PROJECT REPORT

To: Austrian Development Agency NGO Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Zelinkagasse 2, 1010 Vienna E-mail: [email protected]

Project progress reports are to be presented by e-mail as contractually agreed. Originals of additional documents can be sent to the NGO Cooperation desk.

Final Report1

Contract number: 2679-00/2016

Contract partner in Austria Local project partner Name: Name: CARE Österreich CARE

Address: Address: Lange Gasse 30/4, 1080 Vienna, Austria

Telephone, e-mail: Telephone, e-mail: +43 1 715 0 715 +251 911 237 582 [email protected] +251911819687 Project officer/contact: Project officer/contact: Stéphanie Bouriel Teyent Taddesse [email protected] [email protected] Worku Abebaw [email protected]

Project title: Emergency Seed Support to Smallholder Drought- Affected Farmers in South Gondar Ethiopia

Country: Ethiopia Region/place: Amhara /South Gondar

Duration from: 29 Feb 2016 to: 30 November 2016

Report as at (date):November 30, 2016 submitted on: March 7, 2017

Invoicing as at (date) in euros Submitted for Total project costs Invoiced to date Outstanding verification as at (date) 430,000 EURO 424,598.14 EURO 424.598,14 EURO 5.401,86

Date, report written by CARE Ethiopia, February 2017

1 Delete as applicable

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1. Brief description of project progress2 (German, max. 1 page)

A drought due to the effect of El Niño phenomenon had impacted 10.2 million people in various regions of Ethiopia. South Gonder administrative zone located in and comprising seven livelihood zones, was amongst the areas most affected. The Abay Beshilo Livelihood Zone (ABB) is a food insecure area with a very long history of relief assistance where most of the affected woredas are located. Communities residing within the Abay- Beshilo Livelihood zone suffer from chronic food insecurity due to a combination of various factors including erratic rains, small landholdings, highly degraded farmlands, infertile soil, pest infestation, livestock disease and malaria. Coupled with the El Niño induced drought 147,188 people were identified as most affected and food insecure in the four interventions woredas namely , Lay Gaint, and Ebinate, Woredas.

Emergency Seed Support Project was designed to contribute to the livelihood recovery of drought affected small scale farmer households in the four Woredas of South Gonder Zone of Amhara Regional State. Funded by ADC for the period of nine month (29 Feb 2016 to 30 Nov 2016), the project addressed the agricultural input needs of targeted beneficiary households.

During the project implementation period, the planned activities were successfully implemented in all project Woredas. These activities included distribution of various agricultural seeds and a capacity building training to women farmers in the four project woredas. As a result, 18,522 households that originally suffered from a shortage of agricultural seeds have benefitted from the distribution of seeds. A total of 347.3 metric tons (MT) of different types of crop seeds (teff, wheat, haricot bean and lentils) had been distributed by CARE. Moreover, CARE trained 191 female farmers on good agronomic practices; organized two stakeholder review meetings (at start and end of the project period); conducted post distribution, pre-harvest and post-harvest assessments.

The post distribution monitoring verified that the seed support was delivered to the intended beneficiaries on the right time and that the highest majority of the beneficiaries planted the seed received. This emergency seed response has enabled drought affected small holder farmers to resume their farming activities; their plots would have otherwise been remained fallow for critical seed shortage. In addition, the appropriate and sufficient rainfall and suitable weather condition throughout the growing season was the main reason for better harvest compared to last year. However, there were localized hazards like hailstorm and pests that had impact on the expected yield.

As a whole, the project had a remarkably positive impact on improving the livelihoods of the vulnerable households in the project area. Thus, access to agricultural seeds during the critical time was possible through the distribution of different crops by the generous support from ADC.

2 The brief description must be submitted in German. The other parts of the project report and any additions may be written in English. Consultation with the NGO Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid desk is required for documents in other languages.

