Ethiopia
COVID-19 & Women: Saving for Resilience
The COVID-19 pandemic has not had an equal impact on women and men. Through our data we are seeing a significant increase for women in caregiving duties, household chores and gender-based violence, as well as a devastating and worsening impact on livelihood for everyone. Despite this, small glimmers of hope are where women from VSLAs are increasingly taking on leadership roles within their communities and men are beginning to engage more in household chores.
The Women (in VSLAs) Respond data includes the voices of 4,185 Village Savings & Loan Association (VSLA) members (3,266 women and girls) in Burundi, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, and Uganda. This initiative sought to assess how VSLA members, both as individuals and groups, are affected by the pandemic
and how they responded and adapted to cope with the crisis. The data specifically looks at the impact on individuals and their needs, as well as how groups
have been affected, and how they have adapted. Read More...
The Women (in VSLAs) Respond data includes the voices of 4,185 Village Savings & Loan Association (VSLA) members (3,266 women and girls) in Burundi, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, and Uganda. This initiative sought to assess how VSLA members, both as individuals and groups, are affected by the pandemic
and how they responded and adapted to cope with the crisis. The data specifically looks at the impact on individuals and their needs, as well as how groups
have been affected, and how they have adapted. Read More...
Tipping Point Global Impact Evaluation Summary
CARE's Tipping Point Initiative gathered adolescent girl activists, technical advisors from diverse fields, activists fighting for girls’ rights, government officials, and staff to discuss not just what the last decade has taught us but importantly where we want the girls’ rights field to evolve. This series of briefs discusses what interventions have demonstrated impact on child, early and forced marriage (CEFM) and girls’ rights. It establishes ways to center girls’ experiences and evidenced-based strategies to facilitate transformative change within the movements, donors and governments that seek to empower and expand the voices, choices, agency, and rights of adolescent girls. Read More...
Evaluating systems-level change and impact in CARE’s programming in Ecuador, Ethiopia, Nepal and Uganda: A global report
This report provides a detailed analysis and review of the evaluations of four CARE systems-level change projects - from Ecuador, Ethiopia, Nepal and Uganda exploring the extent to which their actions influenced systems change and led to impacts in people’s lives. It represents what is understood as the first time CARE has undertaken a deep dive evaluation into its systems-level approaches. The report begins with an overview of these projects and the Outcome Harvest evaluation methodology used across these countries to measure systems change, including the adaptations made to apply Outcome Harvesting to a systems-level project rather than standard CARE programming. Read More...
Evaluating Systems-level change and impact Findings from the evaluation of the Seizing the Moment project in Ethiopia
CARE’s ten-year strategy, Vision 2030, seeks to deepen the organizational focus on systems-level change and impact, recognizing that this is essential to expanding CARE’s reach and fulfilling our mission to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice. To support this, CARE launched a systems-level impact initiative to measure the effect of our programs that have influenced or changed systems, and the impact of this systems-change on people’s lives. The initiative also increased capacity across the CARE confederation to design, finance and implement high-quality systems change programs, and to strengthen the focus on systems-level change within our Country Office organizational frameworks and strategies. Four CARE Country Offices were selected to evaluate a project or program and to synthesize the results for national and global learning. Read More...
Study on the sustainability of GRAD structures and outcomes
This study conducted by PDCR aims to better understand the sustainability and functionally of the processes and elements of GRAD-I as well as the different actors and structures supported and established by the project. And as such this report will focus on VESAs, household/value chains, agro-dealers, FEMAs/Cooperatives, micro-franchise, multi-stakeholders platform and access to finance after the project ended and will cover the period from December 2016 until September 2019.
Background
The Graduation with Resilience to Achieve Sustainable Development (GRAD) project (hereafter referred to as the project) was a five-year USAID-funded project which began in December 2011 and ended in December 2016. Its strategic objective was to graduate a minimum of 50,000 chronically food-insecure households from the Ethiopian Government’s (GoE’s) Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP). Additionally, it aimed to increase each household’s income by $365 by the project’s fifth year in 16 Woredas in Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR). During the implementation of the project combined “push” and “pull” model into a complete and integrated package of interventions and within this model the project at times established and/or the above-mentioned actors.
