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Session Title: Using a Participatory Impact Assessment Approach to Measure the Effectiveness of Famine Relief and Increase Community Resiliency in Sub-Saharan Africa
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Panel Session 465 to be held in Calvert Ballroom Salon B on Thursday, November 8, 5:15 PM to 6:00 PM
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Sponsored by the Disaster and Emergency Management Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Carlisle Levine,
Catholic Relief Services,
clevine@crs.org
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| Discussant(s):
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| Peter Walker,
Feinstein International Center,
peter.walker@tufts.edu
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| Abstract:
With mounting emergencies around the world, donors are interested in the effective use of limited resources to address increasing needs. This includes increased interest in finding feasible and credible ways to measure that effectiveness. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Tufts University's Feinstein International Center are testing a Participatory Impact Assessment (PIA) method's ability to help those responding to food security crises judge the effectiveness of their interventions.
As participants in this effort, Catholic Relief Services and Lutheran World Relief will share their experiences piloting the PIA method in Mali and Niger respectively. Through their experiences, each is learning how using the PIA method can contribute to greater impact. Working in partnership, the participants and the NGOs achieve mutually satisfying outcomes, while engaged in a process that creates opportunity for decision making and builds participant capacity and ownership. This panel responds to broad interest in participatory monitoring and evaluation methods and provides a unique example of how such an approach can be used in an emergency response context.
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Using Participatory and Developmental Evaluation Methods to Contribute to Decreased Food Insecurity and Increased Tribal Peace in Niger: The Experience of Lutheran World Relief
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| Heather Dolphin,
Lutheran World Relief,
hdolphin@lwr.org
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| Jindra Cekan,
Jindra Cekan LLC,
jindracekan@yahoo.com
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| Abdelah Mobrouk,
Lutheran World Relief,
abdelah_lwrniger@liptinfor.net
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Increasing impact and long-term sustainability is the objective of every program. The question is how? LWR has been working in Niger alongside our partner, Contribution a l'Education de Base (CEB), taking both a deeply participatory and a developmental evaluation approach to affect both impact and sustainability. Community recipients strongly informed program design and their community leaders, including traditional and administrative leaders have become the drivers of the decision making related to project concerns. The often-antagonistic Tuareg and Fulani herders now meet regularly with settled farmer Tuareg and Hausa leaders to make decisions regarding project implementation and policy, to discuss conflict over land use and find common ground. This presentation will discuss in greater detail how the use of these participatory and developmental evaluation methods is contributing to decreased food insecurity and increased tribal peace in the region.
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Using a Participatory Impact Assessment Approach to Improve Household Resiliency to Food Security Shocks: Catholic Relief Services/Mali and the Douentza Circle in Crisis
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| Moussa Sangare,
Catholic Relief Services,
mbsangare@crsmali.org
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| Abderahamane Bamba,
Catholic Relief Services,
abamba@crsmali.org
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In international relief and development, implementing agencies and program participants might define positive impact differently. Bringing together all stakeholders to define and measure impact can lead to a common understanding of intervention effectiveness, greater intervention relevance, and increased probability that positive results will be sustained.
In response to the locust invasion and drought in the region of Douentza, Mali, Catholic Relief Services/Mali and the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) partnered to improve the food security of vulnerable communities. To measure the effectiveness of the intervention, the project is using a Participatory Impact Assessment (PIA) approach, involving all stakeholders in developing and using performance indicators to monitor progress. Using PIA has increased community members' responsibility and investment in the project, and increased implementing agency understanding of meaningful impacts as perceived by community members.
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