Pakistan
Final Project Report
LACHI POVERTY REDUCTION PROJECT LPRP
2000 - 2007
(Project ID 00046727)
December 2008
Submitted to;
POVERTY REDUCTION AND GENDER UNIT UNDP CO. UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
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SUMMARY PAGE
Benefiting country: Pakistan
Project Title: LPRP 00046727
Project Duration: April 2000 – December 2007
Implementing Partners: Sarhad Rural Support Program
Project cost: USD 5,948,050
Reporting period: December 2000 to December 2007
Type of report: Project Final Report
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ...... 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 5 3- PROJECT PERFORMANCE ...... 9 3.1 Output 01: Communities mobilized at the grassroots level ...... 9 3.1.1 No. of men and women community organizations formed...... 9 3.1.2 No of households as members of the community organizations ...... 9 3.2 Output 02: Natural Resource Management model for semi arid areas developed and tested. ...13 3.2.1 Participatory varietal selection program and seed priming model developed and demonstrated ...... 13 3.2.2 Village selection breeding program introduced and demonstrated ...... 19 3.2.3 Value Added Activities undertaken ...... 26 3.2.4 Alternate source of energy demonstrated ...... 27 3.2.5 Range management associations formed and rangelands sustainably ...... 28 managed 28 3.2.6 Community based afforestation carried out and nurseries established ...... 31 3.2.7. Communities trained in NRM techniques and practices ...... 33 3.3 Output 03: Community based physical infrastructure developed ...... 35 3.3.1 No. of community based physical infrastructure schemes completed ...... 35 3.4 Output 04: Micro credit made available and capacity enhanced for income ...... 45 generation activities ...... 45 3.4.1 No. of micro loans disbursed ...... 45 3.4.2 Beneficiary Managed Microcredit Model tested ...... 45 3.5 Output 05: Project Management, monitoring, evaluation and knowledge dissemination...... 49 3.6 Overall Project’s Implementation Constraints/ Challenges and Mitigation Strategies ...... 50 3.7 Best Practices and Lessons Learned ...... 50 Project Location Map: Lachi Tehsil of District Kohat ...... 55
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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
BC Breeding Centers CIP Community Infrastructure Project CO Community Organization DFID Department for International Development DWS Drinking Water Supply EoP End of Project FAMPAR Farmers Managed Participatory Research FCA Frontier Consulting Association FSC Farm Services Association HHs Households IICR International Income Credit Ratios ISACPA Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation IT Information Technology LMST Leader ship and Management Skills Training LPRP Lachi Poverty Reduction Program MCO Men Community Organization MoA Memorandum of Agreement MTR Mid Term Review NGO Non Governmental Organization NRM Natural Resource Management NWFP North West Frontier Province O&M Operation and Maintenance PSI Productive and Social Infrastructure PVS Participatory Varietal Selection R&D Research and Development RMA Range Management Association RSP Rural Support Program RSPN Rural Support Program Network SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SAPAP South Asia Poverty Alleviation Program SRSP Sarhad Rural Support Program TNA Training Need Assessment ToR Terms of Reference TRP Terminal Progress Report TMA Tehsil Municipal Administration UC-wise Union Council wise UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Program UNOPS United Nations Offices for Project Services US United States VBC Village Breeding Centers VOs Village Organizations WCO Women Community Organization
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Lachi Poverty Reduction Project (LPRP) started in March 2000 as a transition from a pilot project called South Asia Poverty Alleviation Programme (SAPAP1). LPRP was a community based integrated poverty alleviation programme and operated in six union councils (though it mostly focused on three union councils2) of Tehsil Lachi of Kohat district of North West Frontier Province from March 2000 to 2005. It was implemented by Sarhad Rural Support Progeramme (SRSP) as an independent project. At the filed level, all project activities were carried out through grassroots community organizations on cost sharing basis.
The project’s implementation approach was based on the principles of social mobilization and as a first step; all potential beneficiaries were organized in the form of grassroots Community Organizations (COs) separately for men and women. The project formed 960 COs (300 for women) with a total membership of 23,053. These organizations helped strengthen the bonds of social cohesion by bringing together the rural people belonging to different poverty profiles under an organized forum of community organizations. These organizations promoted equitable distribution of project benefits as evidenced from the fact that 87% of total members of the COs were from the very poor and poor categories of the society and 49% were women that benefited from project interventions.
The community organizations served as platforms for rural households to partner with the project on various development initiatives. All the project interventions were implemented through beneficiary communities on a cost sharing basis.
The project successfully developed and tested a Natural Resource Management (NRM) model for semi arid areas. Initiatives under the NRM component helped communities convert a large number of less productive livestock breeds into descriptive and more productive ones. The Village Breeding Centres (VBCs) provided economical services at the communities’ doorsteps that enabled them to capitalize on the heat cycle of their animals. The VBCs were instrumental in increasing the quality of animals and resulted in healthy ruminants with higher market values. Some studies have reported an increase of 20 days in animals’ lactation period and 0.25 litres per day increment in milk yields. Similarly the various training imparted resulted in an incremental income of up to Rs. 36,000 per annum per beneficiary.
1 SAPAP was a two years regional programme piloted on the recommendations of South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation (ISACPA) in all of the member states of SAARC except Bhutan. Its launch was announced in the Dhaka Declaration of SAARC Summit 1993. In Pakistan, SAPAP was piloted in one union council namely Shakardara of Teshil Lachi, district Kohat.
2 Shakardara rural and urban and Soodal.
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The project demonstrated a number of high yielding varieties of crops on farmers’ fields through the two innovative approaches namely Participatory Varietal Selection (PVS) trials and Seed Villages, For the conservation and management of forest resources, the project supported the establishment of community based Range Management Associations (RMAs), biogas technology and plantation.. A national symposium on sharing Lachi experience and lessons in NRM sector was held and the best practices were documented in a NRM Manual for practitioners.
The project supported the development of 224 community based physical infrastructure schemes that benefited more than 36,000 community members. The construction of 102 rainwater harvesting structure was one of the widely appraised achievements of the project that was replicated by other similar programmes. An international water symposium was held to share lessons learnt and best practices of the project related to community based water conservation and harvesting.
Different case studies have reported increased water availability in the project area due to water related interventions of the project. Substantial time saving has occurred for women folk who are primarily responsible for fetching water. Due to the availability of water in close proximity, women’s travel time for fetching water was reduced by 0.8 to 2.8 hrs per day. The time thus saved is now being used for different productive activities like kitchen gardening, backyard poultry, handicrafts etc.
The availability of water has increased the frequency of animals watering and the average per animal water consumption was 25% higher in the areas where the project had facilitated the construction of water reservoirs than those without such facilities. This coupled with the decrease in incidence of diseases, has increased the number of animals (adult + young) from 9 heads per household before the availability of water reservoirs to 9.5 after its availability. Weighted number of animals per household has risen to 4.7 from 4.4 showing an overall increase of 6%.
The availability of nearby water sources has also helped farmers save considerable time which they used to spend on taking animals for watering. In monetary terms, annual savings range from Rs. 2300 to Rs. 69,400 per beneficiary household.
The project area is one of the food insecure regions of the country and crops productivity is very low to meet the food requirements of the local population. The increased availability of water due to water conservation and the construction of water channels is expected to increase productivity of wheat by 186 kgs per acre.
The project also provided microfinance services to rural communities and experimented a beneficiary managed Microfinance model. More than Rs. 40 million was disbursed to more than 4,700 clients of whom almost 40% were women clients. The project successfully piloted the Beneficiary Managed Microfinance Model with one women village organizations, one men and one mixed (consisting of both men and women) village organization. Two of the three organizations achieved operational sustainability in the first year of their operations whereas all of the three organizations maintained a 100% loan recovery rate.
Overall the project contributed to increased incomes of beneficiary households and a stoppage to the migration of local population to outside towns. As per the findings of a few impact studies, the incomes of the people would increase by Rs. 869 to 3,913 per acres due to increase in crop production. It is also estimated that on account of incremental livestock sale, time savings and milk production, an average Rs. 724 to Rs. 4254 per households per annum will either be saved or
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earned. Similarly, some initial findings suggest reduction, and even reversal, in seasonal or permanent migration of people from their native towns to outside town in search of water.
The project faced a number of implementation challenges, especially in the initial days of its operation. The foremost was related to the participation of women in development activities in a culturally conservative area. The project overcame this challenge through a two pronged approach. Firstly, the project started with the formation of men community organizations to overcome the suspicion of men regarding the objectives of the project. Once that was done, mobilization of women became easier. Secondly, the project recruited local women as social mobilizers to persuade their fellow women to partner with the project.
The best practice related to project operation was the “Area Based Comprehensive Coverage Approach”. Under this methodology, the project selected one union council and applied an integrated methodology to improve the livelihoods of rural people. Through this approach, the project covered maximum number of households at much lower per unit cost than similar initiatives and generated higher impact. The project also fostered a systematic system of coordination and linkages development with the concerned government departments and development partners that helped the project to optimize on cost and improve programmatic synergies.
Besides the successful implementation of the project, all of the innovative rural poverty reduction models demonstrated by the project could not be institutionalized at the meso level. The project was conceived to be managed under the direct oversight of its implementing agency namely SRSP to internalize project best practices. However, in practice, the project was implemented by an autonomous Project Management Unit (PMU) directly reporting to UNDP Country Office with almost no role for SRSP senior management. In the final year of its operations, it was even proposed to register the project as an NGO. Nevertheless, towards its operational closure, a multi stakeholders meeting decided to transform the project into SRSP.
The lessons learned from the project call for the active involvement of concerned governmental department in project operations so that the successful initiatives are institutionalized at the closure of the project. It also recommends that a proper baseline survey be undertaken at the start of project operation to compare pre and post project scenarios. Another lesson is that proper provisions for security related expenses should be made in the project budget.
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PROJECT RISKS AND ISSUES
Status of Project Risks Open Project Issues
Institutionalization of project initiatives: Transfer of Ownership of Project Vehicles:
o Risk: The autonomous nature of the o At the closure of project field project limited the role of Sarhad Rural operations, the project assets including Support Programme (SRSP) in project office equipments, credit revolving management and oversight. It had thus fund and vehicles were transferred to risked the continuity of the project SRSP. However the transfer of title of interventions beyond its closure. ownership of vehicles is still pending with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs o Status: The project has been smoothly which needs to be followed up. transitioned into SRSP direct oversight and management. SRSP has Project Evaluation maintained a project field office to follow up and upscale the Lachi project o A third party end term project interventions. evaluation was planned in the last quarter of 2007. However due to Law and Order Situations: security reasons, it could not take place. As a follow up activity, the o Risk: The project area is in close evaluation should be arranged to assess proximity to tribal areas and is the effectiveness, efficiency, impact, therefore highly vulnerable to lesson learnt and sustainability of the militants’ activities. There have also project interventions. The finding of been terrorist activities in the nearby the evaluation may also be used for district namely Kohat. developing a UN Joint Program for the southern districts of NWFP. o Status: The risk still exists. However, the SRSP field office is now manned by local staff only and are considered be less vulnerable to such threats.
