Mid-term evaluation of the USAID/RDMA maximizing agricultural revenue through knowledge, enterprise development, and trade (MARKET) project

This mid-term performance evaluation of MARKET assesses the performance of the project against its goal and objectives. A key part of MARKET's design is to promote more direct involvement of the private sector and civil society organizations (CSOs) in ASEAN's deliberations that had previously tended to be among governments only. The evaluation was conducted in Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam in June and July 2013 with the core objectives being: (1) assess project implementation to date toward performance targets and project objectives of regulatory improvement and stakeholder engagement; (2) describe what project actions work well, need improvement, should be discontinued, or should be replicated or scaled up; (3) recommend specific opportunities to enhance project effectiveness and sustainability. The evaluation was designed to answer three specific questions: (1) which activities have been perceived to effective, or ineffective, in advancing the MARKET objectives of regulatory/policy improvement and stakeholder engagement and why; (2) how much value do participants see in the regional public-private dialogues (and public-private taskforce) and why. In general the evaluation finds that in the last 20 months MARKET has: (1) generated momentum; (2) formed alliances; (3) provided demonstrations of the value to ASEAN of including the private sector and CSO in ASEAN discussions; and (4) MARKET staff has gained valuable experience. The first half of the project has been a process of exploration and creation. The second half should be one of single-minded concentration on implementation and achievement of projected results. (Excerpt, modified)