Mid-term evaluation of the lowering emissions in Asia's forests (LEAF) program

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA) Regional Environment Office (REO) created and funded LEAF to address climate change in a continuously evolving context of initiatives across the region’s countries and landscapes. Therefore, this evaluation seeks to advise RDMA on: (1) options for LEAF to best achieve its results while contributing to RDMA's emerging Regional Development Cooperation Strategy (RDCS) and in harmony with bilateral Missions and their strategies and programs, and (2) how best to focus future USAID program resources for RDCS results achievement. As an evaluation that looks both forward and backward from the mid-point of the LEAF project, the LEAF evaluation used a non-experimental design based on qualitative data and a cross-sectional evaluation process. It looked at multiple subgroups, including women, youth and minority ethnic groups, at one point in time and across six different countries. The main data collection tools were document review, semi-structured key informant interviews (KIIs) and group discussions. Limitations that were overcome included availability of informants, recall and absence of baselines. (Excerpt, modified)