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3- PROJECT PERFORMANCE
The overall objective of the project was to bring sustainable improvements in the livelihoods of over one million poor people living in the southern part of NWFP. The purpose was to sustainably improve the livelihoods of over 100,000 (11,785 households) people in Lachi Tehsil and to develop and promote a replicable model for rural poverty reduction for other parts of Pakistan.
Attainment of the above objectives has been detailed, elaborately, in section 3 and categorized under the heads of;
1. Output and outcome level indicators and 2. Emerging Impact indicators
3.1 Output 01: Communities mobilized at the grassroots level
3.1.1 No. of men and women community organizations formed 3.1.2 No of households as members of the community organizations
Formation of community organizations was the first step in the social mobilization model of the project. The project built on the community mobilization model introduced by LPRP in early 1997. Before the initiation of any development activity, the target communities were organized into grassroots Community Organizations (COs) at the village level. These community organizations provided platforms for the project to undertake different development interventions. The following table illustrates achievement of the project against the targets.
About Community Organizations
The project operational model was premised on the social mobilization concept as stated earlier. This project extended and up-scaled the participatory development process in those villages and communities which were either not covered by the Lachi project during its initial phases or their needs were not properly addressed.
As a first step, the project organized the target communities into grassroots community organizations. These organizations acted as platforms for bringing the target households together and enhancing social cohesion amongst them. Once formed, these organizations served as the building blocks for participatory decisions making, undertaking development schemes on a cost sharing basis, mobilization of savings and above all ensuring that poor people and women are, adequately, represented and participated in the development process facilitated by the project. Active participation of the beneficiaries in the development process also provided for enhanced community ownership and sustainability of interventions.
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The process / activities
o The project is introduced in a meeting at the union council. This is followed by village and street level meetings.
o Those communities who show willingness are organized in men and women community organizations. The communities are given orientation on the objectives and working modalities of the community organizations.
o The communities select two members amongst them as managers of the community organizations. The project trains these leaders in Community Management Skills and Leadership Management Skills.
o Needs identification and prioritization exercise is undertaken with the communities wherein the communities identify their communal and individual needs. The communal needs are addressed through a one time partial grant and technical inputs (e.g. physical infrastructure schemes) whereas the individual needs are addressed through skills training and micro credit.
Activities Results
o The following table shows the number of community organizations formed by the project. Table: 1 (W/MCOs formation) Targets Achievement No. of community MCOs WCOs MCOs WCOs organizations 386 231 580 380 No. of target households 13924 9129 01 CO = 24 members
As per a grading criteria to rank the performance of COs, out of 294 MCOs graded, 120 (41%) were placed in grade ‘A’ meaning that that these MCOs and or their activists were performing all the services they were trained to do. Another 83 COs (28%) were put in grade ‘B’ indicating that their activists were doing the majority of the important tasks they were supposed to do (See Table-2).
Table: 2 (Results of CO assessment through grading criteria). COs No. of COs Graded No. COs placed in grades Grade A Grade B MCOs 294 120 83 WCOs 168 60 62 Total 462 180 145
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Emerging Impact Social Mobilization – Instrument Sample Resolution by a community organization o Community organizations have improved Social Cohesion among the rural communities and have led to more equal distribution of benefits. The following table-3 shows that poor and very poor constituted mostly the membership of these organizations and have therefore benefited the most.
o The project successfully organized 23,053 people into grassroots community organizations of which almost 40 % are women. Out of the total membership of these organizations, less than 1% is destitute, 45% belonged to the very poor category, 42.1% poor, 8.5% better off and a little above 4% well to do. The table 3 shows the membership of community organizations bifurcated by sex and economic category.
Table: 3 (Coverage by poverty group) Description Poverty Group (number of HHs)
Destitute Very poor Poor Better off Well to do Total Men Community 52 6,261 5,869 1,179 563 13,924 Organizations Women Community 33 4,104 3,847 774 369 9,129 Organizations Total 85 10,364 9,715 1,953 933 23,053 Percent 0.37 44.96 42.14 8.47 4.05 100
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o Equity – Distribution of Benefits: Once the poor and women were provided the opportunity to be part of the development process and were brought under the folder of organized communities, the next task for the project and partner communities was to ensure that the poor and women, adequately, benefited from the project activities. With 87% of the benefits accruing to the poor and women, this objective was, successfully, achieved as elaborated in the below table 4.
Table: 4 (Distribution of benefits by poverty group) Description Poverty Group Destitute Very poor Poor Better off Well to do Total %age of total 45 42 8 4 100 benefits availed Benefits availed 638 77,815 72,925 14,670 7,016 173,064 -Rupees/ year/ person
o Mobilization of Savings for Cost Sharing Contributions: While the project target groups comprised of people belonging to economically low strata of population, yet they contributed 30% of the total cost of the development scheme they implemented. In cases where the very poor members were unable to contribute their share, the comparatively better off members made contributions in their place. This coupled with the active participation of the community members in implementation of the developmental
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schemes, strengthened the already existing bonds of social cohesion - the rural fabric of the society.
3.2 Output 02: Natural Resource Management model for semi arid areas developed and tested.
3.2.1 Participatory varietal selection program and seed priming model developed and demonstrated
Lachi is a resource poor area where potential for agriculture is limited by a number of natural and technical constraints. The area is predominantly characterized by subsistence farming and the farmers grow traditional crops following poor farming practices resulting in low agriculture productivity. Since mostly the people live in rural settings, their livelihoods is fundamentally linked to agriculture, therefore, adequate production of crops is necessary for food security at the household level.
In order to address the above constraints, the Lachi project introduced some innovative practices focusing on appropriate choice of crops and their production techniques based on the availability of soil moisture.
Keeping in view the scarcity of water and importance of crop husbandry in rain fed economy; LPRP recognized the need to concentrate on making rain fed agriculture more productive and risk free. After going through cases advocating success and failures of crop production in semi arid area of Pakistan as well as in Nepal, India and Bangladesh, it was concluded that increased crop yields with limited risk can only be achieved by following the best principles of crop production. The absence of these principles causes the application of other inputs as useless entities. The two most important established factors that can result in higher yields with minimal risks are;
• Use of quality seed • Use of improved varieties.
The success of crop mainly depends on the availability of quality seed. Poor seed results in poor germination followed by ultimately lower crop yields. Similarly, improved varieties are most input responsive and have capacity to produce potential yields as compared to widely grown local cultivars. The participation scenario To introduce the above two important inputs of crop production, LPRP adopted a participatory approach called Farmer Managed Participatory Research (FAMPAR) wherein a farmers undertook trials using local and improved varieties. The farmers then made comparison between these two varieties against various parameters right from germination to harvesting and finally to marketing, storability and their usage. This approach enabled farmers to decide on their own as to which variety was the most productive. Once convinced, the farmers then disseminated the selected variety among their fellow farmers. There were two sub components of this approach namely the Participatory Varietal Selection (PVS) trials and Community Based Seeds Villages commonly known as Seed Villages.
1.1 The Participatory Varietals Selection (PVS) trials
PVS trials had two main objectives.
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o To facilitate farmers to test new varieties under their own conditions o To disseminate seed produced from the trials within and between villages to improve genetic stock in the area.
About Participatory Varietal Selection trials
PVS, a sub component of FAMPAR, whereby a farmer is empowered to select improved varieties based on desirable traits, after comparing with local seeds grown on a similar piece of land adjacent to the trail land. Both the cultivars are subjected to the same agronomic and management practices. At the end, the improved variety produces higher yields than the local variety. Due to involvement of the farmers in all stages of this process, the new variety has higher acceptability among the farmers and is widely disseminated.
The Procedure
o Farmers are provided with a small amount of seed (25-50kg) of an improved variety mostly unknown to farmers but suitable to the local agro-ecological conditions. The quantity of seed is ample enough to plant an area of 0.25 acres.
o The variety thus obtained is planted in a plot adjoining to farmers’ traditional seed. All cultural practices are applied equally to both plots as per farmer’s normal agronomic practice schedule.
o The project only bears cost of supplied seed. Expenses incurred on inputs and all other operations right from sowing to harvesting are met by the farmer. However, project continues to extend its technical support and arrange project visits and fellow farmer meetings throughout the crop season in order to substantiate the performance of various varieties.
o Farmers are encouraged to keep the produce and compare the performance of improved and traditional seed keeping in view various traits, particularly, the yield differences.
o In the following years the community is adequately mobilized to determine the need and quantity of seed for a specific crop with respect to members of the COs. The meeting among members concludes in the form of a resolution which is then handed over to LPRP.
o LPRP staff after receipt of community demand arranges the purchase of specific variety of seed from government departments/private dealers.
Main Activities and Results
o The PVS procedure was first launched in 2001 when 11 plots of such type were established. During the same year the number of wheat PVS plots was increased to 136, which were laid out in 30 villages. The project purchased 120 bags (50kg each) of wheat
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varieties which were distributed among the targeted farmers.
o The poor farmers were given credit for the purchase of improved wheat seed. The project also sowed 18 PVS plots of groundnuts, which were laid in 5 villages.
o In the project area, Inqilab-96 and local Khattakwal were the most common wheat varieties used by the farmers. LPRP through its PVS program tried to replace these varieties with drought tolerant varieties.
o Another problem confronting the area was the non- availability of adequate water for crops. Because of the problem, during initial stages, germination rate was remained very low. To overcome this problem the project started practicing OFSP method with local farmers. In this method seeds were soaked overnight and then sown in the morning. In this way germination became normal.
o Year wise activity results are given in the table 5 below.
Table: 5 (Detail of year-wise PVS plots) Growing Year (No of PVS trials) Crops 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005/06 2007 Total Chickpea ------136 - - 136 Gram ------320 - - - 320 Masoor ------33 - - - 33 136 398 - - - 102 384 715 340 55 - 2130 Wheat - 69 80 82 324 ------555 Groundnut 197
Total 136 467 80 82 324 102 384 1,068 476 252 3371
o Crops varieties tested by the project are listed in the following table 6.
Table: 6 (Crops varieties) Wheat Groundnut Chickpea Tatara-96 BARD-479 Sheen Ghar Daman-98 BARD-92 KK-1 Suleiman-96 C-130 KC-98 Dera-98 Parbat Raj Uqab Nasir-2000 Fakhr-e-Sarhad S-2000 K-96 K-87 KT-2000 Wafaq Chakwal
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1.2 Seed Villages The introduction, acclimatization, adoption and spread of new varieties have increased the demand for seed manifolds. The availability of seed in increased quantities was a mammoth task especially in the wake of no regular supply of seed supply system in the area. To ensure regular accessibility of improved varieties sees, the project introduced the concept of seed villages whereby farmers themselves produced good quality seed at their own farms. This intervention only provided farmers with quality seed at reasonable costs and at optimum timings.
The Procedure
o Identification of site and communities suitable for seed villages. Seed production is a specialized business that requires optimum input application at optimum times to avoid stress and ensure quality seed production with efficient management practices. This requires an area with good fertility level and an experienced individual/community with ample skills.
o The project supplied certified seed, whereas cost of all other inputs was met by the farmers. Selection of the area with flat and good soil along with a water source was done in collaboration with research officials. Farmers were required to grow seed on an area of 2 or more acres (see table 5 above).
o To maintain quality standards, seed villages were visited three times during the growing season of the crop by the Seed Certification Department. Farmers were required to execute operations required by the Departments in removing off-types seeds, weeds and to practice optimum spacing etc.
o The quality seeds thus produced were sold at higher rates as compared to seeds produced for domestic consumption which ultimately increased the farmers’ net returns.
o Seed production was limited to wheat with few sparse patches of groundnut. Seed production from various wheat varieties across years is mentioned in table 5.
