Final evaluation report : resource conservation and utilization project (project no. 367-0132)

Evaluation covers the period 1985-88. Project activities have been more successful since attention was shifted to small watershed units following the second interim evaluation in 1985. Some activities are efficiently meeting objectives and have a reasonable chance of being sustained. Key components of these successes have been (1) incorporation of user group needs in activity planning and implementation; (2) flexible institutional approaches to take advantage of existing opportunities; (3) use of low cost, locally available materials in the design and construction of infrastructure; (4) local cooperation for long-term protection of an area; (5) evidence of local awareness of the importance of resource conservation; and (6) more focus on smaller activities within more limited geographical areas. Future USAID/N projects of this sort should focus more on the panchayat level, providing incentives to encourage local level natural resource management. Project designs should meet the most critical conditions for sustainability (i.e., technical appropriateness, economic efficiency, user group participation). Designs should also ensure flexibility for leveraging existing opportunities where appropriate, encourage the use of local contractors, and ensure appropriate monitoring of activities. Other recommendations are that (1) the HMG/N should make forest and grazing land conservation a higher priority, and invest more time and effort in providing in-country training for professionals and in involving women in natural resource management efforts; (2) using gabions for river training and gully control is neither technically effective nor economically efficient and should receive low HMG/N priority; and (3) USAID/N should use innovative strategies to implement natural resource projects as well as innovative funding mechanisms, e.g., "sinking funds."