Bangladesh
Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) of the SHOUHARDO III Program
ARE commissioned a Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) of the SHOUHARDO III Program to formulate recommendations for the remaining life of the program to increase effectiveness in achieving sustainable impact and increase efficiency in use of resources. The MTE was planned and implemented over the period from late October 2017, through mid-June, 2018, with information gathering and preliminary analysis undertaken in Bangladesh from February 12 through March 12. Read More...
SHOUHARDO III Longitudinal Study (RMS) Report
The overarching program goal is to improve gender equitable food and nutrition security and resilience of the vulnerable people living in the Char and Haor regions in Bangladesh by 2020. To achieve its goal, SHOUHARDO III focuses on three principal purposes and two cross- cutting purposes: 1) Increased equitable access to income for both women and men, and nutritious food for men, women, boys, and girls; 2); Improved nutritional status of children under five years-of-age, pregnant and lactating women, and adolescent girls; 3) Strengthened gender equitable ability of people, households, communities and systems to mitigate, adapt to and recover from man-made and natural shocks; 4) Increased women’s empowerment and gender equity at both the family and community levels; and 5) Increased provision and utilization of public services (e.g., local elected bodies and nation building departments) for communities, especially for poor and extremely poor women. Within its program areas of agriculture and livelihoods; health, hygiene, and nutrition; and disaster and climate risk management, the project delivers an integrated set of services – a holistic framework with an emphasis on women’s empowerment, gender issues, and good governance.
This report is a longitudinal study of Shouhardo III and identifies key impact areas. It reports on survey rounds of project participants, collected every six months throughout the project. Read More...
This report is a longitudinal study of Shouhardo III and identifies key impact areas. It reports on survey rounds of project participants, collected every six months throughout the project. Read More...
Shouhardo III – BENEFICIARY BASED SAMPLE SURVEY (BBSS) 2018 FINAL REPORT
SHOUHARDO III, implemented by CARE Bangladesh, intends to transform the lives of women and men from 675,000 Poor and Extreme Poor (PEP) households in eight of the poorest and most marginalized districts in Bangladesh. Funded by USAID, the program intervenes in the areas of food security, agriculture, livelihoods, health, water and sanitation, resilience, and women’s empowerment. Supported by a robust Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system, the Beneficiary Based Sample Survey (BBSS) 20181 of CARE SHOUHARDO III was conducted with the PEP households of the Char and Haor regions where the program operates. The BBSS has proved to be a reliable tool to gain insights of the progress and status of the major indicators, which are essential for the overall management of the program.
Given the relative mix of programming activities and the indicators selected to monitor program progress, there were four major sampling frames: i) value chain beneficiaries, ii) other farmers (involved with on- farm IGAs), iii) Comprehensive Homestead Development (CHD), and iv) mothers of under-five (U5) years of age children. These were taken to capture the necessary information to track all annual monitoring indicators for indicators 1-13, and indicators 14-27 were collected from the entire Core Occupational Group (COG) beneficiaries. A total of 1,425 samples were taken this year. Read More...
Where the Rain Falls (WtRF) Phase-III Final Evaluation Report
Bangladesh is frequently cited as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. Considering these scenarios of climate change risks and as an initiative to address the effects of climate change, CARE International in Bangladesh implemented the project “Where the Rain Falls (WtRF)”. Generously funded by the Prince Albert II Foundation, WtRF Phase III aimed at improving the resilience of targeted vulnerable and marginalized communities to the impacts of increasing variability of rainfall patterns by promoting CARE’s SuPER (Sustainable, Profitable, Equitable and Resilient) agriculture approach through community based adaptation. This intervention was designed building on earlier phases of Where the Rain Falls project (Phase I & II).
The main objective of this evaluation is to critically review program performance based on the indicators set out in the logical framework. The project is also keen to know how it is helping communities (especially those who are rain fed farmers) to address climatic vulnerabilities in a gender friendly manner. As the project will come to its end in February 2019, CARE Bangladesh planned to have an independent evaluation to see the results in comparison with the baseline. Read More...
The main objective of this evaluation is to critically review program performance based on the indicators set out in the logical framework. The project is also keen to know how it is helping communities (especially those who are rain fed farmers) to address climatic vulnerabilities in a gender friendly manner. As the project will come to its end in February 2019, CARE Bangladesh planned to have an independent evaluation to see the results in comparison with the baseline. Read More...
