for the |Resulting collaboration jointly documented | |
|incorporation of food security, |Resulting activities assisted and monitored | |
|nutrition and livelihoods | | |
|considerations | | |
Annex 6:
Note for the record programming session
Kabul, 23/4/08
Participants
Ms. Swantje Helbing BMELV
Mr. Herwig Hahn GTZ
Mr. Mattias Grünewald leader tripartite evaluation mission
Mr. David Hitchcock FAO/RAPA
Ms. Florence Egal FAO/AGN
Ms. Charlotte Dufour CTA GCP/AFG/050/GER
Mr. Keith Shawe CTA GCP/AFG/047/GER
The session was organized in the wake of the German Trust Fund review mission, carried out between the 12th and 24th April 2008.
Participants agreed on the following points
1. FAO’s goal is to defeat hunger and fight poverty, by supporting food security and sustainable livelihoods. It aims to support people on the ground by working through support organizations, mainly national governments, but also NGOs and the private sector.
2. In order to achieve that goal, FAO must fulfill a combination of functions
a. Knowledge management, which includes.
• information gathering: information collection on food security, nutrition and livelihoods through surveillance and M&E; operational research (action-research) on topics not yet explored; facilitating of lessons learning and sharing
• information dissemination: capacity-building of government institutions, NGOs, and relevant private sector organizations, at central, provincial / district, and community levels; public information & education campaigns; advocacy and awareness-raising
b. Coordination and facilitation to support dialogue and collaboration within and between relevant institutions: ministries and other government institutions, UN agencies, NGOs, donors, private sector
c. Policy advice and support to strategic planning
The links between these various functions can be mapped out as follows:
[pic]
3. The experience of GCP/AFG/039/GER confirms that food security, nutrition and livelihoods could provide an integrating framework for FAO’s programme in Afghanistan.
4. This is particularly timely and urgent in the present context of soaring food prices, recurrent droughts and security problems.
5. The design of the NMTPF should therefore be founded on the following principles and approaches:
a. Food security, nutrition and sustainable livelihoods should be the main focus / overarching goal of the NMTPF
b. FAO should re-position itself within an expanded institutional context & develop a network of partners: tackling food security and malnutrition through a sustainable livelihoods approach entails working with / through the agricultural sector, but also linking with other sectors and institutional partners.
FAO’s assistance should ultimately focus on food insecure households in both rural and urban areas, but this can only be achieved by working through support organizations including Government institutions and NGO/CSOs, as well as the private sector, and in close collaboration with other UN agencies and donors.
[pic]
c. In the present food security and livelihoods context, the NMTPF should pay specific attention to
• the relevance and performance of ongoing FAO work and how it is valued by partners (in particular government partners)
• what other stakeholders are doing with a view to identify gaps and synergies
• the experience of relevant planning exercises e.g. ANDS process, MAIL Strategy Document, National Programme for Food Security; Investment and Implementation Plan
6. In order to further support a programme approach for FAO Afghanistan, possible steps for an action plan and resource mobilization process have been summarized in the following table
|Process |Time frame |Resources needed |Contribution of current German-funded projects |
|Writing NMTPF through a consultative process with FAO senior staff |May-October 2008 |A facilitator / writer to prepare the |Technical support to ensure food security, nutrition,|
|(international and national) & key partners / resource persons | |NMPTF + UNDAF in collaboration with FAO|sustainable livelihoods and gender issues are the |
|Incorporating the NMTPF into the UNDAF | |Country Team |main focus of the NMPTF |
| | | | |
| | | |Prepare the concept note & proposal for longer-term |
| | | |support to FAO projects integration and |
| | | |implementation of the NMTPF |
|Continued support to all FAO projects to ensure project integration and |January 2008 – onwards |A full-time expert (P5), based in the |Provide Technical support to the Expert on: |
|the implementation of the NMTPF: | |FAO Representation+ a national |food security |
|positioning FAO strategically, esp. amongst donors and govt partners | |counterpart (Ministry of Planning? |sustainable livelihoods & natural resource management|
|policy & planning support + capacity-building of MAIL, MEW and other govt| |Ministry of Finance?) |nutrition |
|partners (esp. senior officials) | | |the Right to Food |
|ensure good communication within FAO | |Profile: a policy, planning, strategy, |gender |
|enhance FAO visibility and communication with partners / donors / public | |governance expert, with a good | |
|identify and develop new projects (mobilize funds) | |understanding of food security and | |
|Facilitate linkages between FAO projects | |sustainable livelihoods | |
Annex 7:
Building M&E Systems
related to Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan
Notes for discussion by Matthias Grunewald
(TL of Evaluation Mission GCP/AFG/039/GER, April 2008)
Background, framework and justification
During an evaluation mission of GCP/AFG/039/GER it has been recognized that there is wide consensus among major stakeholders on the need for more information on outcomes and impact of activities carried out under the evaluated project and its follow-up project GCP/AFG/050/GER. The lack of such information has also compromised the evidence-based assessment of the evaluation mission that too often had to draw its conclusions from only anecdotal evidence.
