3. PED projects in the field – general issues 3.1 Context Most PED projects are found in areas which are extremely vulnerable in ecological terms. The eco-systems are often prone to one or several physical constraints such as drought (e.g. in the Sahel) or poor soils (e.g. Guinea and Ethiopia). This means that the natural resource base in these areas is fragile, which often has other consequences, viz.: Livelihood strategies based on survival, associated with seasonal migration patterns, either in connection with pastoral activities or from the countryside to the towns. The various project areas tend therefore to be markedly vulnerable in economic terms and poorly endowed with infrastructure. This is a problem in terms of project design which is not made very explicit. How, for example, does one promote popular participation in a resource-poor region, or one which suddenly faces an emergency during the project lifecycle, as occurs endemically in the northern area of the Mayahi project in Niger? Most of these regions receive very little assistance apart from UNCDF's efforts. Working in such disadvantaged areas seems to imply a comparative advantage for UNCDF in countries where sectoral policies are apparently geared towards regions where the eco-system has greater agricultural potential. Infrastructure provision at local level organized by UNCDF eco-development projects represents another comparative advantage. In fact, very few other projects in the target region and countries are geared towards these primary needs, for the simple reason that rural infrastructure almost always implies huge cost and the number of facilities which any given project can provide is necessarily limited. In all of the eco-development projects, infrastructure is the main focus of interest for the local community and makes a very substantial contribution to sustainable human development. Providing access to drinking water by means of village water supply projects, to education through the building of schools, to markets through the construction of rural tracks and to primary health care through the building of dispensaries is a way of meeting needs arising from the lack of physical infrastructure in these countries, providing people with better access to social and economic infrastructure. Most of the countries concerned have duly prepared regional development plans, but rarely have the resources to implement them. The clinics, schools and clean drinking water supplies requested by local communities remain a dead letter and source of frustration. The lack of such infrastructure largely determines absolute poverty. Most PED project areas suffer from isolation and communications problems, making project implementation costs particularly high and weakening links with the central level. The line agencies have few resources available to improve the quality and intensity of project monitoring. As a general rule, communications problems also reduce project visibility at national level. Project execution often overlooks the need for co-ordination with state structures undergoing structural adjustment, with relatively limited human and material resources and sectoral policies which determine the technological standards governing infrastructural development. For example:* In Guinea, some facilities have remained inoperative for more than a year, because the state has not made technical personnel available. 3.2 Innovations within PED projects* In Mali, the Ministry of Health insists that all projects with a village water supply component should only work on boreholes and exclude large diameter wells, although these are most in demand. Households who have to share water with transhumant herders have easier access to water from wells than from boreholes. In addition, boreholes are supposed to be drilled following hydraulic grade lines which may well be located outside the geographical confines of a village. These technical rules often lead to a low rate of use of boreholes drilled at a very high cost.
3.2.1 The "local area" dimension
This aspect will be analyzed when certain PED project concepts are specifically discussed(10). For the present, we shall simply illustrate the implications of supporting local governance in terms of the need for project flexibility. For example, in Mali, the institutional landscape is changing as the various structures and public services are affected by decentralization, democratization and devolution. The establishment of rural communes as one of the new administrative divisions is still not complete, but the project's aim of targeting a certain number of rural market towns should, in the long term, fit in with administrative arrangements so as to put in place the basic infrastructure needed by the future communes. Furthermore, the functions of the decentralized structures are being completely recast. These structures will soon be in place and the project will have to streamline its strategy for dealing with them. 3.2.2 Rural creditIt is true that rural credit has sometimes been mismanaged within eco-development projects, but it has helped to diversify the centres of interest of the local people. Mismanagement has been related to various factors, including the inexperience of project teams and a mismatch between credit and grants on the one hand and, on the other, the absence or weakness of the national institutional framework for micro-finance in rural areas. All credit schemes are now receiving adequate technical support as part of regional project monitoring. A future evaluation of current credit schemes, with the participation of specialist operators and much more appropriate approaches, will assess this promising sector and determine the impact of these schemes on eco-development projects.
Micro-finance was the subject of dialogue between the government, UNDP, local communities and specialist operators before the project structures could be disengaged from managing credit resources. The other sectors dealing with hydro-agricultural schemes or the environment have rarely enjoyed the same intensity of dialogue at national level, quite often confining themselves to the conduct of activities in the field. 3.2.3 Hydro-agricultural schemesTwo other activities forming part of eco-development projects deserve to be mentioned, especially as they are no longer of great interest to other donors. We refer to the construction of dams for water control in Mauritania and the expansion of arable land in Guinea, by means of schemes on the plains and in the valleys. These two types of activities have a long history in these countries and match the concerns of the communities involved. Demand for such schemes is quite strong, as they enable beneficiaries to enjoy more secure conditions for production. In the Assaba region, flood retreat agriculture allows areas under cultivation to be extended and harvests to be guaranteed, while benefiting livestock.(11) In Guinea, agricultural diversification becomes possible and those who have access to the new land enjoy guaranteed access to market. In both cases, neither the local population nor the government are in a position to undertake such schemes on their own.
