Essence of the project goal and purpose level objectives

Background of the Project

The NSRDP was formulated and appraised by IFAD in 1997 and approved by the Executive Board of IFAD in December 1997. The loan became effective on 30 March 1998.

The project has four components: (A) Agricultural Development; (B) Income Diversification; (C) Rural Infrastructure Development; and (D) Institutional Strengthening. The project implementation period is 6 years, with a loan closing date of 31 December 2004. The total project costs are USD 10.24 million, financed by an IFAD loan of USD 7.28 million (SDR 5.3 million), government counterpart contribution of USD 0.95 million, beneficiary contribution of USD 0.53 million and a UNDP TA grant of USD 1.48 million. As of 4 September 2000, SDR 1.2 million of the IFAD loan has been disbursed, or 23%.

The project objective is to improve the income and alleviate poverty of the local poor population. In particular it is intended that the midland and upland population will be enabled to participate in economic and social development, by promoting agricultural and livestock development, income diversification, development of rural financial services (credit) and improved health services, potable water supplies and education structures. In addition, the project will provide financing to support improvement of all weather road communication in the project area, strengthening of government implementation capacity, introduction of participatory development methodology and development of community ownership and responsibility of the maintenance of works.

The project implementation started in the field in June 1998. As of end of August 2000, the project has started active intervention in 43 villages in four districts in the Sayabouri Province. Overall, the project progress has been slow but within the range of the targets projected by the appraisal. The slow progress is mainly due to a combination of a number of factors, such as difficult communication access in the project area, limited period of the dry season for possible field work, initial training of project staff in participatory development and skills and technology, low capacity of the staff and limited incentives for the project staff to work in the remote and difficult project area.

Ways in which impact has been achieved/addressed

However, some initial impact has been observed during the recent supervision and follow up missions, which includes the following areas:

• Participatory Approach and Development. There has been a positive process of change in the work culture of the government service providers and the PPMU/DPMUs from a used-to-be top down approach to a participatory development and demand driven approach in planning and provision of project services.
• Targeting. There is a common understanding now among the project implementing agencies and staff that the project interventions should be targeted to the poor villages, particularly upland and ethnic minorities in the project area.
• Gender. The training of trainers in weaving for women and subsequent extension of weaving among women groups as an income generating activity has achieved positive impact not only on the income and food security of the women and their families but also on bringing about an initial transformation of the gender relations in the local communities, including women’s participation in the decision making process within the family and the community.
• Health and saving of labor for women. There are no statistics yet to show the impact on the health as a result of the availability of dispensaries and water supply schemes. However, the villagers are expected to benefit from the dispensaries as a result of the construction of the facilities and availability of health workers in the villages. The water supply schemes are also expected to benefit the villages and particularly women in reducing water borne diseases and by brining about saving in labor for women.
• Rural Financial Services. In the context of Laos as a transition economy and also in view of the very difficult conditions of the project area (there was no banking service in three of the four districts when the project started), Lang Xiang Bank (a commercial bank) is developing new approaches to provide savings and credit services to the poor in remote areas, through village agents.

Methodologies employed/proposed to achieve/assess impact

The TORs for the study had 2 major components i.e (a) to use participatory methodology to assess the direct impact on target communities (upward mobility and (b) to train project staff.

Methodology

Participatory Self Assessment : An initial participatory self assessment exercise of the NSRDP was carried out to enable the project staff to reflect on what they thought were the strengths, difficulties and areas for improvement in the project. Refer annexure.

Resource implications, Players, Costs, Time and other resources

Discussion, summary of findings and recommendations

Programmes

A ) Agriculture and Livestock : In the case of agriculture, the general opinion was that there had been some improvement because of the training provided by the project and limited credit access. But this was not enough. Communities which were interviewed in the 3 villages felt that they needed more training in advanced agricultural techniques as well as new varieties of existing crops (rice) and new commercial crops (ex.ginger). The mission was informed that SALT technology is being demonstrated in a few project locations. The project could step up this activity and promote terracing for cultivation of cash crops such as ginger as is being done at the moment as an alternate to opium cultivation as this strategy seems to be working well.

All communities felt that livestock diseases were a major problem and that heavy losses were incurred each year. If proper disease control could be provided at the times indicated on the seasonality diagram, before disease outbreaks their capital formation and asset creation would be enhanced substantially. The significance of the livestock sector cannot be under estimated.

