Target Research Q Partnership NE Wing, Agriculture House 1 Adylinn Rd Marlborough Harare Tel/Fax: 263-4-309846/8; 309412 / 011 767 941 e-mail: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Managing Director / Partner: Caroline Trigg RESEARCH REPORT Evaluation of Livelihood Components of Oxfam’s Protracted Relief Programme in Zimbabwe to date, and Communities’ Needs Identification Prepared for: Oxfam GB Date: 1st May 2006 Table of Contents Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (i) MAIN REPORT 3 1. BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES 3 2. METHODOLOGY 5 2.1 Rationale 5 2.2 Sample 6 2.3 Research Team & Timing 8 3. RESEARCH FINDINGS 9 Main Needs in the Community, and Amongst the Most Vulnerable; 9 3.1 Priorities of Other Stakeholders 3.1.1 Masvingo Province 9 3.1.1.1 Community Needs 9 3.1.1.2 Vulnerable Groups & Their Priority Needs 11 3.1.1.3 Priorities of Community Leaders & Stakeholders 12 3.1.1.4 Root Causes of Problems & Suggested Solutions 13 3.1.2 Midlands Province 16 3.1.2.1 Community Needs 16 3.1.2.2 Vulnerable Groups & Their Priority Needs 17 3.1.2.3 Priorities of Community Leaders & Stakeholders 18 3.1.2.4 Root Causes of Problems & Suggested Solutions 19 Overall Knowledge & Perception of the Protracted Relief 3.2 23 Programme 3.2.1 Masvingo Province 23 3.2.2 Midlands Province 26 3.3 28 Performance of the Project – Relevance & Effectiveness 3.3.1 Masvingo Province 28 3.3.1.1 Relevance, Effectiveness & Sustainability of PRP 28 1 3.3.1.2 Targeting & Involvement in PRP by the Community 30 3.3.1.3 Most Important Community Needs Addressed? 32 3.3.1.4 Activities That Have Been Particularly Successful 33 3.3.1.5 Activities That Worked Less Well 34 3.3.1.6 Gender and HIV/AIDS Addressed by PRP? 35 3.3.2 Midlands Province 35 3.3.2.1 Relevance, Effectiveness & Sustainability of PRP 35 3.3.2.2 Targeting & Involvement in PRP by the Community 38 3.3.2.3 Most Important Community Needs Addressed? 41 3.3.2.4 Activities That Have Been Particularly Successful 42 3.3.2.5 Activities That Worked Less Well 44 3.3.2.6 Gender and HIV/AIDS Addressed by PRP? 46 3.4 Impact on Poverty 47 3.4.1 Masvingo Province 47 3.4.2 Midlands Province 51 3.5 Performance of OXFAM & Project Partners 55 3.5.1 Masvingo Province 55 3.5.2 Midlands Province 57 Lessons Learned (Suggestions for New Activities/Changes in 3.6 59 Current Activities) 3.6.1 Masvingo Province 59 3.6.2 Midlands Province 61 APPENDICES (Under Separate Cover) Appendix I Key Informant Questionnaire Appendix II Community Group Discussion Guide Appendix III Selected Quotations from Key Informants Appendix IV List of Key Informants 2 MAIN REPORT 1. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Oxfam GB (OGB) is an international non-governmental organisation. Since July 2004 the organisation’s Protracted Relief Programme (PRP) in Zimbabwe has focused on addressing livelihoods and sanitation needs in the provinces of Midlands (Chirumanzu and Zvishavane districts) and Masvingo (Masvingo and Gutu districts). The project is currently supporting approximately 12,000 households. In Masvingo province PRP activities are implemented through Oxfam’s local partner, RUDO (Rural Unity for Development Organisation), whilst in Midlands, OGB is implementing PRP activities directly. Other key partners are CIMMYT, ICRISSAT, FAO, TLC and AREX, for technical input and monitoring as well as advice on programming. The activities currently being implemented under the Programme across 17 Wards in the four districts are: livestock and seed fairs, conservation agriculture, micro-dosing, nutrition gardens and latrine construction. In light of the experience gained through the Protracted Relief Programme, Oxfam GB now intends to scale down the free distribution of seeds and fertilisers and concentrate on expanding seed multiplication, conservation agriculture and community garden activities as a way of strengthening household livelihood security. Vulnerable households will be supported to access draught power, small livestock and other farming inputs. Whilst there will be continued assistance to improving sanitation in the area, the PRP will also incorporate the rehabilitation of community boreholes and will explore the potential for the integration of borehole repair with improved water supply for seed multiplication and community gardens. The Programme will also implement a new community health club approach towards improving water, sanitation and other related public health areas. 