Methodology
Accordingly, desktop reviews of relevant documents including the project final evaluation, suitability and exit plan as well as a variety of reports were undertaken. The study team collected quantitative and qualitative information from 330 VESAs, 1,066 households, 188 saleswomen, 21 agro-dealers, 31 FEMAs/cooperatives. Furthermore, it consulted with representatives from multi-stakeholder platforms groups, Woreda FSTF, MFIs/RuSACCOs and participating wholesalers linked to the project.
Key findings:
VESAs:
56% of the VESAs established and supported by the project are still active as members were able to benefit from their membership, improve their saving and loan management, improve loan repayment mechanisms, were able to share out on time and at critical times, have structured and transparent management committee. These groups develop their members’ social capital, have a strong sense of trust, have benefited from their family’s support. The active VESA have reasonable membership size, common interest and have managed receive continued support.
42% of the VESAs established are inactive as members lost confidence and the interest right after the project ended. Members did not clearly understand the value of the VESAs, some faced internal conflicts, others such as the groups in Sidama and Gurage Zones were affected by drought and security issues. Overall, the inactive VESAs have received less support especially those established in the later part of the project. On a positive side, in Tigray few groups dissolved their VESAs as there was no needed since they now have started saving at banks and can access credit from MFIs.
2% of VESAs have transformed into RuSACCOs. Those who managed to this transformation was encouraged by some of their members who already were also member to a RuSACCO. The VESAs were not encouraged due to RuSACCO’s principle that supported individual membership to join already established RuSACCOs; and groups would rather retain their VESA as they feel they have full control and do not want to lose their social capital.
Active VESAs were formed on a voluntary base and were given adequate briefing about the purpose of the group. In contrast, the inactive VESAs members were mainly selected and groups were formed by project staffs.
Active VESAs remained together and have not sought to split into smaller groups as they value the social capital created within the group and prefer to work as a one team. Dissimilarly, 53% of the currently inactive groups did separate to form smaller groups, mainly due to internal conflicts, dissatisfaction regarding members selection methods and lack of management skills amongst the leadership.
Across all study areas, all VESAs were found have bylaws and in the case of Tigray and Amhara regions, some groups internally agreed and have amended their bylaws articles related to saving amounts, loan repayment mechanisms and interest rates reflecting their needs.
Active VESAs have successfully built social cohesion, capital, are a safe and fertile environment for training, social and cultural norms discussion platforms that may impede development drives and contribute to food security (e.g. gender inequality, infant feeding practices, etc.).
On average 61% of the active VESAs have been able to increase their savings size while only 13% reporting a decrease. Those who reported a decrease was directly associated to their inability to save as family expenses have escalated and they were unable to generate more income in order to save.
In all the study areas, the groups have paid share out every year in May and June. Their average value of liquid savings during the last share-out was 28,282 Birr with an average group share out of 1,444 Birr ($51) and an internal loan size of 26,649 Birr.
Read More...
Background
The Graduation with Resilience to Achieve Sustainable Development (GRAD) project (hereafter referred to as the project) was a five-year USAID-funded project which began in December 2011 and ended in December 2016. Its strategic objective was to graduate a minimum of 50,000 chronically food-insecure households from the Ethiopian Government’s (GoE’s) Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP). Additionally, it aimed to increase each household’s income by $365 by the project’s fifth year in 16 Woredas in Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR). During the implementation of the project combined “push” and “pull” model into a complete and integrated package of interventions and within this model the project at times established and/or the above-mentioned actors.
Methodology
Accordingly, desktop reviews of relevant documents including the project final evaluation, suitability and exit plan as well as a variety of reports were undertaken. The study team collected quantitative and qualitative information from 330 VESAs, 1,066 households, 188 saleswomen, 21 agro-dealers, 31 FEMAs/cooperatives. Furthermore, it consulted with representatives from multi-stakeholder platforms groups, Woreda FSTF, MFIs/RuSACCOs and participating wholesalers linked to the project.