B) Income diversification

Weaving : In the case of Taen Kham where the beneficiaries are mainly Lao Lum the impact has been magnified substantially because of other village development activities carried out by the project concurrently, such as the installation of a water supply system within the village and the provision of credit. Women mentioned (and there was wide spread agreement) that they now save nearly 2-4 hours on collecting water which they put to use for weaving. The provision of credit has greatly enhanced their ability to take up weaving.

Earlier there were only 10 looms in the village, these have now increased to 223 looms. Women who were trained under the project are now training others including their own siblings, children, neighbours and other relatives. Even young girls below 10 years are now picking up the skill. As a result of the income generated they no longer have to work for others or go to the forest to collect NTFPs. Thus an ecological impact is also being witnessed, as small wild life and other forest products and biomass are beginning to regenerate. The women mentioned that collecting NTFPs is also very hard work as bamboo shoots mushrooms, etc gets scarce and scarce and they have to go further and further and spend more time (upto 4 hours a day in some cases) to collect it. Weaving is easily a much more comfortable and remunerative option and the time earlier spent on NTFP collection (as in the case of water collection) is now converted to production and sale of garments,

In Bankang village which is in the midlands (LaoSoung, 60 families), the number of looms has increased from 6 initially, to 37 after initiation of the project. Women emphasised the point that they are now better off and can hire labour to work in their upland fields. They can also hire transport to bring down their paddy output, which earlier they had to head load to the village. Many families have installed their looms in their upland fields so that they can attend to both activities at the same time. As in the case of Taen Kham, they say that the amount of time spent on collecting bamboo shoots and other NTFPs has reduced as they no longer need to do it in order to survive. However, they said that water is still a problem and that they have to go very far to fetch it. Each woman spends 2-4 hours every day to fetch water.

The project has stimulated the income diversification process as can be seen from above. However, further diversification is limited by two factors. The first is marketing and the second is the lack of exposure that women have had to other IGPs. Apart from the existing activities such as Agriculture, Livestock, Weaving, collection & sale of NTFPs, and limited basket weaving, they could not identify more IGPs.

During the PIA there were strong requests for additional training and help with new designs for their weaving products. This has to be noted by the project as signs of the buyers dominating the market are already begun to appear. The women felt that credit support (working capital) would help them to procure raw materials in time and also hold back stocks and create demand especially when price fluctuations were experienced.

Credit : About $ 7,00,000 has been disbursed by the Lanexbang Bank (2 staff have covered more than 400 beneficiaries). This has had a strong impact on the downstream side as indicated above. However, communities felt that credit availability and access is still a problem at peak seasonal times for weaving (raw materials and holding stock) for purchase of animals and for input and food requirements. Women's credit groups as are currently being organised by the project in collaboration with the Lao Women's union will hopefully fill this gap by providing credit on an ongoing basis wherever needed by members. However, experiences in other countries and IFAD projects have shown that the sustainability of the credit groups as well as the credit program as a whole is a function of the stake that is developed in the program as well as the organisational skills in the group. The project could address this issue.

C) Rural Infrastructure Development

Roads : In all 3 villages studied the community expressed the opinion that with the construction of the road, their mobility and access to health facilities, markets etc., had been enhanced. However, mobility and transport was still a problem in the rainy season.

Health and Education : The Health centre constructed at Na Gnang village has had an impact psychologically and also in terms of program development (family planning education, first aid, emergency treatment, referral etc. However, the community feels that this should be enhanced by the appointment of more experienced staff as well as the provision of more equipment working capital (revolving fund) for medicines.

In the case of education, there was a strong desire expressed by the community in all the villages visited of the need to strengthen this program so that they could take full advantage of it. In Ban Kang village particularly, where the school had been renovated and upgraded, the enrollment had increased from 16 students earlier to 66 at present. The students found it easier to attend the renovated school which was close to their village rather than to go to the school in the next village. This was especially so in the rainy season. However, they still feel that more improvements in the form of increasing the numbers of teaching staff (at present one teacher teaches all 5 grades), upgrading of skills of staff, improvement/provision of teaching aids and materials will go a long way towards enhancing the quality of education.

Irrigation : In the villages, visited, irrigation does not seem to have taken off in the manner intended. Communities interviewed expressed a strong need for grounding this activity. In Taen Kham for instance, though the weir has been constructed, it's height is not enough and no irrigation channels have been provided. As a result there is no benefit from the program leading to much disappointment in the community. Irrigation was expressed as a need also in Na Gnang and Bankang villages and needs to be addressed.

