CROSSCUTTING OBJECTIVES AND HUMAN RIGHTS BASED APPROACH

In addition, liaison with other donors and donor funded programmes could be strengthened.

The MEDA Canada programme in Fogera, or the USAID AGP-AMDe Programme or the DFID PEPE M4P Programme (which both operate nationally, but with activities in Amhara) are key programmes which could provide win-win learning opportunities. In addition, the MTE team heard of a new Japanese development cooperation programme beginning to work with rice in Fogera. At the very least, there should be a regular technical meeting of TA and relevant woreda staff in Fogera with those working on rice.

There is a positive potential link with a World Bank Irrigation Project. They are keen to start a Matching Grant Programme in Fogera. Rather than reinvent the wheel, they would like to use the AgroBIG guidelines and link with ACSI. They will employ their own BDS advisors.

Initial meetings have been held between AgroBIG and representatives of this program.

Production of a newsletter is a positive means to share information. The AgroBIG website is also clear and easy to read, however it is a stand-alone programme website. It would be more sustainable if the website was hosted by the BoFED website, or other more sustainable sites. When the programme ends the information will disappear. In addition, there are no links to any of the partners, and very little mention of sources of funding.

AgroBIG is making some effort to mainstream gender in trainings and other activities, and has set quotas (for instance 30% for training or fund recipients, 40% for fund selection committee), however these have been generally ineffective for cultural and institutional reasons. Cooperative membership is by household, with the household head as the member.

When an invitation is issued, men will normally participate, especially if the training is at woreda level - women do not normally attend trainings unless they come from female headed households. Apart from the equity issue, this is problematic in a pragmatic sense, given that men receive the training while women do much of the labour in the fields; hence the conversion of theoretical knowledge into on-farm results is likely to be diluted. In addition, with very few women employed in government technical posts, it is unlikely that gender quotas can be fulfilled for training, selection teams or study tours of government staff.

There has been no specific training provided to staff on gender and other vulnerable groups – this would be an important step as it is impossible to change the situation on the ground if the staff themselves don’t have a good understanding on the reasons and importance of change.

Some targeted activities have been conducted – for instance, the establishment of women’s groups for roadside trading, and the establishment and training of groups of landless youth.

The MTE team commends the Programme for these activities, however there is room for improvement. Rather than any grassroots discussions being used to develop ideas and then volunteers coming forwards to express interest, the participants have been selected in a top- down fashion. This led to a mismatch in interests, and specifically the poor performance of the women’s trading group (some of the members state that they were interested in office jobs).

It is unclear why the decision has been taken to construct a store/shed for all the youth and women’s groups? Other than having a place to store chemicals safely, for the sprayer groups, there is not an obvious need for a store. And in the case of the youth trained for canal repair and maintenance in the Koga Irrigation Scheme, there may be a timing problem.

The group have received the training already, but as yet the canals are not complete and there is no idea how much maintenance will be needed in the future. Given the likely gap between training and employment, there will probably be an element of de-skilling, and potentially group members will drift away.

In the selection process for the new value chain products, 20% of the points were allocated for ‘inclusion of socially deprived groups and environmental consideration (Gender inclusivity/women’s income opportunities, environmental compatibility, low barriers to entry for the poor-capital, knowledge, etc.). However, in practice, of the total 8 crops considered in the workshops, all received the same score under this line, apart from snow peas. This suggests that it wasn’t given serious consideration.

48 unemployed youth (41 men, 7 women) have been selected, trained and equipped within groups to provide advice on pesticide use and to provide spraying services to farmers. There is some potential risk regarding sustainability, given that there is limited willingness to pay by farmers as yet. It is unclear whether there was any study of willingness to pay prior to beginning the activity. However, in general this is a positive and innovative activity, specifically targeted to reduce environmental damage and to support income generation by landless youth; and it is likely that demand will slowly increase. There are some slight negatives – in this particular case, gender mainstreaming was perhaps unwise. Women are not legally permitted to carry out spraying services (due to the risk to any unborn child), therefore it was inappropriate to include women in the groups. In practice, those interviewed said that they would work in the store. This could be successful as long as the group works as a team and shares the profit equally. There are some questions regarding how long the sprayer groups will stay together. As they come from different kebeles and have their own

equipment, it is likely that the more entrepreneurial members will tend to work as individuals (this has already begun). In the case of the well digging groups they are more likely to stay together, as they need to use shared equipment and work on each job as a team.