Main Activities and Results
o Year wise details of activity results of seed villages are given in table 7 below.
o The project also trained some farmers to produce high quality seed for sales and further distribution. Under this arrangement 25kg to 50kg of seed was provided to various farmers free of cost for planting about 0.5-10 acre of land.
o In 2006, the project demonstrated seven seed villages of improved wheat variety namely KT-2003 with six men and a woman community organization. During the year, 4600 kgs of seed was provided to 22 farmers through linkages with the District Agriculture Department. The farmers used credit facility to purchase seeds. Please see table 7.
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Table: 7 (Detail of Seed Villages established in different seasons) Season Number of Seed Villages Rabi 2001 2 Rabi 2002 11 Rabi 2003 7 Rabi 2004 17 Rabi 2005/06 9 Rabi 2007 7 Total 53
Emerging Impact
o PVS trials have introduced a number of profitable crops and improved varieties suitable to arid environment. This has increased the genetic base of crops and has improved farmers’ livelihoods.
o The PVS process not only involved and empowered farmers in advance stages of variety selection but also provided feedback to researchers about farmer perceptions and preferences for various varietal characteristics. It thus helped researcher to carry out research in light of farmers’ priorities.
o The establishment of community seed banks/villages was instrumental in providing high quality seed to farmers at affordable costs with minimal mobility efforts.
o The process of participatory crop production facilitated farmers to interact with the line agencies / service providers and maintain linkages on sustainable basis.
o According to the farmers average yield difference between the new varieties and old variety (Inqilab) was 200 to 250 kg per acre. Annual seeds production of wheat seeds villages was thus higher than the local varieties (See Table 8 below). In addition 561 Groundnut trials were made by the farmers. The average increase in income estimated to be Rs. 2500 per acre compared to conventional rain fed farming.
Table: 8 (Annual seed production of wheat seed villages) Seed Production Varieties 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Daman-98 1.6 (tones) 1.8 (tones) 5.3 (tones) 1.2 (tones) - - 1.1 (tones) Tatara-96 1.9 (tones) 1.7 (tones) 1.7 1.1 (tones) 1.5 (tones) 1.8 (tones) 1.5 (tones) (tones) Suleman-96 - 1.7 (tones) 1.6 (tones) 1.3 (tones) - 1.3 (tones) - KT-2000 ------Total 3.5 5.2 8.6 3.6 1.5 3.1 2.6
o The participatory crops production progamme introduced by the Project has thus led to increased productions and incomes. See Table 9.
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Table: 9 (Benefits from Participatory Varietal Selection (PVS) trials and Seed villages) YEARS CROPS 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 INCREMENTAL PRODUCITON (TONS) Wheat-SV 2 18 64 192 408 614 821 Wheat-PVS 13 60 146 177 181 188 196 Groundnut - 7 15 16 8 - - Chickpea - - 18 2 0 0 0 Lentil - - 1 0 0 0 0 INCREMENTAL GAINS (MILLION RS) Price (Rs/kg) Wheat-SV 0.021 0.20 0.739 2.206 4.694 7.061 9.437 11.5 Wheat-PVS 0.151 0.688 1.681 2.041 2.079 2.166 2.256 11.5 Groundnut - 0229 0.482 0.504 0.260 - - 32.5 Chickpea - - 0.477 0.046 0.002 0 0 26 Lentil - - 0.032 0.003 0 0 0 27 0.17 1.13 3.41 4.80 7.03 9.23 11.69 Total
Lessons Learned
Technical
o The precondition in executing a participatory crop production is the determination of needs in terms of preferences to various parameters of crop concerning yield, quality, taste, storability etc. However, very little evidence of such kind did exist while introducing PVS trials. Moreover, identifying the farmers’ perceptions on the onset of introducing tailor made cultivars for better adoption proves helpful.
o Follow up is needed even after introducing an improved variety to ensure that the new variety is sown consistently and farmers don’t revert to old practices.
o Inadequate capacity of the concerned departments / organizations to make available adequate quantity of good quality seeds may also hamper wide spread adoption of the improved crop practices. Capacity development of such organizations should, therefore, be an integral component of such programmes.
o Since physical visit of Seed Certification Department to verify the seed produced by the farmers is a prerequisite for any variety to be certified, it is imperative to enhance the outreach capacity of this department so that poor farmers living in far flung areas can also become seed producers like big farmers.
General
o For a research and development project like LPRP, it is important to document its best practices and lessons learnt in the form of a handbook or manual. LPRP developed a technical NRM manual for experience sharing. All sectors of natural resources along with the procedures of activities, outcomes and shortcomings are explained. This manual can serve the purpose of replicating the NRM model in Barani areas for teachers, students and practitioners. Manual has been shared with almost 50 government and non- government organizations for adoption.
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o The research and demonstration activities undertaken on farmers’ fields with active involvement have greater adoption rate than those carried out in isolation. The project introduced the concepts of “Seed Villages” and “Village Breeding Centers”, wherein, new seed varieties and animal breeds were demonstrated and disseminated with the active involvement of the communities. This approach was different from that of the government line agencies, wherein such activities are carried out in isolation. The new approach created greater ownership of the new technique among the communities and was easily disseminated.
o In addition accessible “local points” should also be established. These points serve as a link between community and line departments. LPRP selected a point in Shakardara for improved wheat seed and linked it with the Agriculture Department. Farmers availed that opportunity and got 6.3 tones of different variety of wheat seed.
o A baseline in the beginning of any intervention is necessary to record the impact of the project interventions. LPRP has faced some problems in carrying out impact assessment in the absence of a comprehensive baseline survey.
3.2.2 Village selection breeding program introduced and demonstrated
Livestock is the major resource of people’s livelihood in the drought prone, poverty stricken, rainfed region of Lachi. To many, livestock rearing is to satisfy their basic needs, however to few, it is a symbol of status. Dependency on livestock production thus makes it the mainstay of the farming system and in most instances a prime source of livelihood; second to attainment of income from off farm sources including services and migration work. (Work from abroad)
Most of the livestock in the project area is non-descriptive breeds. Livestock population in the project area mainly consists of goats, cows and camels. Most of the cattle in the project area are less productive. This is due to their uncontrolled and random mating involving inferior bulls and bucks. These animals are called non-descriptive. They are small-framed resembling Dhanni breed in color and markings while in sex they are similar to Lohani breed. These non-descript breeds, as a result of natural crosses between the two ?? breeds, are covering a wide majority (81%), of animals in the area. It is characterized by small six?, short legs, diversified skin colors, rough and dry body coat, small belly, low milk production, long calving interval, low body weight, late sexual maturity and low fertility rate. The existence of pure or Lohani is only 19% (See Table-10 for Percentage of non-descriptive cows and goats)
Table: 10 (Percentage of non-descriptive cows and goats) Cows Goats Non- Average milk Lactation Non- Average milk descriptive yield (kg) Days descriptive yield (kg) Lactation %age %age Days Shakardara 91% 410 82% 0.6 180 Urban-Rural 2.2 Lachi Urban- 370 90% 0.70 Rural 91% 2.78 180
Mandoori SoorGul 68% 3.8 365 69% 180 0.70 Tarma??
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Cows Goats Soodal 92% 2.2 370 84% 0.6 180 Darmalak 62% 2.35 300 83% 0.60 180 Average 80.8% 2.666 263 85.6% 0.64 180
Past Efforts Though introduction of superior breeds is an easy approach to bring about a conspicuous change but the new breeds needed to be acclimatized and adaptability may require decades, especially for alien breeds. The adaptability of a breed to local environment is a pre requisite for it to become productive. To bring improvement in livestock management in the area, some efforts have been made by Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) in the past but with limited success.
Earlier, SRSP provided beetle goats on subsidized rates to the communities. The response was overwhelming but the breed failed to cope with hilly terrain as it was more suited to plain areas. Likewise, exotic crossbred animals with either Friesian or Jersey are facing problems due to prevalence of aridity, poor feed availability and low level of healthcare offered to these animals. Although, the cross bred cattle have several benefits over indigenous breeds regarding milk and meat production, shortened period of maturity and greater calving frequency, but the experience gained over the years reveals that cross bred cattle are poorly adopted to dry and steep grazing lands. Moreover, these cattle require stall feeding which is highly insecure in this region. This has resulted in poor productivity of the breed due to high incidence of diseases and poor reproduction.
The Project Approach Some of the researchers are of the opinion that livestock productivity measured in terms of increased milk and meat production is a function of superior breeds only. However research reveals that superior breeds contribute only 25% to animals’ productivity whereas the rest is due to environmental factors including proper feeding, housing and overall management facilities (see table 11). Thus, improving genetic make up of livestock breeds is not the only determinant of higher productivity rather efforts should be made to improve animals’ nutritional balance, health and body conditions. LPRP, therefore, designed its livestock improvement programme by focusing on all the three determinants of animal productivity namely breed improvement, feed improvement and health and sanitation.
Table: 11 (Local Vs bred in subsisted environments) CHARACTERISTICS LOCAL CROSS BRED/OTHERS
Productivity Low/Medium High Dual purpose (milk & draft) Yes No Adaptability to arid climate High Low Suitability to hill grazing High Low Feed & water requirements Low High Staff feeding No/Less Yes Fertility problems Low High Disease incidence Low High Survivability High Low
LPRP Breed Improvement Program The main objective of the project breed improvement program was to transform the local non- descriptive breed into more productive ones. In consultation with livestock experts both national
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and international, the project designed, what was called the Village Breeding Centres (VBCs) proramme.
About Village Breeding Centres The establishment of VBC, also called village selection schemes, was to upgrade community livestock with improved local breeds. It includes the castration of inferior males and the culling of unwanted stock. This procedure results in few productive cattle and goats unlike a large number of inferior animals.
The improved animals are more productive especially in producing milk and meat. A byproduct of this practice is the reduced pressure on rangelands due to lower stoking rates which in turn will result in the replenishment of range resources with respect to botanical composition and biomass production. Thus VBCs are expected to increase incomes through improved milk yields, enhanced lactation length, reduced calving/kidding interval and higher meat production.
The Procedure / Activities
o The process begins with the initiation of a dialogue with W/MCOs. After reaching an agreement, a MoU, to establish a VBC, is signed containing details of the operation and maintenance.
o Representatives of COs then arrange visit to adjoining areas to select and purchase good quality bull and buck. Thus selection is not limited to same village but can be extended to other similar areas for better adoption and survival of quality servicing animals.
o The project pays for the cost of bulls. The animals are then handed over to CO members having experience and better management conditions.
o The recipient of bull and buck is responsible for proper feeding and management of animals. This includes at least 10 kg of green fodder, 5 kg of wheat straw and 2 kg of cotton seed cake per day along with salt rock for licking.
o The beneficiary of descriptive animals is not allowed to sell such animals without prior approval of the project. Relevant project staff pays visits to monitor the progress and resolve any problems arise regarding management and health of animals.
o Costs towards the maintenance of breeding animals are met from the charges recovered from villagers as a result of servicing their animals. The charges vary from area to area and season but ranges between Rs. 50-150 per service.
o A number of training regarding animal feed management, service provision and health management are provided to increase skills of the beneficiaries to render their services for effective continuation of the VBC Livestock improvement model under LPRP).