Key findings:
VESAs:
56% of the VESAs established and supported by the project are still active as members were able to benefit from their membership, improve their saving and loan management, improve loan repayment mechanisms, were able to share out on time and at critical times, have structured and transparent management committee. These groups develop their members’ social capital, have a strong sense of trust, have benefited from their family’s support. The active VESA have reasonable membership size, common interest and have managed receive continued support.
42% of the VESAs established are inactive as members lost confidence and the interest right after the project ended. Members did not clearly understand the value of the VESAs, some faced internal conflicts, others such as the groups in Sidama and Gurage Zones were affected by drought and security issues. Overall, the inactive VESAs have received less support especially those established in the later part of the project. On a positive side, in Tigray few groups dissolved their VESAs as there was no needed since they now have started saving at banks and can access credit from MFIs.
2% of VESAs have transformed into RuSACCOs. Those who managed to this transformation was encouraged by some of their members who already were also member to a RuSACCO. The VESAs were not encouraged due to RuSACCO’s principle that supported individual membership to join already established RuSACCOs; and groups would rather retain their VESA as they feel they have full control and do not want to lose their social capital.
Active VESAs were formed on a voluntary base and were given adequate briefing about the purpose of the group. In contrast, the inactive VESAs members were mainly selected and groups were formed by project staffs.
Active VESAs remained together and have not sought to split into smaller groups as they value the social capital created within the group and prefer to work as a one team. Dissimilarly, 53% of the currently inactive groups did separate to form smaller groups, mainly due to internal conflicts, dissatisfaction regarding members selection methods and lack of management skills amongst the leadership.
Across all study areas, all VESAs were found have bylaws and in the case of Tigray and Amhara regions, some groups internally agreed and have amended their bylaws articles related to saving amounts, loan repayment mechanisms and interest rates reflecting their needs.
Active VESAs have successfully built social cohesion, capital, are a safe and fertile environment for training, social and cultural norms discussion platforms that may impede development drives and contribute to food security (e.g. gender inequality, infant feeding practices, etc.).
On average 61% of the active VESAs have been able to increase their savings size while only 13% reporting a decrease. Those who reported a decrease was directly associated to their inability to save as family expenses have escalated and they were unable to generate more income in order to save.
In all the study areas, the groups have paid share out every year in May and June. Their average value of liquid savings during the last share-out was 28,282 Birr with an average group share out of 1,444 Birr ($51) and an internal loan size of 26,649 Birr.
Read More...
VSLA By the Numbers: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Impact and ROI of VSLAs
Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) have been a foundational programmatic approach at CARE since 1991. Since then, CARE has helped over 13.7 million people join savings groups. The savings group model has been adopted and adapted by a variety of organizations globally. Through this report, we will examine the social and financial effects and returns of savings groups as well as how groups affected members’ resilience to COVID-19. The results gave an overview of the financial return on investment (ROI), group economic outcomes, savings groups costs, and individual and household effects for savings groups both inside and outside of CARE.
In order to calculate a return on investment, the financial benefit for a typical participant over three years was considered as well as the financial benefits for a replicated VSLA for two years related to the cost that the donor/implementer spends to set up and oversee the VSLA for its first cycle. Using internal CARE data such as budgets, evaluation, and impact reports, the average ROI of costs to establish a saving group was between 7:1 and 20:1. For every $1 invested by CARE, there is evidence for the savings of a typical VSLA participant to increase between $7 and $20. For the average VSLA participant, median income increased by $9.35 (+/- $0.55 USD) within the first year of joining the group for each $1 USD invested. Additionally, average income increased by $18.85 (+/-$1.15 USD) within five years of each $1 USD invested. Using industry data and internal CARE data, this analysis showed that for every $250 USD invested three net new children attended school.
