Two recent events convened by the Global Donor Working Group on Land explored how to improve impact evaluation approaches to support learning in the land sector, and promote overall transformation of the rural sector in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Among possible solutions, the meeting highlighted the need to enhance collaboration among development agencies commissioning surveys and gathering information in order to facilitate the sharing of impact evaluation methodologies and data.
It also highlighted the potential to use such global comparative land data in monitoring land governance frameworks such as the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests.
24 October 2016: Two recent events convened by the Global Donor Working Group on Land explored how to improve impact evaluation approaches to support learning in the land sector, and promote overall transformation of the rural sector in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The workshop on ‘Evaluating the impact of land governance interventions,’ was organized by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the World Bank, in collaboration with the Global Land Tool Network and Global Donor Working Group on Land, an initiative of the Global Donor Platform on Rural Transformation. The event took place in Rome, Italy, on 17 October 2016.
The discussions focused on three main topics: an overview of impact evaluation approaches; practical experiences of how impact evaluation is actually implemented by donors and on the ground; and recommendations for using impact evaluations to guide the scaling of projects, and the use of complementing data sources and big data in the land sector.
Participants noted that while several organizations’ funding and implementing land governance projects have monitoring systems in place, these systems do not always provide answers at the impact level, such as whether “a project that allowed farmers to obtain land titles or certificates is also directly improving farmers’ access to food.”
Among possible solutions, the meeting highlighted the need to enhance collaboration among development agencies commissioning surveys and gathering information in order to facilitate the sharing of impact evaluation methodologies and data. It also highlighted the potential to use such global comparative land data in monitoring land governance frameworks such as the Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests. To this end it was proposed that available impact evaluations could be incorporated in the Land Governance Programme Map, a database of over 600 land projects, and continue to hold meetings where monitoring and evaluation experts could exchange experiences and improve their systems.
As part of its Strategic Initiative, ‘Agenda 2030– New Momentum for Rural Transformation,’ the Donor Platform is also involved in a consultative process to redefine its approach to rural development. On an invitation from the Italian Agency for International Development, the Platform convened a roundtable from 13-14 October 2016 in Rome, Italy, on the topic ‘The Future Donor Programmes in Rural Development.’
The roundtable drew on several background studies and discussion papers, including: a background paper for the roundtable prepared by the Platform’s secretariat with the support of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); a discussion paper titled, ‘Implications of Agenda 2030 for Rural Development Rural Development,’ that was prepared for the Donor Platform’s Annual General Assembly in January 2016; and IFAD’s 2016 Rural Development Report, ‘Fostering Inclusive Rural Transformation.’
The discussions also highlighted the outcomes of recent events focusing on these themes, including: ‘Territorial Approach to Food Security and Nutrition,’ convened by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF); the FAO event, ‘Rural Transformation, Agricultural and Food System Transition: Building the Evidence Base for Policies that Promote Sustainable Development, Food and Nutrition Security and Poverty Reduction;’ the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) Working Group on Urbanization, Rural Transformation and Implications for Food Security and Nutrition; and the Rural Futures conference organized by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and held in Cameroon in September 2016.
One of the key messages of the roundtable was that any discussion on the future of agriculture cannot focus only on rural areas, but requires examining the rural-urban linkages as a dynamic and complex process that calls for multi-layered governance. The background paper defines rural transformation as a state in which livelihoods “are increasingly built upon non-farm activities, including services and other jobs that are created through multiplier effects – in both rural and urban settings,” and notes that supporting such activities is “highly relevant” to the growing challenge of urbanization and youth unemployment in many countries.
One of the key messages of the roundtable was that any discussion on the future of agriculture cannot focus only on rural areas, but requires examining the rural-urban linkages as a dynamic and complex process that calls for multi-layered governance.
Participants identified key cross-cutting issues that are essential in forming a new vision of rural areas, including the need to address key political economy issues, gathering data on national, regional and local conditions, and identifying donors’ comparative advantages.
The roundtable underscored the need for new forms of technical and financial assistance to support such long-term processes of fundamental structural change. Participants concluded that the greatest “value added” of the Donor Platform is identifying “gaps in policy coherence,” in the international enabling environment and welcomed its role in linking activities across diverse sectors, such as climate change, nutrition, gender and migration. [Donor Platform Press Release on land evaluation workshop] [Donor Platform Press Release on the rural transformation roundtable] [Implications of Agenda 2030 in Rural Transformation] [Agenda 2030 – New Momentum for Rural Transformation: The Future of Donor Programmes in Rural Development] [Rural Development Report 2016: Fostering Inclusive Rural Transformation] [IISD RS Story on Launch of IFAD’s 2016 Rural Development Report]