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2. Project progress by activities

Expected results Reason for deviation  control measures (as per funding Results achieved / indicators Activities for achieving goal (anticipated / achieved (in the event of application) results) deviations) 1.Availability of sufficient Indicator 1: Activity 1. Selection and targeting of 1. Many factors influenced CARE submitted two quality seeds for targeted • Number of households receiving project beneficiaries the success of crop modification requests to households for self- seeds (target 15,172) production, including the ADA (see reasons in sustaining agricultural 18,522 HH (122% of the plan) were timely availability and the previous column) production during the Achieved result : selected by the Kebele level food suitability of crop seed types which were approved Meher season 2016 18,522 households (122% of the security task force and community and specific varieties. Initially by ADA. This gave assured original plan) received seed representatives. Women were well- the project plan was based on more flexibility to the support to cover 0.25 to 0.5 represented in the selection committee. the needs identified by the local context and in turn hectare of their farm land. zonal office of disaster enabled the project to Activity 2. Procurement of high preparedness and food reach more A total of 347.3 MT metric tons of quality seeds (327.5 metric tons crop security coordination office beneficiaries than crop seeds were distributed and seeds) which were officially originally planned. as a result, a total of 7,079 ha A total of 347.3 MT seeds (124.5MT communicated to CARE. land was cultivated. Without the teff, 58.6 MT wheat, 124.3 MT haricot project support, most of the bean and 39.9 MT lentils) were In this regard, 7 crop types farmland owned by the drought procured from both formal and non- were identified for distribution, affected households would have formal seed sectors. All teff and wheat however subsequent been remained fallow due to the seeds were procured from government assessment and review lack of own seeds available to owned seed enterprise (formal sectors) revealed that the low land cultivate them. and are improved variety seeds. parts of the woreda had the Whereas haricot bean and lentils were highest need and therefore Access to agricultural seeds by bought from local farmer’s cooperative needed only four out of the the drought affected small union and are of local variety seeds. seven crops listed in the farmers was possible in a timely Seed quality test was done and verified proposal. manner and with good quality by the regional bureau agriculture seeds. before distribution. 2. Due to saving in budget it The required type of crop seed varieties was possible to purchase were selected and purchased based on additional seeds against the beneficiaries preference and agro– proposal plan, which ecological adaptation. contributed to meet additional unmet needs for seeds.

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Activity 3. Distribution of seeds to targeted households (15,172 households) A total of 347.3 MT crops seeds were distributed among 18,522 households (122% increase). Distribution was made based on the agreed seeding rate for specific crops. Accordingly, 12.5 kg teff, 25 kg haricot bean, 37.5 kg wheat and 20 kg lentil was given to targeted households. A beneficiary household received only one type of seed crop. Seeds were distributed in adequate amounts to cover the land size owned by the targeted households, which was approx. 0.25 - 0.5 hectare. Accordingly, teff seeds were given to cover 0.5 hectare of land and the other three crops seeds were meant to cover 0.25 hectare of land. This was in line with the national emergency seed guideline.

Indicator 2: Post distribution monitoring (PDM) Level of satisfaction by Proper follow up and • % of households satisfied with assessments were conducted. targeted beneficiaries was smooth working the quality and quantity of seeds higher than planned as environment with local (target: 80%) CARE conducted post distribution quality seeds were distributed government monitoring assessment survey aimed to on time. counterparts was very Achieved result: ascertain the effectiveness of seed positive, which in turn Majority of respondents (92%) distribution to the intended vulnerable contributed for the answered the seeds given was households and assess the satisfaction timely implementation based on their preference. level of beneficiaries in terms of of the project. targeting, timeliness, quality and About 92% of the beneficiaries quantity of seed provided. expressed that the seeds they received were good or of Post distribution assessment data were excellent quality; collected from 50 HHs living in the three target woredas. Methodologically the Overall, cumulatively more than assessment employed qualitative data

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82% of the sampled collection from randomly selected beneficiaries expressed that targeted beneficiaries. Almost an equal they were either satisfied or representation of beneficiaries female highly satisfied with the support and male (48% and 52% respectively) they received from the project. were involved in the PDM survey.

