Evaluation of
Executive
summary
1. This
document covers the work of GAA in
2. The work of GAA in these areas can be divided into three principle activities: (a) the provision of non-food items to internally displaced people to enable them to have a more healthy and dignified existence in the place to which they have fled for refuge; (b) the improvement of food security by providing basic inputs and training to encourage more and diversified crop production and (c) the establishment of a livestock health programme (in Debab) on a cost-recovery basis to meet the needs of nomads who are the hosts to displaced people in West Kordofan.
3. The provision of non-food items has been managed on an emergency preparedness basis - as far as possible planning ahead to meet the needs of new outbreaks of fighting. Non-food assistance has included simple clothing, cooking and eating utensils, blankets, mosquito nets, soap and containers for carrying water. Every effort has been made to ensure that only those people who are genuinely in need have received assistance. Many thousands of families have been helped through this intervention.
4. The work to encourage better food security has involved the provision of tools and seeds to internally displaced people and resource-poor farmers in the host communities who had been affected by the fighting. Most of the IDPs had arrived in their places of refuge with no or few possessions and had to leave behind their tools, seed and household belongings. As with non-food items, special care has been taken to ensure that only those people who are in special need are assisted and that the seeds and tools provided are appropriate. Food has been provided to families to survive on during the growing season. Though this may be thought to be controversial, the reasons seem sound and are explained in the report. It is planned to phase this aspect out over the next 4 to 5 years.
5. Four aspects
of the agricultural work stand out. The first is the training of village
agricultural committees which have a significant role in implementing the
programme and after their own training in improved agricultural techniques, are
providing training to other farmers. The second is the introduction of
vegetable growing which especially helps displaced women to have a specific
source of income as well as improving family nutrition. Because of the
potential for small scale irrigation, two crops of vegetables can be grown in
many areas. The third is the introduction of rice production into the area. The
central and southern parts of
5. In addition to these basic activities, other work has included the distribution of fishing equipment to households primarily dependent on fishing and running a small food-for-work programme to cater for people who are unable to grow crops and at the same time to help with the improvement of urban infrastructure.
7. The work in
Debab started in 2000 in response to requests from local leaders and government
officials in
8. The main donors to these projects have been BMZ (German Federal Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development) and the European Union through ECHO and EuronAid.
9. After many
meetings with local leaders, farmers, project staff and government officials,
the consultants came to some conclusions about the direction in which the work
of GAA should develop in the next 4 to 5 years. These are discussed in the body
of the report but in brief, the major components are as follows. Firstly the
provision of non-food items on an emergency preparedness basis should be
continued. Secondly, the provision of seed, tools, and training for field crops
will be continued though food-for-cultivation will be phased out. Help with
tools will also be stopped gradually and farmers encouraged to establish
community tool banks. Rice production and vegetable production will be expanded
and GAA will facilitate the formation of vegetable marketing organisations.
Thirdly, the livestock health programme will be expanded in the western part of
10. Fourthly, the building up of local institutions in the form of various livestock and agricultural committees will be built upon by giving particular emphases on institution building, by providing extra training in group management, democratic processes, simple accounting, money management, and conflict resolution.
11. Fifthly, attention will be paid to the improvement of livestock productivity. This will include a pilot livestock improvement component and investigating the benefits of animal feeds in the dry season.
12. Finally, there
will be small water development component in both Debab Location and
Some photographs taken during the evaluation