Tropentag, October 11 - 13, 2006 in Bonn "Prosperity and Poverty in a Globalized World – Challenges for Agricultural Research"

Implication of Project Intervention on Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Livelihoods

¹Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Institute of Agriculture and Food Systems Management, Germany
²Auburn University, College of Agriculture, USA

Abstract

The number of people living under poverty is still very high despite numerous poverty alleviation programs launched over the years. Although several development models and approaches have been practised, 38% population in Nepal still live in dire poverty. Many of the projects to trim down poverty have been supported by multi and bilateral agencies in one or the other form. However, assessment of impact of such interventions has yet to emphasise specifically at micro level. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the socio-economic impacts that accrued to the beneficiary of subsistence farm community and to delineate the relationship with sustainable livelihoods.
A randomised household survey was conducted to collect field data applying a multi-stage random sampling technique for 120 households in the mid hills, Nepal. The data has been analysed using descriptive statistics, qualitative tools and econometric models. To net out the impacts due to project intervention on peoples' livelihood, income measures, consumption pattern, head count index of the respondents, and poverty gap techniques have been used.
Analyses for some socio-economic and ecological variables like derived income and food self-sufficiency level, a positive but not significant impact is identified. The influence on ecological development, equity in resource allocation and sharing benefits between male and female farmers and opportunity for capacity building indicators have been found positively significant. However, beneficiaries' participation during project planning and performance evaluation phases has been disregarded.
Assessment of impact of development activities helps allocate resources optimally thereby enhancing the benefits from future projects. Therefore, impact evaluation at grass-root level and beneficiaries' capacity building on planning and evaluating performances should always be given top priority.

Keywords: Buffalo enterprise, factor productivity, rural economy, women empowerment

Contact Address: Lila Karki, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Institute of Agriculture and Food Systems Management, Senckenbergstraße - 3, D-35390 Gießen, Germany, e-mail: Lila.Karkiagrar.uni-giessen.de