2. Enhanced capacity on Indicator 1: Activity 4. Conduct training for Nine of the selected trainees good crop growing Number of women trained (target selected women on crop production were absent due to heavy practices of targeted 200) (200 participants) rain and subsequently rivers smallholder women A total of 191 female farmers (49 were full and were impossible farmers through training Achieved result: Ebinat, 50 Tach Gayint, 44 to cross to arrive to the 191 female farmers (49 in and 48 Simada) received training on training centre. Ebinat, 50 in Tach Gayint, 44 in good growing practice by experts who Lay Gayint and 48 in Simada) are from Woreda agricultural office. The have received training on good trainees received the training for three growing practice. days in their respective Woreda towns.

The training along with the The training was focused on the good continuous extension services agronomic practices such as timely land provided to women beneficiary preparation, weeding, inputs farmers contributed to the application, managing pre and post- improvement of agricultural harvest losses. practices and which in turn resulted for better yield.

Indicator 2: Subsequent extension services and This was due to the fact that % of trained women utilizing good follow up by agricultural extension the training was given on the crop growing practices (target: agents and CARE community good agronomic practices 80%) facilitators were very intensive that pertaining to crops seeds enabled women farmers to exercise the given by the project and Achieved result: good agronomic practices training they mostly it was made practical. More than 90 % of trainees have received applied the knowledge they received during the training. This was evidenced by the monitoring visits.

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3. Enhanced agricultural Indicator 1: As per the post-harvest A pre-harvest production and productivity Number of kg of crops produced Pre-harvest assessment was initially assessment survey assessment was of targeted smallholder per household, i.e., yield per conducted in collaboration with zonal conducted from 200 HH, the conducted by a team of farmers household (target: average of 500 and woreda office agriculture experts in average yield obtained per woreda agricultural kg per household) October. beneficiary showed only 278 experts with project kg, which is actually below staffs. Achieved result: CARE conducted post-harvest the originally plan. An Initial pre- harvest findings assessment in December 2016 to explanation could be that This pre-harvest indicated a total of 428. KG of understand the real impact of this local people are often assessment result yield per beneficiaries HH project when the crops were being reluctant to tell the truth on showed following yield: harvested. A total of 200 beneficiaries the actual yield obtained, Teff = 711 Kg/HH The later post-harvest from all four woredas were involved in sometimes related to aid Wheat = 456 kg/HH assessment survey conducted by the survey. dependency. Besides the Haricot bean = CARE showed the below average weather adversity in pocket 400kg/HH of yield from the different crops: Surveyed households were randomly areas also impacted on the Lentils = 147 kg/HH - Teff = 337 kg/ HH selected based on the crop type they expected yield. The other Average = 428kg/HH - Wheat=389 kg/HH received on the distribution lists. possible reason for the - Haricot bean =257kg/HH difference could be the fact - Lentils =128kg/HH that 200 HHs surveyed in the - Average = 278 kg/HH post-harvest assessment might not be representative of the whole 18,522 targeted beneficiary households.

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3. Project goal achieved/discernible impact The overall goal of the project was to contribute to the livelihood recovery of drought-affected smallholder farmers in the Woredas of Ebinate, Lay Gayint, Tach Gayint and Simada in order to prevent further asset depletion and food shortages.

