The SSE Programme - Project review of Arid Zone Agricultural Project (DAZA) in Macina Cercle in the region of Segou, Mali.

Abstract

Care-Mali's development project in Macina, Development of Arid-Zone Agriculture (DAZA) is into its second phase, defined to last from 1994-to Dec. 1998. With the final goal of increasing food security in the area, the present core activities fall within three main components: 1) agricultural extension, 2) support to village institutions and 3) institutional reinforcement. At the end of this period the project plans to des-engage. A mid-term evaluation (in this review referred to as MTE 96) of phase Il took place in November 1996. The evaluation was mainly positive, underlining the high quality of a committed staff, its sustained contact with project beneficiaries, its use of participatory methods, its will to deemphasise or curtail activities that had not produced significant results, and its efforts to sustain ongoing activities. However, the evaluation team also stated some major concems and criticisms. DAZA had not gathered systematic information about household livelihood conditions and wealth differences in its zone of intervention. This lack made it difficult to assess the extent to which DAZA's core activities corresponded to the principal needs and priorities of the local population. It also made it difficult to develop meaningful impact measures. Finally, DAZA defined farming households and farmer structures as their main partners. However, it was not known whether the activities carried out in fact benefited the stated target group; food-insecure households. To address these problems, the team recommended that DAZA should gather types of information that would allow the project to better orient its activities in relation to its objectives, its target groups and the populations' needs and priorities. In view of the phasing-out of the project at the end of 1998, another concem was the non-sustainability of some central activities.