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Activities Results
o The project developed Village Selection Breeding Program (VSBP) in three villages on pilot basis in 2001. The high yielding animals were purchased in the area and breeding centers were established in these villages. After positive response from these villages, another 15 villages were selected for replication.
o These breeding centers provided timely services to the farmers and reduced the calving interval from 24 months to 21 months.
o All the bulls and bucks were providing service to the community and non-community members in lieu of a fixed fee, which was utilized to meet the expenses on account of fodder etc. In order not to let the Breeding Centers become burden on one member, it was decided to rotate it among the community members. A year wise detail of Breeding Centres established in the project area is given in table 12, below.
Table: 12 (Year-wise detail of Breeding Centers established in the project area) Description 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Grand Total Bucks provided 28 34 45 30 12 33 32 214 Bulls provided 22 32 41 23 13 35 21 187 Total Breeding 20 44 60 31 19 68 53 295 Centers
To supplement the breed improvement initiatives:
o 12,097 small ruminants and 4,408 large ruminants were vaccinated against the common deadly diseases.
o Community based Rangelands Management Associations (RMAs) were formed to conserve and manage the rangelands. RMAs introduced the concept of rotational grazing, protect rangelands against excessive grazing and provided platforms to resolve community conflicts in this regard.
o Multipurpose trees shrubs and grasses were grown to complement depleting rangelands. This ensured green fodder availability at times when there was scarcity of fodder and resulted in improved livestock rearing.
o Community members were trained in various aspects of livestock management and provision of alternative feeds for stall-feeding.
Emerging Impact
o A large number of less productive livestock breeds were converted into descriptive and more productive ones.
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o The beneficiary communities reported that VBCs provided easy and economical services at their doorsteps that enabled them to capitalize on the heat cycle of their animals. The serviced animals had increased calving and lactation time and frequency. The VBCs were instrumental in increasing the quality of animals and resulted in healthy ruminants with higher market values.
o Animals’ lactation period increased from 210 day to 230 days and milk yields increased by 0.25 Kg per day against the average 2.1 kg daily.
o The production potential of F1 generation in milk and meat were found better than their dams and sires. Similarly, the health status of F1 animal has improved in the sense that due to their longer body size and wide birth canal, the chances of dystopia (difficult birth) were diminished.
o The age of maturity was found longer than expected and Calf/ dam mortality, during parturition, was never reported in F1 female stock.
o Benefits from livestock due to improved animals performance is presented in Table-13.
Table: 13 (Benefits from livestock due to improved animal performance) Items Units 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Improved bucks supplied by Number 28 34 45 30 22 LPRP Superior ruminants born in year Number 1700 2250 1500 800 1 (50 goats per buck) 1400 Increase in ruminants due to Number 70 85 112.5 75 55 higher reproduction @5% Ruminants sold at years end Number 53 64 84 56 43 Improved bucks retained 18 21 28 19 12 Number Goats serviced by bucks on Number - 17500 21250 28125 19550 attaining one year age at 50 per buck Increase in ruminants due to - 875 1063 1406 885 higher reproduction Number Improved bulls provided by Number 22 23 14 LPRP 32 41 Cows serviced @15 cows per Number 330 480 615 345 222 bull per year Tons 21 37 46 23 Incremental milk of cow for 9 210 days a year.
Lessons Learned
o Given the inadequate availability of the requisite skills and vaccines for disease management, strong coordination between the community organizations and livestock extension services in the public sector is needed.
o To evaluate the performance of VBCs, proper record of services, successful mating and service fees etc. needs to be maintained.
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o Besides the production aspects, market information system needs to be developed and maintained.
o Efforts should be made towards on site training of farmers on a particular breeding strategy (crossing/random mating) of animals in accordance with situation on ground and knowledge of the breeding generics.
General
o Social mobilization has been an indispensable ingredient of livestock management without which the success of this important livelihood sustaining enterprise would not have been possible. Capacity building and mobilization were key factors in the establishment of VBCs to bring about improvement in cattle breeds and the management of existing depleted range resources. LPRP mobilized and involved communities in all aspects of livestock improvement program with clearly defined responsibilities of both partners.
Please also refer to table 14 on next page.
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Table: 14 (Replicable Livestock Improvement Module for Lachi Natural Resource Management Model
Program Rationale Approach Scheme / Pre-requisites Implementation Impact Failures Strategies Sustainability activities Livestock Poor masses Process Village Identification Formation of Social Low More Demand based Improvement Hilly terrain (Participato Breeding of communities VBCs accessi disease technical Low and ry) Centers Determining bility managem advice Addressing real erratic Ensure willingness for Rangeland Improv ent needs rainfall gender Others participation Management ed Market Dependency equality Understanding Associations descrip Low Research Social on Livestock Opportunit Bio-gas process (RMAs) tive record mobilization Non- y Plant phenomena breed keeping Collaborat descriptive Better Determining Cross breeding Decrea ion Participator breed Constructio poultry social, and random se in Heavy involveme management of Lack of n of mini- Fish stocking economic and mating program calving reliance nt and program choice dams has technical with improved interval on linkage supplementar provided visibility breeds , rangeland with line Community y feeds livestock Social lactatio s. agencies. operations Lack of easily mobilization Health and n, information accessible sanitation improv Lack of Exploring Improved & advice drinking awareness ed milk on-site suppleme markets for Implementa vaccination and and training ntary feed product tion of crop training meat regarding opportunit consumption production Project support yields breeding ies has for provision of Easy affordable increased improved breed Improv Lack of Increasing and adaptable to fodder and technical ed addressin species of local availability help grazing g market trees, environment especially Community system issues shrubs to of scarce separations and increase Use of local timings. provision Improv Low fodder. germplasm. services feeding ed coordinati and maintenance marketi on with RMA ng agencies managem Capacity in running ent and building of Increas dewormin conflict communities and ed g resolution staff. fodder campaign around s and Rotational mini vaccinatio grazing dams. n system
Econo RMAs Capacity mic problems, building viabilit y
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3.2.3 Value Added Activities undertaken
Fish stocking was introduced as value added activity for the optimum utilization of water made available in form of mini dams by the Lachi Project. The fish so reared / produced not only supplemented the incomes of the concerned community but also fulfilled a portion of their meat requirements.
The process / activities
o The activity was undertaken with only those communities that had mini dams with ample amount of water.
o The fish seeds were provided by the project through the fishery department and were oriented how to rear and catch fishes. Subsequent restocking was the responsibility of the concerned communities.
o The communities were responsible for harvesting and marketing of fishes. 30% of the profit earned would go into the fish funds and the remaining 70% was to be proportionally divided among the members of the concerned community organizations.
Activities Results:
o Fish seed was initially provided to 17 COs free of cost but the management was done by the COs. As par of value addition fish farming in the mini dams continued throughout 2001-07 (See Table-15).
Table: 15 (Mini-dams value addition – Detail of fish farming) Year Description 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Grand Total
Total fish 13,500 54,00 40,00 20,000 29,00 21000 23000 seedlings provided 0 0 0 No. of dams 5 9 6 4 5 6 4 39 covered
Emerging Impact
o The fish stocked in different reservoirs attained a reasonable weight of about 1.5 kg over a period of 2 years. Average sale price in the area is Rs. 60 per kg. It is thought that the survival rate is more than 50 in all the dams and current sale price ranges from Rs. 55 to Rs. 65 per kg. The gestation period is 1.5 to 2 years from the addition of fingerlings until maturity.
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o Based on the following assumptions, the estimated annual income from the fish production is shown in the Table-15 below.
o 50% of the fingerlings stocked will reach maturity. o The average weight per fish is 1.5 kg after 2 years. o Sale price excluding all costs is Rs 0.67 million.
o 3-4 farmers in the project area have stocked fish in private tank, after seeing the potential benefits from project stocking in reservoir.
Table: 16 (Income from fish production – Million Rs) 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Total 0.20 1.07 0.75 0.60 0.45 1.02 0.70 4.79
Fish is essentially a non-consumptive use of water. It is an important additional source of income for the communities. At few dams, the communities are practicing fish farming and tendering it at a lump sum price. For purposes of this exercise, these are, however, calculated using an average farm price of Rs. 30 per kilogram sold in the pond and assuming that netting and transportation is borne by the buyers. Highest income of Rs. 120,000 is computed for BSDA followed by Paila Ziarat.
Dam Fish seed Income (Thousand) Sweri Khwa 4000 60 Bargadi Khurd 2500 37.5 Mohalla Syedan 3000 45 Paila Ziarat 5000 75 BSDA 8000 120 Badassam 5000 75 Bahadurabad 1 500 22.5 Abstract: Impact Assessment of Small Water Dam Prospects in Lachi-Kohat by RD Consultant.
3.2.4 Alternate source of energy demonstrated
Tree cutting in the project area is a common practice for construction and firewood. To reduce pressure on the forest, Lachi Project introduced biogas and solar stove/plates as alternate sources of energy in one of the villages in the project area.
About Biogas Plant
A biogas plant comprises of a black iron airtight drum, an eleven feet deep well called as digester having 5m diameter within and out holes. The organic manure is poured into the plant along with water. The microorganisms decompose material and generate biogas which is connected to the use end source. The process of bio-degradation completes an aerobically. The organic slurry after the production of gas can also be utilized as manure as there are no changes occur in its nutrient contents while extracting biogas.
The process / activities
o An initial dialogue was undertaken with the community in order to raise awareness regarding the sustainable use of forest resource and shifting towards other source of energy.
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o Upon willingness of community, the project provided equipments needed for the installation of biogas plant whereas the concerned community took the responsibility to operate and maintain it. Additionally, the community also pledged to optimally utilize their forest resources.
Activities Results:
o The Project installed the biogas plant at the remotest village (Janak) in Union Council Shakardara. The plant is operational for 3-4 hours a day and is utilized by one household instead of two as earlier estimated. Food for twenty people could easily be prepared in a day (both lunch and dinner).
Emerging Impact
o As a result, the concerned community organization called Janak Development Association prepared feasibility report with the technical assistance of NRM section of the project for the installation of more than 100 units of the biogas plants in the area.
o The available organic material in the village was more effectively utilized and pressure on local forest resources was decreased.
JANAK - THE REALITY. . . .
Village Janak is located 27 kms, to the east of Shakardara town. Only 8km of the road linking the village with the town is metalled whereas the rest (19km) is Katcha (dirt road). The villagers mostly women and children collected firewood from the gills for domestic consumption. The surplus wood collected is sold by men in the town. Due to excessive woodcutting the forest is devastated in the near by hills. Siddique, the activist of a local community organization and a moving spirit behind the mobilization of Janak residents, did a great deal to break the isolation of his people by establishing their linkage with LPRP and , through LPRP, with a few other donor agencies. His mother equally motivated like hers son, narrated her woes before the introduction of biogas and the extent to which her life has been facilitated following the installation of a biogas plant at her home. Her observations are recorded in a passage below;
I have a dream . . . . .