3 The PRP is part of Oxfam GB’s Regional Livelihoods and Public Health Programme in Southern Africa which consists of two main elements: 1. Livelihoods 2. Water and sanitation (WATSAN) and public health. The goal of the project is to contribute to the immediate and longer-term livelihoods’ recovery of vulnerable households in Masvingo and Midlands provinces of Zimbabwe. The purpose of the Programme is to protect the livelihood and food security of vulnerable people in Midlands and Masvingo provinces and to improve their health through better access to clean water, sanitation and the introduction of improved hygiene practices. The Programme aims to address the following problem areas: • Reduced access to food and other essential items; • Reduced crop and livestock production; • Reduced employment and income earning opportunities; • Declining health status; and • The adoption of damaging coping strategies thereby threatening even further future livelihood security. Communities have been involved at all levels in decision making about the project locations, the frequency of receiving benefits by a household, and the ranking and targeting of the beneficiaries themselves. A participatory, community-based identification methodology, supported and verified by OGB and partner field staff, was employed to select beneficiaries. Oxfam’s strategy is to move from an input-oriented approach to one which promotes the diversification and protection of livelihoods over the course of the three-year Programme. Oxfam is concerned that the Programme evolves into a more participatory community-based intervention that builds the capacity of vulnerable communities to withstand and recover from future shocks and stresses. It is felt that, to date, there has been a lack of community participation and capacity building. 4 In advance of the Programme entering its third year in August 2006, Oxfam GB commissioned an evaluation of the livelihoods component of the Programme, including some information collection on WATSAN and the public health component, to ensure that the activities that have been and currently are being implemented are appropriate, relevant, complementary and in line with the overall PRP goals. The evaluation was also designed to collect information that will feed into the design of more innovative and sustainable activities for the third year of the Programme. Lessons learned from the past two years will be used to improve upon and reconfigure the Programme in its third year. This assessment is a rapid assessment of the livelihoods component of the project to date, including some information on water and sanitation and public health issues. 2. METHODOLOGY 2.1 Rationale Consistent with international practice1, three main evaluation criteria provided the basis on which Programme achievements and impact were assessed: • Performance of the project; • Impact on poverty; and • Performance of the partner organisations. Each criterion was divided into a number of different elements. The first, performance of the project, captured the extent to which project objectives are consistent with the priorities of the rural poor and other stakeholders (relevance), and how well the project has performed in delivering against objectives (effectiveness). Normally this criterion includes an examination of how economically resources have been converted into results (efficiency). However, this rapid assessment was not designed to evaluate the economical efficiency of the project. 1 Ref: IFAD 5 The sub-criterion of relevance focused on the quality of project objectives: Have the right things been done? The effectiveness sub-criterion focused on the extent that the right objectives have been achieved: Have things been done right? In other words, examination of the performance of the project looked at the question “Were the right things done right?” The impact on poverty criterion assessed the impact that has occurred by the second year of the project in terms of the changes in the lives of beneficiaries, intended or unintended, to which Oxfam GB’s interventions have contributed, as well as the likely sustainability of such changes. The impact on physical and financial assets, human assets, social capital, people’s empowerment, food security and the communal resource base was also evaluated during the course of the research. The third criterion, performance of the partners, addressed how well OGB and its partners (RUDO and others) identified, prepared and supervised the project, and the contribution each made to the success of the project during implementation. In addition, identification of the communities’ needs and suggestions for the future were specific areas which were explored. 2.2 Sample This assessment was participatory and qualitative rather than quantitative in nature. The following approach was employed: In-depth interviews were held with 12 key informants in each of the two provinces. A copy of the questionnaire appears in Appendix I. The researchers in each area identified key informants, with the full cooperation of the project partners, and with some assistance from key informants themselves. A list of key informants appears in Appendix IV. 6 Six key informants in Chirumanzu and six in Zvishavane were represented in the evaluation of the PRP in the Midlands. In Masvingo province, 7 key informants were represented from Gutu and 5 from Masvingo rural. Two community group discussions were held per district, thus 4 per province and 8 altogether. Between 25-35 community members attended each group discussion. Participants included project beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, though they were weighted towards the former.