BASELINE DRAFT REPORT /
PATRICK UMAR KOROMA—CONSULTANT /
SUSTAINABLE PARTNERSHIP ACTION FOR DEVELOPMENT ENGAGEMENT –(SPADE) /
TABLE ON CONTENTS
List of Tables......
List of Figures......
List of Acronyms......
Executive Summary......
1.0:Introduction......
2.0: Baseline aim and objectives......
3.0: Methodology, resources and budget
3.0.1:Sampling……………………………..……………………………………………….
3.0.2:Village profiles......
3.0.3:Questionnaire for household survey………………………………………………
3.0.4:Questionnaire content………………………………………………………………
3.0.5: Focus Group Discussions......
3.0.6:Field work, resources and logistics......
3.0.7:Data Analysis and reporting......
3.0.8: Limitations of the baseline survey......
4.0: Survey Findings......
5.0: Conclusions and recommendations......
5.0.1:Conclusions......
5.0.2:Recommendations......
Annex 1: Baseline Questionnaire......
Annex 2: Focus Discussion Checklist for communities/stakeholders………………….
Annex 3: List of randomly selected Villages......
Annex 4: List of selected Villages for Focus Group Discussions......
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1:Average population size per household
Table 2:Average number of co-wives in polygamous households
Table 3:Average numbers of children women farmers have households
Table 4:Women in households with children in school and the average number of children sent to school per household
Table 5:Number of years in farming within households
Table 6:How women farmers’ process crops after harvest
Table 7:What a typical household spend on
Table 8:Estimated costs for items purchased for cultivation
Table 9:Estimated costs for milled and un-milled crops
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Household members who work in the farm
Figure 2: Forms of treatment received when household members are sick
Figure 3: Forms of assistance received by sick members within households
Figure 4: Different types of crops grown within households
Figure 5:Types of farming done by households
Figure 6: Planting methods within households
Figure 7: Crops planted by other members of the household
Figure 8: How women farmers cultivate without owning land
Figure 9: Other types of crops cultivated within households
Figure 10: Activities men and women typically do in households
Figure 11: Household major source of income
Figure 12:Those who sell products produced by other members of the household
Figure 13: Who keeps the money generated within the household
Figure 14: other sources of income for the household
Figure 15: Those present when decisions are made in households
Figure 16: Who controls household properties
Figure 17: Typical decisions made in households
Figure 18: How women farmers deal with violence and abuse in households
List of Acronyms
BD --Bombali District
CBOs -- Community Based Organizations
DFID -- Department for International Development
EVD -- Ebola Virus Disease
FBOs -- Farm Based Organizations
FGDs -- Focus Group Discussions
FTM -- Feed The Minds
GPAF -- Global Poverty Action Fund
HHs -- Households
IFAD -- International Agency for Food and Agricultural Development
IVS -- Inland Valley Swamps
MAFFS -- Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security
MEWODA -- Menna Women’s Development Associates
NGOs -- Non-Governmental organizations
PHU -- Peripheral Health Unit
SLEP -- Sustainable Livelihood Enhancement Project
SPSS -- Statistical Package for Social Sciences
UK -- United Kingdom
Executive Summary
The Sustainable Livelihood Enhancement Project (SLEP) is a two years FTM/DFID-funded project that is set to be implemented by Menna Women Development Associates (MEWODA). The project is set to benefit 2,500 rural women farmers in Makarie-Gbanti Chiefdom from November 2015 to November 2017. This baseline study was conducted in September-October to get a quick understanding of the food security, market prices,livelihoods and gender situation of communities in Makarie-Gbanti Chiefdom—Bombali District—Northern Sierra Leone where MEWODA is set to implement the project. Surveying was done by MEWODA project staff as enumerators supervised and facilitated by the hired consultant. The survey reached a final total sample of 150 households interviewed with 90 other participants (mixed group) in Focus Group Discussions making a total 240 respondents. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in concordance with participatory rural appraisal methods of Focus Group Discussions; transect walks, seasonal calendars and activity maps.
Findings from the study revealed women farmers co-exist with co-wives in households with some having3 and above children (43.3) sent to school and other family members working in farming and petty trading as their key livelihoods. Women farmers interviewed plant rice, groundnut and ginger with groundnut been the crop mainly planted followed by rice and ginger together with vegetable crops. Though ginger is found to be less planted, some women farmers expressed interest in doing an experiment with the crop as confidence is given by others for the crop to have the potential for processing and marketing opportunities.
Findings revealed that the average return yield for a bushel of rice planted is between 1 to 5 bushels (50%) whilst groundnuts is estimated at 1 to 5 bushels (68%). Estimated average yields of ginger were however vague (74%) followed by all estimated yield for rice, groundnuts and ginger per year. The study further revealed that women farmers currently have no access to value chain addition facilities for milling and threshing for their farm products. Those women farmers found to be engaged in group farming (47%) are confirmed to merely be in “women communal labor groups” and not the true sense of farming cooperatives.
