Watershed management in Cape Verde : interim evaluation

Special evaluation covers the period to 12/15/82 and is based on site visits and interviews with project officials. The project is generally meeting its objectives, particularly with regard to its waterworks construction and employment components. Some 424 (vs. a targeted 1500) planned check dams have been completed and the completion rate has been steadily increasing. In addition, 82.5 km of contour walls have been built. As a result, water supplies have shown signs of increase, run-off has been reduced, crop yields have increased, and new cropping practices have been put into effect by farmers. As far as developing an employment program to carry out project construction, the goal of 3,000 persons hired has nearly been met, largely due to local decisionmaking and participation in the recruitment process. Research capabilities have been bolstered with the establishment of a Center for Agricultural Studies, which will furnish TA to the project and play a major role in training extensionists. The project"s complexity has led to a less than optimal sequencing of its various components, with major emphasis placed on the construction and employment activities at the expense of other activities. While the core of an experimental extension program has been put in place, this component has met with minimal success. Difficulties in setting up a national extension program and bureaucratic obstacles have delayed implementation of the experimental program; a lack of trained full-time extensionists (two part-time extensionists and an extension coordinator are now on board) has contributed to its overall lack of progress. Further, lack of coordination and integration among project elements (no master plan has yet been developed) and a dearth of systematic methodology in data collection have hampered accomplishment of project objectives. Nineteen recommendations are included.