"There are about 10 people in my house. Being the oldest I have to shoulder a lot of responsibilities. Throughout my life I have been engaged in the household activities, the most tiresome among them being firewood collection and them cooking on the fire. Before this, I would wake up early in the morning and go to far off places for wood collection. It was not before noon that I would come back home and the tedious job of cooking would start. Biogas has made my life much easier. The workload has been reduced. Now less time is spent in cooking. Sanitary and health conditions have improved. We also realize that by cutting wood we are doing harm to the environment. So now even that problem is solved due to biogas. Another good this is that we can use the residue for fertilizer and our crops will flourish. Some other women from near by houses also come and use the gas. Now that I have a biogas plant I can compare my life before and after and wish that biogas plant should become the part of each house in my village. . . . . I hope that my dream becomes a reality . . .
3.2.5 Range management associations formed and rangelands sustainably managed
Synonymous to other dry rainfed regions, livestock feeding in the project area is dependent upon free grazing system. At present, there is a huge pressure on the existing rangelands which are at the verge of depletion due to heavy loads of animals in the area.
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Rangelands are communal lands used for grazing of animals. Conventionally, rangelands are used without any restriction and proper system that can maintain a balance between the grazing intensity and grazing capacity of rangelands thereby leading to their fast depletion. In a study conducted, it was found that though a large number of palatable species are growing in the area but their share in cover, density or biomass production is negligible. The rangelands in the project area are described as “dry temperate semi-evergreen scrub forest” consisting of hilly terrain and dominated by vegetation having low palatable species. The dominant species includes Karoosh (Aristida adscensionis), Kharoosh (Aristida depressa), Sargarae (Cymbopogan jwaracusa), Mashkanra (Saccharum munja), Toorka (Saccharum ciliare) and Kahi (Saccharum spontaneum).
Almost half of the rangeland area consists of bare ground which is prone to erosion hazard. Pressure on existing rangeland resources is very high with continued grazing round the year.
The depletion of existing rangelands without proper replenishment has decreased forage availability and is contributing towards poor health of livestock. Thus appreciating the need for optimum management of rangelands in the project area, the project built on the social mobilization process and introduced the concept of Rangelands Management Associations (RMAs).
About Rangelands Management Associations
Rangelands Management Associations (RMAs) are sub groups within a community organization mandated to manage their rangelands at an optimum level. Mostly elders of a community constituted the membership of RMAs as they were supposed to develop and implement rules to protect rangelands, resolve conflicts and levy heavy fines on unauthorized grazing and cutting of grasslands and trees.
RMAs are meant to regulate rangeland resources by adopting a rotational grazing system whereby blocks of rangelands are being grazed whilst others are rested in rotation in the spring without the need for fencing. RMAs also mobilized funds for providing watering ponds for livestock in the rangelands.
The process / activities
o The first activity was the identification of rangelands to be conserved and managed. This was followed by dialogue with the concerned community to form RMA.
o Helping the RMAs to prepare rules for the protection and management of rangelands and creating awareness among the communities regarding the importance of rangelands.
o Providing technical backstopping and nominal financial support for barbed wires around the rangelands where needed.
Activity Results
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o Range Management Associations were formed in three villages in 2001. It was replicated in the remaining villages of the project area after analysis of the results in these three villages.
o As a whole, 22 associations were formed. These associations covered an area of 101 hectares. The project also trained members of these associations on scientific lines to prepare improved feed resources for consumption by the livestock as an alternative feed during the ban period. The grazing area and the total number of grazing animals in four sample Union Councils are shown in Table-17.
Table: 17 (Area of rangeland and number of grazing animals) UC Area of Rangeland Cattle/Buffalo Sheep/Goats
(km) (Number) (Number) Soodal 84 17984 63640 Shakardara 156 16000 28976 Soorgul 68 35760 76208 Darmalak 48 7360 14512 Total 356 77104 183336 Animal per km 217 515
o However all the RMAs were not functional and could not produce its desired results. Major reasons for the slow or negligible rate of improvement in rangeland include; o Dispute with adjoining villages over division of range areas. o Social conflicts within the communities. o Massive intrusion of animals owned by herders from Afghanistan. o Unauthorized cutting of bushes/trees to meet fuel needs; and o The erosion from bare ground caused by cutting of bushes/trees.
o One other factor contributing to soil erosion has been the disturbance caused by the vehicles and machinery belonging to the state-owned Oil and Gas Exploration Company.
RMA. . . . an example from Village Malgin
o The RMA consists of nine village MCOs, and decides; Only four tree types of trees can be cut for fuel purposes. No fruit trees are to be cut (a ban on tree cutting is called a bandez).
The rangeland is divided into four portions for grazing purposes and is used on three-monthly rotations. If a household grazes their livestock on a restricted
portion, a fine or nafgha is imposed. To date this RMA has collected Rs. 8000 in
fines and the money is reportedly deposited into an account managed by the
RMA. Most fines collected have been from the people living in the area and the
fine is Rs. 50 after one warning.
A fine of Rs. 20 is charged on tractors that travel the rangeland.
A fine of RS. 1000 is imposed on Afghan herders who travel through the area
seeking pastures for their large livestock herds. In shewaki village, the RMA had
rented out the rangeland for the season to Afghan herders for Rs. 15,000. In this
case, the funds go into an account managed by five village elders and the money
has been used on a dispute case with another village.
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Emerging Impact
o RMAs contributed towards rangeland improvement by providing watering ponds for livestock in the rangeland, using funds collected from communities in the area. In some villages, for example Shewaki, certain men were designated to graze cattle and were paid by the villagers.
o No new species of grasses of trees have been grown to improve the rangelands. Although communities believe that the new system has improved the productivity of grazing lands, there are insufficient data to estimate the costs and benefits of RMA activities.
o Overall, however, with one or two exceptions, there has been little tangible improvement in rangeland productivity so far.
Lesson Learned
o Since rangelands spread over a vast majority of area, it is important to involve all people who live in the vicinity of such lands and use these lands for grazing their animals. RMAs should have, therefore, broader membership to implement rules in an effective way.
3.2.6 Community based afforestation carried out and nurseries established
Due to aridity and elevation status, the vegetation in the project area belongs to scrub forests that fall under the category of Dry Sub-Tropical broad-leaved forests. The flora across the region consists predominantly of Ber, Kikar, however, the other major flora comprises of Olive, Phulai, Sanatha, Sisham, Mulberry, Siris, Shain, Date palm, Mazri palm, Van, Karir etc.
Climatic hazards, grazing, browsing and illicit cutting, adversely, affected the scrub vegetation in the area. To revitalize natural resources, the project facilitated communities in raising trees and establishing nurseries to conserve and enhance vegetation in the area.
The process / activities
o The project supported two main activities; one related to forestation and other nursery raising.
o After mobilization of communities, the project added its share in the form of material for the establishment of nursery structure, attainment of polythene tubes, utilization of compost and more importantly the provision of skills to undertake the activity. The project arranged training on nursery establishment and tree raising.
o Trees suitable to the local conditions were distributed to COs' members. These included forest and fruit trees of various varieties. The forest trees were planted on mini dams sites while the fruit trees were planted inside homes, where water was available.
Activities Results
o In total 42,369 fruit trees saplings were provided to 662 WCOs including guava, jamin, pomegranate and lemon etc (see table-18).
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Table: 18 (Fruit plants distributed to WCOs) Union Number of plants distributed Council 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Total Shakardara 1816 2670 740 1115 1112 870 8323 Urban Shakardara 1846 6924 1810 948 990 2000 14518 Rural Lachi 400 342 - 1320 - - 2062 Soodal 938 2265 6642 440 567 - 10852 Soorgul - 1400 - - 1321 - 2721 Shahpur - 800 - - - 800 Mandoori - 2023 - - 650 420 3093 Total 5000 17083 9192 3823 4650 3290 42369
o Similarly, 56,414 forest plants were provided to 45 MCOs (See table-19). Out of these, 42,714 were planted at the banks of 30 mini dams’ sites. The plants included Ber, Kikar and Eucalyptus.
Table: 19 (Forest plants distributed to MCOs) Union Council No of Plants Shakardara Urban 11714 Sharkardara Rural 25700 Soodal 19000 Total 56,414
Emerging Impact
o Women are the direct beneficiaries of this activity as fruit plants were provided to them only.
o According to some analysis, each year a tree could produce fruit worth Rs. 60. The plant survival rate remained 50%. The total annual income was estimated to be about Rs.0.47m.
o It is too early to assess the impact of forest tree.
Lessons Learned
o Vigorous follow up is needed to ensure the viability of forest trees.
o The project also introduced budding / grafting techniques for improvement in the local species of Ber in the area which proved quite encouraging. Therefore, investment in new technology transfer should get a priority in such initiatives.
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3.2.7. Communities trained in NRM techniques and practices
Capacity building of the communities was an integral component of the natural resource management programme of the LPRP. The objectives were to supplement the physical interventions and to enhance the capacities of the concerned communities to sustain the newly introduced practices in the long run.
The process / activities
o Training needs assessment exercises are undertaken and portfolios of different types of training are prepared.
o Communities identify the trainees in a general body meeting and recommend the name (s) to the project.
o Although, all expenses are borne by the project the communities, however, have to ensure that the people trained share their skills with their fellow villagers.
o Exposure visits by the communities to other projects are also arranged to learn and share field experiences.
o Some of the members were also trained as specialist in different sub sectors of agriculture. The objective was to transfer knowledge about new technologies and improved management practices gained through training to other members of the community. Some of these trainings included Agriculture specialist training, livestock specialist training, forestry development training, seed priming training, bee keeping and organic waste management training.
Activities Results
o The following table 20 summarizes the types of training imparted and number of people benefited. Table: 20 (Type of Training)
NRM activity 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 A-Number of participants Livestock 15 99 50 84 248 98 70 Solid waste management - 18 43 78 139 120 - Food processing - 66 33 - 99 80 - Backyard poultry 60 71 21 78 230 120 105 Commercial poultry 25 23 - - 48 33 45 Fisheries - - - 9 9 - - Wheat/grain storage - 48 370 - 418 57 - Kitchen gardening 30 51 284 326 691 551 233
Total 130 376 801 575 1882 1059 453 B-Number of WCOs/MCOs Livestock 5 63 16 15 99 50 - Solid waste management - 6 14 22 42 55 60 Food processing - 28 14 - 42 33 76 Backyard poultry 16 18 29 7 70 24 53 Commercial poultry 14 20 - - 34 - 23 Fisheries - - - 5 5 - - Wheat/grain storage - 2 62 - 64 23 - 33 Total 35 137 135 49 356 130 212
Emerging Impact
o The adoption rate and emerging impact of training are give in the table 21 below.
Table: 21(Training Impact)
Training Participants Adoption rate Annual rate Total income (Number) (%) (Rs) (00 Rs) Livestock 248 5 36,000 446 management Solid Waste 139 1 500 0 Management Food processing 99 4 24,000 95 Backyard Poultry 230 25 1,500 86 Commercial 48 0 - - poultry Wheat/grain 418 5 1,000 21 storage Kitchen gardening 681 7 2,250 107 Bee keeping 5 - 36,000 180 Total 936
Lessons Learned
o Proper Training Needs Assessment is an important component of any training programme. It helps in designing customized training modules which in turns has greater acceptability and adoptability among the recipients.
o In conservative areas like Lachi, efforts should be made to conduct training nearer to the residential areas of the trainees. This approach is more suited to train women in conservative societies.
