Document of The World Bank FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Report No: ICR00005681 IMPLEMENTATION COMPLETION AND RESULTS REPORT TF0A8132 ON A SMALL GRANT IN THE AMOUNT OF USD 2.73 MILLION EQUIVALENT TO THE Republic of Côte d'Ivoire FOR Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) June 30, 2022 Agriculture And Food Global Practice Africa West Region Regional Vice President: Ousmane Diagana Country Director: Coralie Gevers Regional Director: Simeon Kacou Ehui Practice Manager: Chakib Jenane Task Team Leader(s): Jeanne Coulibaly Y epse Oyolola, Jean-Philippe Tre ICR Main Contributor: Divya Kapoor ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ANADER National Rural Support Agency (Agence Nationale d’Appui du Développement Rural) ASNAP Agriculture Sensitive to Nutrition Project and Capacity Development of Small Producers CHW Community Health Worker CPF Country Partnership Framework EHA Essential Hygiene Actions ESMF Environmental and Social Management Framework ENA Essential Nutrition Actions HKI Helen Keller International JSDF Japan Social Development Fund M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MEF Ministry of Economy and Finance (Ministère de l'Economie et des Finances) MEMINADER Ministry of State, Agriculture and Rural Development (Ministère d’Etat, de l'Agriculture et du Développement Rural) NAIP National Agriculture Investment Plan NGO Non-Governmental Organization OFSP Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato PDO Project Development Objective ToC Theory of Change VMF Village Model Farm WB The World Bank TABLE OF CONTENTS DATA SHEET ....................................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES ....................................................... 4 II. OUTCOME ...................................................................................................................... 9 III. KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECTED IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME ................................ 13 IV. BANK PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE ISSUES, AND RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME .. 15 V. LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................. 18 ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND KEY OUTPUTS ........................................................... 20 ANNEX 2. PROJECT COST BY COMPONENT ........................................................................... 28 ANNEX 3. RECIPIENT, CO-FINANCIER AND OTHER PARTNER/STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS ...... 29 ANNEX 4. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS (IF ANY) ..................................................................... 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) DATA SHEET BASIC INFORMATION Product Information Project ID Project Name Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity P155081 Development of Small and Marginal Farmers Country Financing Instrument Cote d'Ivoire Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Revised EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Organizations Borrower Implementing Agency Ministry of Economy and Finance Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO Improve access to nutrient-rich food of plant and animal origins by poor households in selected areas in Côte d'Ivoire. PDO as stated in Legal Agreement (if different from Project Paper) Improve access to nutrient-rich food of plant and animal origins by poor households in selected areas in Côte d'Ivoire. Page 1 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) FINANCING FINANCE_TBL Original Amount (US$) Revised Amount (US$) Actual Disbursed (US$) Donor Financing TF-A8132 2,728,824 2,728,824 2,705,490 Total 2,728,824 2,728,824 2,705,490 Other Financing Borrower/Recipient 210,237 0 0 Total 210,237 0 0 Total Project Cost 2,939,061 2,728,824 2,705,490 KEY DATES Approval Effectiveness Original Closing Actual Closing 18-Oct-2017 05-Apr-2019 22-Feb-2022 22-Feb-2022 RESTRUCTURING AND/OR ADDITIONAL FINANCING Date(s) Amount Disbursed (US$M) Key Revisions 03-Dec-2019 0.00 Change in Results Framework Change in Components and Cost Change in Loan Closing Date(s) Change in Implementation Schedule KEY RATINGS Outcome Bank Performance M&E Quality Highly Satisfactory Satisfactory Substantial Page 2 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) RATINGS OF PROJECT PERFORMANCE IN ISRs Actual No. Date ISR Archived DO Rating IP Rating Disbursements (US$M) 01 16-Aug-2019 Satisfactory Satisfactory 0.00 02 06-Jul-2020 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 0.72 03 23-Dec-2020 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 0.72 04 30-Jun-2021 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 2.49 05 26-Apr-2022 Satisfactory Satisfactory 2.71 ADM STAFF Role At Approval At ICR Regional Vice President: Makhtar Diop Ousmane Diagana Country Director: Pierre Frank Laporte Coralie Gevers Director: Juergen Voegele Simeon Kacou Ehui Practice Manager: Simeon Kacou Ehui Chakib Jenane Jeanne Coulibaly Y epse Task Team Leader(s): Samuel Taffesse Oyolola, Jean-Philippe Tre ICR Contributing Author: Divya Kapoor Page 3 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES Context Country and Sector Context 1. At the time of appraisal of the Agriculture Sensitive to Nutrition Project (ASNAP) in 2018, the country was recovering from a decade of socio-political crisis, and food insecurity was an important issue. A benchmark study called the In-depth Food Security Survey in rural areas, conducted in June 2009, revealed that 12.6 percent of households were food insecure. Although the country had the natural resources for sustainable food crop production, national available food production estimated at 7,559,477 tons was not sufficient to cover population’s needs evaluated at 11,059,138 tons in 2013, triggered by steady population growth, rapid urbanization, and pressure from the sub-region. Besides the unmet demand for food crops, there was a major deficit in vegetable production. In 2013, the total production of vegetables was 699,000 tons, and this did not meet national demand, forcing the country to import these commodities. 2. Specific challenges to access nutrient-rich foods included lack of diversification to nutrient rich food and lack of knowledge of the nutritional values of food items. Diets in Côte d’Ivoire consist primarily of starches, such as cassava, yams, maize, and white rice. This is due to limited access to nutrient-rich foods. Many famers lacked the capacity to diversify to high-nutrient-content foods. Vegetables and market garden crops were traditionally grown by women who are in charge of the management of the homestead gardens on small plot areas and face constraints to access to land and other factors of production. In addition, the cost of agricultural inputs, unreliable water supply exacerbated by climate change, limited training, and a lack of appreciation of nutritional needs for human growth, constrain these small famers from pursuing the production of these important food items. In Côte d'Ivoire in 2015, the northern regions were the most vulnerable to malnutrition with 40 percent of children suffering from chronic malnutrition and 7 percent from acute malnutrition. Besides children, pregnant and lactating women have relatively high nutritional needs, and are mostly affected by micronutrient deficiencies. 3. National priorities and strategies. Government priorities were embodied in three key strategies, (i) the National Agricultural Investment Plan (NAIP 2015-2020), (ii) the Non-rice Food Production Strategy (2012-2020) and (iii) the National Multisector Nutrition Strategy (2016-2020). The NAIP recognized that in addition to increased food production (food availability) and access (regular market supply and increased producers’ income), the challenge of improving food use by people in Côte d'Ivoire required a particular focus on good dietary, nutritional, and hygiene habits. The National Strategy for Food Crops emphasized on covering all the domestic consumption needs for food products other than rice. This strategy prioritized gender equity and women’s empowerment, given that women are the leading stakeholders in the food crop value chains. The national multisector nutrition strategy (2015) aimed to improve the nutritional status of the population, reducing both undernutrition and overnutrition. 4. Higher-level objectives and rationale for World Bank (WB) support. The project was aligned with two cross-cutting areas (governance and spatial inequality) of the Country Partnership Framework (CPF) FY16–19 extended to FY21, for Côte d’Ivoire. It contributed to the objective of improving productivity in agricultural value chains and broadly Page 4 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) supported CPF interventions aiming at increasing the consumption of the poorest populations. The project further supported CPF interventions that aimed to build household capabilities and improve their productivity through higher levels of human capital development and increased resilience. Further, the project also directly contributed to the World Bank’s Agricultural Global Practice vision of universal access to safe, nutritious, and diverse diets. The JSDF project fits seamlessly into the objectives and timing of the national multisector nutrition strategy, making it an ideal pilot project and platform to prepare for scaling up at the national level, with government engagement. Project Development Objectives (PDOs) 5. The Project Development Objective (PDO) of this project was to improve access to nutrient-rich food of plant and animal origins by poor rural households in selected areas in Côte d'Ivoire. 