Objective Indicator Objective 1: Improve the livelihoods, • Amount of crop seeds distributed to affected households productivity and production of targeted (target: 327.5 metric tons) – .347,3 metric tons distributed drought-affected small-scale farmer • Number of hectares planted (target: 3,793) – 7,079 ha households through increased access to planted agricultural seeds • Amount of yield per household (target: average of 500 kg per household – 278 kg of yield

This emergency seeds response project financed by ADC has enabled drought affected small holder farmers to resume their farming activities; their plots would have otherwise been remained fallow for critical seed shortage. The project had a remarkably positive impact on improving the livelihoods of the vulnerable households in the project area through accessing to agricultural seeds during the critical time. The post-harvest assessment evidenced that majority of the households could reserve seeds from their harvest for the upcoming cropping season thereby would sustain their normal livelihoods.

To attain the project goal CARE Ethiopia has performed the following major activities (more detailed as in the logframe).

3.1 Selection and targeting of project beneficiaries Beneficiaries were selected as per the selection criteria set and based on the CARE’s cumulative and proven experience of managing seed distribution to drought-affected communities in the country. The criteria for beneficiary selection included the following:

- Severely affected households with low purchasing power; - Nutritional hotspot kebeles, communities and malnourished families; - Households enrolled in either the current emergency food aid or the government Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP); - Women-headed households who are vulnerable to shocks/recurrent droughts; - Seed insecure households and households with family members with disabilities.

Moreover, cross-cutting criteria including access to land for planting, proven planting record and willingness to confirm that they were committed to plan the seed were used.

These lists of criteria were the basis for the selection of target beneficiaries. Accordingly, 18,522 HH heads (122% of the plan) were selected by the kebele level food security task force and community representatives. Women were well-represented in the selection committee and could express their voice. Upon the completion of the selection process the selection committee read the name of target beneficiaries to the wider community for verification purpose. Thereafter the list of beneficiaries was posted on public gathering areas for some days for transparency and accountability purpose as well as to handle compliance issues. After all these procedures the kebele selection committee sent the list of the target beneficiaries to the Woreda food security task force for further verification and approval. Finally the lists, bearing the seal and signature of kebele and woreda authorities, were sent to CARE office and then lists were transferred to the master beneficiary list and payment sheets.

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Table .1 Seed beneficiaries by woreda , sex and seed type Project Teff Wheat Haricot bean Lentils Total woredas M F T M F T M F T M F T

Lay 2503 302 2805 140 20 160 666 134 800 1166 170 1336 5101 Gayint Ebinat 667 173 840 740 689 1429 0 0 0 0 0 0 2269

Tach- 2289 911 3200 0 0 0 1062 622 1684 287 43 330 5214 Gayint Simada 2664 456 3120 0 0 0 2085 403 2488 241 89 330 5938 Total 8123 1842 9965 880 709 1589 3813 1159 4972 1694 302 1996 18522

As shown in the above table, 22% of the beneficiaries were female headed households. This figure is almost similar with the female headed household figures in the areas that is estimated to be nearly 25%. Female headed households were primarily targeted by the project as they are often the most affected and highly vulnerable to shock. There was good and mutual understanding with the respective government offices and community members that women headed households get highest priority.

3.2 Procurement of high quality seeds of different crop types Under this specific activity a total 347.3 MT (124.5 MT teff, 58.6 MT wheat, 124.3 MT haricot bean and 39.9 MT lentils) were procured for distribution among targeted beneficiaries. Teff and wheat seeds were procured from Amhara seed enterprise and similarly haricot bean and lentils from Ras-Gayint farmers’ cooperative union. Procurement process was fully following the derogation approval obtained from ADC at proposal stage.

Seed quality parameter check and verification was made by the regional bureau of agriculture. The seed suppliers have attached certificates for germination and other tests

3.3 Distribution of seeds to targeted households to cover at least 0.25 -0.5 ha of land Seeds were transported to distribution points (in the vicinity of the target beneficiaries) prior to distribution day. All paper works were finalized ahead of time. Community mobilization work was done 2-3 days before distributions to avoid absentees and returns. According to the post distribution monitoring, beneficiaries explained that the distance travelled to reach the distribution sites was not beyond the global standards (with 7km radius or two hours walk). A total of 31 kebeles (15 in Lay-Gayint, 7 in Tach-Gayint, 5 in Ebinat and 4 in Simada) were targeted in the four target woredas. The seeds were first transported to each woreda town warehouses and then to satellite stores to deliver the seed to beneficiaries within the closest possible distance.

