Introduction and Context of the Evaluation
This report refers to the midterm evaluation (MTE) of “SWEEP-Water for Food Security, Women’s Empowerment and Environmental Protection Project” funded by Austrian Development Cooperation through Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and implemented by CARE Ethiopia. The project was commenced in October 2017 and will be implemented through September 2020 in East and West Belesa Woredas of Central Gondar Zone, Amhara National Regional State. With the ultimate impact of “Chronically food insecure households in Belesa Woredas have improved food security and resiliency”, the project was designed and implemented to achieve the following outcomes.
i. Improved access to water resources for domestic consumption and productive use and enhanced and sustainable productivity of land for varied uses
ii. Vulnerable groups empowered to contribute productively in the household and community
iii. Local government capacitated and community empowered to initiate and lead community development and adaptive measures
The purpose of this mid-term evaluation was assessing the degree of success based on the five OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) standard evaluation parameters. Ten selected project intervention Kebeles from the two intervention Woredas were visited in this evaluation process. Participatory and multi-stage evaluation methods, data sources and triangulations were made to analyze the project status and measure the performance. Quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were used to collect data from direct project beneficiaries such as chronically food insecure and drought affected people, rural women and girls, persons with disabilities, youth, relevant government sector and administrative offices at various levels and CARE. Overall, household survey was administered on 845 HHs and 14 KII, 21 FGDs, 20 direct observations and 16 in-depth interviews were made. The following description illustrates the summary of key midterm evaluation findings.