6. The diversification of production would contribute to improved access to nutritious foods by poor households as well as to enhanced household income, while diversification of diet and improvement of hygiene practices would lead to better health and nutrition outcomes. Theory of Change 7. As per the PAD and during implementation, the underlying assumption of the project is that improving the nutritional food intake of small farming households requires the diversification of their own production to include nutrient-rich foods. To be successful, such an intervention must improve access to improved crop varieties, demonstrate that it supports risk mitigation through diversification, and become a source of additional income. This expected result, coupled with nutrition education, is assumed to bring about behavioral changes in the dietary patterns of the targeted beneficiaries. 8. The PAD does not explicitly present a theory of change (ToC). The figure below was constructed retroactively. Page 5 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) Graph 1: Theory of Change Project Beneficiaries 9. The main project beneficiaries were smallholder farmers (average land size of 2 ha) living in the selected areas of the northern region of Côte d’Ivoire specifically in the Savanes region. The project targeted women’s groups in 52 villages in the Bagoue and Poro districts totaling 2,400 beneficiaries (members of the women groups). The eligibility criteria for the women’s groups targeted consisted of: (a) the group is essentially composed of women who are economically vulnerable and live permanently in the village, (b) all members of the groups have common agriculture activities such as gardening and small livestock rearing, (c) at least 80 percent of the members are between 18 and 50 years, and (d) at least 40 percent of the members are mothers or caretakers of children under 5 years. Key Expected Outcomes and Outcome Indicators 10. The project objective was to improve access to nutrient-rich food of plant and animal origins by poor households in selected areas in Côte d'Ivoire. As seen in the theory of change, the diversification of production would contribute to improving access to nutrient-dense foods by poor households as well as enhancing household income, while diversifying diet and improving hygiene practices for better health and nutrition outcomes. 11. The key outcome indicators are as follows: Page 6 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) • Percentage of targeted 2400 beneficiary households that report improved consumption of nutrient-rich food other than Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) • Percentage of targeted 2400 beneficiaries consuming OFSP • Percentage of increase in volume of production of nutrient-rich foods per beneficiary woman Components 12. The project was structured around three technical components and one management component: (a) support to village model farms (VMFs) and homestead gardens for the production of nutrient-rich, high-value crops and animal-source foods; (b) capacity improvement and nutrition education; (c) improving access to infrastructure; and (d) project management and administration, monitoring and evaluation, and knowledge dissemination. 13. Component 1. Support to village model farms (VMFs) and homestead gardens for the production of nutrient- rich, high-value crops and animal-source foods (US$1.0 million). This component aimed at supporting smallholder women farmers and adapting to an improved and diversified production system centered on nutrient-rich products. The subcomponents included: (a) establishing homestead gardens and VMFs, including provision of good quality inputs to produce OFSP, fruits, nutrient-rich vegetables, and other marketable produce; (b) technical and hands-on support to beneficiaries, through trainings to ensure the right use of agricultural inputs provided by the project and the diffusion of results through demonstration effect of the interventions. 14. Component 2. Capacity improvement and nutrition education (US$0.362 million). The goal of this component was to impact behavioral changes around nutrition, hygiene, water-saving techniques, and gender, and to improve the technical capacity of partners, extension agents, and community health workers (CHWs) to provide up-to-date and relevant advice to women and their households. Activities included (a) nutrition education, meant to build the capacity of CHWs and village leader farmers to communicate and deliver Essential Nutrition Actions (ENA) and Essential Hygiene Actions (EHA) to women groups, individual members, and their households; (b) capacity improvement for extension agents in water-saving techniques, composting, and Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) to improve not only the quality of advice that farmers receive but also the coverage of agricultural extension services that are tailored to women’s needs. 15. Component 3. Improving access to infrastructure (US$0.476 million). The aim of this component was to support year-round production and reduce post-harvest losses and thus improve the production, consumption, and marketing of improved nutrient-rich products. The subcomponents were (a) improve access to water for irrigation, including the construction of wells and support the efficient use of water for irrigation through water-saving techniques and provision of micro-irrigation equipment; and (b) support post-harvest handling and marketing technologies to (i) identify market links and opportunities for traditionally marketed vegetables and potentially new value chains; (ii) train extension agents on marketing and linking to the relevant value chains in the area; (iii) identify women producer groups’ constraints in marketing their products and the support they would need to overcome the identified constraints; (iv) support from HKI and ANADER to enable groups of women producers to develop a business plan and a proposition for procurement of the selected support that would increase the marketing of their products; (v) provide a matching grant to support access to finance and effect change in smallholder farmers' transition to nutrient-rich production. Page 7 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) 16. Component 4. Project management and administration, monitoring and evaluation, and knowledge dissemination (US$0.878 million). The aim of this component was to support efficient project management and coordination, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of project implementation, and dissemination of project outcomes and results for replication in other areas. The project was implemented by Hellen Keller International (HKI) who has been responsible for overall coordination, procurement, financial management, M&E, preparing and providing periodic reports, hiring relevant consultants for provision of services identified under the project, etc. Activities included (a) project management and administration; (b) monitoring and evaluation. (c) knowledge dissemination through workshops and training events organized at different levels and for different audiences to disseminate project outcomes, their relevance for policy, and lessons for scaling up to other regions. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES DURING IMPLEMENTATION Revised PDO and Outcome Targets 17. The PDO was not changed during the project lifetime. However, the PDO indicators of percentage of targeted poor farmers that report improved income of at least 4% from diversification of agriculture was dropped. The target of the PDO indicator for percentage of increase in volume of production of nutrient-rich foods per beneficiary woman was reduced from 300 to 200. Revised Components Components were not revised1. Other Changes 18. At the beginning of the project a restructuring was undertaken to amend some inconsistencies in the letter of agreement. These were as follows: (i) Grant agreement. The Grant Agreement amount was corrected from US$2,730,000 to US$2,728,824. The table of allocations of the grant proceeds by expenditure category was then revised to be consistent with the total grant amount of US$2,728,824. (ii) Extension of project closing date. The project’s closing date was extended from March 31st, 20202, to February 22, 2022, to allow completion of the project activities. Disbursement estimates were then revised to be consistent with extended project closing date. 1 Component and costs were not revised during the restructuring (ref. restructuring paper) although in the datasheet from the portal, there was an oversight in writing “change in component and cost�. 