Evaluation of the project that promotes food security and climate resilience in Mozambique

Title ETHAKA – Un modello di produzione agricola e consumo sostenibile per la resilienza climatica e la sicurezza alimentare e nutrizionale
Location  Zambezia and Nampula Provinces, Mozambique
Duration 36 (+6) months
Project leaders ICEI, OIKOS e Mani Tese 
Partners Universidade Lurio, Helvetas – Swiss Intercooperation, Direcção Provincial de Agricultura e Pesca de Nampula, Comune di Milano, Serviço Provincial de Ambiente da Zambezia, Faculdade de Engenharia Agronomica e Florestal – Universidade Zambeze
Funding Italian Agency for Development Cooperation -AICS

Context
Mozambique experiences significant challenges to the food security and nutrition of its population, despite achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people suffering from hunger in 2015. Poor productivity levels combined with inflation, rising commodity prices and vulnerability to extreme weather events (droughts, floods and cyclones) contribute to increased exposure of households to the risk of food insecurity. In addition, poverty and lack of knowledge about nutritious diets cause an increase in child mortality due to malnutrition in children under the age of five.

Although the government recognises food and nutrition security as a key priority within its five-year plan, according to the World Food Programme, climate shocks, along with annual lean seasons and economic shocks, continue to regularly threaten the country’s food security. In addition, the conflict in Ukraine has had a direct impact on food availability and the escalation of violence by non-state armed groups in Cabo Delgado Province causes mass displacement and increased hunger also in the neighbouring provinces, Niassa and Nampula, where 1.5 million people are in need of urgent and vital humanitarian assistance.

In this context, ETHAKA has the overall objective of contributing to food security, improving nutrition and increasing the income of the population in Mozambique, in 2 districts of Zambezia and Nampula Provinces.

The project involves the population of 8 villages in Nampula Province, in Mossuril (Nacuxa, Naphome, Chicoma, Muanona, Naguema, Namatinte, Namige and Namarral) and 8 villages in Zambezia Province, of which 4 in Maganja da Costa (Nanene, Masqueira, Ebona and Muiebe) and 4 in Namacurra (Nevura, Muibo, Wazemba, Mazuau).

General Objective
ETHAKA operates in both rural and urban areas, with the specific objective of facilitating the adoption at institutional and community level of an agricultural model of production and consumption that is sustainable, resilient and meets the nutritional needs of the population.

The M&E and Impact Evaluation Unit was involved to conduct the mid-term and final evaluation of the project.

Our contribution
The evaluation approach was designed to be coherent and in dialogue with the Result Based Management system on which ETHAKA’s programmatic framework is based, and at the same time to extend the view of the evaluation beyond the RBM indicators, involving the project’s main stakeholders in order to qualitatively explore key issues and identify key lessons learned.

The evaluation is based on a theory-based approach, and thus starts from the reconstruction of the causal chain behind the project logic (Theory of Change). Moreover, the possibility of conducting the study in two phases – intermediate and final – allows for a formative and summative approach respectively.