Other donor funded projects also are struggling with gender quotas. The USAID project implemented by ACDI/VOCA has changed from relatively unsuccessful mainstreaming to implement targeted activities – eg. women-only groups or trainings – and have had a lot of success. This has included activities such as women only business plan competitions, nutrition training, female membership drives to cooperatives, farmer field days for women only, and private equity training for women (how to get Ethiopian and foreign investment for your small business). IFAD described activities involving community land being given to women’s and youth groups, and giving preferential treatment to women in access to finance.

However, they noted that it was difficult to achieve even 30% of women in trainings. The World Bank noted that they struggled to increase female participating in capacity building within AGP I. In AGP II they plan to tailor training for women specifically, provide child care, etc.

As yet there is no gender strategy – however, a good gender study (Gender study on onion and potato value chains) was conducted by a short term consultant, but the recommendations have not seemingly been applied. There has been some disaggregation of data by sex in reporting. Poverty status of beneficiaries is not recorded.

No particular attention has been given by AgroBIG to people with disabilities (PWD) or with HIV & AIDS, or ethnic minorities. HIV&AIDS rates are low locally, and are decreasing;

therefore there is not a particular reason to address this within programme activities.

Disadvantage due to ethnic group does not appear to be a problem within the programme areas (with more than 99% Amharic population). Therefore the only potential areas for improvement could be for people with disabilities, and children. However, unless an organised group of PWD exists and expresses interest in working with the programme, it is probably not the greatest priority area. Child labour in agriculture is a normal practice in Ethiopia, however there is now increasing encouragement from the government for all children to attend school. There are two shifts of school, and this permits children to still participate in herding and other activities outside of school. This is a human rights issue, and AgroBIG should be careful not to promote activities that overload children in the family.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a significant problem in Amhara, however this falls outside of the sectoral work of AgroBIG.

AgroBIG has to some extent developed the capacities of government staff to address gender and youth. For instance, the Offices of Women, Children and Youth Affairs at woreda level have received a computer and motorbike, and have participated in woreda level committees (though they only have implementation budget in 2015).

There is unnecessary secrecy regarding the project reports and plans. It is important for the sake of good governance and HRBA to promote transparency and broad sharing of plans and results. Even the MTE team found it difficult to obtain some information.

Climate Sustainability

It can be assumed that likely implications of climate change in the programme area would be shorter and more intense rainy seasons, and longer drought periods, intensifying the already high hydrological variability and frequency of extreme events. The greatest impact on crops is likely to come from flood damage and water constraints (IFPRI 2011).

AgroBIG is not currently promoting specific climate sustainability or climate change adaptation activities. However, increasing access to irrigation systems will provide some buffering of risks, as long as there is sufficient water available. In addition, capacity building on water use efficiency is beneficial for dealing with the impacts of climate change. On the

dry lands the well digging groups can support access to water by farmers. Improved irrigation techniques (eg. furrow rather than flood irrigation) have been taught and should decrease water needs. Diversification of support from just onions and potatoes to a broader basket of options would permit farmers to grow a wider variety of crops (both commercial and those that are important for food security) – therefore spreading risks in the face of variable weather.

Environmental protection

Environmental protection aspects have been considered in the specific value chain reports (for instance, discussion of crop rotation, fertilizer application and impacts on nearby wetlands). In addition, training on issues such as water use, irrigation methods, and fertilizer application are likely to have a positive impact on the environment.

Environmental safety was a key consideration when the youth sprayer groups were established. By providing training in environmental health, and appropriate choice and handling of agricultural chemicals and disposal of their containers, as well as attempting to move the spraying activity to the hands of the trained sprayers, there is likely to be less environmental damage. Some sprayer groups still leave the chemical container disposal in the hands of farmers, while others are collecting the containers themselves. One group also noted that local farmers understood the safety advantage, as well as observing better results.

However, there is a small caveat – youth sprayers should understand that the masks they are using are for dust control, rather than totally excluding chemicals, and cotton overalls do not provide total protection. Therefore they must still exercise care when handling the chemicals (and as noted earlier, women should not handle the chemicals at all).