SAFE - Mercy Corps/ADRA Sudan

According to lates progress reporting, activities under objective 1 include adoption of improved agricultural practices and reduced postharvest loss. The specific activities of mobilising smallholder farmers (SHF) for market interaction, exceeded intended aims by far, with over 16 000 SHF reached during the year, giving the total of over 35 000 reached instead of 20 000 SHF, over the programme life period. The total number of volunteer extension worker (community based and from Ministry of Agriculture) exceeded planned numbers in total (185 extension workers instead of 151), of which 13 were mobilised during period 4. Consequently the number of vulnerable male and female SHFs that received training in basic resilient agriculture training, also exceeded expectations with over 9 000 farmers reached during the year, giving a total of 25 000 farmers reached (15 000 planned). The farmers were trained in local resource identification, permagarden design, soil health and soilwater management, all topics critical to climate change and erosion control. To improve and disseminate agriculture extension information and tips for natural resources management practise, Mercy Corps partnered with Viamo company and produced a digital information platform, containing a total of 40 audio clips on how to grow sorghum, sesame, groundnuts and vegetables (by dialling a hotline). Over 30 000 calls were recorded on the platform by close to 5 000 farmers in total. Similar usage was noted for agricultural training videos and smart projectors distributed to 64 farmer cooperatives across the two states. Findings from the external evaluation, demonstrated that average total harvest per household increased by approximately 36 % and female participants reporting an increase of nearly 30%. Less success was seen from the distribution and adoption of Hermatic Storage Bags HSB) for postharvest loss (PHL), with only around 4000 bags bought by farmer instead of estimated 30000. However, MC still considers the result a tangible target as this is a new product, which can also be reused, and a sign of systemic change as the retailer Agrofeed has been established as a wholesaler. The external evaluation verifies this finding. Construction of simple dry storage facilities also exceeded expectations, with 42 small sheds constructed during year 4, giving a total of 72 storage sheds constructed out of the planned 64. Activities under objective 2 relate to increased sustainable natural resource management (NRM) practices. Examples of activities include the establishment of a weather early warning information dissemination platform, which was achieved, management of water resources (water harvesting, water berms and rehabilitation of dams) and supporting 54 established tree nurseries in order to sell tree seedlings to smallholder farmers. The latter also included a seedling fair with radio talk shows and radio/community level theatre promoting tree planting and selling of seedlings at a subsidised price. All activities achieved well over estimated results. Activities under objective 3 addressed improved market linkages for male and female smallholder farmers, through sale promotions by suppliers, their development of distribution business model and piloting farming models with select smallholders. The SAFE external evaluation observed that overall reports of selling crops to contract companies increased by 25%. The work with promoting financial services did less well, with reported money transfer challenges and looting of the head office of MFI Ebdaa. It is worth noting that Mercy Corps labels this work as informal financial services, but judging from the annual report and the financial institutions mentioned (Irada MF and part of Bank of Khartoum as well as Ebdaa MFI mainly), these ought to be seen as formal financial services. The implementing partner ADRA supported existing and new savings groups (156 groups in BNS). With help from a private company, these groups were also trained in digitalised saving mechanisms. ADRA also continued to work with Ebdaa MFI in both BNS and SKS, while Mercy Corps focused on Irada MFI in SKS. The general conclusion from the SAFE external evaluation, is that accessing financial literacy trainings increased with over 20%, but that most participants still do not know how to do this (around 70% in general and nearly 80% for women). The question on access to rural financial services for both men and women smallholder farmers, therefore needs to be part of continued dialogue between Sida and MC. Activities under objective 4 tackle increased gender equity (note that Sida differentiates between equity and equality) and gender empowerment. The different activities under this objective, demonstrate an achievement rate of between roughly 80 110%, which Sida considers very good considering that Sudan has strong social norms for men and women, girls and boys. In addition, an outbreak of conflict tends to backlash on social norms, thus in view of this the results achieved by Mercy Corps and their partner JASMAR are indeed impressive. Examples of activities that have been 100% or more fulfilled include gender awareness raising in communities training and discussions on how to engage state and local governments to enable flexibilty with regard to social norms and womens access to productive resources. The work on gender equity/equality addressing private sectors, business interactions and business mentorship for women entrepreneurs as well as private sector engagement to develop innovative business models for women, have less of a success rate by comparison. The area could therefore be another area for continued dialogue between Sida and Mercy Corps (Womens Economic Empowerment). Activities under objective 5 were all planned to increase preparedness for disasters. Mercy Corps accounts for challenges in connection to planned work with government agencies, as this was restricted by donors following the change of government in 2021. In spite of this, Mercy Corps has performed well and achieved nearly all planned activities during year 4, such as campaigns for improved sanitation practices and prevention of spread of disease strengthened capacity of community health centres and public places and early warning systems in communities (one system instead of two planned). The SAFE external evaluation confirms this ie demonstrating somewhat mixed results with regard to the use of the early warning systems.

The main goal of the Strengthening Agriculture Market and Food Security SAFE project is to improve the food security for 31 000 male and female smallholder farmer households across South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, through enhanced gender equitable market access and agricultural production resilience. The project is guided by a Market Systems Development (MSD) and resilience approaches, to sustain food security gains despite the complex risk environment in which smallholder farmers are exposed to. The project is centred around five key objectives: Objective 1: Increased yields for vulnerable male and female smallholder farmers. Objective 2: Increased sustainable natural resource management practices. Objective 3: Male and female smallholder farmers have improved market linkages (access to finance and agricultural inputs). Objective 4: Increased gender equity between men, women, boys and girls and increased empowerment of women and girls in smallholder agricultural market systems. Objective 5: Increased preparedness and ability to respond to disasters. In August 2023 the final Evaluation Data Analysis of the SAFE programme was produced (scheduled at the end of the original implementation period). The study was solid and lessons/recommendations from this work are referred to in parts below and in connection with the results from implementation year four (4) 2022-2023.