@Unsplash/Daniele Levi Pelusi
New approach to mass mobilization of community labour for restoration of degraded natural resources in Ethiopia
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he Community-based Integrated Natural Resources Management Project (CBINReMP) in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was the first to operationalize and build upon Government guidelines related to mass mobilization of community labour for restoration of degraded natural resources. The latest impact evaluation report released by IFAD’s Independent Office of Evaluation (IOE) captures this innovative aspect of the project, and discusses it alongside other important findings. The impact evaluation used a quasi-experimental approach and combined econometric and qualitative techniques to attribute the impact on beneficiaries of the programme. In addition, use was also made of geo-spatial analysis to assess changes related to selected biophysical indicators. Approved by IFAD’s Executive Board on 30 April 2009, and officially closed on 31 March 2019, the CBINReMP project set out to enhance access by poor rural people to natural resources, and improve agricultural production technologies, mainly through the adoption of sustainable land management practices. The total project cost was US$27.31 million, of which IFAD financing was US$13.12 million, including a highly concessional loan of US$6.6 million and a Debt Sustainability Framework grant of US$6.6 million.
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In addition to acting upon the Government’s guidelines, the CBINReMP went one step further by providing an unprecedented incentive scheme in the form of rights to cut-and-carry fodder from communal land. Smallholders also benefited from the innovative approach of including land certification as part of sustainable land management – an aspect that also contributed to women’s empowerment. Moreover, wherever family land was registered, co-ownership was assigned to both husband and wife. This guarantees equal rights and protects women’s rights if their husbands divorce them or pass away. Indirectly, land certification activities also reduced land degradation and decreased communal land pressure by supporting farmers’ investments in their plots. The evaluation found a statistically significant increase in incomes and dietary diversity of households that participated in higher number of project activities. However, for the rest of the beneficiaries the results were not different from those of non-beneficiaries. The limited impact on incomes is also related to the nature of natural resource management projects that have longer gestation periods, and the low investment of the project per beneficiary household. The project fostered an effective system of communal pasture governance through informal