FAO project staff require such outcome/impact information to have evidence that there is change ‘on the ground’ as a result of project activities. It is also needed to identify systematically the most efficient and effective approaches of a range of interventions project staff has initiated under the two projects. Furthermore, with the help of such information, approaches thus identified can possibly be packaged in different ways and be fine-tuned to living conditions of different target groups, increasing the chances of wide adoption of recommended behavioural changes.
The Terminal Report of 039 (p.30) prepared by the present CTA recommended already that ‘simple behaviour change and nutrition indicators should be developed to monitor the actual impact of nutrition education activities’. Consequently, the Project Document of 050 states in section 5 that ‘A program monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system based on learning and adaptive management will be established’.
In addition to the needs for enhanced M&E felt by project management for improving and developing project activities, there is the issue of accountability. Some pressure to show that there is impact at field level seems to come from senior officers of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) as was observed during the presentation of evaluation results of 050. The FAO Representative who has an enlarged monitoring function since the decentralization decisions were made in FAO, has also repeatedly expressed his concern that, so far, not sufficient evidence has been provided on the change induced by the Project through its activities. And last not least the donor would probably appreciate more qualitative and quantitative proof that taxpayer’s money is spent wisely.
Impact at field level is expected also from the other FAO projects financed through the German bilateral trust fund (BTF). There is the project “Managing biodiversity for sustainable food security and nutrition in Afghanistan” (2006-4, GCP/AFG/047/GER) which started in 2007, then “Initiating participatory forestry in support to sustainable livelihood in Afghanistan” (2007-4, GCP/AFG/052/GER), and “Small farmer livelihoods and income enhancement in Baghlan province” (GCP/AFG/053/GER 2008-1), are about to start. All three projects are expected to contribute to food security, improved nutrition and livelihoods of its target groups in one way or the other.
Besides this, there are indications that the project “Development of integrated dairy schemes in Afghanistan - GCP/AFG/040/GER” has contributed to these objectives. The extent to which its effects have gone beyond the gross income generated by dairy farmers is still largely unknown (the ‘afternoon milk’ seems to be consumed in the milk producing households, shared/bartered with neighbors or sold to petty traders). It might need a better understanding of how effectively women, who traditionally take care of the cows (doing an estimated 90 % of the work) have control over the gains from their work, and are communicating problems and preferences for solutions related to animal husbandry via their husbands (who are the official members of the dairy cooperatives) to decision making bodies of the primary cooperative, the union and the dairy project. Before enlarging operations or replicating the approach the constraints opportunities and ideas of the primary cooperative members should be understood.
In April the evaluation mission of 050 witnessed the discussion by participants of FAO service meetings on FAO support for a food security surveillance unit and/or a disaster (preparedness) management group that would need to bundle, monitor and assess the information related to food security. Such units tend to focus on the availability of food and pay less attention to household level access and utilization of food.
There has been a small working group[48] towards the end of the evaluation of 050 which discussed (i) FAO’s role in Afghanistan and elsewhere; (ii) the principles which could guide the integration of FAO projects and the design of the NMTPF; and (iii) the process and resources required to move forward in terms of supporting a programme-approach and designing & implementing the NMTPF[49] & FAO’s contribution to UNDAF[50]. This working group concluded that (i) the experience of GCP/AFG/039/GER confirms that food security, nutrition and livelihoods could provide an integrating framework for FAO’s programme in Afghanistan; (ii) this is particularly timely and urgent in the present context of soaring food prices, recurrent droughts and security problems; and (iii) Food security, nutrition and sustainable livelihoods should be the main focus / overarching goal of the NMTPF. The action plan suggested by this working group includes the write-up of the NMTPF and its incorporation into the UNDAF from May to October, and the follow-up of the NMTPF implementation. The contribution of every FAO project towards the goals of the NMTPF would then need to be assessed at appraisal and evaluation stage.