Major source of income is found to be farming and petty trading whilst husbands (men) are reported to keep income generated by women within households (63%) and further decide what to buy for the household and what to spend money on (50%) in consultation with the wives. Women farmers are also found to pay for labor, tools, seeds and food for work for rice cultivation (67%).The study discovered that a bushel of un-milled rice at farm gate is 55,000 Leones whilst a bushel of milled rice is estimated at 70,000 Leones. A bushel of un-milled groundnuts is estimated at 55,000 Leones and above whilst a bushel of milled groundnuts is estimated at 70,000 Leones (50%). However, estimated costs for ginger were vague but slated at 100,000 to 120,000 thousand Leones and women farmers mainly get information on market prices on their products from women traders (70%) entering their communities from urban areas and also mainly sell their products within the Makeni City Market (79%).
Men and women are found to be present in decision making within households. Some communities are also found to have strong women leaders who participate in the governance of the community (67%) whilst household properties are mainly controlled by men with women gradually taking part. Furthermore, decisions are mainly made around farming and household finances followed by education and health whilst women in households showed that they do not report incidences of molestation and domestic abuse (87%) to the police or any legal authority and further experience many post traumatic stresses even whilst currently experiencing an estimated frequency of violence monthly (43%).
It is therefore recommended that the selection of women farmers as beneficiaries for the project should consider women co-wives with four children or more and are cultivating rice and groundnuts with expressed willingness to cultivate ginger as a crop to be sold and not regularly consumed within households. Women single-parents and widows should be considered a priority.
It is also recommended that support should be given to women farmers with diversified seed inputs with encouragement to cultivate ginger as a key alternative crop for marketing and linkages to emerging processing and marketing opportunities for the crop. Women farmers should also have access to affordable value chain addition infrastructures and machinery to enable women add value to their products in order to gain competitive market prices. Access to affordable transportation for their goods from farm-gate to value chain addition facilities and to the local market will be an added advantage. It is also recommended that women farming cooperatives are established within beneficiary communities with a clear and complete sense of direction for women farmers. As this has the possibility to generate increased farm product cultivation with diversified crops.
Capacities of women farmers should be built around the cultivation and regular maintenance of IVS more as upland farming is associated with environmental hazards and the destruction of the forest and micro organisms and soil erosion. Trainings should also be focused on business and leadership skills followed by support for women to take leading roles that ensure they participate in decision making processes within beneficiary communities as well informed women farmers shall take leadership roles with dignity and confidence and report personally any abuse to legal authorities. Finally, MEWODA should ensure farmers are confident to plant ginger and can access value addition and marketing for the crop. This can be done through the building of synergies and linkages with nationally and internally potential buyers as gaining a market for the key farm products supported by the project shall create great dividend both for the women beneficiary farmers and for MEWODA as a women’s empowerment organization with full assurance of realizing the key outcomes of the project.
1.0: Introduction
Feed the Minds UK and Menna Women’s Development Association (MEWODA) in Sierra Leone have developed a joint project proposal funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) under the Global Poverty Action Fund (GPAF) stream through UK Aid Direct after an initial needs assessment and an earlier pilot project carried out by both organisations in 2013. The project focuses on improving the outcomes for women involved in agricultural production and food security.
The project directly targets 2,500 rural women from 1,250 households in 50 villages across the chiefdom to increase both the quantity and quality of rice, groundnuts and ginger that are already growing in the area, and directly link up to markets (locally, regionally and internationally) to sell this produce at a rate of 50% higher (average figure for rice, groundnuts and ginger at national and international markets) than is available in the immediate locality, with corresponding typical household income increases.
The purpose of this Livelihood and Gender Baseline study is to get a quick understanding of the livelihoods, current agricultural practices, market prices, and access to value chain addition and gender situation of communities in Makarie-Gbanti Chiefdom where MEWODA is set to implement a Sustainable Livelihood Enhancement Project for 2,500 rural women farmers.Findings will be used to measure progress on the achievement of outcomes during the course of the project.
2.0: Baseline aim and objectives
The study aimed to provide representative quantitative and qualitative information on livelihoodswithin 15 villages out of the 50 villages proposed for the implementation of the project within Makarie-Gbanti Chiefdom—Northern Sierra Leoneparticularly in post Ebola recovery situation.Baseline information from selected covered the following thematic areas:
- Current agricultural practices among women farmers – techniques used (pre- and particularly post harvesting), crops grown, quantities grown, costs involved.
- Income earned by women farmers from agricultural activities and their control over that income.
- Market prices for rice, groundnuts and ginger in processed and unprocessed forms relative to prices for other crops.
- General household information: education and literacy levels, use of health and education services.
- Gender dynamics: women in leadership positions at community level, decision making at household level, incidence of domestic violence, any differences in these on the basis of polygamous/non-polygamous household.