2 The datasheet (system-generated) shows incorrectly February 22, 2022, as the closing date instead of March 31st , 2020 Page 8 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) Rationale for Changes and their Implication on the Original Theory of Change 19. The grant amount was amended to correct a discrepancy between the approved grant request amount - US$2,728,824, and the grant amount in the Letter of Agreement - US$2,730,000. The number of indicators in the original results framework was high relative to the size of the grant, and several indicators were output-oriented rather than outcome oriented. The PDO indicator on improved income was dropped because the main and primary goal of the project was to improve consumption of nutrient rich foods from household own production and not to improve income from the sales of the produces. The percentage of volume of production was reduced from 300% to 200% because it was found too ambitious for the 2 years of project implementation. However, because these changes were not major, they did not have any impact on the Theory of Change which stayed the same as the original one and was still consistent. II. OUTCOME 20. Project Development Objective (PDO): Improve access to nutrient-rich food of plant and animal origins by poor households in selected areas in Côte d'Ivoire. 21. PDO Indicators • Percentage of increase in volume of production of nutrient-rich foods per beneficiary woman • Percentage of targeted 2400 beneficiary households that report improved consumption of nutrient-rich food other than OFSP • Percentage of targeted 2400 beneficiaries consuming OFSP Assessment of Achievement of Each Objective/Outcome 22. The project fully met its development objectives of improving access to nutrient-rich foods of plant and animal origins by poor households in selected areas in Côte d'Ivoire as evidenced by the achievement of the PDO indicators (table 1). Table 1. PDO indicators and achievement Indicator Name Unit Original Target Revised Target % Achievement Mar. 2019 at restructuring Feb. 2022 Dec. 2019 Increase in volume of production of nutrient- percentage 300% 200% 324% rich foods per beneficiary woman Targeted 2400 beneficiary households that percentage 60% 60% 1000% report improved consumption of nutrient-rich food other than OFSP Page 9 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) Targeted 2400 beneficiaries consuming OFSP percentage 30% 30% 170% 23. The achievement of all PDO indicators were largely above targets. At project closure, the increase in the volume of production of nutrient rich foods per beneficiary woman was evaluated at 324% against a target of 200%. The percentage of beneficiary households that reported improved consumption of nutrient rich food other than OFSP was to a great extent surpassed with 1000% of achievement rate owed to the intensive communication campaigns undertaken by Wopile Sanga as described below. Consumption of the newly introduced OFSP was above expectations. The percentage of beneficiaries consuming the product more than doubled instead of 30% targeted. 24. This objective has been achieved on the following twin counts: (i) diversification of production and increase in the volume of production of nutrient-rich foods, and (ii) improved knowledge of good nutritional practices and adoption of ENAs, EHAs practices, as depicted in the ToC. These two intermediate outcomes were intrinsically linked to the improved access to water availability via the project’s implementation of irrigation systems, leading to completion of annual production cycles, as well as intensive awareness-raising and behavior change efforts for the consumption of nutrient-rich foods. These interventions contributed to improve food security and availability of nutritious foods in the locality while increasing the household income of project beneficiaries. Evidence of the project achievements stemmed from primary and secondary data collected from various sources of information including: (i) Government completion report, (ii) M&E progress reports, (iii) aide-memoires, (iv) project technical studies and statistics and (v) result briefs3. 25. The analysis of the connections between outputs, intermediate outcome and achievement of the PDO is discussed below: 26. Diversification of production and increase in the volume of production of nutrient-rich foods effectively contributed to the achievement of the PDO. This has been achieved by enhancing access to the factors of production through: (i) greater access to land for vegetables production, (ii) the provision of inputs (seeds, fertilizers, phytosanitary products), the training of beneficiaries (supervision, monitoring), and (iii) access to water thanks to the construction of boreholes and establishment of semi-Californian irrigation systems and (iii) improved poultry production. The end project evaluation showed that 221 ha of land was made available to women for vegetable production. On these areas, a total of 384 kg of seeds (carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini) and 108 tons of fertilizers were distributed, all beneficiaries were trained on improved production techniques and 3 technical manuals were developed. The quantity of seed distributed was however below the initial target (1524 kg) given that bean (cowpea) and melon seeds that accounted for 75% of the total seed mass were not available in the market due to COVID-19. The supervision carried out by ANADER was reinforced by HKI supervisors to improve efficiency in the services provided. The project installed 20 functional irrigation systems in 20 groups for the continuity of production in all seasons. The availability of water on farm lifted the main constraint to off-season production and thereby enabled year-round production with an average of two production cycles per year instead 3 Several result briefs were written on the project and published. See for example: https://worldbankgroup.sharepoint.com/sites/news/WhoWeAre/pages/Jeanne-Coulibaly-Y-epse-Oyolola-Improving-Nutrition-in-Cote- dIvoire-One-Vegetable-at-a-Time-14122021-120617.aspx Côte d’Ivoire : quand les femmes et les enfants prennent leur revanche sur la malnutrition dans le nord. Upcoming publication Côte d’Ivoire : un modèle de réussite d’autonomisation des femmes rurales par l’agriculture. Upcoming publication Page 10 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) of one. Concerning poultry, 3000 chickens/roosters were distributed, however this aspect met with limited success owing to mortalities, which were significantly reduced after a diagnosis carried out by the services of the Ministry of Animal and Fisheries Resources (MIRAH) to improve health status. 27. During implementation, trainings and awareness-raising conducted routinely by NGO Wopile Sanga made it possible to intensify the level of knowledge of the beneficiaries on the issues of ENA, EHA and water saving techniques and were instrumental in improving consumption of nutrient rich foods. This implementing partner and the HKI supervisors carried out regular coaching of supervisors in the field to familiarize the beneficiaries with these new concepts and bring about behavioral change. A total of 3500 people were trained out of 2400 people expected on the themes of nutrition and gender, 160 events were organized on nutrition to replicate the trainings within the 52 women's groups. In addition, nutritional awareness actions, cooking demonstrations carried out by the multisectoral nutrition and early childhood development project on certain sites common to the ASNAP project have contributed to enhanced performance of this component. Gradual introduction of vegetables (carrots, cabbage), animal protein (egg, chicken), etc. thanks to the nutritional advice and culinary demonstrations carried out, have led to a diversified diet. Improved consumption of nutritious foods has resulted in an increase in the weight of children under 5 years of age, a reduction in the case of anemia in children and pregnant women and a decrease in the number of hospitalizations among children due to malnutrition. 