Drinking water supply : The impact of this program in Taen Kham has already been mentioned. The women still feel that the provision of a storage tank and more water points (taps) would improve system as especially in the rainy season they still have to go a distance to collect water. In the other villages studied too especially Bankang, the communities expressed the need for a clean water supply system in the village and are prepared to contribute towards its construction and upkeep.

D) Institutional strengthening

Community Organistion & Community based institutions : The fact that most village communities exhibit a great degree of homogeneity and co-operative behavior must be capitalised on to build robust community based institutions which can carry forward the development task, and also place organised demands for various development programs and influence local governance. Several groups already exist in the project area and these can be further strengthened and linked with each other. In addition new groups around specific programs eg.user groups such as farmers groups, livestock, owners groups, weaving groups etc., could also be developed keeping in view future sustainability.

Targeting : Overall, it was found that the project leadership was conscious of providing representative coverage of the 3 ethnic groups under the project. According to the IFAD guidelines 50% of the coverage should be from minorities i.e. Lao Soung and Lao Theung. Efforts are being made to achieve this.

However, a more deliberate poverty focus is needed to be given especially in the Lao Lum villages. During the mission, the consultants were able to demonstrate to the project teams how this could be done through social mapping and wealth/food security ranking exercises. This needs to be followed up and included in the base lines. Poverty consciousness needs to be enhanced among the staff. More deliberate targeting of poor and very poor families must take place.

Review of baseline information : While it will be necessary to keep a track of the impact of the various programs on the beneficiary families, special focus should be given to those families in the poor and very poor categories. As such, a list of these families and if possible their profiles, benefits given to them by the project and the impact should be constantly recorded. Similarly lists of families from non poor categories who have received benefits from the project could also be maintained.

Recommendations : The following is the summary of recommendations to the NSRDP from the study.