At the same time there is need for food security and nutrition related monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system building in the MAIL. The GOA looks at the projects above to ultimately contribute to the achievement of the goal of its strategy[51], i.e. ‘To restore Afghanistan’s licit agricultural economy by assuring food security and reducing poverty throughout Afghanistan …’. MAIL’s Strategy Document includes 7 programmes of which Programme 1 carries the title ‘Food Security’. As for the other programmes, a logframe has been prepared for this National Food Security Programme[52] and is part of this document. Thus indicators have already been identified that will ultimately need data collection and processing operations. Projects have been listed under each programme which are considered integral parts of the programme. For instance, the Project GCP/AFG/039/GER is listed together with 10 other projects under Programme 1.
Within the planning framework of MAIL, a strategy has been prepared also by the Home Economics Department (HED) of MAIL[53]. It includes a draft of a general 5-year work plan in which monitoring figures prominently. Meanwhile the HED has also started a number of small projects funded through the Ministry of Finance which require M&E.
While it is recognized that the MAIL is better placed than management of individual projects to assess outcomes and impact of projects in the agricultural sector (especially once the expected positive effects materialize only after projects’ lifetime), it is also obvious that the Ministry presently lacks resources and capacity to fulfil this function adequately. There is a newly established M&E Directorate (9 staff members[54]) that presently benefits from a fast-track training programme in MAIL. Any work on M&E of food security and nutrition should involve staff of this M&E Directorate.
Project 050 cannot be expected to produce the output 1 stated in the Project Document: ‘Relevant ministries and government institutions integrate household food security, nutrition and livelihoods objectives and activities in their policies and programmes and monitor nutrition outcomes’; but it can contribute to such an objective as the establishment of a working group shows. This working group on community-based food security and nutrition interventions was initiated under GCP/AFG/039/GER, and is chaired by FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture. Its membership, comprising also NGOs, reflects that food security, nutrition and livelihoods are cross-cutting issues which have an inter-sectoral character, and that improvements in these areas at country level require the cooperation of other partners than only government institutions. There is obviously also growing recognition in the Ministry that the goal of its strategy needs the attention and collaboration of other ministries and actors.
Priorities and next steps
While recognizing the framework within which any household food security and nutrition related M&E activities take place, an entry point for establishing a wider M&E system comprising multiple contributors and users appears to be M&E work by and for the FAO projects funded from the German bilateral trust fund. The core project 050 should take the lead in establishing a simple but effective outcome/impact M&E system.
Phase1: (June – August 2008)
The work would start within and for Project 050. Agreement is required on principles guiding the design of an M&E system and its characteristics (e.g. light, outcome- and impact oriented, participatory, facilitating decision-making and reporting, etc.). A short review of existing M&E elements (including the sample survey conducted in 2007 and the Excel-based ‘New Monitoring Sheets’ designed by the CTA on nutrition education training and material distribution) would look at coverage and relevance of information (expected to be) collected. It would result in a preliminary list of outcome and impact indicators[55]. Then the assessment of practicability of using these would include previous experiences by 050, and further consultations with implementing partners (IPs) on possibilities of collecting data on these indicators through IPs’ monitoring and reporting systems[56]. Data would only be collected based on systematically drawn representative samples to minimise costs and time. Sporadic cross-checks required by Project staff to ensure reliability of data collected by IPs would then be determined to minimize non-sampling errors.
The flow of information (frequency, deadlines, feedback, etc.) would need to be agreed with IPs. Simple aggregation of data may be feasible on their side, whereas processing and analysis would probably be done by the Project. In many cases the classical before- versus after-intervention comparison should be necessary and sufficient, requiring a baseline and an impact-data-collection round. The Project would strengthen its monitoring activities at provincial level. Beneficiary assessments should be part of the system.
Small in-depth (case) studies (possibly identified from the sample) would be carried out with the participation of IP personnel and should lead to a better understanding of factors determining the success of project activities. These may result in changes of the list of monitoring indicators used regularly. Some of the case studies may also lend themselves easily to be more widely distributed as success stories.