28. The OFSP was a new food item among the majority of the beneficiaries. As a matter of fact, production of cuttings had to be developed first, then multiplied and finally promoted in the consumption diet. The project carried out 3 phases of distribution of OFSP cuttings during which 227,817 cuttings were distributed and planted on 9 ha. Intensive knowledge awareness on the nutritional values of the OFSP and cooking demonstration performed by the NGO Wopile Sanga stimulated consumption of OFSP. There has been a marked improvement in OFSP consumption compared to the results obtained during the mid-term review due to both the production of OFSP in VMFs and nutritional sensitization. VMFs and homestead gardens produced enough for consumption and a surplus that generated marketable produce for local markets. This produce was highly appreciated in the market and sold for a price twice above that of the conventional sweet potato. Beneficiary surveys carried out by HKI have shown that 64.80% of beneficiary households (with children aged 6 to 23 months) consume the newly introduced OFSPs. As a result, beneficiary households have reported changes in nutritional health with a decrease in malnutrition, a positive change in children's growth using nutritive recipes like carrot and sweet potato porridge, using produce from the project efforts. Overall Outcome Rating 29. Given the high levels of attainment of all PDO indicators and the significant progress towards achievement of the PDO at large for providing access to nutrient-rich foods in the project implementation area, the overall outcome is assessed as Highly Satisfactory. Page 11 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) Other Outcomes and Impacts 30. Gender. The ASNAP is a gender project with almost all 2400 beneficiaries being women. Gender equity was promoted by supporting women to access production assets to diversify their crop portfolio, to adopt cost-effective irrigation systems and to enhance their knowledge of improved practices for agriculture and nutrition. Increasing availability of vegetables for home consumption and hands-on training on a range of subjects related to nutrition and health, reduced food expenses. The constraint of access to market was also addressed by supporting women with transport logistics, packaging equipment, and developing linkages with private wholesalers to sell their produces. 31. Strengthening institutions. The project achieved remarkable results in terms of institutional strengthening at local level. The project improved the capacity of women’s groups to evolve into formal registered associations and to learn basic governance rules to manage these associations. However, a challenge remains to address the high illiteracy rates among the group members. Working in associations has strengthened the social cohesion among women and with other members of their communities. Groups were essentially made of women (at least 95%) and a few male members of the groups, played the role of advisors. This relationship model also facilitated cohesion within households. 32. Poverty reduction and shared prosperity. The project supported an inclusive economic growth model by targeting the poorest, most vulnerable, and marginal producers. These are women with less than 3 ha of land located often in areas hard to access, with poor soil fertility, and facing constraints to access factors of productions (labor, purchased inputs and equipment). Increased vegetables production and consumption within the household was beneficial for the entire family. Through increased production of vegetables which is a high labor-intensive activity, the project contributed to employment. Indeed, the project targeted initially 2400 women but close to 3000 women were involved in the VMFs. The surplus of production beyond home consumption was sold in the market, providing a regular inflow of income for women. This empowered women and enabled them to be financially independent. Family incomes also increased because people could grow their own vegetables instead of buying them. Evidence of this impact on the poorest is reported in the result briefs. Other Unintended Outcomes and Impacts 33. Human Capital Development. As stated above, the project empowered women on improved agricultural, nutrition techniques as well the governance of associations. Part of the surplus of production from the VMFs was given to the school canteens (where they exist), therefore contributing to improving children’s cognitive skills. Improved consumption of nutrient rich foods improved health as revealed by the anecdotal evidence that reported decreased rates of childhood anemia and pregnancy complications. 34. Improved food safety and emergence of a niche market for organic vegetable products. Under the project, vegetable production was done using organic fertilizer and pesticides. No chemical fertilizer or phyto-sanitary products were applied on the plots. Besides, the construction of boreholes on the VMFs provided access to clean water to irrigate their plots instead of fetching unclean water from the wells. The training on WASH helped women to adopt proper sanitation and hygiene practices to preserve the quality of their vegetable products and their Page 12 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) health. These practices provide the basis for the development of a bio standard to certify the quality of production and guarantee the health of the population, especially in the cotton production areas. A bio label is also expected to call for better market prices and added value for the produce. III. KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECTED IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME A. KEY FACTORS DURING PREPARATION 35. Project design built on HKI previous experiences and lessons learnt in implementation from similar project on agriculture sensitive to nutrition. HKI as an international NGO has rich experience supporting Asian and African countries improve nutrition while working with the most vulnerable communities. HKI worked successfully on a nutrition sensitive agriculture project with similar objectives as the ASNAP in 2013-2016 in Côte d’Ivoire. Some innovations selected in the project such as the semi-Californian irrigation system were found to be the most appropriate, cost-effective, and adapted to the communities’ specific needs, based on lessons learnt in implementing the drip irrigation system with vulnerable communities in several countries. Hence, HKI was assessed to be technically capable of coordinating, implementing, and delivering the results required under this project. Working with an NGO that had the financial flexibility to pre-finance some project activities, was an advantage, particularly at the beginning of the project when substantial delays in receiving the initial financial advance in the project account were encountered. 36. Project design incorporated key elements of sustainability . The project knowledge dissemination approach maximized the involvement of village leader groups who could replicate and carry over the training within their communities. This was done using a training of trainers’ model where the community health workers trained women leaders who in turn trained members of their associations. Besides this training model, the project had a decentralized coordination approach. First, a regional coordination office was established by HKI in the northern site Korhogo to coordinate the operational intervention and respond in a timely manner to the communities’ needs. Second, regional monitoring groups chaired by the prefects with participation of the regional technical divisions of the ministries involved in the project were established in the two project regional sites. Although these regional monitoring groups were formally established with a legal administrative text, they failed to be operational because of lack of resources and coordination with other existing regional branches of the Nutrition National Council. 37. The Project had well-structured components, with a clear operational logic linking activities to the expected results, but indicators in the result framework could have been considered more carefully. The project components were clearly specified, well-articulated on the three pillars: improved production practices, access to water and nutritional education essential to increase the availability and consumption of nutritious food. This logical articulation of the components and activities to reach the results facilitated the reconstruction of the ToC in graph 1 above. The main weakness observed was with the result framework, and more specifically with the intermediate outcomes. The initial indicators identified were too numerous for the scale of the project (a trust fund financed project) and captured the outputs instead of measuring the changes that occurred as the result of project outputs. This led to the reformulation of most of the intermediate indicators during the restructuring performed at the beginning of the project. 38. The project experienced a delayed negotiation process. The project negotiation started in 2016, was interrupted Page 13 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) and resumed in 2019 because of a disconnect between the MEMINADER and the Bank in the implementation arrangement. The Ministry was reluctant to approve the choice of HKI as service provider while the Bank found that HKI was the best qualified to implement the project given its past experiences on nutrition interventions. A disbursing condition, such as the signature of a service provider agreement between the Ministry and HKI had to be put in the letter of agreement to move forward with the project. B. KEY FACTORS DURING IMPLEMENTATION Factors subject to control of government and/or implementing agencies: 39. There were marked delays in positioning the first advance on the project account. The initial advance that the bank disbursed to the designated account took 5 months to reflect on the project account due a complex, long process where the funds transitioned to a public account before being wired to the project account. This worsened the delays in implementing the activities, already caused by the lengthy restructuring process. 