With these procedures it was possible to distribute quality seeds among 18,522 households (92,610 people). As per the agreed seeding rate for specific crops, 12.5 KG teff or 25 kg haricot bean or 37.5 kg wheat or 20 kg lentil were given to a HH. A HH received only one type of seed. The received teff seeds could cover 0.5 hectare of farm land and other crop seeds types could cover 0.25 hectare of farm land. However, in Lay Gayint woreda, beneficiaries received only 30 kg of wheat instead of 37.5 kg/HH as the seeding rate for wheat ranges 120-150 kg per hectare.

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Table 2. Amount seed distributed by woreda Seed Amount seeds in MT distributed by Woreda Total Lay Gayint Tach Ebinat Simada in Gayint Teff 35.0 40.0 10.5 39.0 124.5 Wheat 5.0 0 53.6 0 58.6 Haricot bean 20.0 42.1 0 62.2 124.3 Lentil 26.7 6.6 0 6.6 39.9 Total 86.7 88.7 64.1 107.8 347.3

Fig1. A beneficiary carrying his seeds from the project in Lay Gayint Woreda

4 Conduct training for selected women on crop production (200 participants) Training on good growing practices were given to female farmers in the four target Woredas. In this regard, a total of 191 female farmers (49 Ebinat, 50 Tach Gayint, 44 Lay Gayint and 48 Simada) have received a training on good growing practice by experts from Woreda agricultural office. The trainees received the training for three days in their respective woreda towns.

5. Conduct two stakeholder meetings to assess performance, ensure accountability, and share learnings per Woreda

Two discussions were conducted with key stakeholders from regional, zonal, Woreda and Kebele level. The first stakeholder meeting was organized to introduce the overall nature of the project, to draw the attention of project stakeholders, to win the support and cooperation of all stakeholders during project implementation. This meeting was fruitful and all stakeholders have played a great role to make the implementation effective. It also enabled participants to jointly review the planned activities and agree on main roles and responsibilities of key actors in the project management. The meeting concluded with the recognition that revision of the proposed seed crops is necessary to assure suitability to the project woredas and planting window.

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Fig 2. Partial participants of the first review meeting held in April 9, 2016

The second joint review meeting was held at the end of the project aimed to review project performance, validate post distribution assessment and pre harvest assessment results. A total of 45 participants (with 9 female) drawn from project woredas and zonal offices attended the review meeting. Here the major strengths of the project as reflected by participants - Strong follow up by project and woreda office of agriculture offices through the project period - Presence of good partnership with government and community - Good initiative to provide training for women farmers as most trainings were attended by men - Strong initiation to conduct both post distribution and pre-harvest assessment during the project period. By doing these, it was possible to understand the level of beneficiaries satisfaction

4. Difficulties encountered/changes in external situation

 Limited access to distribution sites at time of distributions due to heavy rain and the subsequent road damage. This was seriously observed in some Kebeles of Ebinat and Lay-Gayint Woredas.

 The undulate topography of operational sites became a barrier to carry out regular and frequent monitoring visits at field level. Some of the areas were inaccessible for driving through, and therefore project and partner staff were required to travel long distances on foot.

 Natural calamities - hail storm, landslide, frost, soil born-diseases and flood have caused damage to crops in some pocket areas. This was sever in Ebinat Woreda. Seriously affected beneficiaries were again supported with replacement crops (chickpea to grow with residual moisture) through other emergency seed projects implemented by CARE.

 Social unrest in between late July and September in the project areas and elsewhere in the other parts of the country had impacted monitoring visits as staff movement was restricted for security reason.