Similar steps would be taken for the direct interventions carried out by the project, e.g. school gardens, backyard vegetable growing, green houses, food processing, fruit drying, cooking demonstrations, etc. Since many activities have been integrated into existing programmes of partners, 039 and 050 had little influence if any on targeting specific groups. Thus it has obviously happened that some expected beneficiaries could not apply the newly acquired knowledge and skills. The degree to which this occurred is unknown.
A database would need to be designed using e.g. MS Access to capture, compile, process, analyse and display data/information. This may be designed as a management information system (MIS) that can be transferred to the Home Economics Department subsequently. Capacity building measures must strengthen the capabilities of the HED staff to run such a system.
If urgently required some assistance can be provided by 050 to the General Directorate on Policy and Planning respectively the M&E Directorate to revise/identify the indicators related to food security of Programme 1 and the goal of MAIL’s Strategy, otherwise this could be pushed into phase 2.
This phase 1 may require some external support especially related to the establishing of the database and the identification of quality food security/nutrition indicators.
Phase 2: (September – October 2008)
As a first step the potential contribution to improved food security, nutrition and livelihoods of each BTF project would need to be identified and discussed with the CTAs in charge. Agreement is then required on principles guiding the design of M&E activities and their characteristics. These should be based on experiences made in Phase 1. Indicators related to the three aspects would need to be reviewed/revised/ identified. Then the necessary methods of data collection/processing/analysis have to be defined and tested.
A small socio-economic study on the dairy project looking into the role of women in animal husbandry and milk production as well as the channelling and consideration of their views, problems and ideas to/by decision-making bodies (cooperatives, project, MAIL).
Additional variables would then be inserted in the database/ MIS which could cover all FAO Projects financed through the German BTF. The GTZ[57] monitoring the German BTF on behalf of the donor, BMELV[58], should be consulted for its information requirements.
This phase should be implemented in close cooperation with the facilitator / writer of the NMPTF, and in collaboration with the M&E Directorate as the experience would be useful for staff in establishing an M&E System for MAIL’s programme of food security.
Some external assistance in building an M&E System covering all FAO projects funded from the German BTF may be justified (funding coming from participating projects), and can probably be more easily accepted by the management of these projects than advise coming exclusively from the CTA of 050.
Phase 3: (November 2008 – January 2009)
Phase 3 would consolidate the achievements under the previous two phases and would concentrate on expanding the M&E System to cover all FAO projects in Afghanistan. This should represent a MIS/M&E system for the NMTPF.
The corresponding level in MAIL would be an M&E System for the Ministry’s strategy. Collaboration with the M&E Directorate is therefore recommended. New projects could be identified jointly based on the status of MAIL’s 5-year programmes and results from monitoring the NMTPF.
While the system would be operated from the FAO-AFG office, ownership of this M&E System should lie with the FAO country team. The incumbent of the envisaged P5 post for monitoring the implementation of NMTPF should be heavily involved in further developing this M&E system.
UNDP would need to be consulted to ensure that the NMTPF M&E system covers all information required from the UNDAF secretariat. The working group on community-based food security and nutrition interventions and others may be interested in the M&E system as a means of inter-agency lesson learning. Since knowledge-sharing becomes increasingly useful at this stage, inter-operability with other databases should be investigated. Parts of the system may become accessible to the public and could be linked to the webpage of FAO-AFG.
In addition to monitoring and evaluating interventions with a view to improve their effectiveness, there should also be a mechanism/ institution to follow the nutrition status of the Afghan population over time. The Public Nutrition Department of the Ministry of Public Health may be one institution that can contribute valuable information. In building time-series data it may ultimately become possible to attribute changes in nutrition indicators to particular types of interventions.
-----------------------
[1] Förderkonzept der Bundesregierung für den FAO Treuhandfonds zur Ernährungssicherung; 9.9.2005
[2] Office of the Provincial Governor, 2007
[3] Council of elders
[4] Adapted from the Summary Report of the Interim Afghanistan National Development Strategy, p.6
[5] ibid. p.9
[6] The I-ANDS is the product of twelve-months of intensive consultations within Government and with a wide array of stakeholders which began in 2005 with discussions of Afghanistan Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
[7] From The Afghanistan Compact, February 2006, p.4
[8] I-ANDS p.48
[9] They are part of the overall development objective for the sector (p.11)
[10] p.49. The present CTA of 050, Ms Charlotte Dufour has analysed the ups and downs in terms of public attention that the nutrition topic experienced especially regarding national coordination efforts since the Taliban period (Nutrition Coordination from the Field Up: Lessons Learnt From the Afghan Reconstruction; the 11th Abraham Horwitz Lecture in SCN News No 34 mid-2007)
[11] Cited from: ‚Erfolge in Afghanistan: Das Engagement des BMELV für Landwirtschaft und Ernährungssicherung in Afghanistan’; BMELV 9.1.2008
[12] Mr. Kornelius Schiffer (GTZ, eon AFG) conducted a short but intensive financial analysis from the point of view of the plant and the participating farmer and came to positive conclusions regarding the potential viability and profitability of the schemes which he could base on quantitative evidence.