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3.3 Output 03: Community based physical infrastructure developed
3.3.1 No. of community based physical infrastructure schemes completed
Water is a scarce and precious commodity in the project area which has been further aggravated by low and erratic distribution of the existing rainfall (see Figure 1 below). Other factors leading to low water availability in the area include surface and ground water scarcity, rapid water run- offs, sparse and remote limited water sources, low water conservation and inadequate water management techniques.
Figure 1.
Year Wise Rainfall (mm)
700 600 592.5 540 500 475.2 400 Rainfall 300 334.4 200 Rainfall (mm) Rainfall 100 0 20.4 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Year
Before the project interventions, people in the area, mostly women, used to fetch water from distant sources. Most of the times, humans and animals had to drink form the same source, occasionally from rain ponds. In addition to human consumption, water was also, insufficiently, available for livestock drinking and crops production. Water was thus the main priority that people identified in their first interaction with the Project. The project addressed this issue through different physical infrastructure schemes of which mini dams were the most prominent and beneficial.
Besides water, communities were also supported in improving the sanitation conditions in the area through the construction of pit latrines, street pavement etc.
About the community based mini dams
Unlike large water reservoirs in the country such as Tarbela or Mangla called “dams”, mini dams are small water storage structures with only 10 acre-ft water storage capacity. The water storage capacity in these mini dams is directly proportional to height of the structure and their height
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range from 10-35 ft (3-10 m). In contrast to large dams which are constructed and maintained by the Government, mini damns are constructed with the full participation of concerned communities.
Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of such structures are carried out by a committee formed by the members of the concerned community organization. Such committees usually mobilize funds through charging for services rendered by these structures and use it for any repair work, desiltation, control of sedimentation etc.
The mini dams constructed under LPRP can be classified into two major types; Embankment Ponds and Nullah Ponds. The differences between these two structures are summarized Table-22.
Table: 22 (Embankment and Nullah Ponds Features)
Embankment Ponds Nullah Ponds It is an earth embankment to intercept flow It is an earth/masonry structure to intercept flow from several small nullahs of bed widths from one medium-sized nullah of bed width 100- of 10-30 ft (3-10m). 300ft (30-90m)
Water stored in small nullahs and the land Water stored within banks of the nullah between the nullahs
Crest length of embankment is 400-700ft Crest length of embankment or masonry wall is (120-220m) 100-300ft (30-90m)
Maximum height of the embankment is Maximum height of the embankment is 15-35ft 10-20ft (3-6m) (4.5-10.5m)
Cost ranges from US $ 6,000-12,000 Cost ranges from US $ 7,000-14,000.
Water is mainly used for livestock Water usage is multiple including domestic, drinking livestock and fish farming.
Water is usually available for upto six Water is usually available for 6 months after end months after end of monsoon rains of monsoon rains. But in some cases it may remain for one year.
The process / activities
o The community members hold their internal, sometimes in the presence of project social mobilizer, and discuss their most urgent common need. They pass on a resolution signed by at least 70% of the community members requesting the project for support.
o The project after receipt of the resolution arranges pre-feasibility meetings among the members of community organization, project engineering and social section staff. Later on, project engineering and social section staff formulates a feasibility report mentioning the total cost of the scheme bifurcated by project and community shares. After agreement over the feasibility report between the project and community, it is then approved by the project management.
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o Community initiates work on the PSI (Productive Social Infrastructure) scheme after the first installment is released by the project in what is called the 3rd dialogue between community members and the project staff. In this meeting, a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) is also signed by both parties.
o The project’s share is in the form of 70% financial contribution to the development scheme along with technical inputs by its engineering staff. The community contributes 30% of the total cost of the development scheme plus bearing its operational expenses. o A sub committee is formed within the concerned community organization to construct the physical infrastructure under the technical guidance of the project engineering staff.
o The project releases its share in 3-5 installments based on the physical progress of the scheme. The last installment was to be released after the completion of the scheme.
o Community’s share is in the form of 30% cash though some of the very poor community organizations also contribute in kind by working as laborers.
Activities Results
o In the initial days of the project operation, the communities opted to install hand pumps to meet their drinking water needs at the door steps of the community members. This activity greatly helped the women folk who were responsible for fetching water. However, in the drought season, most of these hand pumps dried up due to deepening of water table.
o Thereafter the communities identified the construction of open dug wells. However this intervention had limited water and could not meet the needs of the whole community.
o The communities then floated the idea of construction of small water reservoirs / mini dams. This interventions proved very successful
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and a lot of water was conserved which was then used for human needs, livestock consumption and other value added activities.
o Type wise results of PSIs schemes are summarized in the following table.
Table: 23 MCOs Coverage WCOs Coverage Total PSI Type Schemes MCOs Villages Beneficiaries Schemes WCOs Villages Beneficiaries Schemes COs Villages Beneficiaries Dams 71 71 63 6,075 1 1 1 32 72 72 64 6,107 Dugwell 45 45 40 5,625 15 15 13 2,337 60 60 53 7,962 Handpump 23 23 18 1,788 12 12 12 1,044 35 35 31 2,832 Cause Way 5 5 4 1,620 - - - - 5 5 4 1,620 Diversion Bund 1 1 1 574 - - - - 1 1 1 574 Extension Pipe 6 6 6 1,578 2 2 2 302 8 8 8 1,880 Flood Protection 2 2 2 567 - - - - 2 2 2 567 Wall Irrigation 14 14 12 2,956 - - - - 14 14 12 2956 Link Road 5 5 5 860 - - - - 5 5 5 860 Pit Latrines 3 3 3 117 97 97 74 3,182 100 100 77 3,299 Street Pavement 46 46 33 5,633 1 1 1 285 47 46 34 5,918 Water course 3 3 3 2,230 - - - - 3 3 3 2,230 Total 224 224 190 29,623 128 128 104 7,182 352 351 294 36,805
o Type wise details of mini dams are given in the table 24 below.
Table: 24 (Mini dams types) Type of Dams Number Embankment ponds 25 Nullah ponds 22 Nullah ponds (Masonry) 12 Other 43 Total 102
Emerging Impact
1. Enhanced Water Availability
Water is central to the livelihoods of households living in rain fed (barani) areas. Sparse water resources in the project area are dependent on unpredictable and unreliable rainfall which is as low as 546 mm per annum of which about 40% is in the monsoon months of July to September and 38% in winter (January – April). The months of June, November and December are the driest months of the period. Water was therefore the top most priority of almost all communities that partnered with the project. The additional water made available by the project was used for human consumption, livestock drinking as well crops production.
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Livestock DWS Agriculture Water Utilization
27% 34%
39%
o Time Savings and Reduction in Women Workload
The overall inadequate availability of water in the project area and the location of water sources (if any) in far off areas has impacted the lives of people in many ways and especially that of women who are responsible for arranging water for household domestic consumption. Before project interventions, women would bring water manually or on donkeys from streams located at a distance of 2 to 5 kms away from their dwellings. Since most of the time was consumed on water fetching, women had little time for leisure and doing other productive activities. Also since they had to travel on hilly terrains, their health was also badly affected.
A few case studies reveal that the availability of water in the close proximity of households’ dwellings has now reduced the travel time to 0.7 hrs and has saved 0.8 to 2.8 hrs per day per family. The time thus saved is now productively utilized by women for different livelihoods activities like kitchen gardening, raising of backyard poultry, handicrafts, contributions to farm activities, tailoring etc. It is also expected that women health will be improved due to less travel on hilly and tedious terrains.
o Increased Animal Productivity
A little more than 50% of the beneficiary households are rearing animals (especially sheep and goats) that constitute a major share to their livelihood earnings. The animals depend primarily on grazing in the community lands and drink water from the nearby streams and ponds. Before the construction of water reservoirs, the farmers were compelled to take their animals outside their areas, especially in drought or dry months of the year. The insufficient availability of water had badly affected the livestock health and milk production. Additionally, opportunity cost for farmers was high as they had to spend more time on taking livestock for drinking water.
The availability of water has increased the frequency of animals watering and the average per animal water consumption was 25% higher in the areas where the project had facilitated the construction of water reservoirs than those without such facilities. This coupled with the
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decrease in incidence of diseases, has increased the number of animals (adult + young) from 9 heads per household before the availability of water reservoirs to 9.5 after its availability. Weighted number of animals per household has risen to 4.7 from 4.4 showing an overall increase of 6%.
The availability of nearby water sources has also helped farmers save considerable time which they used to spend on taking animals for watering. In monetary terms, annual savings range from Rs. 2300 to Rs. 69400 per beneficiary household. (Ref. Impact of Dams by Mr. Asif)
o Increased Crops Productivity
The project area is one of the food insecure regions of the country and crops productivity is very low to meet the food requirements of the local population. Because of inadequate irrigation water supplies, other productive resources, like land and human, are poorly utilized. The net effects have been in the form of lower crop intensity and yields.
The increased availability of water due to water conservation and the construction of water channels are expected to increase cropping intensity (C.I) and yields. As a result the cropping intensity increased from 80% without lining to 92% after lining. The following table 25, compares the returns of irrigated with that of un-irrigated lands.
Table: 25 (Increase in Cropping intensity) Crops Un-irrigated Irrigated C.I (%) Yield C.I (%) Yield (Kg/acre) (Kg/acre) Wheat 47 306 55 492 Groundnut 29 310 33 414 Melons 6 7200 7 8000 Fodder 10 3040 13 5120 Vegetables - - 1 4480 Total 92 - 109 -
o Increase in value of crops and beneficiaries incomes:
Based on the net value of crop production, Rs. 869 to Rs. 3,913 per annum/ acre increased in beneficiary farmer is expected. The following table 24, illustrates incremental increase in income from Wheat, fruits and allied vegetables, in the project area.
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Table: 26 (Incremental increase in income-Irrigated Vs. Unirrigated) Crops Un- Irrigated Incremental Increase irrigated Yield Yield Increased Price (Kg/acre) * Incremental (Kg/acre) (Kg/acre) in yield income
Wheat 306 492 186 23.75 4417.5 Groundnut 310 414 104 120 12480
Melons 7200 8000 800 45 36000
Fodder 3040 5120 2080 15 31200 Vegetables - 4480 4480 75 336000
Total - 280 420,097.5
* Ref: Prevailing market price in the project area
Source:http://www.parc.gov.pk/Stats/DataFrameset.htm http://www.apakistannews.com/wheat-support-price-fixed-at-rs950-per-40kg-yousuf-raza-gilani-83317
o Incremental income from Livestock:
It is estimated that on account of incremental livestock sale, time savings and milk production, an average Rs. 724 to Rs. 4254 per household per annum with either be saved or earned.
o Incremental income from Fish Production:
Fish is basically a non consumptive use of water though an important additional source of income of the rural communities. A few dams are already generating income with the sale of fish; however, most of them are still in inception
stage regarding fish production. Based on the 2005 2006 2007 Total data from a few dams, the estimated annual 2.5 income from the fish production is shown in the 2.17
Table-27. 2
Table: 27 (Income from fish production – Est. 1.5 Million PKR) 1.02 2005 2006 2007 Total 1 0.7 0.45 1.02 0.70 2.17 0.45 0.5
0 2005 2006 2007 Total
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Community Based Mini Dams
Lachi project introduced the concept of community based mini dams. The need for the dams was to be identified by the communities followed by a technical feasibility to be jointly carried out by the project technical staff and concerned communities. The construction of the dams was to be led by a committee identified by members of the community organizations and on average; it was constructed in 3-4 months.
