Maharashtra social forestry project

The evaluation, conducted by a USAID/Government of India (GOI) team, covered the period 10/82-10/85 and was based on site visits and interviews with forestry personnel and villagers. Results have been mixed. On the positive side, community and private tree planting activities have achieved or exceeded proposed targets, and villager interest and participation in both types of planting is increasing. There was significant progress in staff training and extension during the first 2 years of the project; the H&SFD officers who have received extension training are becoming a solid staffing foundation for the program. However, H&SFD resources have shifted almost exclusively to tree planting activities, with little attention being given to continued development of staff expertise and management capability. The perceived need to shift plantation management responsibilities to villagers is likewise decreasing. Also on the negative side, management and research studies needed by H&SFD staff in preparing detailed village management plans have yet to be undertaken. Two project assumptions appear invalid - that rural communities would wish to assume complete responsibility for managing their plantations, and that wood as fuelwood and fodder rather than as a cash crop would motivate villagers to participate in the program. Three main lessons were learned. (1) Project goals should be framed with more attention to the interests of the GOI and also to the interests and capabilities of the implementing agencies and the recipients themselves. (2) Greater specificity is needed in the Project Paper regarding who is to be trained and by whom, the quality and level of training, the facilities to be used, and the numbers to be trained against a specific project timetable. (3) The program"s long-term sustainability needs to be stressed. Project success should be measured not so much in terms of production output, e.g., the ha of trees planted, as of H&SFD"s success in involving the communities in all aspects of the program. The evaluation highlighted the critical importance of the right mixture of "software" (management, training, and clearly defined rights and obligations) and "hardware" in the project.