Village reforestation project

PES covers the period 9/80-7/83 and is based on document review, site visits, and interviews with USAID/M and Government of Mali (GOM) officials and beneficiaries. Much has been accomplished. Reforestation systems have been tested in 30 villages and 130,000 trees have been produced on 20 ha of woodlots. The species planted so far have proven acceptable to villagers (although more work is needed in this area), and the woodlots are being effectively protected via traditional methods. Also, village profiles have been helpful in identifying physical capabilities for reforestation (although not as useful in predicting villager interest) and project objectives have been well promoted through village meetings, slide slows, demonstrations, training, and follow-up. The benefits of reforestation and the extension methods used have kept villager motivation high. Much remains to be done, however. Two years of low rainfall have helped keep tree survival rates at only 30%, and few forestry interventions besides woodlots have been tried due to a lack of familiarity with other methods and the difficulty of measuring results. Also, no attempt has been made to introduce woodstoves, mainly because the technology available has not yet proven appropriate - nor is the situation likely to improve before the project ends. Other project problems are being addressed. Lessons learned are: collaboration in design and implementation has increased host government commitment and enhanced project flexibility; working with line ministries is preferable to creating new semi-autonomous bodies; small, well-designed projects can affect policy dialogue and be used as a testing ground without large investments, but should be accessible to supervising agencies; woodlots may not be the best way to increase fuelwood; forestry agents might be more active in extension if given incentives; imposing evaluation criteria or quotas may have negative effects; forestry projects tend to show benefits in the long term; evaluations are more useful if jointly conducted; and personnel should have documentation in a language they understand.