Login

Niger - Climate Resilient Agriculture

central
Reference ID DDI-ner-socialimpact-2021
Year 0
Country Niger
Producer(s) Social Impact, Inc.
Sponsor(s) Millennium Challenge Corporation - MCC -
Metadata PDF Documentation in PDF
Created on Apr 12, 2021
Last modified Jun 09, 2021
Page views 896
Downloads 106
Overview
Identification
Country
Niger
Evaluation Title
Climate Resilient Agriculture

Evaluation Type
Independent Evaluation
ID Number
DDI-ner-socialimpact-2021
Version
Version Description
Anonymized dataset for public distribution

Overview
Abstract
This evaluation design reflects discussions with MCC's Evaluation Management Committee (EMC) in November 2020 and reflects the committee's request to forego baseline data collection. For the grant facility evaluation, the design includes a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative data to provide a nuanced understanding of the successes and challenges of these investments. The ICRIPs evaluation will be primarily qualitative, though some secondary quantitative data will be used for triangulation.

Grant Facility Evaluation Questions:

Sub-Activity Objective: How and to what extent have household and organizational incomes changed as a result of the activity?

Sub-Activity Outcomes: How and to what extent were the project outcomes achieved?

Grant Implementation: How and to what extent were the individual grants implemented as planned?

Facility Implementation: How and to what extent was the facility as a whole implemented as planned?

ICRIPs Evaluation Questions:

Sub-Activity Objective: How and to what extent have household incomes and food security changed as a result of the activity?

Sub-Activity Outcomes: How and to what extent were the project outcomes achieved?

Sub-ICRIP Implementation: How and to what extent were the individual sub-ICRIPs implemented as planned?

ICRIPs Sub-activity Implementation: How and to what extent was the ICRIPs activity as a whole implemented as planned

Evaluation Methodology
Other (Performance Evaluation)
Units of Analysis
Individuals, households, community, enterprise, other.

Geographic Coverage
Intended CRA Activity beneficiaries are agro-pastoralist and farmer households in targeted communes whose incomes are expected to increase as a result of Activity interventions. These include integrated agricultural practice investments, improvements in the utilization rate of selected and drought-tolerant seeds, rehabilitation and development of new, small-scale irrigation schemes, reclamation of agro-pastoral degraded land, protection of agricultural soils and watersheds from erosion, and productive asset funding for farmers and agribusinesses. The Activity focuses specifically on those in rural regions because of low bank penetration and agricultural lending rates in those areas.

Grant Facility

The Activity aims to adequately distribute grants across targeted geographies by awarding at least one grant (of any size) in each of the 16 ICRIPs eligible communes. The facility windows will also provide grants to cooperatives and producer groups in two additional large-scale irrigation perimeter Dosso region communes, Tanda and Gaya, bringing the total targeted commune number to 18. CRA grants will award a minimum of two grants in Tanda and Gaya each so cooperatives and producer groups in the IMAP communes can access financing for productive projects during and after the restructuring of water cooperatives into Water User Associations.

ICRIPs

ICRIPs is estimated to support 25,736 individual beneficiaries (3,217 households) in 16 targeted communes across four regions.

Topics
TopicVocabularyURI
Agriculture Agriculture and Irrigation
Keywords
Agriculture, Climate, Reslience
Producers and Sponsors
Primary Investigator(s)
NameAffiliation
Social Impact, Inc.
Funding
NameAbbreviationRole
Millennium Challenge Corporation MCC
Metadata Production
Metadata Produced By
NameAbbreviationRole
Millennium Challenge CorporationMCCReview of Metadata
Social Impact, Inc.SIIndependent Evaluator
Date Produced
2021-04-05
Metadata Version
Version 1.0 (April 2021)

Metadata ID Number
DDI-ner-socialimpact-2021
MCC Compact and Program
Compact or Threshold
Niger Compact
Program
The Government of Niger (GoN) and MCC signed a Compact Agreement on July 29, 2016 to recognize MCC's provision of a US $437 million grant to the Government. The five-year Compact entered into force on January 26, 2018 and will end in January 2023. The Compact's stated goal is to increase rural incomes by improving the sustainable productive use of natural resources for agricultural production and improve trade and market access for agricultural products. The Compact consists of two projects: the Irrigation and Market Access Project (IMAP) and the Climate-Resilient Communities Project (CRC). The CRC Project consists of two activities: the Regional Project in Support of Pastoralism in the Sahel (PRAPS) and the CRA Activity. PRAPS focuses on livestock development, while the CRA Activity concentrates primarily on agricultural development. This evaluation focuses on the CRA Activity.
MCC Sector
Agriculture and Irrigation (Ag & Irr)
Program Logic
The CRA Activity aims to achieve sustainable increases in productivity and farm incomes in eligible communes by strengthening farmer and agro-pastoralist resiliency to adverse climate impacts. The sub-activities under the CRA Activity include the Integrated Climate Resilient Investment Plans (ICRIPs) Sub-Activity and the CRA Grants Facility Sub-Activity. The latter includes two funding windows: CRA Grants and Private Sector Partnerships (PSP). The theory of change (TOC) for the CRA grant and PSP windows of the grant facility are quite similar and fit within the model depicted above. They both aim to improve productivity and quality as a means of increasing the volumes and values of products sold, with the ultimate intention of increasing the incomes of rural households. Per discussions with MCC, the inclusion of "improved food security" as part of the goal/objective depicted above is more closely related to other activities in the Compact and does not directly apply to the grant facility. There are two key differences between the logic for the CRA grant and PSP grant windows, related to the extent of BDS support services and the role of access to finance. The CRA grant window is open to organizations that are substantially smaller than those eligible under the PSP window. Given their smaller size and expected lower levels of experience and expertise, the BDS services are primarily aimed at the CRA grantees and not the larger and more experienced PSP grantees. On a similar note, access to finance and the investment of additional capital outside the grant is anticipated to play a much larger role for PSP grantees than it is for the smaller CRA grantees. The ICRIPs Sub-Activity program logic has not yet been updated based on the evolutions in the focus of ICRIPs interventions that can be funded by MCC. Thus, some outcomes in the logic (such as "Improved Physical Capital (water, roads, energy)") are no longer wholly accurate. Nonetheless, the overall logic and TOC remains intact. Through training and improvements to natural and public infrastructure, beneficiaries are expected to realize increased productivity and quality of produced products. This is intended to increase overall volumes and values of goods and, ultimately, incomes and food security.
Program Participants
CRA Activity beneficiary analysis is expected to be updated following approval of final Round Two CRA grants and the PSP grants. The ICRIPs Sub-Activity is expected to benefit 3,217 households, amounting to 25,736 individual beneficiaries across the targeted communes through small scale irrigation. These figures were calculated by prorating the WB beneficiary numbers for the initial 30 communes where they identified irrigation potential.