The financial effect of a VSLA appears to outlast the formal lifecycle of the group. Evaluation of VSLAs as they phased out found that the return on savings (ROS) was 50% (+/-10%) during the supported formal lifecycle of the group and decreased to around 35% (+/-19%) after the VSLA is phased out. However, the positive outcomes and impact of participating in VSLAs continue even after project phase out. Members continue saving and getting benefits. Share value even increase for 57% (+/-13%) of groups in the available data.
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In order to calculate a return on investment, the financial benefit for a typical participant over three years was considered as well as the financial benefits for a replicated VSLA for two years related to the cost that the donor/implementer spends to set up and oversee the VSLA for its first cycle. Using internal CARE data such as budgets, evaluation, and impact reports, the average ROI of costs to establish a saving group was between 7:1 and 20:1. For every $1 invested by CARE, there is evidence for the savings of a typical VSLA participant to increase between $7 and $20. For the average VSLA participant, median income increased by $9.35 (+/- $0.55 USD) within the first year of joining the group for each $1 USD invested. Additionally, average income increased by $18.85 (+/-$1.15 USD) within five years of each $1 USD invested. Using industry data and internal CARE data, this analysis showed that for every $250 USD invested three net new children attended school.
The financial effect of a VSLA appears to outlast the formal lifecycle of the group. Evaluation of VSLAs as they phased out found that the return on savings (ROS) was 50% (+/-10%) during the supported formal lifecycle of the group and decreased to around 35% (+/-19%) after the VSLA is phased out. However, the positive outcomes and impact of participating in VSLAs continue even after project phase out. Members continue saving and getting benefits. Share value even increase for 57% (+/-13%) of groups in the available data.
Read More...
Building sustainable and scalable peer-based programming: promising approaches from TESFA in Ethiopia
This research was written by Pari Chowdhary, Feven Tassaw Mekuria, Dagmawit Tewahido, Hanna Gulema, Ryan Derni, and Jefrey Edmeades.
In Ethiopia's Amara region, girls encounter child marriage at a high rate. They are also less able to negotiate sex or use family planning. With the purpose of improving their lives, CARE's TESFA program delivered reproductive health and financial savings curriculum to married girls through peer-based solidarity groups to 5,000 adolescent girls. This was divided into 3 interventions: sexual and reproductive health, economic empowerment, and a combination of both. Participants reported improvement in both areas. Four years after TESFA, 88% of groups communicated meeting without continued CARE's assistance, and some of the girl participants created new groups following the TESFA model. Also, some girls that did not participate in TESFA, replicated the model to create their own groups. Despite this, there is still in question who contributed to this sustainment and scale-up of groups.
Original article: https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-021-01304-7
Originally published by Biomedcentral and is republished under the creative commons 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). Read More...
In Ethiopia's Amara region, girls encounter child marriage at a high rate. They are also less able to negotiate sex or use family planning. With the purpose of improving their lives, CARE's TESFA program delivered reproductive health and financial savings curriculum to married girls through peer-based solidarity groups to 5,000 adolescent girls. This was divided into 3 interventions: sexual and reproductive health, economic empowerment, and a combination of both. Participants reported improvement in both areas. Four years after TESFA, 88% of groups communicated meeting without continued CARE's assistance, and some of the girl participants created new groups following the TESFA model. Also, some girls that did not participate in TESFA, replicated the model to create their own groups. Despite this, there is still in question who contributed to this sustainment and scale-up of groups.
Original article: https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-021-01304-7
Originally published by Biomedcentral and is republished under the creative commons 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). Read More...
My Forest, My Livelihood, My Family program (FUTURES) Baseline report
The FUTURES—My Forest, My Livelihood, My Family program (FUTURES) serves communities in the Yayu Coffee Forest Biosphere Reserve (YCFBR) located in Southwestern Ethiopia, in Oromia Regional State. The YCFBR encompasses the Hurumu, Yayo, Bilo Nopa, Alge-Sachi, and Doreni woredas of Illu-Abba Bora zone and Chora woreda of Buno Bedele zone and includes protected forest area as well as designated areas for economic activities like coffee and spice production, commercial forest plantations and eco-tourism, and areas where many traditional and modern agricultural practices take place.
