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April 2010
We learned how the “hub concept” is used in dairy in East Africa, what needs to be changed to make it more pro-‐poor and effec?ve; this is needed for upscaling elsewhere and for other systems.
EADD project baseline reports 1 to 7. ILRI Nairobi, 2009. Photos: EADD project
East Africa Dairy Development Project: Some lessons learned
The EADD project does not monitor possible environmental nega?ve impact of dairy intensifica?on, and this will need to be considered during the mid term evalua?on.
And the not so good news is … The good news is …
SELECTED PROJECT ACTIVITIES PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
ABOUT THE PROJECT The vision of the East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project is to double dairy income for 179,000 farmers in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda over a 10-year period. The project is led by Heifer International in partnership with American Breeders Service–Total Cattle Management (ABS-TCM), ILRI, TechnoServe and
the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). The four-year project started in 2008.
LESSONS LEARNED About two years since the project started, what lessons have we learned regarding the process of setting up large development projects and how best can
ILRI play her role of knowledge partner? We focus on two lessons on project implementation and two lessons on project activities.
ILRI’S ROLE ILRI is the “knowledge partner” and is in charge of the following activities: 1. Conducting the baseline surveys 2. Informing design of improved feeding strategies (in partnership with ICRAF) 3. Conducting breeding assessment study 4. Informing the design of the “traditional hubs” (hub without chilling plant) 5. Leading the impact assessment modelling (direct and indirect effects) 6. Drawing strategic lessons for future project up scaling 7. Providing regular recommendations on project activities based on research
outputs.
Lessons learned • Put in place a process to follow and stick to it. The first site selection exercise was not structured and led to conflict within the consortium. We then set up a clear process that proved to be useful and time saving, as well as an avenue for consensus building. It was suggested by partners that such a process should be adopted for other EADD activities, for instance, farmers’ mobilization. • It is the single most important decision in the project, so include all partners and make it fact-based, using a checklist that is agreed by all partners. • Acknowledge political interferences and have a plan to deal with them.
SITE SELECTION Development projects fail for various reasons. One of the reasons relates to the inappropriate location of the project activities; the intervention does not meet farmers or site conditions. This would mean setting up a chilling plant in an area where farm-gate milk prices are relatively high due to an existing market for milk. There are different geographic levels of site selection, starting at country and district levels to increasingly lower levels. Different tools and approaches were used for the various levels.
GUIDING PROJECT INTERVENTIONS USING BASELINE SURVEY RESULTS One of the objectives of conducting a baseline survey is to guide project interventions by identifying bottlenecks that the project can remove (e.g. lack of market access) and opportunities that the project can maximise on. Results need to be shared with the development partners in an appropriate format and timely manner.
Lessons learned • Despite past experiences in designing and implementing baseline surveys, it took about 18 months from start of design to delivery of reports. How this process can be shortened, without compromising on quality and rigour, needs more thinking. Attempt to use personal digital assistants to save time on data entry and cleaning was not successful. • Reports, although useful, are rarely read by development partners and few recommendations are taken on board using such dissemination method. Direct and continuous engagement with partners is needed. In EADD, we are able to guide feed interventions effectively since a full time feed scientist is attached to the project.
CHALLENGE 2: ILRI OUT OF HER IVORY TOWER EADD is a pilot project aimed at generating lessons for up and out scaling. Is ILRI up to the challenge of (1) providing relevant and timely inputs to adjust project activities and (2) working with partners to document and synthesise lessons learned?
Some facts • No rigorous site selection followed in the first year. • Initial activities adopted methods used in previous projects, with little attention to the proposal that detailed another approach. Lessons learned • Invest first in people, not activities. People need to understand project approach before implementing it. Train people. • Allow preparatory phase of six months. • Provide guidelines, or steps, to simplify approach as laid out in project document. • If existing staff are used in this project, pay special attention to training and change of mindset.
Some facts • Baseline survey results insufficiently used to adjust project activities, partly due to late delivery of baseline reports. It took 12 months to start and implement the survey and six to publish the report. Meanwhile, development partners are busy training farmers or setting up chilling plants. • Difficult to provide site-specific recommendations, yet we know that the “one-size-fits-all-approach” does not work. Lessons learned • Streamline baseline data collection and analysis to save on time and improve quality of analysis (see below for more details) • Keeping a research focus: how to balance development partners’ needs (e.g. assisting in monitoring and evaluation) and research focus (e.g. document lessons learned)?
CHALLENGE 1: IMPLEMENTING A PROJECT WITH A DIFFERENT APPROACH FROM PAST ONES; PARTNERS ARE TEMPTED TO DO “BUSINESS AS USUAL” EADD follows a somewhat different approach from usual development projects as it facilitates the creation or strengthening of local business (business development services approach), from farmers’ training to setup of business like agro vet shops or chilling plants. No (or few) free goodies.