[13] Mr. K. Kaiser, Coordinator of the World Bank financed Horticulture and Livestock Development Project (HLP) deplored the weak proposal presented by the FAO Dairy Project when bidding in the dairy component of the HLP project. He shared the generally positive assessment and indicated possibilities of future support to the schemes from HLP.
[14] MoPH, UNICEF, CDC, INRAN, Tufts, 2004. National Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency Survey.
[15] ‘Chronic malnutrition (stunting) is estimated at approximately 50 percent in most regions. Micronutrient deficiencies are also widespread, including iodine deficiency (causing goitre and cases of cretinism), anaemia in women and children, vitamin A deficiency, and vitamin C deficiency (outbreaks of scurvy). Acute child malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies warrant a rapid intervention as they are life-threatening.’ (Project Document, Part II, first paragraph)
[16] ‘Years of war and isolation from technological developments and international best practices have left the majority of Afghan civil servants and private sector entrepreneurs with anachronistic or redundant skills and many services are presently being carried out by NGOs or UN agencies.` (ibid)
[17] see chapter 1, section D, first paragraph
[18] Looking for instance at output 2 of this project component, technical guidelines, the result-chain could be:
➢ technical guidelines developed for field workers are indeed used by them;
➢ performance of field workers improves in the areas covered by guidelines;
➢ field workers’ clients gain new knowledge and skills;
➢ clients of field workers change their behaviour, i.e. follow the advise provided
➢ the change of behaviour leads e.g. to food for the family or higher income
➢ the food produced or bought complements the diet of the household members
➢ the nutritional status of the family improves
[19] A Logframe has been prepared as part of the Project Document, but it is of relatively poor quality.
[20] Probably meaning ‘translated into a change of behaviour’
[21] Some examples: ’Donors supportive’; ‘Partnerships encouraged’; ‘Institutional structure and staff stable’; ‘Afghanistan officials interested’; ‘Security situation stable’; ‘Political situation & relationship between ministries OK’; ‘Security’; ‘Stability of Afghan structures’;
[22] A more adequate formulation of the Immediate Objective of this component can be found in the Project Document in paragraph B.2 (headline of a sub-section) Enhanced effectiveness and impact of community-based food security and nutrition interventions
[23] A substantial amount of equipment (IT and furniture) had already been procured through GCP/AFG/026/GER and was made available for Project 039
[24] The evaluation team has not come across a unit with such a title during its mission.
[25] i.e. three long-term national consultants, a Nutritionist, a Capacity Building Officer, a Gender and Community Development Officer; and three Community Development, Nutrition and Gender Officers at provincial level
[26] Having said this it must be mentioned however that these indicators are often of poor quality or follow a poorly formulated objective. Thus, for instance, an indicator for immediate objective 2, Community-based food security and nutrition initiatives in food insecure areas supported and promoted, reads: ‘At least 16 community-based interventions supported/generated by the project’. Consequently the CTA has reported that six interventions were funded and that 25 partner projects were supported. – But this is information on what the Project was doing, not what it was aiming at.
[27] e.g. draft project proposals and in the 11th Horwitz Lecture (SCN): “Building National Nutrition Coordination from the Field Up: Lessons Learnt From the Afghan Reconstruction” by Charlotte Dufour (published in SCN News, Summer 2007)
[28] The title chosen by participants became: Healthy Food, Happy Baby, Lucky Family: Improved Afghan Recipes for Children and Mothers
[29] The copy of the Proceedings of the Workshop prepared by the Project Team in November 2007 does not include a full list of participants. The Consultant deplored in her Mission Report that there was no participant from the Ministry of Education, the organization responsible for the two Government Programmes.
