Um Jawasir Community Development Project – Final Evaluation Report

Background:
 The Um Jawasir Community Development Project aims to increases the livelihood security of the Hawawir nomadic tribe living in
Um Jawasir, Northern State, Sudan, through improvements in agriculture and natural resource management, income generation,
health, literacy, and building capacity of local organisations. Initiated to assist the Hawawir in re-settling their homeland in
Um Jawasir following displacement in the 1980s by severe drought, the project has maintained a core emphasis on increasing
food security through agriculture while also evolving to a broader community development strategy.
The current final phase aims especially at consolidating achievements and ensuring sustainability.
 
Purpose/objective:
As guided by the terms of reference, the objectives of the final evaluation were:
1. To determine whether the objectives of the different components of UJCDP (and their outcomes and impact) as stated in the
logical framework were achieved; to identify lessons learned; and to provide recommendations for future operations to be
financed by NORAD or any other donor in similar projects.
2. To assess ADRA’s role and performance as an implementing agency.

Methodology:
The final evaluation methodology involved use of both secondary and primary data. The collection of primary data involved a
4-day visit to the project site and use of structured as well as semi-structured interview schedules. Data collection, analysis
and interpretation were guided by the final evaluation objective of assessing the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and
sustainability of the different components of UJCDP, and identifying the lessons learned. SWOT analysis was conducted for
the different project activities to reveal their strengths, weaknesses, and available opportunities, and perceived threats for
their sustainability. A participatory approach to collection and interpretation of relevant information was employed
 
Key findings:
The project's design and the progressive development of its objectives were evaluated positively by the beneficiaries who regard the project to have been successful in addressing their food security problems and income development needs. The project has also brought about positive behavioural and cultural change, and has improved the quality of life for a significant portion of its beneficiaries. The money spent by ADRA-Sudan and NORAD in the different phases of the project was invested effectively and efficiently in the building of the project’s infrastructure, in the development of local institutions as vehicles for sustaining the project’s activities, and in transforming the once vulnerable drought-affected nomads subsisting on animal raising into members of a settled agro-nomadic community enjoying food security, greater income development capacities, and expanding social services. The project constitute a model on how nomads can be prepared for sustaining desert farming under harsh conditions and managing demand-driven development initiatives for securing their livelihoods and improving their living conditions.

Significant progress was found to have been made by ADRA-Sudan in institutional support and capacity building work in UJCDP, especially over the past 5 years. However, it was found that local organizations are still in need for dependable sources of support to be enabled, as community representatives, to handle the project responsibilities in a sustainable manner following the withdrawal of ADRA-Sudan from the project area.

Agriculture was found during the final evaluation to be suffering from a sharp drop in the area under cultivation, mainly due to breakdown of pumps and encroachment by moving sands. Budget limitations have prevented the project from expanding its environment protection operations. Other factors that have led to reduction of areas under cultivation include the frequent breakage of irrigation units (pumps and engines), and farmer’s uncertainty about the economic viability of their farming operations, particularly because of the project administration's shift from providing direct support and subsidies to farmers to complete withdrawal of farm support services.

The newly established Um Jawasir Multi-Purpose Cooperative (UJMPC), which was registered in 2007, was able to get in-kind loans from the Agricultural Bank of Sudan and the State Ministry of Agriculture/Foreign Aid Food Security Projects for the agricultural operations for seasons 2007/2008 and 2008/2009. But for budgeting difficulties, the Bank failed to offer loans for the 2009/2010 season, and that created a problem for a considerable number of the project's beneficiaries. The relatively high cost of production, attributed mainly to high costs of irrigation, and sand movement into farmland have dwindled the returns from crop production. The small marginal profits will make it impossible for the cooperative to accumulate enough operating capital, even if it succeeds to obtain bank loans at the current high costs. It is a challenge for the cooperative to secure subsidized gasoline every season, which might not be granted despite the government policy which provides for supplying farmers with subsidized fuel. Hence, support of the cooperative and UJDC from humanitarian and donor agencies for 1 to 3
more years is deemed necessary. This support should be based on clear calculated productivity and profit margins and strict transparency by the committees in conducting all of their affairs. By the end, the committees would have accumulated enough working capital to sustain project activities through greater self-reliance. The operation of the cooperative during the proposed extra support period may be supervised by a technical manager, and one or two assistants, to be recruited from ADRA's field staff. Alternatively, staff members from the Northern State’s Ministry of Agriculture could be recruited to assist UJCDP with administrative matters and the channeling of technical support. This would be facilitated by the Northern State's Ministry of Agriculture which has plans to seek support to UJCDP from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as part of the National Food Security Programme which is supervised by Sudan's Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The long term sustainability of the project’s community development activities would be better facilitated by the establishment of a local voluntary organization at Um Jawasir that can serve as a vehicle for obtaining sustainable support from national and international humanitarian and development organizations. ADRA-Sudan and NORAD, as mother organizations, can play a crucial facilitative role, especially in the formative stage of the proposed Um Jawasir Voluntary Organization (UVO) which is here recommended as a means for augmenting the sustainability of UJCDP.

To conclude, UJCDP can be rated as a most successful model for settlement of nomads. The lessons learned from the experiences relating to its different components were identified by the consultant and listed as a final segment of this final evaluation report. These lessons represent recommendations for future operations to be financed by NORAD or any other donor in similar development projects.

Recommendations:
The consultant makes the following recommendations:
• The local organizations and committees should continue to receive support so that they can sustain the benefits
 gained and to address the constraints that might emerge.
• More efforts will be needed to equip farmers with the tools and mechanisms they can use to enforce transparency
of their committees, as well as methods the committees members can use to express transparency to the farmers and thereby build more trust.
• Due to the relatively high cost of production, support of the cooperative and UJDC for 1 to 3 years is deemed
necessary. This support should be based on clear calculated productivity and profit margins and strict transparency by the committees in conducting all of their affairs. By the end, the committees would have accumulated enough working capital to sustain project activities through self-reliance.
• The long term sustainability of the project’s community development activities would be facilitated by the establishment of a local voluntary organization that can serve as a vehicle for receiving support from national and international organizations.

Comments from the organisation, if any:
The report is a very good presentation of the data collected, however it does not address all of the objectives it was supposed to achieve, as stated on pages 7 and 153.  The report largely focuses on the agriculture component and provides little information on the project component working with women and youth.  The report fails to assess the extent to which the project’s objectives were achieved.