AESA: Effectiveness of the Training to the Beneficiaries by Adopting Improved Technologies Provided by the USAID-AESA Project and their Economic Benefits
Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) has been implementing the USAID Agricultural Extension Support (USAID AESA) project in partnership with CARE Bangladesh and mPower. To materialize this aim, in addition to other approaches, the project created 3,878 village level farmer producer groups (FPGs) around production and marketing of six prioritized value chains – jute, chili, mung bean, beef fattening, dairy and fish. These groups have been working together to demand and receive extension services and training, as well as collectively purchasing inputs at lower prices and aggregating supply to negotiate better prices for their products.
This report assesses the effectiveness of such training with respect to adoption by farmers and impact to farm productivity. [42 pages] Read More...
This report assesses the effectiveness of such training with respect to adoption by farmers and impact to farm productivity. [42 pages] Read More...
Mid-term Evaluation of the USAID Agricultural Extension Support Activity
The purpose of the USAID Agricultural Extension Support Activity (AESA) mid-term evaluation is to 1) review and analyze the effectiveness of AESA project in achieving the program objectives and 2) analyze if the project is contributing to the improved agricultural service provision which in turn will lead to increased productivity of farmers.
The AESA project is organized into three components that together contribute to the AESA goal: "a strengthened agricultural extension system in southwest and central Bangladesh." Component 1 is premised on the empowerment of smallholder farmers (with an emphasis on women farmers), through development of farmer producer groups (FPGs) around six non-cereal value chains in central and southwest Bangladesh: jute, chili, mung bean, fish farming, beef-fattening and dairy. Component 2 enhances networking, linkages and access to information for farmers and extension agents through development and introduction of new information communication technology (ICT) capacity. Component 3 addresses transformational change within the public and private extension services, so they not only have the capacity to provide the most relevant and up-to-date technical information, but smallholder farmers have equal access to all government and non- government infrastructure and services in their area. Read More...
The AESA project is organized into three components that together contribute to the AESA goal: "a strengthened agricultural extension system in southwest and central Bangladesh." Component 1 is premised on the empowerment of smallholder farmers (with an emphasis on women farmers), through development of farmer producer groups (FPGs) around six non-cereal value chains in central and southwest Bangladesh: jute, chili, mung bean, fish farming, beef-fattening and dairy. Component 2 enhances networking, linkages and access to information for farmers and extension agents through development and introduction of new information communication technology (ICT) capacity. Component 3 addresses transformational change within the public and private extension services, so they not only have the capacity to provide the most relevant and up-to-date technical information, but smallholder farmers have equal access to all government and non- government infrastructure and services in their area. Read More...
5 Game Changing Initiatives for Transformative Agricultural Extension
The USAID Agricultural Extension Support Activity (AESA) project is a key part of Bangladesh-centered Feed the Future (FtF) initiative addresses this challenge. Implemented by the Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) with technical partners CARE Bangladesh and mPower Social Enterprises Ltd., the goal of the project which started at late 2012 is to strengthen the existing extension system in southwest and central Bangladesh to sustainably improve food security and nutrition for smallholder farmers. This translates to the enhancement of access to and utilization of agricultural extension services by smallholder farmers – both women and men. Key interventions under this project works to build capacities and creating support to a demand-driven extension system, synergized by the use of ICT. Geographically distributed in the central and southwest Bangladesh, the project operates in 12 districts, covering 26 upazilas, under Jessore, Khulna and Barisal regions as primary intervention areas.
This report identifies 5 game changing initiatives for transformative agricultural extension. Read More...
This report identifies 5 game changing initiatives for transformative agricultural extension. Read More...
Public and Private Extension Agents’ in USAID Agricultural Extension Support Activity (AESA) Project
The USAID Agricultural Extension Support Activity (AESA) has been implanted since October 2012 with the primary objective of increasing farmers' access to improved agricultural extension services leading to increased household income, nutritional status and food security for 112,000 participating farmers.
The project has attempted to strengthen the public and private extension service provision in the project areas. This report is an assessment of the capacity and performance of the public and private service providers, the quality of services they are providing and whether the linkages between service providers and beneficiaries were functioning properly. Read More...
The project has attempted to strengthen the public and private extension service provision in the project areas. This report is an assessment of the capacity and performance of the public and private service providers, the quality of services they are providing and whether the linkages between service providers and beneficiaries were functioning properly. Read More...