Impact evaluation of the reconstruction project ‘Development of enabling conditions for pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities’
Oxfam GB’s Global Performance Framework is part of the organisation’s effort to better understand and communicate its effectiveness, as well as enhance learning across the organisation. Under this Framework, a small number of completed or mature projects are selected at random each year for an evaluation of their impact, known as an ‘Effectiveness Review’. One key focus is on the extent they have promoted change in relation to relevant Oxfam GB global outcome indicators.
During the 2015/16 financial year, one of the projects that was randomly selected for an Effectiveness Review was the Reconstruction Project: ‘Contributing to the Development of Enabling Conditions for Human Security for Vulnerable Pastoralist and Agro-Pastoralist Communities’. Oxfam carried out this project in partnership with several organisations, including Ogden Welfare and Development Association (OWDA), Community Development Service Association (CDSA), Somaliland Pastoral Forum (SOLPAF), Candlelight, Himilo Relief and Development Association (HIRDA), and The Horn of Africa Voluntary Youth Committee (HAVOYOCO). The project activities, which began in July 2012 and finished in June 2016, were focused in the Somali region of Ethiopia and the Galbeed and Togdheer regions of Somaliland (see Figure 1.1).
The project was designed to build the resilience of project participants to drought, conflict, and other shocks and stresses, through a series of activities working at different scales. The project worked directly to improve pastoralists’ and agro-pastoralists’ ability to thrive in spite of drought and conflict by rehabilitating sources of water and grazing land and by managing livestock disease. The project also aimed to support alternative income-generating activities among women and the youth by providing training and supporting savings/credit groups. Finally, the project tried to increase the voice and representation of marginalised groups in key decision-making forums.