A) Agriculture Development
Agriculture Horticulture	Need training to upgrade skills and technology. Need new scientific, technology to be introduced including new varieties Need irrigation to increase production Need training in cash crop production (especially ginger) Need assistance to plant more fruit tree crops. Need to introduce agro processing Poor medium, poor and very poor families need paddy land in the low land areas to improve production and achieved food security.
Livestock	High mortality continues. Need improved vet care, vaccination programs and extension services. More training needed for vet para professionals Need credit for purchase of livestock (large and small animals) Small animals and poultry to be given special focus as it forms nearly, 10 - 12% of total livestock income (Higher in poor and very poor families).
B) Income Diversification
Weaving	Need more working capital at the right time. a) for procurement of raw materials b) to hold stock and avoid distress selling whereas they need credit in the month of December, January and February, they were get it much later, in April, May & June. Need more training in weaving, especially new designs, in order to help them cope with the market. Need marketing support to market directly as middle men are exploiting them.
Credit	Need more credit in timely manner. Need better group orgnaisaton and staff training in credit management Need more trianing and exposure to credit management aspects banking procedures interests rates etc.
Health	Need more experienced staff ex. Doctors to visit once or twice a week Need more medicines and equipment Need revolving fund
C) Rural Infrastructure development
Irrigation	Need more irrigation projects in villages Need canals to be constructed for distribution of water
Drinking water	Need to establish system in villages without water supply ex. Ban Kang and Na Gnang Need storage tanks and distribution points
Education	Need school improvements to accommodate more pupils Need more teachers Need improved teaching equipments and materials (teaching aids etc.)
D) Institutional Strengthening
Staff training	More exposure and training to staff on key development concepts Sectoral aspects (Technical) Community related and participatory aspects Credit management Gender and equity (especially poverty aspects PRA Attitude and behaviour training
Community Institutions	Need further strengthening through exposure to other developed groups. Preparatory period and stake building through savings and credit activity, weekly meetings, system and procedures etc to be enhanced. The project in collaboration with the Lao women's union is making laudable efforts to organise women's groups. However, considering that this activity is in quite advanced stages in different countries in South and South East Asia, perhaps it will be useful to organise exposure trips of project staff to such selected locations (for example various IFAD funded projects in India can be considered). The staff need much more training and conceptual input into the aspect of group organisation. This assumes even more importance given the fact that future sustainability of the program will be based on the establishment of robust community based organizations. Placing of a specialist in group organisation savings and credit should also be considered by the project. Overall, the project, has had an impressive impact in relatively short time especially by using the strategy of income diversification, backed by infrastructural development, training and provision of credit. Assessment of value added to project management of the methodologies adopted From a development point of view, the project location and the target group have been will selected by the GOL and IFAD. The project is an interesting window into the impact of project interventions in a changing regional and international economic scenario. It will have to cope competently with the management of change process if any lasting impact is to be achieved. Perhaps the most important output of the project will be the building and strengthening of community based institutions and the establishment of strong institutional linkages. For this the mainstream institutions also have to be enabled and strengthened and brought into play (Banks, extension services, social services etc). This presents a significant challenge to the project. Project outputs are a function of staff capability, continuity and motivation. Most staff indicated that there was a strong desire to learn more and upgrade skills. It is recommended that this be actively pursued as it will not only have a direct learning on quality and out put of the project, but also on the future of development in Laos, if the project is considered as a model. A reward system which promotes active and committed community and equity oriented behaviour should also be worked out. Staff can be given exposure to other parts of Asia. Similarly, low cost, experienced resource persons could be brought in to spend time, in the project enabling the project teams to develop their concepts and capabilities. In general the staff felt enriched by being introduced to new concepts and methodologies in PRA which served as a better medium of communication than has been hither to used by them. Since they were trained during the PIA, they also picked up the skills needed to continue with similar work. Perhaps the most important learning for the group were the Wealth Ranking & Food security ranking exercises which have not only helped the staff to become better aware of categories of poor and very poor, but also to target them more aggressively with programs. JAMES MASCARENHAS 06.11.2000 ANNEXURE BOX 1 - ACHIEVEMENTS OF NSRDP Roads & Irrigation Agronomy Infrastructure Credit Administration Irrigation weirs are constructed. Helped the farmers in low land for easy availability of water for paddy Village accessed roads constructed Livestock training conducted Livestock development Agriculture training Crop demonstration Food security increased Stopped shifting cultivation Area under cultivation increased Pressure on forest reduced due to intervention of income generation activities. New cash crop ginger introduced. Roads constructed for easy access to villages Drinking water supply to villages Primary health centre constructed School buildings constructed Enough vehicle in the project for easy transportation Staff trainings Participatory development approach Working in remote areas Credit & savings activities Formation of women groups Weaving activities increased Bank linkages to women groups Different income generation activities improved Project administration improved Good M & E system Constructed project training centre Consultant support for technical assistance. BOX 2 - AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT IN NSRDP Finance Communication Human Resource Development Project Implementation Reporting system Cash flow for the activity is late High interest rate Scattered investment Over investment in rural area but no investment into towns Financial aspects have encountered difficulties Activities implemented late because of late release of funds. Implemented activity for fiscal year late Village access road not yet completed Travel to the targeted villages is very difficult Huge funds put in the road - bridge The process of implementation is highly technical Communication between villages is very difficult The responsibility levels are still low compared to task. Don't know English and don't get training. The infrastructure staff have shortage of experience Late implementation of project activities Difficulty implement project activities in rainy season Complicated and time consuming data collection system leading to late preparation of work plan Difficulty in mobilising community participation and cost contributions Coordination between various agencies is sometime problem at especially project sector heads and parent line depts. Planned activities cannot be implemented due to lack of coordination between project sanction and financial cash flows Delays in reporting (don’t like to report ! ) Some agencies report late Tele communications are late Time gaps / delays in monitoring between district and provincial line agencies and inadequate communication This exercise served as an introspection or self evaluation of the project and set the stage for the PIA exercises in the field as the participants and facilitators arrived at a shared understanding of the project. 