40. Little support was provided by the Ministry of Agriculture to the service provider in navigating through the bank’s fiduciary procedures. The Ministry of Agriculture was expected to be the main implementing agency but delegated the project execution to HKI with minimum oversight. HKI’s lack of experience in managing World Bank-financed operations led to substantial delays and some non-compliance with bank’s standards. This lack of experience was particularly noticed on fiduciary and safeguards management and resulted in the difficulties reported in the fiduciary and safeguard sections below in terms of financial management, the expenditure flow from the bank to the project account, focal points and supporting documentations were completely new to HKI which led to several rejections and back and forth revisions. With regards to procurement, at the start of the project, HKI used its own tedious procurement procedures based on the requirements of the implementation manual that were unfortunately not aligned with the service provider agreement which recommended the use of bank procedures. Given the substantial delays caused by their lengthy procedures, HKI later adapted some of its procurement procedures in order to be agile and to support swift project implementation. Further, implementation of the project 3 years after appraisal made most of the project activities costs outdated and under-estimated. Failure to re-estimate these costs at the start of the project put the implementation under constant budget stress and led to several failures in procurement. In terms of safeguards, there were several pitfalls which are described in the safeguards section below, that affected project implementation efficiency. 41. High turnover rate of HKI staff working under the project. Despite the short timeframe of 2 years available to implement project activities, HKI changed technical staff assigned to the project activities three times. The first was the senior accountant who was replaced by another new accountant, for some reasons related to HKI’s own human resource management system. The two other staff were safeguard specialists who were hired under the project but resigned few months later for more secure job opportunities, leaving a technical specialist gap during project implementation. Factors subject to World Bank control: 42. Delays on the restructuring process impacted the effective start of project implementation. The restructuring process initiated at the beginning of the project was an extensive process which lasted 4 months. This impacted the launch of project activities and submission of the request for advance to support the execution of the annual work plan. However, HKI was able to provide a financial advance which helped to organize the project launch ceremony Page 14 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) and to pay key project staff. IV. BANK PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE ISSUES, AND RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME QUALITY OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E) 43. M&E Design. The M&E system had been inspired by previous projects and was aligned with international program standards. The project design included a results framework (RF) with well-defined PDO indicators, but the intermediate outcome measures were not well identified, and thereby led to a revised RF during the restructuring exercise. The intermediate outcome indicators were adjusted to make them result oriented instead of output - oriented and their number reduced significantly to have a reasonable number of indicators that could be effectively tracked for a small grant project. 44. M&E Implementation. HKI hired an M&E specialist to be responsible for adapting the existing data collection tools to the project RF, ensuring day to day data collection by the collaborating institutions, checking the quality of the data collected and reporting to the WB during the supervision missions. Periodic surveys were organized to concentrate on monitoring PDO indicators and assess progress toward the achievement of the PDO. The surveys were done through android mobile devices using Open Data Kit (ODK) tool to minimize data entry errors, optimize time and resources as well as to ease the analyses on quantitative software (SPSS, STATA). Routine data collection was done by HKI field agents in collaboration with staff from other implementing agencies such as ANADER, NGO Wolipe Sanga and then centralized by the project coordinator on site to produce periodic M&E reports consolidated into semi-annual progress reports. All expected key surveys namely the baseline, midterm, and final were performed to inform the RF and to provide evidence on progress toward achievement of the PDO indicators. Reports produced from the analyses were shared at the central level with the MEMINADER and at the decentralized level with the prefectures and sub-prefectures and to the WB. 45. M&E Utilization. Data from the M&E system were utilized by the WB team, the MEMINADER and HKI to monitor progress of key activities of the Project and to take remedial actions for the lagging indicators. The data were also used to adequately prepare supervision missions and to conduct project audit. Since the start of the project, the bank conducted timely supervision missions, including remote mission when travelling was not possible due to COVID-19 protocols, filed ISRs and Aide Memoirs. The MEMINADER organized some missions to review project implementation. Overall, the M&E system was in general of good quality and adequately updating Project progress. Notwithstanding the shortfall in the initial RF, the M&E system implemented was able to track the indicators and provide regular updates toward the achievement of the PDO. The quality of M&E is rated Substantial. ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND FIDUCIARY COMPLIANCE A. Financial Management 46. At appraisal financial management risk was assessed as substantial given HKI’s lack of familiarity with bank’s procedures. During project implementation, financial management was rated as moderately satisfactory. Financial reports (Interim Financial Report and internal audit reports) were often submitted with substantial delays although their qualities were deemed satisfactory. The main weakness was with the external audit report for the Page 15 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) period 2019-2020 that had a qualified opinion. This stemmed from some shortcomings in the software used to process the project accounting information. HKI used its own Anglo-Saxon accounting referential US GAAP instead of the recommended SYSCOHADA accounting system for bank financed projects. To align with the bank accounting requirements, HKI had to manually convert their accounting referential into the SYSCOHADA accounting system. Such an exercise did not entirely meet the expected requirements of the external auditor and contributed to the issuance of a qualified audit report. In terms of disbursement, HKI did well with a disbursement rate estimated at 99% at project closure. The overall performance of financial management is considered Moderately Satisfactory, B. Procurement 47. It is noted that difficulties were encountered in entering information into STEP, along with some confusion between the procurement rules of the World Bank and those of HKI on certain activities. Contract management, on the other hand, did not experience any problems. All regularization was made, and all activities registered in STEP by February 22, 2022. Based on these findings, the procurement performance is rated Moderately Satisfactory. C. Safeguards Compliance 48. At appraisal, the project was classified as Category B and triggered the Environmental Assessment (OP/BP 4.01) and Pest management (OP/BP 4.09). The relevant instruments, ESMF and PGP were prepared and disclosed in- country and in World Bank’s website. The implementation of the safeguard measures was considered Moderately Satisfactory. The institutional arrangements put in place for the environmental and social management of the project were disrupted with the successive resignations of two environmental and social specialists at HKI, respectively in May and August 2021. The monitoring of safeguards activities was then carried out by the operational team with the field coordinator as a resource person. The Project developed a grievance and redress mechanism (GRM) which comprised village- level, regional-level and national-level layers to collect and address complaints and grievances from beneficiaries. 