Workshop – well done!
Six years of facilitating economic growth among farmers in Georgia
I'm back in Georgia for the 21st time! My first visit in 2005 was to set up the Sida funded project "Support to the Milk and Dairy Sector in Georgia" (implemented by GRM International), and now six years later, as the project comes to an end, I'm facilitating the projects internal assessment of results, lessons learned and planning for the completion report. Also conducting a refresher course in results based management and reporting. I'm so glad to spend a week with the project team (implementation staff with Georgian, Finnish and Australian nationalities) whom I've developed a strong relationship with over the years.
Leading several days of workshop when the weather is 40 degrees is a challenge in itself (trying to keep everyone motivated enough to not dream of the beach - myself included). Cold water melon served at lunch was a big help! But getting Georgian's to be punctual has got to be one of most impossible endeavors I've undertaken (Swedish hang-up?), not to mention the mobile phone culture which requires a radical shift of values. The Georgian culture prioritizes incoming calls above all other activities, such as sitting in a meeting or workshop (very much the opposite of what I'm used to).
I find it extremely rewarding to have been allowed to work with such a challenging development project over six years, and to see change take place in spite of external risks in a difficult context. After reviewing the initial risk assessment that was done by Sida, we see that six of the eight risks (who had either low or medium probability) have in fact happened, including war (the August war with Russia), world price levels, stalled agricultural policies, etc. The project has in spite of these factors accomplished an impressive amount of things. But the interest lies in what results have been achieved?
We're spending a few days with the project staff focusing on how to identify and report the results achieved, and specifically how to measure (and attribute) impact (effects and change) on household level - something that is easier said than done.
The project's overall goal is to "reduce rural poverty and facilitate sustainable economic growth among male and female producers, processors and entrepreneurs engaged in milk and dairy production and processing in the regions of Kakheti, Tskhinvali and Kvemo Kartli in Georgia". This is to be achieved through facilitating dairy farmer associations, building milk collection centres, establishing a national milk producers association to represent farmers, advising on dairy regulations and laws, trainings in animal husbandry and marketing. Now we assess to what extent these outputs have lead to the expected outcomes.
The last few months of the project is where the final analysis of data is done, comparing it to the baseline to see what the actual results have been in terms of poverty reduction and economic growth. I wish the team good luck in the final stretch of analysis and reporting, and look forward to reading the completion report.
Hope to share the highlights here. To be continued...