Households in the area depend on a combination of small-scale agricultural and forest management systems dominated by traditional agronomic practices and characterized by a lack of crop diversity and low productivity. Deforestation, degradation, and increased loss of biodiversity are major concerns for sustainable agricultural and livelihood practice in the region. Social, gender, and cultural barriers have historically limited women’s and youth’s engagement in agricultural and economic sectors. High rates of early and forced marriage, and limited availability of reproductive health and family planning services, especially youth-friendly services, may further limit women and youth from participating meaningfully in agricultural practice and livelihood generation. Government services and local civil society organizations in the area operate at a limited capacity, and their offices are male-dominated and do not meaningfully incorporate a gendered approach to their work (Gebrehanna and Seyoum, 2020).
The three-year FUTURES project was launched in April 2021 to address many of the health, environment, and livelihood concerns of the YCFBR region. The project is implemented by CARE Ethiopia and its three local partners, Oromia Development Association (ODA), Environment and Coffee Forest Forum (ECFF), and Kulich Youth Reproductive Health and Development Organization (KYRHDO). The FUTURES project evaluation, funded by USAID, and led by Data for Impact (D4I), aims to understand the impact of the FUTURES project on key health, agricultural, and livelihood and conservation behavioral outcomes, and to contribute to knowledge about the implementation of cross-sectoral programs, including monitoring, evaluations, and learning (MEL) of such programs. Read More...
Households in the area depend on a combination of small-scale agricultural and forest management systems dominated by traditional agronomic practices and characterized by a lack of crop diversity and low productivity. Deforestation, degradation, and increased loss of biodiversity are major concerns for sustainable agricultural and livelihood practice in the region. Social, gender, and cultural barriers have historically limited women’s and youth’s engagement in agricultural and economic sectors. High rates of early and forced marriage, and limited availability of reproductive health and family planning services, especially youth-friendly services, may further limit women and youth from participating meaningfully in agricultural practice and livelihood generation. Government services and local civil society organizations in the area operate at a limited capacity, and their offices are male-dominated and do not meaningfully incorporate a gendered approach to their work (Gebrehanna and Seyoum, 2020).
The three-year FUTURES project was launched in April 2021 to address many of the health, environment, and livelihood concerns of the YCFBR region. The project is implemented by CARE Ethiopia and its three local partners, Oromia Development Association (ODA), Environment and Coffee Forest Forum (ECFF), and Kulich Youth Reproductive Health and Development Organization (KYRHDO). The FUTURES project evaluation, funded by USAID, and led by Data for Impact (D4I), aims to understand the impact of the FUTURES project on key health, agricultural, and livelihood and conservation behavioral outcomes, and to contribute to knowledge about the implementation of cross-sectoral programs, including monitoring, evaluations, and learning (MEL) of such programs. Read More...
Gender Analysis of CARE Ethiopia-Resilience in Pastoral Areas Activity (RiPA) North Project
The purpose of the gender analysis is to provide information on gender-related rights in pastoral context and unpacks issues, factors and reasons on how gender relations will affect the achievement of the RiPA goals. Moreover, it also aims at identifying the key and existing discriminatory social and gender norms that are relevant to and responsible for perpetuating gender inequality in the pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in the targeted Regions and Woredas. To achieve this, CARE’s gender analysis framework called the ‘Good Practices Framework’ was used. The study was conducted in Somali, Afar and Oromia. Eight Woredas were selected from the 3 regions namely: Shabelle, Kebrebeya, Erer and Afdem from Somali region; Gewane and Afambo from the Afar region, and Babille and Meiso from the Oromia region. The survey, 40 KIIs and 56 FGDs data collection techniques were used to collect data from the targeted groups. A total of 402 (325 female and 77 male) participants took part in the survey. Read More...