SIERRA LEONE maq 4ª.indd - agrilife - Europa

6 Survey Results
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Europe Aid, 2010) are discussed in the light of the
Sierra Leone survey.
Relevance refers to the extent to which the
objectives of the development intervention are
consistent with beneficiaries ‘requirements’.
Therefore, in the Sierra Leone survey the
relevance was assessed by asking smallholders
about their perceived adequacy of the support
received given their farm household needs. In
other words, they were asked to analyze how
adequate (sufficient/satisfactory) were the type
of support received and to compare whether
the amount of aid received with respect to the
amount they believed they needed or required
to operate their farm households. Given
smallholders’ often problematic situation, it is
expected that the amount of resources provided
will hardly be seen from their viewpoint as
fully adequate. (Moreover, replying that it is
so, would entail that no further aid is needed;
a situation which would go against the interest
of beneficiaries).
Effectiveness addresses the extent to which the
development intervention’s objectives were
achieved (or are expected to be achieved).
The aim of this criterion is to verify whether
the results of the assistance projects translate
into achievement of the initially stated project
purpose. Consequently, smallholders were
asked to comment on whether their project
involvement allowed them to improve their
situation in terms of total production and
income. They were also asked to judge this
improvement as: great, some or no improvement
and to comment whether other aspects related
to their rural livelihood were improved.
Impact is the criterion which deals with the
primary and secondary long-term effects
produced by the development intervention,
directly or indirectly, intended or unintended.
For the case of the present survey, impact
was addressed by asking smallholders
whether they experienced (or not), as a result
of their involvement in project initiatives,
changes in key areas such as: production,
cultivated area, yields, market and storage
facility access. The latter is expected to
reveal the extent to which the completion of
project tasks contributed to the achievement
of the overall objective of increasing farm
households’ food security and livelihoods
supported by STABEX funded-measures.
Sustainability refers to the continuation of
benefits from a development intervention
after major development assistance has been
completed; or the probability of continued longterm
benefits. However, in the context of the
Sierra Leone survey this criterion is evaluated
in a more restricted manner as it is not possible
to know with certainty which activities will
continue to be performed by smallholders once
the implementing agencies have left the area. In
the Sierra Leone survey, sustainability is therefore
analyzed by asking smallholders whether they
believe that the processes initiated under the
technical assistance programmes will continue
to function beyond the implementation
period. Consequently, the survey results reflect
smallholders’ perceptions regarding programme
initiatives which in their opinion are likely to be
followed up or simply discontinued once the
implementing agency abandons their region.
Additionally to the above mentioned four
criteria the perceived General Improvement of
the Community Area was also assessed. This
assessment was aiming at gathering information
on smallholders’ perceptions on changes
occurred in different development areas in these
regions. The households were asked whether they
have experienced any improvement during the
last two years (when the STABEX was operational)
in the following development areas: general wellbeing
in the area, education, health care, food
security, opportunities to sell farm produce and
buy fertiliser and also the provision of agricultural
services by the government.
Table 33 presents the evaluation matrix
specifying the indicators and data collected