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5. Cooperation/networking with…

CARE Ethiopia has a good track record in partnership & networking and has done the same during the implementation of this specific project. There was strong partnership throughout the project life which was manifested by implementing project activities in close consultation with responsible government bodies at all levels. In other words, partners had active participation and involvement in the whole project cycle: they took part in the project preparation step; beneficiary selection, appraisal, approval; transporting, storage and seeds distribution processes. Besides this partners and stakeholders have taken part in monitoring & evaluation, post-distribution, pre- harvest and post-harvest assessments. The major partners were food security, agriculture, administrator, women & children affairs and others sectors at regional, zonal, Woreda and Kebele levels. Generally, partners have exerted effort to effectively and efficiently implement the project.

There are strong Woreda and Zonal level government and NGOs forums that enabled all partners operating in the project areas, to work together towards for better synergy. As member of the forums and its strong belief in networking & partnership, CARE Ethiopia had strong relation with government, UN organizations and NGOs at different levels. At field level CARE had good working relation with Food for the Hungry Ethiopia (FHE), International Medical Corps (IMC) and Organization for Rehabilitation and Development of Amhara (ORDA) operating in the same project locations. As a result there was smooth information flow, sound resource & experience sharing that resulted in avoiding duplication of effort and ensured complementarity.

6. Capacity building/sustainability

Sustainability was central to the whole project implementation process: an extensive awareness raising works were carried out to avoid dependency syndrome among beneficiaries; trainings were given to beneficiaries to ensure knowledge and technology transfer; all activities were accomplished with the support and engagement of concerned government and community institutions to ensure institutional capacity building; the amount of seeds provided was optimal (not too large to cause dependency); the seeds were bought with affordable price from local suppliers; and the provision was in line with all laws of the government and all norms of the community.

The post-harvest assessment findings showed that beneficiary households could reserve seeds from their harvest that would in turn ensure their seed security for the upcoming cropping season. This is a good indicator that proves future sustainability towards seed security.

7. Allowance for ADC cross-cutting themes

. Inclusion of disadvantaged groups such as children, elderly persons, persons with disabilities: Inclusion was at the heart of every step of the project implementation: people with disability and elderlies were given due attention during emergency seed provision and during good agronomic practice trainings. This was partly possible through strong compliance handling mechanism used during beneficiary selection, verification and approval stages. The distribution was also made at the possible closest distance; to better benefit these vulnerable community groups. Furthermore, HHs with large family size were also considered during seeds provision since they are more vulnerable than small sized HHs.

. Gender: Almost all women farmers and female HH heads meeting the targeting criteria set in the project document, living in the target Kebeles/Woredas have been targeted and benefited from seeds provision. 4,012 of 18,522 HHs heads were female HH heads (21%). In this regards all female HHs who met the criteria set in the project were given priority to be selected for the seeds

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provision intervention. This was deliberately made by considering the vulnerability females HH heads had in the past drought season.

CARE conducted a first and second round rapid gender analysis on four South Gonder woredas of Ebinat, Simada, Tach Gayint, and Lay Giant in order to learn, explore and better understand the gender dynamics in the face of the current drought emergency in the area. The objectives of the analysis was to assess how women, men, girls and boys are affected by the drought, the different coping strategies these groups are using and the impact of the drought on gender dynamics and gender norms in these communities and the emerging opportunities to shift rigid gender and social norms. This data concerning the gender dimension of the emergency was gathered from four groups of the community (men, boys, girls, and women) from separate discussions sharing experiences of the drought.

Based on the findings CARE Ethiopia produced a report and shared it with partners. The findings were also used to inform project design, targeting, distribution as well as monitoring and evaluation. CARE also believes that emergency programs must work closely with government and community leaders, targeting committees (including female members), and women's and children's affairs when targeting activities as to ensure female headed households, women in polygamous marriages, and other vulnerable groups are not excluded.

