Evaluating Impact and Building Capacity (EIBC) Work Plan Year 3

The project aims to contribute to rural income growth, poverty reduction, food security, and adequate nutrition in Egypt. The project has three components: Impact Evaluation, Capacity Building, and Policy Advisory and Actionable Research Topics. Component 1, Impact Evaluation, focuses on assessing the impact of USAID-funded agribusiness-promoting and nutrition and health-related projects in Upper Egypt. The evaluation strategy involves conducting field visits and data collection of FAS activities, refining the evaluation strategy, finalizing questionnaires and programming them in CAPI, conducting a listing survey, and deciding on the household survey sample size. The evaluation process involves training enumerators and pilot testing, field work and data collection, data analysis, and drafting an evaluation report. The timeline for the evaluation schedule is outlined in Figure 2, which shows the various activities and milestones to be achieved from October 2017 to September 2018. Component 2, Capacity Building, focuses on developing the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR) to monitor and evaluate development programs. During Year 2, IFPRI continued working on developing MAP Egypt, an online project mapping and monitoring tool, which aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of agricultural project planning and implementation. The team held three successful capacity building trainings for MALR staff on the use and management of MAP Egypt and launched the pilot version of the tool in a stakeholder meeting at MALR. The tool, MAP Egypt, will help MALR in effectively monitoring and evaluating the status and progress of all agricultural projects implemented with international organizations. It will also help decision makers in MALR, its international partners, and anyone interested in agricultural development in Egypt to access accurate and timely information on agricultural projects and programs. Component 3, Policy Advisory and Actionable Research Topics, has two sub-components: IFPRI Egypt Seminar Series and Actionable Research. The IFPRI Egypt Seminar Series aims to promote evidence-based policy making through demand-driven, actionable research and policy advisory services. The seminar series will provide a platform for policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders to discuss and debate policy issues related to agricultural development in Egypt. The Actionable Research component involves the implementation of two selected, actionable research topics: Cluster-based development and climate smart agriculture. The research will provide policymakers and stakeholders with actionable recommendations and evidence-based solutions to address the challenges facing agricultural development in Egypt. The EIBC project is expected to contribute to the achievement of the project's overall goal of contributing to rural income growth, poverty reduction, food security, and adequate nutrition in Egypt. The project's three components are designed to work together to achieve this goal, and the project's activities and milestones are outlined in the work plan for Year 3.