BASIS CRSP external evaluation : panel report, 1999

Annual external evaluation covers the year 1999. Generally, the BASIS CRSP is progressing well. Research is moving forward despite limitations in resources and host country support staff, host country disasters, and a slower than planned implementation. Evaluations of individual country programs reveal a number of strengths and accomplishments: (1) By its 4th year of operation, the BASIS CRSP has implemented research programs in four regions, is managing add-ons totaling about $650,000 in year four, has cumulatively incorporated more that 50 organizations in BASIS- funded research programs, and has engaged researchers in a broad network of collaboration and partnership. (2) BASIS programs are employing innovative methodologies. In El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the Horn of Africa, longitudinal surveys are tracking paths that individual households follow in and out of poverty. Research in all sites spans a wide range of ideological backgrounds and disciplines. Research in El Salvador, the Horn of Africa, and Namibia is linking data collection with Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates that are utilizing state-of-the-art spatial analysis. (3) BASIS programs have connected with USAID mission and regional bureaus, particularly for work on poverty in El Salvador, land reform in Zimbabwe, and food security in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. The number of add-ons confirms evidence that BASIS research is demand-driven, and USAID missions have indicated vocal support for the program (e.g., a presentation to the USAID Administrator on poverty in El Salvador was based on BASIS data). (4) BASIS programs are contributing to policymaking. In El Salvador, the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development (FUSADES) has presented BASIS results to economics and social cabinet ministers. Water research in southern Africa is linking with the National Water Authority and the Water Resources Management Group in Zimbabwe and the Lake Chilwa project in Malawi. (5) BASIS programs have enabled collaboration and strengthened the capacity of host country researchers and their counterpart organizations in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and the Horn of Africa. On the down side, a number of problems and constraints affect the CRSP's technical mission: (1) The Horn of Africa and southern Africa report serious capacity constraints, including problems reporting finances and disbursing funds in Ethiopia, turnover of key personnel in southern Africa, lack of a U.S. principal investigator in the Mozambique program, and time lost when researchers are hired as consultants on other projects. (2) Although BASIS has done a good job strengthening capacity of host country researchers through hands-on-training, workshops, conferences, and visiting scholarships to the United States, the level of formal training is relatively low, principally because of funding constraints. There are notable exceptions -- the training of one graduate student from El Salvador at Ohio State University (OSU) and the training of young students in the water program in Mozambique -- but such efforts are not sufficient to address the capacity constraints affecting the region. (3) While most site visits report good progress in identifying and reporting results, the articulation, measurement, and monitoring of impact indicators across program activities remains underdeveloped. (4) The site evaluations note how the United States has economic, political, and humanitarian interests in enhancing growth and reducing poverty in Nicaragua and Southern Africa. The site evaluations also underscore the global importance of land reform in Southern Africa, land titling in Nicaragua, and the applicability of the water research in Southern Africa for the arid areas of the U.S. west. However, research has not documented or measured these impacts. Overall, the factor market focus of the BASIS CRSP makes it more difficult to identify benefits to the United States as directly as under the commodity CRSPs. (5) Finally, the crosscutting themes of gender, market integration, and risk are being addressed to varying degrees in most sites, but work is not being carried out on synthesis, and crosscutting work in certain programs (the Horn of Africa) is weak.