Environment: During training, discussions and other events CARE promoted sustainable agricultural and environmental friendly practices in the area by advising farmers to use organic fertilizers, such as compost, as well as soil and water conservation through physical and biological soil conservation activities. In order to avoid any negative environmental impacts of the crop production activities, CARE was not engaged in the provision of any artificial fertilizer or chemical pesticides.

8. Monitoring/evaluation

CARE Ethiopia has developed monitoring and evaluation plan to effectively implement the project. Accordingly, there were regular review meeting at organizational, community, Woreda and Zonal levels. There was a weekly review meeting among staff members to monitor activity implementation. There was regular and continuous support from Addis based staffs to the field team to ensure program quality.

Two review sessions were conducted with key stakeholders who were from different regional, zonal, Woreda and Kebele level authorities. The first stakeholder meeting was organized to introduce the overall nature of the project, to draw the attention of the project stakeholders, to win the support and cooperation of all stakeholders during actual project implementation. The second stakeholder meeting was held around the end of the project to share the processes taken and results achieved through the project.

CARE conducted post distribution monitoring assessment survey aimed to ascertain the effectiveness of seed distribution to the intended vulnerable households and assess the satisfaction level of beneficiaries in terms of targeting, timeliness, quality and quantity of seed provided. Post distribution monitoring data were collected from 50 HHs living in the three target woredas. Methodologically the assessment employed qualitative data collection from randomly selected targeted beneficiaries. Almost an equal representation of male and female beneficiaries was involved in the PDM survey (52% and 48% male and female respectively).

Similarly CARE conducted post-harvest assessment in December 2016 to understand the real impact of this project when the crops were being harvested. A total of 200 beneficiaries from all four woredas were involved in the survey. The assessment result showed that the expected yield per household was not achieved against plan. This could be linked with the fact that local people

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are often reluctant to tell the truth on production obtained. For more details, both PDM and post- harvest assessment reports are annexed.

CARE Austria HQ had continuous follow up on project updates and progress remotely. Moreover, CARE Austria's Desk Officer came for a monitoring visit to project areas to monitor, ensure quality control, and offer technical support in terms of finance, procurement and donor compliance. This mission was an opportunity to bring in experiences of similar processes in other countries.

9. Public awareness raising locally and in Austria

CARE Ethiopia visibility: Two signboards were erected in two target woredas; signboards had the project’s title and ADC’s logo. In all events (meetings, discussions, during seeds distribution & trainings) CARE Ethiopia publicized the generous support of the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) in supporting this project. In all agreements with the GoE, the source of funding for this project was explicitly shown. CARE Ethiopia distributed above 250 T-shirts, bearing the ADC logo as per ADC visibility guidelines, among women trainees so that all involved in the training activities were aware of the support of the Austrian Development Cooperation.

CARE Austria visibility: A presentation of the project has been included in CARE Österreich website under the following links: https://www.care.at/projekte/11685/ and https://www.care.at/projects/emergency-seed-support-to-smallholder-drought-affected-farmers-in- ethiopia-eth918/

10. Lessons learnt/outlook

The lessons learned from this project implementation were:

 Initial joint review sessions with both government counterparts and community at the start of the project were used to clarify subsequent operational matters and implementation responsibilities. This forum helped to agree on implementation modalities and share of responsibilities.  Timely delivery of seeds is essential in emergency seeds distribution responses. Though most of the time, timely delivery of emergency seeds is challenged by different factors. However the timely funding for this project enabled for the timely delivery of the seeds and meeting the planting window.  Creating smooth partnership maximizes implementation performance, implementation efficiency and outcome of the designed project activities. This was evidenced during the final review meetings with government stakeholders.  Selection of the required seeds varieties in a participatory way, in consultation with government office of agriculture and community members was essential in achieving good yield and ensuring agro-ecological adaptability as well as catching up the planting window.  Flexibility in distribution of seeds based on the local context (through a modification request) helped to reach more needy households by the project.

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