MONITORING and EVALUATION REPORT (October 2013 – September 2014)
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AFRICA RESEARCH IN SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION FOR THE NEXT GENERATION (AFRICA RISING) USAID’S SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION IN AFRICA MONITORING AND EVALUATION REPORT (October 2013 – September 2014) APRIL 2015 The Africa Research In Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING) program comprises three research-for-development projects supported by the United States Agency for International Development as part of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative. Through action research and development partnerships, Africa RISING will create opportunities for smallholder farm households to move out of hunger and poverty through sustainably intensified farming systems that improve food, nutrition, and income security, particularly for women and children, and conserve or enhance the natural resource base. The three regional projects are led by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (in West Africa and East and Southern Africa) and the International Livestock Research Institute (in the Ethiopian Highlands). The International Food Policy Research Institute leads the program’s monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment. http://africa-rising.net/ This document is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License Table of Content List of Tables .............................................................................................................................................. 4 List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Acknowledgments....................................................................................................................................... 5 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 6 2. M&E goals and objectives .................................................................................................................. 7 2.1 Monitoring .................................................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Evaluation..................................................................................................................................... 7 3. M&E Activities in Fiscal Year 2014 ................................................................................................ 12 3.1 Adaptation of household and community survey tools .............................................................. 12 3.2 Screening and recruitment of survey firms ................................................................................ 14 3.3 Survey tool programming........................................................................................................... 14 3.4 Household listing........................................................................................................................ 15 3.5 Conducting and supervising trainings ........................................................................................ 15 3.6 Implementation of ARBES ........................................................................................................ 17 3.6.1 Ethiopia ARBES sample ..................................................................................................... 18 3.6.2. Ghana ARBES sample ........................................................................................................ 20 3.6.3. Mali ARBES sample ........................................................................................................... 22 3.7 ARBES data cleaning and documentation ................................................................................. 24 3.8 ARBES data processing and sharing .......................................................................................... 24 3.9 Analysis of ARBES data and preparation of survey reports ...................................................... 25 3.10 The 2014 annual M&E expert meeting .................................................................................. 25 3.11 Africa RISING data management plan ................................................................................... 26 3.12 Updates to Africa RISING Project Mapping and Monitoring Tool (PMMT) ........................ 26 3.13 PMMT trainings to AR researchers ........................................................................................ 28 3.14 Reporting and processing of 2014 FtF indicators through the PMMT................................... 28 3.15 Cataloging of AR data ............................................................................................................ 28 3.16 Ongoing research papers, proposals, and concept notes ........................................................ 29 3.16.1 Characterization and targeting analysis .............................................................................. 29 3.16.2 Willingness to pay and impact study .................................................................................. 29 3.16.3 Bio-economic modelling of household farm production and its linkages to the environment 30 3.16.4 Assessing farm-level trade-offs between organic and inorganic nitrogen fertilizers ......... 31 3.16.5 Sustainable intensification and nutrition ............................................................................. 31 3.16.6 Climate Smart Agriculture .................................................................................................. 32 3.16.7 Land cover changes and poverty dynamics ........................................................................ 32 3.17 Partnerships and collaborations .............................................................................................. 32 3.18 Some M&E challenges during Fiscal Year 2014 ................................................................... 33 4. M&E Activities Planned for Fiscal Year 2015 ................................................................................. 35 4.1 Clean, analyze, and share results from ARBES survey data ...................................................... 35 4.2 Conduct additional updates to the PMMT ................................................................................. 35 4.3 Conduct additional PMMT trainings.......................................................................................... 35 4.4 Cataloging of AR data through ILRI’s CKAN .......................................................................... 35 4.5 Research and communication..................................................................................................... 35 4.6 Organize the 2015 annual M&E expert meeting ........................................................................ 36 4.7 Attend program- and project-level meeting and field trips ........................................................ 36 4.8 Reporting of 2015 FtF indicators data........................................................................................ 36 4.9 Assist with the development of sustainability indicators ........................................................... 36 4.10 Partnerships and collaborations .............................................................................................. 36 5. Summary and conclusion .................................................................................................................. 37 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................. 39 Appendix A. PMMT Training feedback from East and Southern Africa mega-site ................................ 41 Appendix B. PMMT Training feedback from West Africa mega-site ..................................................... 42 Appendix C. Meta-data submitted (as of April 15, 2015) ........................................................................ 43 List of Tables Table 3.1 Summary of contents of ARBES tool (household) ................................................................... 13 Table 3.2 Summary of contents of ARBES tool (community) ................................................................. 14 Table 3.3 Survey personnel trainings for ARBES (by country and gender) ............................................ 15 Table 3.4 Summary of ARBES communities (by country and type) ....................................................... 17 Table 3.5 Summary of ARBES sample (by country and beneficiary status) ............................................ 18 Table 3.6 Interviewed ARBES households in Ethiopia (by community and beneficiary status) ............. 18 Table 3.7 Interviewed ARBES households in Tanzania (by community and beneficiary status) ............ 19 Table 3.8 Interviewed ARBES households in Ghana (by community and beneficiary status) ................ 21 Table 3.9 Interviewed ARBES households in Mali (by community and beneficiary status) ................... 23 Table 3.10 Updated PMMT functionalities .............................................................................................. 27 List of Figures Figure 2.1 Evaluation design for Africa RISING program....................................................................... 10 Figure 3.1 Agro-ecologies represented by AR action sites in Ethiopia ...................................................