The Mini Dams are low cost and high benefit schemes. The FIRR calculated for some of the mini dams ranges from 29- 36% while EIRR ranges from 18-26% (Ref: STUDIES OF LACHI’S WATER SCHEMES, Ian Tod, Asif Khan, & Shandana Khan, January 2005). The dams have led to increased agricultural and livestock productivity, reduced women work load and enhanced access to drinking water.
o Higher Financial and Economic Returns
The Internal Rate of Returns (IRR) of the mini dams range from 13-24 percent and much above the acceptable level. Even at 25% sensitivity analysis (increase in cost and decrease in benefits), the IRR was well above the acceptable level.
o Population Migration
Due to limited potential for agriculture, inadequate availability of water and opportunities for livelihoods, before project initiation, the area was characterized by out of town migration. As a result of the availability of water and improved livelihoods, some initial findings suggest reduction, and even reversal, in seasonal or permanent migration of people from their native areas to outside towns.
2. Enhanced community based hygienic practices
o Pit latrines have not only improved hygienic conditions at the household level but have also created awareness among the communities regarding the importance of personal hygiene. As a consequence, many people constructed pit latrines on their own.
o Similarly due to street pavement and the construction of bricked lanes, there are no longer any depressions and ditches wherein rain and waste water could accumulate. Before this facility, rain and waste water used to accumulate in streets and were providing
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breeding places for mosquitoes and other insects that were the causes of malaria and other water borne diseases. The findings of a Benefit Cost Analysis show that on average Rs. 42,425 per annum in financial terms and Rs. 36, 280 in economic terms is saved mainly on medical expenses due to the implementation of such schemes.
3. Enhanced communication facilities
o The project also supported the construction of a 5 km road that connected a remote village (MCO Atifabad) to a nearby market. The road has benefited 3000 households and an assessment of benefits from has revealed a financial return of Rs.42, 406 and economic return of Rs. 36,924 per annum to the concerned community.
Lessons Learned
o It is essential to carry out detailed technical, economic and social feasibility of such interventions before they are replicated at a larger scale. Involvement of concerned communities at every stage of the project cycle creates greater ownership amongst the beneficiaries.
o The project conducted a study to assess the rate of sedimentation in mini dams and recommended to construct check dams in the catchment areas above the mini dams. Based on this analysis, the project calculated the productive life of mini dams. It is therefore recommended that such studies as early as possible so that remedial measures can be taken on time.
o For human consumption, the water of mini dams need to be tested for dissolved salts, bacteria and other organic contaminants detrimental to human health.
o Soil salinization was observed on patches near to spill ways in certain areas. However, no prominent feature depicting water logging or salinity was concurrent. Drought, a natural calamity, is an important issue with respect to efficacy of these schemes. The dams are rainfall dependent and prolonged periods of drought and or erratic pattern and distribution of rainfall could adversely hamper the water storage of these dams.
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Table: 28 (Factors affecting performance of water schemes)
Description Factors 1 Small Catchment - No rainfall-runoff data. - No topographic maps. - Rainfall very variable
2. Siltation - Rainfall localized/Steep land gradient./Intense local rainfall/Sparse vegetation
3. Seepage through structure - Sandy soils/Construction method/Inadequate design.
4. Seepage through bed of - Sandy soils/Fines washed out/Method of construction reservoir
5. Quality of construction - Cost of hiring equipment/Shortage of staff/Remote locations.
6. Inactive CO - Internal conflicts/External factors.
7. Spillway inadequate - Inadequate design/Difficult soil condition.
8. Stilling basin required -Inadequate design/Shortage of staff
9. Insufficient design -Embankment downstream side slopes too steep/Limited design
Table: 29 (NRM Model Summary)
Program Rationale Approach Activities Pre-requisites Implementation Impacts Failures Strategies Sustainability Water Poor masses Process Mini-dams Sorting of Participatory Social Not Research Demand Resource approach communities planning acceptability excessive based Management Hilly terrain Handpump Increased Gender and dug Determining Design Improved Siltation management Addressing Low water equal wells willingness to construction and real needs availability participate accessible Damage Improved Construction water design Social Rapid run- Determining of schemes Design mobilization offs social, Reduction in problems Alternative economic & Cost bearing women arrangement Participatory Distant technical drudgery Lack of construction water viability Community labor communit Participatory sources Economic y follow resolution of Community Social viability up conflicts O&M Community Low water mobilization O&M conservation Low Seepage Capacity Community Project support Prioritization involvement building willingness
Low income of need of service to bear costs Capacity from providers building livelihood Community Savings
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3.4 Output 04: Micro credit made available and capacity enhanced for income generation activities
Indicators:
3.4.1 No. of micro loans disbursed 3.4.2 Beneficiary Managed Microcredit Model tested
Besides other constraints, people in the project area had limited access to financial services before the start of project operations. Before LPRP, the “village credit pool” model had been tested in one union council of Lachi namely Shakardara by its predecessor pilot project Micro credit & savings Instruments “South Asia Poverty Alleviation Programme –SAPAP”. However, the model could not produce the desired results mainly due to the lack of detailed technical and social feasibility before its operations and inadequate technical skills at the village level. LPRP therefore designed its credit operations keeping in view the lessons learned in its pilot phase.
The project started its credit operations in May 2001. In the initial stages, credit operations were mainly conducted by the project staff. However later on the project embarked upon testing a new model called “Beneficiary Managed Microcredit Model” with the objective to build community skills to run and sustain micro credit operations themselves.
About Beneficiaries' Managed Micro Credit Model The project piloted this new model of credit operation with one women village organization and two men village organizations. The objective was to first test the sustainability of the model at a lower level (village) before it is graduated to union council level.
Besides the capacity building of concerned village organization in credit operations, this model had the following features.
o Several community organizations are clustered into a Village Organization (VO). o VO has two paid staff; one Credit and Saving Facilitator and one Accountant. The project funds the salaries of these two staff @ Rs. 3,000 per month each for one year with the condition that the VO will be sustainable by the end of the year.
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o The project provides VO loans in bulk @ 8 percent flat interest whereas the VO makes onward disbursement to individual community members @ 15 percent. The 7% spread goes to the VO for its operational expense. o Loan recovery and default, if any, is the responsibility of the VO.
Main Activities
o Credit orientation training were conducted at the village to orient people to lending procedures, products and eligibility criteria.
o Loanees were trained in enterprise development skills to make productive use of loans. They were also trained in vocational skills / income generating activities.
o Potential loanees were linked with Bank of Khyber in case their credit demands exceeded the maximum ceilings offered by the project.
o Capacity building conducted of VOs with whom the new credit model was tested and regular monitoring of the financial sustainability of their credit operations undertaken.
Activities Results
o Under the normal credit procedures, 552 micro loans worth more than Rs. 40 million disbursed to 4,753 clients including 1,862 women with a recovery rate of around 90%.
o Under the Beneficiary Managed Microcredit Model, the following loans were disbursed.
Table: 30 (No. of loans disbursed under BMM Model) S.No Village Disbursement (Rs.) Clients (No) Recovery %age Organization 1. WDO Shakardara Male: - - Female: 2,098,000 165 100% 2. Bori Saghri Male: 538,000 76 Female: - 100% 3. Dhand Male: 524,000 56 Bakhtawara Female: 356,000 43 100% Total Male: 1,062,000 132 100% Female: 2,454,000 107
o To address women needs, the project leased out sewing machines on Islamic principles under its micro leasing product.
o Community members from 607 men and 837 women organizations were imparted training in tailoring, computer, knitting, embroidery, light engineering etc. The objective of these training was to enhance poor people’s skills for improved employment and productive use of credit.
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o The project also established 5 computer training centres in government schools with cost sharing from the concerned community organizations. Details are given below.
Table: 31 (Community contribution in establishment of IT centers) Name of IT center/CO CO contribution (Rs) Union Council
Muslim Abad 20,000 Jarma Soodal 18,000 Soodal Shakardara Town 12,000 Shakardara Town Shewaki 7,000 Soodal Nandraka 12,000 Shakardara Rural
Emerging Impact
An impact study conducted by Dr. Anwar F. Chishti, assistant professor Agriculture Economics Department, NWFP Agriculture University Peshawar during April to June 2003 finds that;
o Loans granted for enterprise development and livestock raising generated an incremental income of Rs.2067.32 per month. The incremental income-credit ratio was estimated at 0.1934, indicating that each rupee provided as credit generated Rs. 0.19 on monthly basis.
o The additional milch animals produced 5.02 liters of milk daily, of which 2.38 liters (47%) were used at home and 2.64 liters (53%) were sold out at market prices. The total milk produced thus generated and incremental (gross) income of Rs. 2630.20 per household per month. The incremental income credit ratio was estimated at 0.2435 indicating that a rupee of credit granted for livestock generated Rs.0.24 on average.
o The Incremental Income Credit Ratios (IICRs) estimated for credit provided for various enterprise, is higher for females (0.1536) than that of males (0.1236). It is true for credit provided for livestock in general. Results thus indicate that females have been efficient users of credit compared to male credit users.
The impact of credit disbursed by the VO is summarized below.
Table: 32 (One study explains impact of micro credit lending program) No Type Average loan size Average increase Return on investment (Rs) monthly income (Rs) Men Women Men Women Men Women 1. Enterprise 9588 7062 1853 2762 19.3% 39.11% 2. Livestock 8650 7500 1450 1375 16.76% 18.30% 3. Productive 9600 - 1600 - 16% - infrastructure
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Lessons Learned o The Incremental Income Credit Ratios (IICRs) estimated for credit provided for various enterprise, is higher for females than that of males. It is true for credit provided to livestock in general. Results thus indicate that females have been efficient users of credit compared to male credit users. And for more impact, micro credit should be coupled with enterprise development skills training. o Based on its field experiences, the project came to the conclusion that human resource development and financial assistance alone can’t help the rural community to overcome poverty. This requires revival of the micro economy will provide jobs and investment opportunities to local people. For this a complete business cycle has to be developed in collaboration with the community. o Village credit model was found very much effective in credit disbursement, credit recovery. It also reduces the operational cost and minimizes the risks. This bottom up approach was introduced in order to enable the communities to attain a level of maturity and skills imperative for operations of growing institutions. o Uncertainty about project continuity increased loan delinquencies. It also led to the conclusion that the projects of limited duration should not run credit operations. It is better to develop the outreach capacities of micro finance service providers instead of running a parallel programme. Such projects can also devote more funds to research and development.
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3.5 Output 05: Project Management, monitoring, evaluation and knowledge dissemination.
Initially, the project organizational structure included two offices; one Project Management Unit at Lachi and the office of National Project Coordinator (NPC) at Peshawar. However, later on due to security reasons, three offices were created out of the PMU; one field unit each at Lachi and Shakardara and one PMU at Kohat city. All the project staff, with the exception of National Project Coordinator who was on UNDP contract, was hired by Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP).