49. The Environmental and Social Impact Report and the Social Assessment for the sub-projects of installation of 15 boreholes, 5 improved wells and irrigation system, as well as fences, were not carried out before the actual start of field work. In fact, no safeguard clauses had been introduced in the tenders before their submission, and no evidence of compliance could be found in the implementation reports submitted by the contractual companies. Cconsequently, safeguard compliance had been downgraded to moderately unsatisfactory in the related ISR. An Environmental and Social Compliance Audit was thus requested and carried out for these sub-projects to assess any non-compliance issues, but the findings did not reveal any major weaknesses in the environmental and social requirements. Some recommendations were nevertheless made to enhance the safety of the beneficiaries. Safeguard compliance was upgraded by the end of the project and the performance of the safeguards is rated as moderately satisfactory. BANK PERFORMANCE Quality at Entry 50. Quality at entry was Satisfactory. The project was strategically relevant for the country and well aligned with the national multi sectoral nutrition strategy and to the Bank’s priorities on nutrition. The project design built on Page 16 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) analytical evidence to enhance homestead food production sensitive to nutrition and change communities’ behavior to increase diet diversity among women and children. The irrigation technologies proposed under the project were both from a deep review of documentation on irrigation systems and HKI experience in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia in establishing irrigation systems based on the hydrology and the socio-economic characteristics of the communities. The project was designed to complement an IDA project implemented in the same regions: The Agriculture Sector Support Project (PSAC) by making use of the works, institutions and delivering mechanisms supported under that project. The quality of this sound design was somehow undermined by the project restructuring that occurred early in project implementation as discussed above. Quality of Supervision 51. The World Bank team demonstrated a high level of commitment under the leadership of the Task Team Leader. There was a period of slowdown of activities during the first initial months of project implementation, marked by a restructuring of the project and a new TTL stepping in the project. HKI human resources capacity to comply with the WB procedures was not re-evaluated during that time, and flaws were perceived throughout project implementation in HKI’s capacity to follow the Bank’s procedures. Remediation measures were taken but these would have been more efficient if a comprehensive assessment had taken place once the project was launched. Such evaluation in fact took place during the preparation phase but given the time lag with project effectiveness, most of the HKI staff who prepared the project had been replaced by new ones by the time the project became operational. Apart from this shortfall, the WB team provided consistent hands-on support to HKI to rapidly upgrade their understanding of the Bank’s procedures. When delays were encountered in the early phase of the project, the Bank organized bi-monthly meetings with HKI to unpack hurdles in rolling out the activities and identify measures to accelerate project implementation. The task team performed two supervision missions a year on average and filed timely ISRs and Aide Memoirs in the portal. Beyond participation of the line ministries (MEMINADER and MEF), these missions consistently acknowledged the participation of the Ministry of Family, Women and Children, the National Council of Nutrition, and development partners working on nutrition such as Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agriculture (IFAD), World Food Program (WFP), and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Justification of Overall Rating of Bank Performance 52. The overall rating of Bank performance is Satisfactory. The Project was well designed despite some imperfections in the result framework. The World Bank team was very proactive during implementation, providing the necessary support to HKI in achieving the Project objectives. Risk to Development Outcome 53. The Risk to Development Outcome is low considering project achievements, the interest of several partners to scale up project activities and HKI’s efforts in maintaining the assets. 54. There is an emulation on project activities among beneficiaries because of two key elements delivered by the project. The first one is the access to water, critical to the production of vegetables that was a major impediment in the Village Model Farms. Women can now produce vegetables all year round, consume and sell them, and use the revenue to purchase seeds and other production inputs to carry-on the production cycles. So, the VMFs are Page 17 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) self-sustaining themselves with the availability of water. Second, nutritional education built solid awareness of the health benefits of consuming vegetables, OFSP, and other nutrient rich agricultural commodities produced under the project. The new recipes learnt during the training are becoming part of the households’ traditional diets. 55. Next, the mobilization of women around market gardening activities has made it possible to strengthen social cohesion at the village level and to ensure better mutual assistance among village inhabitants as well as equality in terms of participation and task sharing and reducing divisions within their villages. Village communities are now mobilized to support the VMFs as these are perceived as sources of health, food security and income generating activities. 56. Another positive externality of the project is the linkage with some school canteens through the supply of the VMFs’ products. Beyond this, the possibility of introducing some curricula on nutrition in the students’ learning program has also been discussed between HKI and some school academic personnel. 57. HKI prepared an exit strategy which had been presented and discussed with several Financial and Technical Partners as well as technical ministries including MEMINADER, Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women, Family, and Children. These consultations ended up with a clear engagement of IFAD to take over some project activities in one of their existing projects. The Bank’s project on Multisectoral Nutrition and Childhood Development is also contemplating possibilities to pursue some activities on agricultural production to secure the availability of nutritious foods in the project. The MEF mandated the MEMINADER to introduce a request to the bank to upscale through a new project using the ASNAP project activities and approach. Discussions on these two last points are on-going. 58. Besides these institutional engagements to sustain project activities, HKI through its field supervisors is still in touch with the women associations to provide minimum service to maintain current equipment and provide agricultural advice. The main challenges with project interventions are maintenance of the boreholes that are costly because of the fuel used as energy source, and the reinforcing farm fencing with robust materials that would protect plots against animal encroachment. Going forward, mitigation measures on these risks to development outcomes would need to be put in place. V. LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS 59. The synergy of actions upstream in the nutrition chain including strengthening the availability of nutrient-rich foods and actions downstream through nutrition education is a substantial lever for the consumption of nutritious foods. This project demonstrated that improving nutrition is a multisectoral approach. Focusing on one sector for example human capital through nutrition education without taking into consideration the other ones such as agricultural production may limit the achievement of the expected results. Indeed, the synergy of actions between the sectors in charge of nutrition (health and agriculture) has been decisive in stimulating quality nutrition. Page 18 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) 60. Public interventions with a sustainability focus can improve the livelihoods of women farmers through increasing permanent water availability and access to climate smart operating mechanisms. Sustainability of the VMFs is highly dependent on permanent access to water crucial to horticulture production year-round and thereby nutrition and income of the households. However, the installation of boreholes should provide for an inexpensive operating mechanism for the beneficiaries. Sustainable interventions will need to take into consideration access to low cost and climate smart agriculture equipment, potentially with solar power, instead of relying solely on fuel energy sources. Acquisition of photovoltaic stations to upscale project activities could be considered in other projects or by other technical and financial partners. 