Mid term evaluation report - CLED Maringue: Promotion of sustainable energies

Background:
This project is being implemented by ADEL-Sofala in Maringue district, province of Sofala, Mozambique, since 2008. In Sofala, access to energy is generally limited to firewood and charcoal. Electricity is non-existent in most areas and access to alternative energy sources is rare. Families, especially women, use daily several hours for collecting fuel wood. Further it is an increasing conflict over access to diminishing wood resources, between household use and production of charcoal for sale out of the community. Improved energy supply is seen as a very important tool for poverty reduction. The project in Maringue aims to strengthen the capacity of local communities and civil society organizations in promoting sustainable practices in the use of natural resources.

Purpose/objective of the evaluation:
This intermediate evaluation should help the local project committee, ADEL-Sofala and Naturvernforbundet to make sure that the project is able to reach its objectives and indicators for the three-year period. The findings, conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations of the evaluation should therefore be useful during the planning and implementation of the activities in 2011.

Methodology:
The methodology consisted of a desk review on the basis of project documents, progress reports and work schemes. Documents which have to do with government strategies in the promotion of energies and sustainable use of natural resources were taken into consideration. Then field work was done, including face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 72 people representing all the stakeholders.

Key findings:
The evaluation found out that direct beneficiaries and other partners stand up for the innovation and relevance of the project taking into account that Maringue is a seriously affected district by timber exploration and informal charcoal producers. Local communities in Maringue are now learning the need to use renewable and sustainable energy solutions.

It was noticed that the established monitoring and evaluation system is so simple that sometimes it cannot cover other relevant activities for the project like the type of established partnerships, mobilization of resources, contribution in achieving objectives of district development etc.

The project has contributed a lot to improve the representation of the community, as there has been created a platform to provide a voice to the most vulnerable people. It is also worth mentioning the marketing and publicity services that ADEL provided for the project at the national level something that advanced this experience which is taken to be good practice by the Government as well as by other partners. Several reports were produced on top national newspapers and televisions, thus creating an opportunity for easy replication of the initiative at the level of Sofala province or other regions in the country.

As most people in Maringue depend on incomes from farm products the drought in 2010 gave as a result that purchase of sustainable energy products decreased, despite its importance. For those who received credit it was also difficult to pay their instalments on time.

There has been a need of clarifying objectives and intervention priorities of some components and adjust some activities which at the beginning were not in line with local priorities. Lack of technical expertise of the local project staff has negatively affected the performance of the project.

Recommendations:
The project should make use of the local project committee and the communities’ Natural Resources Management Committees (NRMC) as lobbyists on the project. ADEL and the project enjoy sympathy with the district Government, in such a way that it is necessary to use this partnership to strength the promotion of use and access of sustainable energies through local public resources.

ADEL needs to continue to advocate for fair and transparent management of the NRMCs and the project committee, in other to ensure that the communities are well represented in these forums and guarantee that their voice is heard.

ADEL should work with local authorities so that they can support sensitization activities to local communities on various subjects related to the project, such as adherence to the use of improved stoves, the need to return the credit money so that other people can benefit from it, and other issues.

Articulation of the technical level within the project is important so that technical support can be provided to beneficiaries, to local Government and other existing forums at the district and province level.

ADEL should assist in improving the negotiation capacity of NRMCs towards operators and wood explorers to enforce the legislation in force with the aim of benefiting local communities.

Although capacitating NRMCs has been undertaken for some areas it is still important on what concerns to territorial diagnosis and design of projects so that resources allocated to NRMCs may exactly be used to benefit communities they represent.

The project must support the NRMCs in designing project proposals with the objective of submitting them to funding application at the District Development Fund or search for other sources for resources mobilization at the local level, as to respond to lack of cash and capacity to pay beneficiaries.

Comments from the organisation, if any: