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About Burgess Management Associates (BMA)
About the Shenge Project
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Sierre Leone - Shenge Project
Aide Memore for Discussion from 1988
Comment: Peter Burgess
This FAO fisheries community development project had great success ... but the 'system' failed
to recognise why and how this success had been achieved. Looking back almost 20 years, it is now
much clearer what was going wrong. This experience is being developed as a 'case study' to
demonstrate the strengths of the community centric sustainable development (CCDS) approach.
A link will be added here where the case study is ready.
SIERRA LEONE – SHENGE PROJECT
JOINT UNDP/FAO/GOVERNMENT EVALUATION MISSION (SIL/82/015)
INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL VILLAGES
SHENGE REGION
AID MEMOIRE FOR DISCUSSION
Prepared by: T. Peter Burgess, Alain Burtonboy and Naib B. Iscandari
December 13, 1988
AIDE-MEMOIRE
SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction and summary
A joint evalutation mission of UNDP/FAO/Government has prepared the following draft
conclusions, findings and recommendations based on work carried out in Sierra Leone,
mainly in the Shenge area from December 1st to December 12th, 1988. The mission team
comprised T. Peter Burgess, team leader, UNDP consultant, Alain Burtonboy, FAO consultant
and Naib B. Iscandaria, Government of Sierra Leone, Ministry of Agriculture, Natural
Resources and Forestry, Fisheries Department.
The missions three principle conclusions are:
1.that the project is successful,
2.that the development progress derived from the project is not yet sustainable, and
3.accordingly, the present project should be extended beyond the present end date to
consolidate the present work of integrated area development around the fishing communities.
A full evaluation report will be completed based on this aide-memoire and feedback that
the mission team is given.
The findings of the evaluation.
The following are the main findings of the evaluation mission:
- Local community leaders and many individuals in the Shenge fishing communities have expressed widespread satisfaction with the project. The overall results of the project in relation to the cost of the related inputs is excellent. The project is an excellent demonstration of some essential elements of successful development design including:
- The need for in-depth community involvement in the development process,
- The importance of linkages in development, and therefore the value ofan integrated approach to development
- The need to focus on real needs and carry on activities that help solve real priority problems of the communities.
- It is possible to fault the process of formulation and planning of the project leading up to project agreement and project implementation. Nevertheless, the project has been successful in spite faults in the detail project design and costing of the project. If the project design had been strictly followed, the project would have made very little progress towards its objectives. The project is a very good example of a fundamentally sound project objective and project strategy providing a solid basis for a successful project based on intelligent field implementation.
- The project has been very successful in generating economic benefits for the community. There are new economically self-sustaining activities in the communities, but, it is the conclusion of the mission that these activities have not reached a stage in their development to ensure that they would survic e if the project terminates in the next year. The economic results of some of these new economically sound enterprises are a result of critical “backstopping” by the project. The underlying scale and productivity of the Shenge area fisheries is sufficient to sustain permanently most of the activities promoted by the project.
- The project has been constrained by the serious proble of shortage of foreign exchange in the country. No foreign exchange has been available to that the revolving funds anticipated to finance the ongoing importan and sale of fishing nets and gear to fishermen has not functioned. Accordingly the input supply activitiy of the proeject has been severely limited.
- The project budget has also constained the project. In spite of this, the project has achieved remarkable success, mainly because of innovative use of project resources, human, material and financial. Volunteers have been used on a larger scale than anticipated in the originbal budget with excellent results. Income from the sale of fishing nets and gear has been used to fund the purchase of locally available equipment, material and supplies, much of which was not anticipated in the original project design. The activities (such as water well construction of other specialized agencies have been integrated into the project area cooperatively with the project. Without these resources the project would ot have been able to oeprate as well as it has.
- At the same time, the practical management of the project hgas become complex as different institutional resources have been mobilized. Management essential to development success will become even more complex as major new programmes are implemented in the area, such as the UNCDF project. The present project management has done a good job of handling the complexity of integrated fisheries community development and the mobilization of essential resources. The success of operations like the cooperative is attribuatvle in part to keeping its operations simple and clearly focused.
- The economic potential of the Shenge area fishing communities in their present form is being constrained in two important ways:
- inefficient transport system for marketing productivity
- insufficient fishery inputs
Local community leaders, project staff at all levels, many individual fishermen, fish processors, fish traders and others in the are have highlighted the following as being the high priority items for future development of the area:
- Road improvement between Shenge and Moyamba
- Fish transport availability
- Improved health service and sanitation.
- Of the project activities presently ongoing, based on feedback from local community leaders, project staff at all levels and many individual fisherment, fish processors, fish traders and others in the area, it is apparent that following are considered the most useful project activities:
- Improved supply of fishing nets and gear
- Improved supply of fuel and lubricants
- Improved smoking kilns and banda houses, particularly Fante ovens. There are over 100 requests for these and a widespread enthusiasm as evidenced by their prominence at the Cooperative Gala
- Activities of cooperative and pre-cooperative groups in the area, and the technical assistance support given by the project to these activities
- Support for all types of community and enterprise activities in the area including:
- Sewing and embroidery classes which train and produce saleable merchandise
- Carpentry and blacksmith classes which produce saleable products
- Support for skills training in the area including:
- Mechanic training through workshop apprentice works
- Carpentry and blacksmith training throguh apprentice training
- Coordination and support for the activities of a range of colunteer workers in the area, both within the project and otherwise.
- Project activities which are judged by the mission to have value even though not fully adopted yet within the fishing communities include:
- Improved safety on fishing vessels
- Improved economics of fishing based on use of diesel outboards
- Matters judged by the mission to be of importance though outside the scope of the present project activities:
- Improvement in the safety and economic efficiency of the boat transport system
- Assessment of the fish stock situation, not only in the Shenge area waters but also in neighboring areas
- The problem of conflict and competition for fish grounds between the artisanal and industrial trawler fisheries
- The problem of fuelwood consumption and the potential for depletion and damage to the mangroves.
- The project has developmed appropriate technological improvements to address the technical shortcomings of local fish capturing and processing techniques. Their adoption has been slow up to now because of the time it takes to gain acceptance of the innovations by fisherfolk. The project is a good demonstration that the results achieved are slow at the beginning and accelerate over time as long as they serve the development needs of the community. It is apparent that the cost effectiveness (ratio of project cost to project benefit) of the project has improved over time. Various technical packages are now modified to suit the particular conditions of the project area and will be more readily accepted in their present form:
- Outrigger systems for Kru (1-3 standard boat) and Yelefufu (3-5 standard boat) canoes.
- Improved Fante oven and Banda house for fish smoking
- There is a need for continuity in the development process for the Shenge area. The present project SIL/82/1-5 is scheduled to end in 1989, even though a related project, the UNCDF funded project SIL/85/C)3 which is a key element of the future success of development in the Shenge region will be starting up and continue beyond the end of the SIL/82/015 project. The design of the UNDCF project anticipates an oingoing presence of SIL/82/015 to implement the fishing rlelated activities of the new project. Another project, the DANIDA/FAO proect GCP/SIL/018/DEN, 'Support to Women's Fish Processing Activities and community Development, Shenge Region', will also extend beyond the end of SIL/82/015.
- There is a need for improved health services in the project area. This is an essential part of integrated socio-economic development which has not been provided for in the resource allocation for this FAO project. The project management has addressed the problem within the limits of its financial and material reosurces. In principle, the SIL/83.004 project, which operates in the project area should provide medical service to communities in the area but in practice the project consists of only a UNV doctor with transport, but no medical facilities, equipment, drugs or medical supplies.
- Some of the water supplies in the area have been improved since the project was stablished with five new wells constructed, two in Plantain Island, two in Katta and one in Tissana. These were constructed in cooperation with CARE and the UNTDC/UNCDF Rural Water Supply Project. The two water points in Plantain Island show different post-construction performance, with one of the wells being very well maintained by the community on the island and the other very much less well maintained in another part of the community. A budget limitation resulted in a single well being built to serve two Tissano communities with the result that it is practically unused by both.
- Personnel adminstration is very complex in a project where staff are recruited under different institutional regulations. The project management has avoided a serious conflict up to this time. There is the potential for staff problems due to inherent inequity between different systems of recruitment and employment. Government and government staff in the project have expressed concern that the pay and other conditions of their employment with the project are unsatisfacory, particularly the lack of satisfactory salary top-up and their housign conditions.
- Government and government staff in the project have expressed concern that the training of Government staff by the project is inadequate. However, this was not an objective of the project, and it was not included anywhere in the project formulation nor in the project budget. Within the project, there has been activity specific training for project staff, including government staff, as well as other national staff and people in the community.
Summary of recommendations based on findings
The following are the mission's recommendations based on the findings:
- A follow up extension to the project should be planned which would continue the work of the present project and ensure that the progress of the present project is sustained. A project document should be prepared by the end of the first quarter of 1989 in order that there is no interuption or dicontinuity in the activities. Recruitment of expert staff should be planned for follow on work so that there is an adequate transfer time. Because of the work involved there should be at least two months of overlap and a gap should be avoided at all costs.
- The UNCDF project (SIL/85/C05) should be made operational and implemented as soon as possible. Work on the road should start before the next rainy season. Other parts of the project should be started so that the benefits to be derived from an integrated approach to development are realised, in particular those elements of the project which are to be implemented through the project SIL/82/015 and the recommended extension.
- While maintaining the present project's existing strengths and integrated development concept, several project activities should be reinforced in an extended project:
- The scale of the fishing net and gear supply programme should be larger,
- Outboard engines and spare parts should be included in the supply programme,
- Activities to improve safety at sea should be strengthened and applied to transport boat operations as well as fishing activities,
- Various health activities should be strengthened:
- Availability of essential drugs in the area,
- Strengthened emergency health capacity,
- Community work on water supplies,
- Community work on sanitations (latrines),
- Improved heatlh facilities, including building or rehabilitation of health buildings in the villages
- Training elements should be strengthened,
- Fish resource issues should be address in coordination with other projects in the sub-sector.
- Alternative fuel efficient fish processing techniques (such as sun drying), mangrove and fuelwood resource management (possibly including development of woodlots), should be included in the project.
At the same time the mission recommends that the simplicity of project operations should be maintained.
- The follow-on project should be planned so that the problem of foreign exchange in the country is recognized and does not become a constraint on project performance. The mission recommends that the project should explicitly assist the country in the matter of foreign exchange in an appropriate manner, for example:
- the foreign exchange of the project could first be used to purchase essential elements for the project which must be paid for in foreign exchange, such as fishing nets and gear, etc., or which it is advantageous to pay for in foreign exchange such as outboard engines and spare parts. Subsequently, these elements would be sold in local currency which would then be used to purchase items locally which are needed for project activities.
This is a financial planning exercise which is more complex than the present budget procedure, but would significantly improve the cost to benefit ratio of project implementation, and extend the activities and achievements of the project.
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