61. Working with an NGO that had both a solid experience on production of nutrient rich foods and on reaching out to vulnerable communities was a sound choice. But a rigorous assessment of their ability to comply with the bank procedures is necessary at the onset of the project. The technical experience and expertise of HKI on agriculture for nutrition was a great asset that undoubtedly contributed to the achievement of the PDO despite the many challenges encountered. However, given their lack of experience in managing WB projects, a comprehensive assessment followed by mitigation measures as effectiveness conditions for greater efficiency in project implementation was necessary at the start of the project. 62. Pairing ANADER extension workers with HKI supervisors proved to be effective to provide consistent proximity extension services to the beneficiaries. To respond to the beneficiaries’ needs for more regular extension services, HKI supervisors worked with ANADER on the VMFs. This combined agricultural management strategy allowed for local technical support and greater regularity in the provision of agricultural services. This proved to be successful in helping women to better implement the improved agricultural practices and increase their production. 63. Given the long period between the project appraisal and approval, a thorough re-evaluation of the project was deemed necessary before kicking off the activities. The comprehensive re-assessment of the project during the restructuring would have been an opportunity to review the overall fiduciary and safeguard arrangements and make necessary adjustments to align with the prevailing context and thus lead to greater project efficiency. . Page 19 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND KEY OUTPUTS A. RESULTS INDICATORS A.1 PDO Indicators Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Percentage of targeted 2400 Percentage 0.00 60.00 60.00 1000.00 beneficiaries€™HH that report improved consumption of 14-Mar-2019 14-Mar-2019 16-Dec-2019 22-Feb-2022 nutrient-rich food other than OFSP Comments (achievements against targets): Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Percentage of targeted 2400 Percentage 0.00 30.00 30.00 170.00 beneficiaries consuming OFSP 14-Mar-2019 14-Mar-2019 16-Dec-2019 22-Feb-2022 Page 20 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) Comments (achievements against targets): Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Percentage of increase in Percentage 0.00 300.00 200.00 324.00 volume of production of nutrient-rich foods per 14-Mar-2019 14-Mar-2019 16-Dec-2019 22-Feb-2022 beneficiary woman Comments (achievements against targets): A.2 Intermediate Results Indicators Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Number of hectares cultivated Hectare(Ha) 0.00 250.00 250.00 221.00 under improved irrigation techniques to produce 14-Mar-2019 14-Mar-2019 16-Dec-2019 22-Feb-2022 nutrient-rich crops (directly on the VMFs and in beneficiaries' home gardens) Page 21 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) Comments (achievements against targets): Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Percentage of beneficiairies Percentage 0.00 0.00 50.00 108.00 adopting improved agricultural practices for the production of 14-Mar-2019 14-Mar-2019 16-Dec-2019 22-Feb-2022 nutrient-rich high-value crops and animal-source foods Comments (achievements against targets): Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Percentage of women adopting Percentage 0.00 0.00 60.00 610.00 essential nutrition, hygiene actions and water saving 14-Mar-2019 14-Mar-2019 16-Dec-2019 22-Feb-2022 practices Comments (achievements against targets): Page 22 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Percentage of targeted women Percentage 0.00 0.00 60.00 61.30 with improved knowledge of essential nutrition, hygiene 14-Mar-2019 14-Mar-2019 16-Dec-2019 22-Feb-2022 actions and water saving practices Comments (achievements against targets): Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Percentage of targeted women Percentage 0.00 0.00 60.00 75.12 having access to improved water availability to produce 14-Mar-2019 14-Mar-2019 16-Dec-2019 22-Feb-2022 nutrient rich crops Comments (achievements against targets): Indicator Name Unit of Baseline Original Target Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Page 23 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) Measure Target Completion Percentage of targeted women Percentage 0.00 0.00 30.00 10.00 with improved physical access to market, storage and 14-Mar-2019 14-Mar-2019 16-Dec-2019 22-Feb-2022 processing facilities Comments (achievements against targets): Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Number of research reports Number 0.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 completed 14-Mar-2019 14-Mar-2019 16-Dec-2019 22-Feb-2022 Comments (achievements against targets): Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Number of knowledge and Number 0.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 experience sharing workshops organized 14-Mar-2019 14-Mar-2019 16-Dec-2019 22-Feb-2022 Page 24 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) Comments (achievements against targets): Page 25 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) B. ORGANIZATION OF THE ASSESSMENT OF THE PDO Objective/Outcome: Improve access to nutrient-rich food of plant and animal origins by poor rural households in selected areas in Côte d'Ivoire 1. Percentage of targeted 2400 beneficiary households that report improved consumption of nutrient-rich food other than OFSP Outcome Indicators 2. Percentage of targeted 2400 beneficiaries consuming OFSP 3. Percentage of increase in volume of production of nutrient-rich foods per beneficiary woman 1. Number of hectares cultivated under improved irrigation techniques to produce nutrient-rich crops (directly on the VMFs and in beneficiaries' home gardens) 2. Percentage of beneficiaries adopting improved agricultural practices to produce nutrient-rich high-value crops and animal-source foods 3. Percentage of women adopting essential nutrition, hygiene actions and water saving practices Intermediate Results Indicators 4. Percentage of targeted women with improved knowledge of essential nutrition, hygiene actions and water saving practices 5. Percentage of targeted women having access to improved water availability to produce nutrient rich crops 6. Percentage of targeted women with improved physical access to market, storage, and processing facilities 7. Number of research reports completed 8. Number of knowledge and experience sharing workshops organized Component 1-- Support to village model farms (VMFs) and homestead Key Outputs by Component gardens for the production of nutrient-rich, high-value crops and animal- (linked to the achievement of the Objective/Outcome) source foods Page 26 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) 1. Provision of agricultural inputs (seeds, OFSP vines, fertilizer, materials, poultry) to all beneficiary households 2. Establishment of VMFs 3. Field agents trained in a range of agriculture practices (OFSP production, poultry production, and so on) 4. Technical manuals produced 5. Increase in home gardens established by beneficiaries 6. Increases in the number of chickens owned and eggs produced. Component 2-- Capacity improvement and nutrition education 1. Nutrition materials produced, and awareness-raising events conducted 2. Extension and community workers trained in ENA and EHA, and water- saving techniques and gender awareness events 3. All 2,400 households directly reached through extension services both at the household level and through community nutrition events. Component 3-- Improving access to infrastructure 1. Greater number of hectares brought under improved irrigation techniques 2. Increased number of farmers having access to water 3. Greater number of farmers are trained in post-harvest handling and accounting skills 4. Matching funds distributed for post-harvest handling, transport, and marketing. Component 4-- Project management and administration, monitoring and evaluation, and knowledge dissemination 1. Reports from baseline, midterm, and end line evaluations 2. A study on OFSP modality and replicability strategy 3. Conduct of four knowledge-sharing workshops. Page 27 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) . ANNEX 2. PROJECT COST BY COMPONENT Amount at Approval Actual at Project Percentage of Approval Components (US$M) Closing (US$M) (US$M) Component 1. Support to village model farms (VMFs) and homestead gardens for 1.00 0.85 0 the production of nutrient- rich, high-value crops and animal-source foods; Component 2. Capacity improvement and nutrition 0.36 0.33 0 education; Component 3. Improving 0.48 0.79 0 access to infrastructure; and Component 3. Project management and administration, monitoring 0.88 0.73 0 and evaluation, and knowledge dissemination. Total 2.72 2.70 0.00 Page 28 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) ANNEX 3. RECIPIENT, CO-FINANCIER AND OTHER PARTNER/STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS Executive Summary (translated from HKI Rapport Evaluation Finale Project ASNAP_25mars.pdf) As part of the closure of the Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Smallholder