Gtz2006 en Lesotho Sfcp Mnr

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Ex-Post Evaluation 2006

Social Forestry and Conservation Project(SFCP)

Lesotho

Brief report


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Compiled by: Arnold Bergstraesser Institute, Freiburg

This expert report was compiled by independent, external ex-

perts. As such, the opinions and assessments contained

therein are those of the authors exclusively.

Published by:Deutsche Gesellschaft frTechnische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH

Evaluation Unit

Dag-Hammarskjld-Weg 1-565760 EschbornGermanyInternet: http://www.gtz.de

Eschborn, 15 Jan. 2007


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ContentsPage

1. Tabular Overview 22. Project Description 3

2.1 Project title, project objectives, indicators, inputs to overarchingobjectives / scheduled results 3

2.2 Problem context, framework conditions 32.3 Project concept, consultancy approach 4

3. Results of Evaluation 53.1 Overall assessment 53.2 Assessment in line with the 5 international criteria for development 53.3 Assessment in terms of MDGs, poverty reduction and gender 63.4 Conclusions and recommendations 6


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1. Tabular Overview

Project title Social Forestry & Conservation Project (SFCP)

Project number 99.2112.3-01.100 (91.2083.3-01.100)

Overall term: Jan. 1993 August 2002

Follow-on phase (DED): Sept. 2002 August 2004

Overall costs German input: EUR 9.71 million

Partner input: EUR 2.56 million

Total: EUR 12.27 million

(excluding follow-on phase)

Project objective The rural population in the districts of Maseru andMafeteng apply methods of participatory forest devel-opment that are integrated into a village land-use planand involve erosion control measures.

(Project objective for last implementation phase)

Lead executing agency Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)

Forestry Division (FD) of the Department of Conserva-tion, Forestry and Land Use Planning (DCFLUP)

Implementing organisations GTZ

Other organisations/donors in-volved

KfW / DED

Target groups Direct: Rural population in Maseru and Mafeteng dis-tricts (especially small farmers, livestock owners, land-less families, women)

Intermediaries: Technical officials and on-site advisersbelonging to the ministries involved, local elite, person-nel from local NGOs

Overall assessment 4

Evaluation period October/November 2006, (on site: Nov. 2006)

Institute conducting evaluation Arnold Bergstraesser Institute, Freiburg

Evaluation team Konrad Sandhofer (international appraiser)

Teboho Maliehe (national appraiser)


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Individual assessment Relevance 3, Effectiveness 4, Impact 4, Efficiency 4,Sustainability 4

2. Project Description

2.1 Project title, project objectives, indicators, inputs to overarching objectives /

scheduled results

The Social Forestry (& Conservation) Project (SFP/SFCP) aimed to empower the rural popu-

lation in selected districts to apply social forestry methods that were integrated within a vil-

lage land-use plan and contained erosion-control measures. Inter alia, project success wasto be measured against the number of organised initiatives for afforestation and land-use as

well as against the number of trees planted by communities, groups, institutions and indi-

viduals. To achieve the project objective, the following key measures were employed:

Structure-generating promotion measures to build up a professional forest administra-

tion system; the elaboration of a conceptual and strategic basis for nationwide, par-

ticipatory afforestation by local communities, as well as the generation of the neces-

sary legal framework;

Production and provision of planting material as well as technical forestry extension

services for tree planting by local communities and the private sector (as of 1998 also

increased promotion of fruit-tree cultivation);

Introduction of standard community-level land-use plans and strengthening of requi-

site state and village structures in terms of their technical skills;

Technical and material support for physical erosion protection measures on severely

degraded areas (Donga rehabilitation).

Local project executing agency was the (then) Forest Department of the Ministry of Agricul-

ture.

2.2 Problem context, framework conditions

Lesotho is mountainous; two thirds of the country lies above 2400 m. Barely 10% of the

overall surface area of around 30,350 km2 is considered agriculturally useable on a sustain-

able basis. More than two thirds of the country is used for extensive cattle grazing right up

into the summit regions. The remainder is taken up by villages and towns and barren land.

The natural forests and shrubs have virtually disappeared, having been cut down for fuel-

wood and construction and turned into grassland. Dramatically advancing soil erosion,


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caused by the climate, soil conditions and severe overexploitation of the remaining vegeta-

tion, as well as general ecological degradation constitute the core problem in the project

area. The major causes are regarded as traditionally entrenched rights governing use of

land, pastures and forests, the populations scant interest in resource conservation meas-

ures, the rather inconsistent implementation of resource conservation and land use policies

as well as the low productivity of agriculture and cattle farming, resulting in a low level of in-

vestment.

The project districts Mafeteng and Maseru (capital city) are located in the southwestern foot-

hills which offer a favourable climate and topography and direct connections to the Republic

of South Africa (RSA). The problems besetting rural areas, which with up to 200 inhabi-tants/km2 are very densely populated, manifest themselves in the extreme here: excessively

high numbers of livestock (according to expert figures, up to four times the rangelands

maximum capacity!), underproductive fields and herds, severe and advancing erosion dam-

age as well as diminishing soil fertility, chronic lack of fuels and a large-scale dependency on

imported goods and capital transfers (migratory labour) from the directly adjacent RSA.

