FFBS

BASELINE STUDY REPORT: AGRO-SOURCE: LAST-MILE AGRICULTURAL INPUT SUPPLY SYSTEMS

The Agro-Source project in Ghana is a two and half (2½) year project (July 2018 to December 2020). The overall goal of the Agro-Source project is to improve the productivity of 30,000 smallholder women farmers in five (5) districts i.e. Garu, Tempane, Bawku West, Lambussie-Karni and Nandom in the Upper East and West regions of Ghana through increased availability, access and use of good quality agricultural inputs by 2020.

The baseline study was to establish a benchmark against which to measure the progress and achievements of the project. It was to generate: information on the current status on the availability of quality agro-inputs in the target locations and information regarding smallholder women farmers’ access to and utilization of agro-inputs to improve their productivity.

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PROMOTING A SUSTAINABLE AND FOOD SECURE WORLD (PROSPER) – FINAL EVALUATION – REPORT

CARE and Cargill have built on their fifty years partnership in implementing PROSPER Project: Promoting a Sustainable and Food Secure World in seven countries. Two phases of the project have already been implemented during globally and in Egypt. In Egypt, the Phase II work called the Origination and Development of Soya Bean Smallholder Farmers project. The project addressed the food and livelihood security of farming families in the three governorates of Minia, Behera and Beni Suef, and ended in July, 2017.

CARE and Cargill has launched a third phase of the project in 2018. The goal for Phase III is to create a more inclusive socio-economic environment along the soybean value chain for small-scale farmers in Egypt. The project targeted 3000 farmers.

The evaluation focused on providing an overview of the project’s relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability. The evaluation assessed assess the status of achievement of project indicators, identified implementation challenges, derived lessons learned and recommendations for future phases of the project.

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Pathways Project End of Project Evaluation Report

Pathways aimed to increase productivity and income in equitable agriculture systems. CARE innovated an effective Theory of Change to address real issues affecting rural women farmers by providing them with capacities in agriculture; access to inputs, extension services and markets; empowerment to influence decisions; and an enabling environment for growth.

Pathways has met and, in most cases, surpassed targets set in its M&E framework. In the words of women themselves the project has worked very well, focusing on groundnuts and soybean as high-value cash crop substitutes for tobacco because of their high potential for markets, ability to replenish the lost soil fertility and strong nutritional value. It has grown from working with 9,000 to 14,282 farmers (hosting a population of 71,410 people), organising them into 1,528 groups. Women provide leadership to most of the groups after being transformed to become successful wives, farmers and entrepreneurs who can make independent decisions and speak in public.

In 2015 alone, collective sale revenues from groundnuts and soy amounted to MK128, 601,938 (US$233,821.7) and rose to MK854, 356,267 (US$751,511) by the end of 2017. Contract farming organized by the project contributed US$34,233 to these revenues. In 2014, the project conducted 188 community-wide gender dialogue sessions and reached out to 9,654 people, 7193 female and 2464 male, helping them to internalize and address gender inequalities. Men have generally started looking at women as partners in agriculture and development that is cementing marriage bonds and creating an enabling environment for women to succeed. Along with this, CARE Malawi linked women farmers to key players in the groundnut and soy value chains to help them excel.

As a consequence, by December 2016 a total of 246 farmer groups had accounts with OIBM and other banks through which they saved MK49, 175,577 and 6 VSLs accessed two group loans worth MK4,800,000 (US$7,804.88) which they invested in agriculture, business and VSL activities. VSLs profited and shared out US$871,178 in the year, with more benefits seen in 2017 when savings accumulated to US$3,756,435 e.g. earnings of MK47, 489.32 to MK204, 769.33 per household on average. In turn, per capita household monthly incomes and expenditures doubled by the time the project closed in December 2018. Although agricultural productivity continued to decline over the project life due to poor weather conditions, Pathways farmers remained food secure and continued to eat at least two meals a day. Household dietary diversity (HDDS) and women intra-household food access (AHA) data from this evaluation found levels of consumption to be acceptable and typical of food secure households. These results showcase that Pathways beneficiaries have grown their incomes, assets and food availability in the face of the changing climate and are better off even in difficult years. Read More...

Soybeans for Smallholder Farmers Cultivation Practices Cargill PROSPER

Despite initiatives undertaken by some national and international organizations towards creating an enabling environment for soybean smallholders, most of such initiatives have been deficient in evaluating proper and improper current farming practices, which could have contributed to further reforming of this cultivation. Therefore, CARE International adopted the idea of preparing a study to measure and evaluate practices of soybean cultivation in the governorates of Minya, Beni Suef and Dakahliya. By using criteria and indicators of the reality and specificity of the soybean sector in Egypt, helping monitor and measure the form and degree of practices in order to identify problems, in such practices, suffered by smallholders and to find solutions that best suit them. [53 pages] Read More...