In view of their particularly high cost, these schemes do, however, require much more structured management and institutional arrangements, with regard to access to land, agricultural inputs and markets. This means that such schemes demand organization and awareness on the part of the local people and technical services to ensure that they are maintained and operated on a sustainable basis. Such schemes have been much criticised by the various evaluations in terms of their conception and current management, but their relevance and economic importance at local level have never been called into question. Structuring the human environment and the active, equitable participation of state institutions are important issues which are still far from being resolved. Shortcomings in management damage the profitability and viability of these schemes, which nevertheless represent a tremendous opportunity for the local people and directly support national policy with regard to the environment and promoting the rural economy. 3.2.4 Rural housingEco-development projects have undertaken activities on a fairly similar basis to other projects. However, in respect of the environment, a new sector of activity is taking shape: the use of alternative technology capable of relieving pressure on natural resources. Such activities make economic sense and can easily be extended, inasmuch as they are designed to use materials available in the village.
One of the focuses for alternative technology is rural housing. Rural demand for timber, for houses or granaries, is particularly strong in the Sahel, where it cannot be gathered in sufficient quantity. Poles for building come from mature trees, which do not occur naturally in large numbers and must be felled. Frequent renewal of housing structures implies sustained offtake of timber on a large scale. It is therefore easy to imagine the potential impact of new technology, if housing could be designed on a sustainable basis without using products coming from an already seriously eroded natural resource base. However, this new initiative taken in Mali and Niger is still mainly symbolic. It is just starting out, using models which may only be partly mastered in the field. In Niger, where local builders are being trained, the initiative looks more promising. Housing, like diet, is primarily a matter of culture which cannot be changed overnight. The successful spread of this initiative will depend on a precise strategy involving: communication; displaying results; basic information on costs; an assessment of the advantages and drawbacks of ancestral practices as compared with new techniques; and the training of local builders. A detailed study comparing a pilot village and another village, to assess the impact on the natural environment; the savings which can be made by users in resources, time and effort; and the impact on the maintenance and conservation of housing structures could help to support such a strategy. In none of the countries concerned is there a state institution involved in rural housing. This institutional void gives a better idea of the innovative nature of this type of activity. It also underlines the need to lay a much more structured foundation for experimentation in improving traditional housing, which will have repercussions on the environment without fundamentally altering traditional patterns. Environmental programmes implemented so far, especially in the Sahel, have usually sought to enhance the natural resource base (planting trees, protection, etc.), rather than looking for alternatives which could potentially reduce offtake. It is clear that the introduction of improved stoves has already helped to bring in new, appropriate technology in the interests of energy-saving, but rural housing as a whole has not been adequately researched. In broad outline, PED projects are organized and phased as per Diagram 1.
Examination of this diagram shows that:
* PED projects follow the traditional sequence of development project phases; * At operational level, there are some elements which distinguish PED projects from other development projects, i.e. the fact that the project team is not in charge of implementing activities. When examining documentation and visiting the field, it is clear that, despite a series of estimable achievements, PED projects tend to suffer from quite similar dysfunctions, which may summarized as follows:In view of these observations, it is important to try to determine what proportion of the inadequacies is related to:
- There is some difficulty in understanding concepts and translating them into a strategy and direction appropriate for each project situation.
- Failure to take the "local area" dimension into account.
- Too much time spent on the knowledge-acquisition and programming phases.
- Inadequate mastery of knowledge-acquisition and evaluation tools.
- Even when the tools are mastered, they are certainly not adequately used during the appraisal and programming phases. In fact, at this level, strategic choices are usually standardized and too closely follow the programming laid down in project documents.
- As project documents are mainly geared towards the development of agricultural land, activities selected tend to overlook certain aspects which may be essential in some programme areas, such as pastoralism in Mauritania or eco-tourism in Dogon country in Mali.
- From the point of view of institutional arrangements, the autonomy of the co-ordinating unit, which is not based within a local structure which will remain in place post-project, often causes problems in working relationships with those structures. In addition, these arrangements do not promote continuity of the project experience.
- The co-ordinating unit is not sufficiently involved in the post-programming phases. This relates in particular to follow-up of activities and impact assessment, resulting in substantial shortcomings in monitoring. To some extent, the co-ordinating unit acts like a consultancy up to the programming phase and as a mini donor subsequently.
- Eco-development projects have received very intensive external assistance and most of them have been the subject of external evaluation. Even though such external assistance was very often requested, it still tended to disrupt field programmes, firstly because of the large number of visits and secondly because of the contradictions introduced by the various missions.
The rest of the report therefore concentrates on the above three aspects.
- the conceptual aspects of the eco-development programme;
- the approaches and tools used;
- project management.
