Evaluation Insights
Key insights from the studies carried out by projects: baselines, midlines, endlines, and thematic and impact studies. Studies will be added here as they are completed.
Baseline Assessment for the Coffee Project under the Pathways to Prosperity Program - Kenya: Final Baseline Report
Kenyan coffee farmers in the P2P area are held back by disease, pests and high input costs, and most use no protective equipment. Women farm much smaller plots and have less say over coffee resources.
Read insights Ethiopia · BaselineActing Now for Food Security and Resilient Food Systems: Ethiopia Baseline Report
Most target households in Meskan and Mareko do not have enough food all year: treatment households averaged 8.7 months with enough food. Low literacy and low phone access mean training needs to happen in the field rather than through mobile channels.
Jan 2023 – Dec 2025Read insights Kenya · BaselineBaseline Survey for the Creating Shared Value in the Maize Value Chain Project for Solidaridad East and Central Africa
At baseline, maize farmers in Bungoma County were producing at a loss: about 10 bags (90 kg) per acre with an average production cost of KES 36,173 per acre against sales of KES 27,717 per acre, despite high use of fertiliser and improved seed.
Read insights Tanzania · BaselineBaseline Assessment for the Coffee Project under the Pathways to Prosperity Program Tanzania: Final Baseline Report
Tanzanian coffee farmers in the P2P area produce little per tree (1.69 kg/tree) and lose about 16% of the harvest before picking, mainly to disease. Men own most coffee land, while women and youth provide much of the unpaid labour.
Read insights Regional (ECA) · BaselineBaseline Study for the Reclaim Sustainability! Tea Project (Kenya and Uganda)
Tea value chains in Kenya and Uganda are dominated by private actors whose business models are mostly not inclusive. Weak regulation and weak civil society hold back fair value distribution and decent work.
Jan 2021 – Dec 2025Read insights Regional (ECA) · Thematic studyTowards a Fair Value! A Report of Study on the Fair Value Distribution Analysis in the Gold Supply Chain in Kenya and Uganda
Mine-site gold prices (about US$35.5-36.8 per gram) are close to the open-market price for raw 18-karat gold (US$39.5 per gram). Miners' low returns come mainly from inefficient recovery (25-40% of gold), high costs and ore-sharing arrangements, not from unfair prices at the point of sale.
Read insights Kenya · BaselineShade 4 Vegetables (SAVE) Project Baseline Report
Farmers in the SAVE restoration sites are highly willing to plant more trees (96% have space and are willing), but their agroforestry knowledge is low (78% report little knowledge) and 74% say agroforestry income is low or extremely low compared with other farm income.
Read insights Regional (ECA) · BaselineReclaim Sustainability – Gold Project Baseline Study Report
Almost all gold project indicators start at zero. Artisanal miners in Kenya and Uganda have weak organisations and little voice in policy, and the report recommends building miners' own organisations alongside stronger CSOs.
Read insights Tanzania · BaselineBaseline Study on Certification and Beyond: Market Access for Sustainable Coffee, Horticulture and Tea from Tanzania (Final Report - Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar)
Voluntary sustainability standards (mainly Rainforest Alliance and GlobalGAP) were already used by many coffee and tea farmers in the Southern Highlands (from 15% in Mbinga coffee to 83% in Njombe tea) but not at all in Zanzibar, and compliance was held back by high certification costs from foreign auditors, heavy labour demands and, for avocado, no price premium.
Read insights Regional (ECA) · BaselineReclaim Sustainability! Programme Baseline Report – Coffee Program, Uganda and Kenya
Coffee policy and law in Kenya and Uganda are incomplete: key laws are not enacted, there are conflicting bills, and policies are missing. This weakens fair value distribution and natural resource management. The project's theory of change was judged valid without changes.
Jan 2021 – Dec 2025Read insights Kenya · Thematic studyFair Value Distribution, Sustainable Consumption in the Coffee, Fruits, and Vegetable Sector in Kenya, and Uganda in support of Evidence-Based Advocacy
In all four Kenyan fresh produce chains studied, the farmer takes the smallest or near-smallest share of net value (11% for tomatoes to 20% for mangoes). Brokers, wholesalers and retailers capture most of the margin, even though farmers carry the largest risk, capital and time investment.