Capacity Building Project (ASNAP), the PMU (Project Management Unit) represented by Helen Keller International, initiated an evaluation mission from February 2 to 20, 2022. The objective of the mission is to conduct a final evaluation of the ASNAP project in collaboration with the Helen Keller International Project Team, the Ministry of State - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MEMINADER), the Steering Committee, stakeholders, and beneficiaries of the project. The mission was conducted in two stages: (i) a first stage of evaluation of the indicators of the results measurement framework and the objectives of the project and (ii) a second stage taking into account all the conclusions from the qualitative studies and quantitative data. The approach comprised of documentation analysis, secondary data, semi-structured interviews, focus groups and data collection from a sample of beneficiary households, which made it possible to produce this report. At the end of the analyses, the main findings highlighted are the following � The mission notes that the project is strongly anchored in the main agricultural sector policies, in particular, the National Agricultural Investment Program (PNIA) II, the National Strategy for the Development of Food Crops (SNDCV), and the National Multisectoral Nutrition Strategy 2016-2020. The project aligns with not only existing national strategies and programs but also with donor interventions. � The project interventions are relevant. They respond to a real need to provide solutions to the critical malnutrition problems in the project area. Beneficiaries rated the project's actions as very relevant with a score of 4/5; � Achieving the target values of the main indicators of the Project Development Objective (PDO) highlights the effectiveness of the project coordination team in implementing the activities. Based on the data provided by the Management Unit, as of January 31, 2022, and the results of the final survey, the average level of achievement of the target values of all the indicators of the Results Measurement Framework (RMF) amounts to 185.31% overall, of which 346.08% at the level of the PDO, 113.90% for the intermediate results of component 1269.25% for the intermediate results of component 297.33% for component 3 and 100% for component 4. The mission notes that the level of achievement of the indicators is at least 84.4% higher at each level. The analysis of the implementation performance is done through the level of achievement of the target values of the project indicators according to the results framework. Based on the data provided by the Management Unit, as of January 31, 2022, and the results of the final survey, the average level of achievement of the target values of all the indicators of the Results Measurement Framework (RMF) is globally 121% including 92.06% at the level of the PDO, 113.7% for the intermediate results of component 1, 223% for the intermediate results of component 2, 85% for component 3 and 91.66% for component 4. The mission notes that the level of achievement of the indicators is higher at each level than 85%. � The mission notes Helen Keller's capacity for budget execution. The budget execution rate is 99.7% as of January 31, 2022. At the component level, it ranges from 83% to 167%. � At the level of the sub-components, the mission notes an execution rate of more than 90%. All planned activities have been executed with completion rates ranging from 85% to over 100% for some. A significant effort has therefore been made since the mid-term review to accelerate the implementation of activities. � The mission notes that the consideration of environmental and social clauses in the conduct of the main activities is effective. Page 29 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) � Significant changes were noted by the mission. Targeted beneficiary households surveyed testify to improved consumption of at least 4 nutrient-rich food groups. This result is likely related to the significant increase of more than 330% in the production of nutrient-rich foods on the group farms and the combined effects of the hygiene and nutrition awareness and training. The nutritional status of the beneficiary households has improved according to the results of the group discussions. It is manifested by an improvement in the physical growth of children who consume the dishes prepared from the farm products, in particular the orange sweet potato. The improvement in the level of income from the sale of surplus production, although low, has nevertheless allowed for the empowerment of women and improved household living conditions. This empowerment is further strengthened by access to irrigation water thanks to the borehole drilled, in some sites, which reduces the drudgery and working time of some women on the farms. � Despite these good results achieved by the project, points of attention were raised by the mission namely: (i) the failure to take into account the "dietary diversity score" indicator used at the level of the national nutrition data platform; (ii) the insufficient synergy between the Project and the Ministry of Animal and Fisheries Resources (MIRAH) on the poultry component; (iii) the poor functioning of the two regional monitoring committees (CRS) in Poro and Bagoué; (iv) the capacity of beneficiaries to sustain the drilling infrastructure, particularly the lack of a maintenance mechanism and the high cost of fuel; (v) the lack of contact between the groups and suppliers of quality seeds. On this basis, a set of recommendations were formulated namely: � The need for future similar projects to broaden the selection base by allowing open registration to all interested groups. This is in line with a desire for transparency and the involvement of more people in the nutrition improvement policy. � The mission recommends that when setting up projects, the relevant Ministries ensure that the development indicators in their results frameworks are aligned with the sector indicators. � The mission recommends that, for nutrition-sensitive projects, local coordination should build on existing nutrition committees. This is with the objective of streamlining the coordination mechanism. � Continued capacity building of groups in farm management through synergy to be developed with other projects (PADFA, IFAD-funded Emergency Agriculture Project, etc.) and with the support of ANADER. This support will include management of production cycles, water resource management, marketing (to avoid water wastage), management of fuel costs, etc. � The reduction of costs related to energy (fuel for motor pump) with the acquisition and installation of a solar system through funding on other agricultural projects (PADFA, Emergency Agriculture Project, etc.) � Consolidation of the knowledge acquired by the groups on nutritional aspects by creating an anchor with the PMNDPE project. � The continued development of the poultry component (village farms) through a linkage of the groups with the Regional Directorate of MIRAH/PIJFARCI Project (at the level of Poro and Bagoué) and with the Emergency Agriculture Project. Additional support will focus on assistance on the technical itinerary, the introduction of new nuclei with more adapted hybrid breeds and sufficient numbers in order to cushion mortalities. � The mission encourages the Ministry of State, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in conjunction with CNRA and ANADER to continue support to the 52 groups to increase OFSP production. The CNRA will ensure the availability of seeds/plants. The increase in production will be coupled with a strengthening of marketing strategies and tools. Page 30 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) � Beneficiaries' level of satisfaction (translated from page 42 of the HKI report) As mentioned above, for the beneficiaries, the major change that the project has brought in their daily life concerns the nutritional aspects. The fact of being able to know that it is possible to vary the menu from the production of clean food on their own plot, was appreciated by the beneficiaries. Indeed, overall, 94% of the households interviewed were satisfied with the project's activities, with a strong preponderance in Bagoué, where the level of satisfaction was around 99%, compared to 93% in Poro. The training activities on good nutritional and hygiene practices, on market gardening techniques and the OFSP, the provision of seed and fertilizer, and the construction of fences to secure plots of land, are those suggested by the beneficiaries as being the most satisfactory. On the other hand, those concerning poultry production and water saving techniques are appreciated. This could be explained by the rather high mortality rate of the chickens received and by the beneficiaries' endogenous knowledge of water saving in market gardening. Page 31 of 32 The World Bank Support to Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Capacity Development of Small and Marginal Farmers (P155081) ANNEX 4. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS (IF ANY) Page 32 of 32