2.3 Project concept and consultancy approach

The project was implemented from 1993 through to 2002 in three phases (including the pilot

phase), with DED providing follow-up through to 2004. The project was based on a concept

geared to the GTZs former planning approach (ZOPP1): Through the project objective, the

target groups potential income was to be increased and their demand for forest products

better satisfied whilst protecting their natural resources (overarching result/overall objective).

To this end, the project provided comprehensive outputs, inter alia in the field of concept

and strategy development for social forestry and local land-use planning, as well as the re-

structuring and training of state forest administrations at all levels. This was intended to em-

power the state forest administration to implement the concept of social forestry throughout

Lesotho. Further services geared to the target population, such as information events on the

ecology and significance of forest management, technical extension for afforestation and the

provision of packages of material (planting stock and equipment) were intended to em-

power them to conduct local and private afforestation measures and to rehabilitate degraded

areas.

1 Objectives-oriented Project Planning


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It was aimed to achieve the direct results by applying the new concepts and strategies and

by providing professional extension services and planting stock for afforestations by local

communities, private actors and the forest administration, and by having the target popula-

tion implement rehabilitation measures for degraded areas.

The projects indirect results were geared to improving the target populations economic

situation and self-sufficiency in terms of forest products whilst securing the sustainable use of

natural resources.

3. Results of the evaluation

3.1 Overall assessment

The ex-post evaluation of the project arrived at the overall assessment mark 4 (not satisfac-

tory). Project results have remained significantly below expectations and, in spite of visible

successes and results in certain other key areas, the anticipated development impacts have

not been achieved.

3.2 Assessment in line with the 5 international criteria for development

Project relevance is categorised as satisfactory (3). During its term, the project initiated

some major structure-generating measures in the institutional, conceptual-strategic and legal

area, with a view to promoting national forest management. Although the project failed to

meet expectations, the positive aspects do outweigh all others.

SFP/SFCP effectiveness is not deemed satisfactory (4). Although some of the scheduled

objectives were achieved, the project was not very effective overall in terms of achieving the

objective, since many of the measures implemented at great effort (local afforestation, ex-pansion of state tree nurseries) ultimately produced no results.

The projects impact in terms of helping resolve the fuelwood problem and reduce ecological

degradation and poverty has remained marginal overall, as the successful locations were too

small and too isolated overall to be able to significantly influence negative processes. As-

sessment mark: 4 (not satisfactory).

SFP/SFCP efficiency is judged as low (5), as the project was too cost-intensive overall in

relation to the results ultimately achieved. On top of this, some very costly strategic errors


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were made (massive expansion of state tree nurseries that in recent years have only been

operating at 20-30% of their capacity).

The sustainability of the results achieved during the project term also has to be judged as

not satisfactory (4), since most of the outputs of the project were not used neither by the

target groups nor the counterpart organisation - to build up a sustainable process that would

have led to a change in afforestation trends or to ecological rehabilitation and poverty reduc-

tion.

3.3 Assessment in terms of MDGs, poverty reduction and gender

The project concept failed to differentiate sufficiently among target groups and was geared

generally to the village target group. A poverty analysis is not at hand. The project contrib-

uted only marginally to the achievement of the MDGs and to poverty reduction. The positive

results in terms of poverty reduction are restricted to the operators of the tree nurseries pro-

moted by the project, to most of the owners of private village afforestations and to a few

communities (> 10%) with successfully managed local afforestations and successfully reha-

bilitated eroded areas (dongas). The project essentially failed to exploit existing potential for

expanding fruit farming and introducing non-wood forest production (honey production, forest

by-products).

To a small extent, the project has officially helped overcome poverty-relevant structural prob-

lems. The official concepts, strategies and legal basis are, however, not implemented across

the board.

A gender analysis is not at hand and the project concept was not gender differentiated.

Nonetheless, in most of the project areas the majority of women felt the projects outputs

addressed their needs. Within the project areas, men and women contributed equally to the

organisation and implementation of local afforestation. In most of these areas, the project

has strengthened womens role in the implementation of joint tasks in the project villages and

alleviated their situation with regard to the procurement of fuelwood and animal fodder; how-

ever, these positive results can only be regarded as relatively secure and sustainable for the

25-30% of afforestation areas that are relatively well managed.

3.4 Conclusions and recommendations

SFP/SFCP developed the conceptual basis for social forestry and was instrumental in gen-

erating the strategic and legal framework conditions for its implementation in Lesotho. How-


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ever, project implementation at the target-group level placed too much emphasis on the

state-administrative sector. Extensive promotion and the hands-on involvement of village and

civil-society organisations would have been the better option. The appraisers thus recom-

mend that:

Lesothos current privatisation policy should be applied speedily to 70% of govern-

ment tree nurseries. Remaining capacities in the state tree nursery enterprises should

mainly be used for overarching core tasks, e.g. research into tree species, testing,

rearing of difficult tree species, production of grafting materials for fruit trees etc.

The process of reforming legal regulations governing land allocation and the state

regulation of prices for forest seedlings should be continued to secure the economicviability of private tree nurseries.

The intensity of extension services for existing village afforestations should be

stepped up, especially with regard to stand tending and optimum usage (above all in

timber marketing).

Mainstreaming social forestry within a comprehensive, community-based natural re-

sources management concept should be advanced.

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Gtz2006 en Lesotho Sfcp Mnr