Socio-Economic and Financial Profitability Analysis of Rice Seed Production by Women Groups “Nawe Nuze” in the framework of “Win Win” Program in Burundi

mplemented in 6 communes of Kirundo and Gitega provinces in Burundi, the 4-year research program tests an innovative approach « gender transformative » for the agriculture sector. The approach begins with the development of critical thinking aiming at defying discriminatory social beliefs and norms, via a reflective model, community dialogue and collective action. CARE is evaluating how this innovative approach could improve gender equity and the way a particular attention on power relations and a wake of conscience could produce durable effects on food security, nutrition and population economic well-being. The ultimate goal of this research is to compare (1) a model of gender transformative (EKATA4 model) for gender equity and (2) a typical gender integration approach in the agriculture model (gender light model (light, normal or usual). [63 pages] Read More...

The Win-Win for Gender, Agriculture and Nutrition Project Midline Assessment

Results of the midline assessment report for The Win-Win for Gender, Agriculture and Nutrition Project. [18 pages] Read More...

Projet Win Win Etude Qualitative Genre

CARE Burundi et ses partenaires mettent en œuvre le projet "gagnant-gagnant pour le genre, l'agriculture et la nutrition: testant une approche de genre transformatrice d'Asie en Afrique". Il s'agit d'un projet de recherche de quatre ans, mis en œuvre dans six communes des deux provinces de Kirundo et Gitega au Burundi, pour tester une approche novatrice et transformatrice de genre pour le secteur agricole qui commence par développer une conscience critique et défier les croyances discriminatoires et les normes sociales à travers un modèle de réflexion, un dialogue communautaire et une action collective. CARE et ses partenaires sont en train de tester la manière dont cette approche pourra améliorer l’égalité des genres et la façon dont l'accent mis sur les relations de pouvoir et comment la prise de conscience peut également produire des effets durables sur la sécurité alimentaire, la nutrition et le bien-être économique. [57 pages] Read More...

A Win-Win for Gender, Agriculture and Nutrition

The project “A Win-Win for Gender, Agriculture and Nutrition: Testing a Gender- Transformative Approach from Asia in Africa” is a four-year research program, implemented in six communes in the provinces of Kirundo and Gitega in Burundi, to test an innovative, gender-transformative approach for the agriculture sector that starts with developing critical consciousness and challenging discriminatory beliefs and social norms through a model of reflection, community dialogue and collective action. CARE and partners are testing how this approach improves gender equality and how a focus on power relations and consciousness-raising may also yield sustainable effects on food security, nutrition and economic well-being. The project is testing two key approaches (1) a gender-transformative model (the “EKATA”- Empowerment through Knowledge And Transformative Action- model) for gender equality and (2) a typical gender-mainstreamed approach in the agriculture sector (“Gender-Light” model), in which basic gender activities are integrated into a program that has a principal focus and measures of success on women’s economic empowerment through agriculture and micro-enterprise development. The key research question is “What is the added value, and what are the associated costs of applying a gender-transformative approach within a livelihoods intervention, in terms of accelerating lasting transformations in gender equality, food security and economic well- being?”[66 pages] Read More...

Mali Pathways Final Evaluation

CARE projet Pathways, connu au Mali comme projet Nyéléni, a été financé par la Fondation Bill et Melinda Gates (FBMG) depuis 2012. Il travaille principalement avec des femmes pauvres petits agriculteurs qui sont actuellement membres d'associations d'épargne et de crédit de village (VSLA), avec un objectif de 442 groupes et 15 000 participants dans 106 villages de Ségou et régions de Mopti. Au Mali, Pathways est mis en oeuvre grâce à une solide approche de programme, étroitement intégré avec d'autres interventions, dont les CARE a été élaborer avec soin des depuis plus de cinq ans, et ce fut précisément une approche destinée à Pathways à l'échelle mondiale. Le projet est mis en oeuvre par l'intermédiaire de partenaires, AMAPROS, ASAFE, GRET et YA-G-tu, et cela est en soi une initiative de renforcement des capacités positives. [114 pages] Read More...

Pathways- Global Baseline Report

CARE’s Pathways program focuses on improving poor women farmers’ productivity by empowering them to more fully engage in equitable agriculture systems. The program is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and implemented in Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Malawi, Mali, and Tanzania. Aligned with other CARE initiatives, such as CARE Australia’s WE-RISE program, Pathways is designed to overcome the constraints to women’s productive and equitable engagement in agriculture. Utilizing a strong gender focus, the program’s Theory of Change posits that marginalized, poor women farmers will be more productive, and their families more food secure when:
 women have increased capacity (skills, knowledge, resources), capabilities (confidence, bargaining power, collective voice), and support
 local governance and institutions have/implement gender-sensitive policies and programming that are responsive to the rights and needs of poor women farmers
 agricultural service, value chain, and market environments of relevance to women are more competitive, gender-inclusive, and environmentally sustainable. [104 pages] Read More...

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