Read insights Regional (ECA) · Thematic studyFair Value Distribution Analysis in the Tea Sector: A Research to Advocate for Fair Tea Pricing and Wages in Kenya and Uganda
Tea makes up over 70% of household income for smallholders, yet most live below the poverty line and are food insecure. Kenyan farmers received 73.5% of auction prices in 2022, but tea workers in both countries earn only 35-68% of a living wage.
Read insights Regional (ECA) · MidlineRECLAIM Sustainability! Programme Mid-Term Review
After two years, RS! had laid the groundwork for systemic change and already met or exceeded several 2025 outcome targets for dialogue and civil society strengthening. Changes in private sector practice remained limited, and internal coordination and learning structures were not working well in practice.
Jan 2021 – Dec 2022Read insights Tanzania · MidlineMid Term Evaluation Report for Passport to Coffee Export (PACE) Project, Tanzania
At mid-term, PACE had raised coffee yields by 13% and household incomes by 14% over the baseline. Use of digital market information and e-extension remained low, and the gender/enterprise and blockchain traceability outputs were behind schedule.
Read insights Regional (ECA) · MidlineMid-Term Evaluation of the Food Security through Improved Resilience of Small Scale Farmers in Ethiopia and Kenya (FOSEK)
FOSEK was judged broadly on course despite major external setbacks. Average farmer income fell sharply in Kenya and roughly doubled in Ethiopia compared with the baseline, and weak M&E means progress on most outcome indicators cannot be measured.
Read insights Regional (ECA) · BaselineFood Products Reclaim Sustainability! Baseline – Kenya and Uganda
Horticulture farmers in Kenya and Uganda still struggle to reach markets and are often exploited by brokers. Under 30% have a better bargaining position, and civil society has too weak a voice on farmers' issues.
Jan 2021 – Dec 2025Read insights Ethiopia · BaselineBaseline Study for Cotton & Textile Project under Reclaim Sustainability! Program in Solidaridad East and Central Africa, Ethiopia
Ethiopian textile and garment factories largely respect labour norms on child labour and gender, but pay very low wages, discourage union membership and have poor safety and environmental practice. Smallholder cotton farmers are the most disadvantaged group in the chain.
Read insights Regional (ECA) · BaselineBaseline Assessment for Climate Victims to Climate Heroes Project
Smallholder coffee farmers in Kenya and Uganda are well aware of climate change but few take part in carbon trading (83% of surveyed Ugandan and 67% of surveyed Kenyan farmers do not). Their small farms, about 0.5 ha, fall far short of the roughly 10 ha needed to earn from carbon markets.
Read insights Kenya · BaselineBaseline Study for the Horticulture for Growth (H4G) Project: Promoting Horticulture Enterprise Development in Kenya
Smallholder horticulture farmers in the seven H4G counties started with low exposure to good practices: 33.5% were aware of climate-smart technologies, 12% had been trained in climate-smart horticulture, 14.5% knew about production protocols and food safety standards, only 1.5% had ever had their soil tested, and 23% had accessed agricultural credit.
Read insights Ethiopia · BaselineBaseline Evaluation for Climate Resilient Opportunities for Sustainable Livelihoods Project in Minjar Shenkora District, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia (July 2025 - June 2028)
Households in Minjar Shenkora depend heavily on rain-fed crop farming with very little irrigation (6.8%) and low access to credit (13.9% in the past two years), and 90.4% struggle to access markets, so irrigation, finance and market linkages are the main gaps the project starts from.
Jul 2025 – Jun 2028Read insights Uganda · BaselineNational Oil Palm Project Baseline Study Report (Phase I: Kalangala, Buvuma and Mayuge Hubs)
Oil palm growers in Kalangala earn far more than non-growers (UGX 26.2 million vs UGX 4.4 million a year), but they have turned most of their land over to oil palm, leaving 0.8 acres per household for food. Buffer zones have been encroached and financial literacy is low.
Read insights Regional (ECA) · BaselineQuantitative baseline report Going for Gold: Tanzania & Ghana (revised version)
In the Tanzanian ASGM communities, women earned on average USD 56 per month, only 25% felt women always have the same earning opportunities as men, and mine workers had very little protection: on average 0.65 items of protective gear, 58% of men and 37% of women had worked with mercury in the past month, and 1-3% had received any job training.