[30] As discussed in the Design Chapter of this Evaluation Report the Evaluation Team did not concur with the way some of the immediate objectives have been stated, and also does not accept all the indicators formulated at the project formulation stage to assess achievements. However the Team has followed the original structure of the four components, and displays below its observations on the effects/outcomes of outputs produced in these components. The activities from which the effects/outcomes have resulted are only stated if they have not been mentioned in the previous section on Activities and Outputs and if they are important to understand/assess the effect/outcomes.
[31] Subjects included: Project cycle management; nutrition education; nutrition and food security data collection; participatory development communication; gender awareness; business development services; trials of improved feeding practices & cooking demonstrations; food processing techniques; tailoring; provision of literacy training; and working with women and rural youth in agricultural development.
[32] Iran: “Women Empowerment and Home Economics”; Pakistan: “Food Processing”; Philippines: “Gender and Governance”
[33] It may be worth noting in this connection that the CTA of 039 is part of a ministry working group advising MAIL how to clarify its relationship with NGOs and improve communication between MAIL and implementing agencies.
[34] AKDN, GERES, Groupe URD, ACF, Solidarités, AADA, AREOA, RSDO, ActionAid, AfghanAid, GTZ, WVO, DACAAR, OBS, CRS, and Mission East
[35] Outcomes, defined as the use of outputs by the targeted groups without or with very little Project support, had not materialized yet from activities at central level during the Evaluation Mission. The technical guidelines drafted were not finalized (and therefore not used) at this stage.
[36] The sources being used for the information provided below include: (i)the progress reports and the terminal report prepared by the CTA which, although rather comprehensive with respect to activities conducted, show very little in terms of effects of these activities that are not financed or controlled by the Project; (i)Project Completion Report by the NGO Mission East for Project 039 covering the period from July to December 2007; (iii) the Mission Report by Ms. Charity Dirorimwe, Nutrition Education Consultant, December 2007; (iv) the Proceedings of Nutrition Education Review and Planning Workshop, November 2007; and (v)interviews conducted with beneficiaries during the Mission (peasants, users of women’s garden; members of women food processing groups; teachers, pupils, students, orphans and orphanage personnel, health care workers, extension workers, personnel of implementing agencies, etc.).
[37] information from 20 literacy centres attended by 987 students
[38] eating diverse foods; preserving foods for use in winter; using iodised salt; food hygiene and boiling water; keeping the house clean and washing hands with soap; exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months; continue breastfeeding up to 2 years and give diverse complementary foods from 6 months; taking children to the clinic for vaccinations and when sick; and providing more food to pregnant and lactating women.
[39] information from 7 of 8 schools in 4 provinces participating in the school gardening pilot scheme. This provided practical advice from extension workers, basic gardening equipment and seeds/seedlings as well as a 3-day nutrition training for the core group.
[40] Source: Mission East Completion Report, January 2007; data collected in field between July 16th and November 25th. It seems that these figures refer only to the women SHGs.
[41] In Bamyan: SALEH, FAO poultry, Solidarités, AKDN, AADA (former IMC), RSDO, AREOA; in Badakshan: DOWA, AKDN, DoE, Afghanaid, Concern, Medair, NAC, Acted, PEP, CFA; in Heart:
DACAAR, WVO, OBS, WFP
[42] These estimates are based on information provided by partners
[43] e.g. AALP contribution to layout and printing of Afghan Family Nutrition Guide; RISE (ERU) contribution to translation, illustrations, layout and printing of the Guide; UNICEF: collaboration on adaptation of FAO Family Nutrition Guide to Afghanistan; on elaboration of Manual on Improved Recipes.
[44] Food, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Information Management and Policy Unit
[45] Support to Strategic Planning for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods
[46] Remark in the Progress Report: No follow-up mission was possible through SDRE, due to the workload of Mr. Ilboudo, who has now left FAO.
[47] The project GCP/AFG/040/GER (Development of Integrated Dairy Schemes in Afghanistan) is reviewed separately (by Dr Cornelius Schiffer, GTZ expert) with emphasis on an economic analysis of the approach used, with a view to making recommendations for a future replication of the approach.
[48] Participants: Swantje Helbing (BMELV), Herwig Hahn (GTZ), Florence Egal (AGNP), David Hitchcock (FAO-RAP), Charlotte Dufour (FAO-AF Nutrition and livelihoods), Keith Shawe (FAO-AF Biodiversity & FS), Matthias Grunewald (FAO consultant / evaluator).