Besides the regular project management and monitoring activities, the project produced a number of knowledge products some of which are mentioned below.
o Natural Resource Management Manual for Semi Arid Areas
o Exploring enterprise development opportunities – a baseline survey of groundnuts in union council Soodal
o Summary of Participatory Impact Assessment Studies of LPRP’s Programme
o Impact Assessment Study of LPRP’s Microfinance Programme
o The Operation and Maintenance of Drinking Water Supply Schemes
o Impact Assessment and Advocacy – Microfinance Work of Lachi Project
o Impact Assessment of Small Water Dam Projects in Lachi Kohat
o Learning for Future – sharing experiences of human resources development by LPRP
o Evaluation Study on Credit Utilization by Women Loan Partners
o Participatory Impact Assessment of the Natural Resource Management Programme
o Studies of Lachi’s Water Schemes
o Proceedings of the National Workshop on Natural Resource Management
o Proceedings of the International Workshop on Lachi Experience of Small Dams
o Proceedings of the International Workshop on Credit plus Sustainable Development Summits
o Documentary (video) on Project’s Best Practice – aired on national and international TV channels
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3.6 Overall Project’s Implementation Constraints/ Challenges and Mitigation Strategies
3.6.1 Project Design:
When initially the pilot project (South Asia Poverty Alleviation Programme) was designed in 1997, it was more tilted towards the provision of micro finance services. The “village revolving fund” for internal lending operations was one of the main components of the project package. However during project implementation it was realized that a major overhauling in the project design was needed to accommodate community needs and priorities. Therefore when the up-scaled version of the project namely Lachi Poverty Reduction Project (LPRP) was designed in late 2000, the project design was adapted to ground realities and community needs. Moreover, enough room was provided in the project design for research and development actions and to incorporate any new interventions and adjust the ongoing ones to address emerging community issues.
3.6.2 Project Implementation:
The project was implemented in one of the conservative areas of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The project experienced intense difficulties in community mobilization in the initial days as the communities feared that the project was an agenda of the western missionaries to further their religious and cultural interests. Appreciating the importance of local elders in the rural setups of the target areas, the project started what it called “project introduction campaigns” with the local elders to take them into confidence on the objectives of the project. Once that was done, the staff then introduced the project at village level followed by formal formation of community organizations and thus initiation of the project implementation process.
The project also faced immense hurdles regarding the participation of women in the development activities. These constraints were overcome through a two pronged approach. In the first approach, the project started with the formation of men community organizations. The idea was to attain the confidence of the male counterparts by demonstrating the benefits of participation in project activities. Once that was done, mobilization of women became easier. Secondly, the project recruited local women as social mobilizers to persuade their fellow women to be partners with the project.
Resultantly, women constituted more than 40% of the total project beneficiaries which was one of the highest ratios by programmes in similar cultural milieus. Women actively participated in project activities and significantly contributed to the improvement of their own living conditions as well as that of their families.
3.7 Best Practices and Lessons Learned
There is no universally accepted definition of a "best practice." However, generally "best practice" is a practice that upon rigorous evaluation, demonstrates success, has had an impact, and can be replicated.
The terms "lessons learned" "good practices", and "promising practices" are all terms used to describe useful practices. These terms are often used to indicate practices or approaches that have not been evaluated as rigorously as "best practices", but that still
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offer ideas about what works best in a given situation. They can also be examples of how not to do something. "Lessons learned" are often "lessons from" a specific program or project and are not trying to be universal in scope or application. The terms "best practice" and "lessons learned" are often used interchangeably.
In this report, the “successful practices” have been grouped under the “best practice” heading whereas those which were not that successful have been reported under the “lessons learned” section.
3.7.1 Best Practices
3.7.1.1 Area Based Comprehensive Coverage: Generally rural areas are less populated as compared to urban areas. Due to low population density and their widespread location, access to target households and their mobilization therefore require more resources and time. The same was true for the project area namely Tehsil Lachi that has an area of 1166 square kms with around 5200 households in the year 1997 when the pilot project started. To optimize on cost and achieve developmental effectiveness, LPRP followed the “comprehensive union council3” based approach to social mobilization and livelihoods improvement. Under this approach, the project covered at least 70% of the households in a union council and organized them in grassroots community organizations before up-scaling into another area. This helped the project in the following ways:
o Maximum number of households was covered with decreased per unit operational cost as compared to other similar projects (see table 30) o Due to focus and concentration, the project could reach a high number of poor and poorest members of the society. o Greater impact was generated at the household level which also made easier for the project to quickly up-scale its interventions in other union councils of the project area.
Table 33: Budget cost effectiveness Efficiency - Budget (as of March 2006)
Approved Total Beneficiaries Cost per COMPONENT budget Utilization / Persons person 2000-2006 USD USD USD PROGRAM COST / COMMUNITY GRANTS: PRODUCTIVE & SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE 1,571,189 1,504,864 53,628 28 HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT 688,595 688,595 28,129 24 MICRO CREDIT 810,101 810,101 4,130 0.02* NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 223,985 223,985 93,128 2.4 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CENTRES (5) 58,664 58,664 374** 157 ADVOCACY (province, district and federal levls) 55,614 55,614 Sub - Total 3,408,148 3,341,823 179,015 19 PROGRAM SUPPORT COST: PERSONNEL/CONSULTANTS 1,693,826 1,489,156 OPERATION & MAINTENANCE 846,076 783,860 EQUIPMENT 165,719 165,719 Sub-Total 2,539,902 2,438,735 179,015 14 Total 5,948,050 5,780,558 179,015 32 * cost of disbursing one dollar **students enrolled so far
3 Union Council is the lowest level of governance structure in the devolved system of local government initiated in the year 2001.
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3.7.1.2 Bottom up Programming:
Another component of the comprehensive coverage was the designing of the project interventions based on rigorous consultations with the potential beneficiaries. The project started as a regular rural support project with standards project interventions of micro credit, skills training and physical infrastructure development. However in the initial dialogues, communities identified the water availability as the primary need of the area. Being a basic need of life, it was soon found that other livelihoods activities would difficult to be implemented if this basic need was not addressed. The project therefore adapted its package of interventions and involved the communities in all stages of project cycle. Community participation also made possible the mobilization of funds (as cost sharing) from the communities and inculcated a greater sense of ownership for the operation and maintenance of these activities.
3.7.1.3 Integrated Methodology:
This approach also promoted integrated methodology to poverty reduction. This was based on the fact that poverty being a multi facet issue needs a multidimensional package. The project therefore supported a number of “value added” activities to build on the success of water storage. For example, upon the availability of water, fish raising was introduced as income earning activity for the whole community. Similarly, new technologies like drip and sprinkle irrigation helped the farmers to increase agricultural productions on their marginal lands. Water tanks and supply pipes made drinking water available at the door steps of communities which drastically decreased the work load of women folk who were, primarily, responsible for water fetching in the rural setups.
3.7.1.4 Coordination and Linkages:
Resources (both technical and financial) under any programme or project are limited to fund all the development needs of any area. To address this constraint, the project fostered a system of coordination namely “district coordination forum” with and amongst different government departments / agencies and private service providers. The forum served as a platform for joint and coordinated monthly work planning and implementation in the area. The forum used to be, initially, convened by the project; however, later on it was done on a rotational basis by different government departments participating in the Forum. One of the outputs of this forum was the adoption of collateral (financial) free lending modality by one of the commercial banks namely Bank of Khyber. The bank disbursed millions of rupees to the communities for undertaking various income generating activities without bank guarantees.
At the community (receiving end) level, the project introduced the concepts of village and union council conferences as platforms for creating linkages between the communities and the service providers. The project used to organize these platforms on a regular basis and on special occasions to respond to different seasonal and problem specific needs of the communities (like in wheat sowing periods, at the time of pest attack on crops etc). The government departments and other service providing agencies used these forums to disseminate their messages, identify the target groups for their interventions and implement them through communities. Thus these forums not only helped in better targeting of different interventions by the service providers but also facilitated them in optimizing their operational costs and developing long lasting partnership with the communities.
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3.7.1.5 Capacity building:
Training of communities was an integral part of this approach. Since all of the project interventions were based on the active participation of communities, it was therefore important that they were capable enough to implement and maintain Comparison of Members & No- different development schemes on a members Selected sustainable basis. Communities were 120% 100% trained in the effective management of 100%
80% 63% 63% 61% their community organizations, needs 57% Memebers 60% 43% 38% 38% 39% identification and prioritization, 40% 20% Non- preparation of village development Election %age 0% memebers plans etc. The project also trained the 0% local government officials in Over all
participatory development approaches. Union Nazim Moreover, on the introduction of local Union Naib Nazim Uinion Men Councillor government system in 2001, the project Uinion WomenDetails Councillor of Seats mobilized communities to proactively participate in the local government elections. Resultantly, a large number of members of the project formed community organizations were elected as councilors. After the election, the project also trained the Nazims and Naib (deputy) Nazims4 on participatory development methodologies. Subsequently, many of them adopted the participatory methodology demonstrated by the project for the use of their developmental funds.
3.7.1.6 Research:
Research when done at the farmers’ fields and with their participation bears high level of acceptability amongst them than when done in isolation by the Research Departments.
3.7.2 Lessons learned
3.7.2.1 Institutionalization of project best practices Lessons learnt The project human resources •Community participation entails more ownership, low and, parts of the project cost and higher activities, were administered participation of poor by a local rural support •Surface water harvesting through small reservoirs programme namely Sarhad are more appropriate for Rural Support Programme (a arid and semi arid areas type of NGO). The positive •A project can just demonstrate a model, it is side of this implementation the Government to take it to modality was the project scale operation on a fast track basis with flexibility to innovate. However, on the other hand,
4 Nazim is the head of the union council level tier of the local government structure.
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the non involvement of the concerned government departments at the strategic level negatively affected the full fledge replication of the project by the government in similar socio-climatic conditions though parts of it, especially the rainwater harvesting component, was partly replicated in some of its similar interventions (e.g. the second phase of Barani Area Development Project). The lesson learned therefore suggests the involvement of the concerned government department/ agencies at the higher level are inevitable even if the project follows a NGO implementation modality. This will help in better internalization of the project successes in their business process and its up-scaling / replication in other similar geographical areas.
3.7.2.2. Project Design
The pilot project (SAPAP) started its interventions in 1997 and the project design was based on some broader indicators of poverty and physical infrastructure. A proper situational analysis did not precede the design of the project thereby affecting the relevance of the project scope to the needs of the people. That’s why the subsequent phases of the project (including that funded by UNTFHS) had to revise and adapt project interventions to address communities’ priorities.
3.7.2.3 Baseline Survey
Also a proper baseline should have been undertaken at the beginning to the project. This would have helped the project in assessing its impact in a more systematic manner.
3.7.2.4 Security Situation
The project operated in one of the southern districts of North West Frontier Province of Pakistan which was in close proximity with the tribal areas of the country. A major army operation against the extremists has been conducted which has adversely affected the security situation in the project area with a number of bomb blasts and suicide attacks. It, in turn, negatively affected the pace of project operations. The project document had not forecasted such a situation and had therefore made no provision in its budget to address such security concerns. It is therefore recommended that projects should make proper provision; both financial and operational, to manage / minimize the effects of such incidents.
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Project Location Map: Lachi Tehsil of District Kohat
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