5 sub groups addressed different topics connected with the project as follows, using selected PRA methods such as Time lines, Trend diagrams, Ladder exercises, Chappati diagrams, Social mapping, 100 seeds method food security ranking, wealth ranking and seasonality diagrams. BOX 3 - GROUPS, TOPICS AND EXERCISES Group Topic I Seasonality exercises (to cover rainfall, credit needs, livestock and human diseases, migration, work calendar and difficult months) Individual PIAs (caselets) II Chapati diagrams to cover PIAs on the village, women, agriculture & livestock, irrigation & drinking water, health, education and infrastructure. Agriculture & Livestock PIA Irrigation, Drinking water PIA Health, Education, Infrastructure PIA III Social mapping Wealth ranking Trends in food security Social mapping Individual PIAs (caselets) PIAs to assess social impact with men and women before and after the project using the ladder exercise. IV Ladder exercise to measure the indicators Income distribution before and after the project (using 100 seeds techniques) Trends on changing relationships of different sectors. V PIA of women credit group before and after project Village PIA before and after project Individual PIAs (caselets). BOX 4 - PIA METHODS The following methods were chosen from the vast array of PRA methods available. Method Purpose Time lines Record events in a chronological order To enable the beneficiary community / individual identify events of importance in year wise sequences. They give a snapshot of what the community considers as important interventions. Trend diagrams Variation of the time line exercises A variation of this is the trend diagram which makes a comparison of events relationships problems etc before and after the project Time series can be also obtained using this method. Ladder exercises A series of ladders of 3 to 10 rungs indicating scores, 1 ladder for each variable are used for identifying changes in those variables, on a scale of 3 - 10 Used to record changes in the status of a variety of items such as awareness confidence levels, gender equality, participation, food security, productivity health and education status, well being status etc. Scale of 3 also indicates High medium Low status of the variables. In the Lao PIA the 2 sets of ladders were used for before and after. The left side of each ladder indicated women and the right hand side indicated for men. Chappati Diagram Different sizes of paper cut outs (chappati) are used to indicate the relative importance of various items, events, problems, institutions etc. In the Laos PIA chappati diagram were commonly used in t he impact study and problem analysis of various sectors, women, and the village as a whole. They were also used to indicate changing relationships. Social mapping Map of the village indicating the layout of the village and different households. Was used to identify various economic categories (Rich medium poor and very poor). Could also be used to map members of different groups ex. Water users associations, women's credit groups, families drawing benefit from the project for different programs etc. 100 seeds methods 100 seeds ;are given to beneficiaries to given to qualify various items according to rough percentage Examples of how this method was used in t he Lao PIA was for identifying income sources, wealth and food security mapping, needs of horticulture species etc. It was also used in combination with the seasonality exercise to indicate percentages of migration, work loads difficult periods,, credit needs etc.   Food Security rankings Identifies the number of families under different food security category Was used extensively to identify the number of families under various food security categories such as 0-3 months 3-6 months 6-9 months 9 to 12 months and > 12 months. It was also be used in combination with the social mapping and wealth ranking exercise. Wealth Ranking Identifies the various wealth categories in the village Was used to identify rich, medium, poor and very poor families in the study village, using 100 seeds to indicate a rough percentage or the exact number of seeds to indicate the exact number of families in each village. Can also be combined with social mapping and food security ranking exercises. Seasonality Diagrams Gives seasonal patterns of activities and various other processes Was used to identify credit needs, annual work distribution, patterns of human and livestock diseases, difficult times of the year etc. WEAVING AND THE SYNERGIES OF PROJECT INTERVENTION The synergy between various activities was well illustrated in Taen Kham village. Women cited 4 project interventions viz., provision of drinking water in the village, weaving training and increased credit availability and the education given by the Lao women's union as important items which had transformed and improved the quality of their lives. Because they no longer needed to spend long hours (2-4 hours/day) in fetching water they now had time which they could put to productive use. Since weaving training was given and working capital made available, they now no longer needed to go into the forest to collect NTFPs for their food and income (again 2-4 hours a day). Thus the time saved was utilised for weaving production. Incomes had gone up as a result of this activity as indicated by the accumulation of assets in the family. Many families for instance were in the process of renovating their houses or building new ones. Several families had invested in additional looms and livestock. Before the project there were only 10 looms. Now, 2 years after the program was introduced there are 223 looms and the numbers are increasing. Trained women are training their family members (daughters, sisters) and other relatives . The gender education program introduced by Lao women's union has had an impact on enhancing the women's self image. Combined with their new found economic prowess, they feel that their lives have changed for the better and that they are more respected today by the men. The importance of synergies can also be guaged from the fact that previously they had to work very hard in upland rice fields and collect NTFPs (mainly bamboo) for sale for cash. This has changed after start of the project and they feel that a lot of their drudgery is reduced. They are even able to hire labour to help them with their agricultural operations. Many families have installed looms in huts constructed in their upland fields. In Ban Kang, though weaving training and credit for working capital has been provided and the number of looms has increased from an initial 6 to 37 after the project. women still have to go a long way to collect water. They feel that if the water was made more accessible in the village, they could increase their productive time on weaving. Still, they feel that they are better off now than when the project started. Read more About the workshop Agenda Working groups Rural poverty in Laos IFAD operations in Laos Case studies Copyright Employment scam Site map Subscribe Contact us