[49] National Mid-term Planning Framework
[50] United Nations Development Assistance Framework
[51] The formulation of a Strategy Paper (finalized in June 2007) has been undertaken by senior MAIL officials in partnership with a team of international technical advisers under the ANDS Master Plan Technical Team (AMPTT) over a period of more than six months.
[52] The formulation of this National Food Security Programme has been supported by FAO’s SPFS project.
[53] Home Economics Directorate Strategy, prepared with the assistance of 039 in 2007. The Director of HED is the counterpart of 039’s CTA.
[54] One staff had been assigned to represent the Government on the evaluation mission taking place in April 2008. This gave him the chance of applying directly what he learned and made him familiar with the projects mentioned above.
[55] Depending on whether the way to the desired impact at field level is straightforward/linear/direct, the outcome and impact has one or more than one level. If, for instance, project staff or project consultants conduct nutrition education training of NGO trainers (activity) resulting in certain capabilities of these NGO trainers (output), then the trained NGO trainers conducting training in the subject for NGO community workers would represent the first level of outcome. NGO community workers bringing the message subsequently to the ultimate beneficiaries represents the second level of outcome; behavioural change of the ultimate target group (e.g. related to the 9 key messages) as a result of community workers’ activities would represent the first level of impact. The desired ultimate effect of this behavioural change, i.e. an improved status of nutrition among ultimate beneficiaries can then be regarded as the second level of impact.
[56] It is highly recommended to collaborate closely with the IPs. All NGO representatives met during the field trip of the evaluation team have shown their willingness to incorporate Project’s requests for information into their reporting system.
[57] German Agency for Technical Cooperation
[58] Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection
-----------------------
Supporting Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods in Afghanistan GCP/AFG/039/GER
predecessor project of GCP/AFG/050/GER
bundles and coordinates
“Managing biodiversity for sustainable food security and nutrition in Afghanistan” (2006-4, GCP/AFG/047/GER)
“Support to household food security,
nutrition and livelihoods in Afghanistan”
(2007-3, GCP/AFG/050/ GER)
BMELV core project
“Initiating participatory forestry in support to sustainable livelihood in Afghanistan” (2007-4, GCP/AFG/052/GER),
“Small farmer livelihoods and income enhancement in Baghlan province” (GCP/AFG/053/GER 2008-1)
Development of Integrated Dairy Schemes in Afghanistan - GCP/AFG/040/GER
Armin Klöckner (GTZ), Team Leader
(Expert for Organization Development and Economics)
Rehabilitation of the Sugar Industry in Baghlan: Technical and Managerial Support for Small Family Farmer Participation in the Sugar Beet Supply Chain - GCP/AFG/038/GER – NN
Information Surveys & Surveillance
Gathering: M&E Lessons
Research Learnt
Facilitation of experience sharing
Practice
Policy
Knowledge transfer :
- Advocacy
- Training
- public education
AFGHAN FAMILIES
Support Organisations :
Ministries NGO/CSOs
UN Family :
- FAO
- UNDP
- WFP
- UNICEF
- UNEP
- UNIDO
- ILO
- Etc.
Supported by UNAMA
Donors
Private sector
Household food security, nutrition and livelihoods considerations incorporated into relevant Afghanistan policies/projects
Assistance provided to interested projects to incorporate food security, nutrition and livelihoods considerations
Proposals made on integrating FS and nutrition objectives into GOA‘s policies and strategies
Feedback provided on nutrition and food security interventions from the provinces to relevant MAIL levels
Nutrition education and communication materials developed and disseminated
Nutrition education incorporated in agriculture, livelihoods, rural development projects & programs, as well as existing educ. initiatives
A network of partners disseminate nutrition education through their programmes
Experiences of partners shared through workshops & seminars
Guidelines prepared to ensure programmes work for increasing FS
Increased knowledge & skills of ministries and partner institutions on food-based approaches to improve nutrition
Financial & technical support provided to community-based projects & programs
%'V¥¿§ ³ ¶ ¿ É Ê Ü Ý ñ ò ó øîáÝîÝîøÕËıœ‡lVl?,jh01*0J5?ONew FS-related projects designed
The household food security, nutrition & livelihoods interventions supported by the Project are running
staff capacity strengthened
mandate clarified
strategy formulated
staff structure diagram
job descriptions
Home Economics Unit
in MAIL functioning
(without ext. assistance)
................
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