- Identification of external economic, political and social factors that are likely to influence project outcomes
The baseline survey results will be a fundamental part of FTM/DFID/MEWODA’sreview and evaluation strategy. The baseline surveyaims to provide the basis to review evaluate the effectiveness and outcomes of the Sustainable Livelihood Enhancement Project (SLEP) support to women farmers particularly in terms of their livelihoods and food security. Findings of thesurvey in MEWODA selected villages and control villages will be compared with findings at mid-term and, moreimportantly, at the end of the Sustainable Livelihoods Enhancement Project (SLEP).
3.0: Methodology, resources and budget
3.0.1: Sampling
A random and representative sampling methodwas used with 15 villages selected out of 50 villages to allow statistical validity by dividing the chiefdom in three (South-East, North-West and Central) and randomly select five farming villages in each zone. 150 women were selected from 15 villages for the completion of the survey with an additional 90 community members – both male and female selected from those villages to participate in focus group discussions. Women farmers who participated as key informants were selected on the basis of their engagement in farming for business within communities with the support of local leaders in identifying them.
A total sample size of 240 respondents (mixed group) from 15 villageschosen with probability proportional to their number of households (using a process ofsystematic random selection from the list of households) and an average of 10 women farmers per villagewere interviewed using a formal questionnaire.
Sample size was based on the formula to estimate aproportion in a sample with a known level of confidence and precision to reflect the proportion in thepopulation. For example, we could consider the adoption of new livelihoods or agricultural practices. We assume a large population but don't know the variability among householdswith regard to practices being used, we therefore assume p=0.5 (maximum variability).The list of villages randomly selected for the survey is provided at Annex 2.
3.0.2: Village profiles
The characteristics of each village selected for the survey were documented through a process of keyinformant interviews with representatives from the village authorities and leaders. Enumerators were trainedin collecting and recording the required information.
3.0.3: Questionnaire for household survey
The questionnaire for the household survey component of the baseline survey was designed aroundkey expected outcomes and associated indicators of SLEP[1]. Indicators were alsoidentified around the Cost Model of the project for critical questions and key assumptions in understanding relevant market information. The aim was to have a questionnaire that was simple to answer and record responses, and not takemore than 45 minutes on average to complete. There were no open questions in the questionnairemaking recording of answers simple and quick. All questions were carefully translated and tested andadditional response options added as required.(SeeAnnex 1)
3.0.4: Focus Group Discussions
Qualitative information has been collected by means of focus group discussions (FGDs) with variouscommunity sub-groups. The FGDs were done separately for farmers and government officials. Five (5) FDGs were completed with farmers with 15 participants in each (mixed men and women and women farmers only) and one (1) completed with Government officials involving 15 participants from MAFFS[2]and the District Council Committee on Agriculture. These have used open questions developed focusing on the six thematic areas of the baseline. FGDs were undertaken in 6 villages including Panlap Village where the Focus Group Discussions for government officials was conducted. The Villages where the FGDs took place were Makaprr ll, Mabuya, Kerefay—Themne, Royainkain, Makulon and Panlap.
3.0.5: Field work resources and logistics
The household interview field work for the baseline survey started on the 29thSeptember, 2015 after a day’s training conducted for the enumerators, and data collection was completed on the 4th October, 2015.Five of MEWODA staff were trained (3 women and 2 men) and employed for the household survey. Focus group discussion instructions and checklists were thoroughly discussed, clarified; and were administered to six randomly selected communities.All 6 FGDs were completed within the time frame stipulated.
3.0.6: Data analysis and reporting
All questionnaires were checked in the field prior to leaving each village to ensure they were completed fully and correctly. Questionnaire data was then double entered into an Excel formatted data base for errors to be identified and corrected systematically until no transcription/entry errors remained. Analysis was then undertaken using the Statistical Package for Social Science presenting simple tables and bar charts with responses frequencies and percentage number of frequency backed by information gathered in the FDGs to make inferences on key variables of the study.
3.0.7: Limitations of the research
It is important to emphasize some of the main limitations to this study.
Identification of villages where MEWODA operates:
The sampling strategy was based on a random sampling framework within villages where MEWODA operates. Over the course of implementation of the project it is expected that the selected villages will change from currently levels of subsistent farming to farming for business with women playing a leading role in the management of households and communities. These changes had already begun at the time of writing. The implications are that by the time of subsequent evaluations there will be a larger population benefit with increased production and marketing within villages where the project is implemented in comparison to village communities where MEWODA is currently not operational.
Selection of control villages:
Selection of “controlled villages”[3] is always a difficult undertaking. Ideally control villages should be similar to ‘treatment’ villages in all characteristics other than previous MEWODA interventions. Given the lack of socioeconomic information on the villages in any one township there was little published secondary information with which to make such a comparison. MEWODA staffs were therefore much more useful in this sense as they had much experience with some of the communities. Furthermore, while initial selection of the control may have been appropriate, future development assistance may impact on control villages selected for interventions by other programs. This will need to be investigated in subsequent evaluations.