Read insights Regional (ECA) · MidlineGolden Line Programme Midterm Review Final Report
Golden Line created new opportunities for women in and around artisanal gold mines, especially in Tanzania, where women moved into supervisory and management roles. Use of protective equipment stayed low, there was no measurable fall in mercury use, and women's incomes and the gender wage gap had not yet improved.
Read insights Kenya · BaselineActing Now for Food Security and Resilient Food Systems: Kenya Baseline Report
In Makueni, Kwale and Taita Taveta, only 32% of treatment households had enough food all year. Nearly half of crop responses reported lower income and yields than the year before, mainly because of drought.
Jan 2023 – Dec 2025Read insights Regional (ECA) · BaselineBaseline Study: Pathways to Prosperity Gold Project
Most artisanal gold miners in the P2P sites earn less than USD 50 a week, and few have health and safety training. Mercury is used almost everywhere. Women are concentrated in lower-paid processing tasks.
Read insights Regional (ECA) · Thematic studyFair Value Distribution Analysis in the Coffee Sector: A Research to Advocate for Policy Changes in Kenya and Uganda
Value in coffee rises at each step up the chain while farmers, who mostly sell cherry or parchment, earn the least. Selling red cherry earns about US$0.08/kg in Kenya and US$0.15/kg in Uganda, against margins of US$9.6/kg (Kenya) and US$6.6/kg (Uganda) if farmers roast.
Read insights Uganda · BaselineNational Oil Palm Project Baseline Study Report: Masaka and Mukono Hubs
In the Masaka and Mukono hubs, where oil palm has not yet started, most farmers own their land and food security is fairly high. But input use, crop yields and extension access are low, and only about half of Masaka farmers want to grow oil palm.
Read insights Ethiopia · MidlineMid-term Evaluation Report for LISEC-Green: An OECD-DAC Evaluation of the Leather Initiative for Sustainable Employment and Job Creation (LISEC) Green Jobs Project
LISEC was rated highly relevant and its support to existing leather MSMEs worked well (50-75% efficiency gains). Weak coordination among the consortium partners, an unimplemented monitoring plan and low spending made efficiency unsatisfactory.
Read insights Ethiopia · EndlineFinal Evaluation for the Leather Initiative for Sustainable Employment Creation (LISEC) in Oromia Regional State, East Shewa Zone, Modjo Town, Ethiopia
LISEC met or exceeded its youth and women employment targets and greatly improved how communities see the tanneries (18% to 75%). Its waste-management outcome fell behind because of equipment procurement delays, and those impacts were still emerging at the end of the project.
Jan 2021 – Apr 2024Read insights Kenya · EndlineThe Promotion of Sustainable Beef Production through Development of Field to Fork Value Chain Approach in Kenya: End of Project Evaluation Report
The project completed its planned activities and improved pasture management, animal health access and breeding in Loita Ward. However, reliable livestock markets were not secured, and farmer groups are not yet able to stand on their own.
Jan 2014 – Dec 2015Read insights Kenya · EndlineEndline Report: Impact Evaluation of the Food for All Project in Kenya (F4APK)
F4APK met or exceeded many of its output targets and greatly increased dairy commercialisation, but productivity, profit and food-security outcomes did not improve relative to control groups. Horticulture engagement fell during the project.
Jan 2015 – Dec 2020Read insights Regional (ECA) · EndlineEvaluation Report: Scaling Investment for the Resilience of East Africa Coffee Producers Program (Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda)
Coffee yields per tree rose in all three countries, and so did the share of premium grades. Even so, the programme missed its yield targets (4 kg of cherry per tree for smallholders, 6 kg for medium-scale farms) and its 70% premium-grade target for smallholders. Climate stress, pests and diseases, little use of credit and weak ICT roll-out held results back.
Jan 2018 – Dec 2022Read insights Ethiopia · EndlineOromia Coffee and Dairy Development Project (OCDDP): Final Report, End-line Evaluation Study
Coffee farmland, tree density and production per household rose sharply compared with the baseline, and farmers moved to organic, pesticide-free practices and to selling through cooperatives. However, the dairy component reached only 252 of the 1,300 planned beneficiaries, and the improved seedling supply is at risk once project funding ends.
Jul 2016 – Apr 2021Read insights Kenya · EndlineHorticulture for Growth (H4G) Project Promoting Horticulture Enterprise Development in Kenya: Endline Evaluation Report
Farmers report high recall of H4G training and widespread use of improved seeds, fertilisers and crop protection. However, the share growing the project's target crops fell compared with baseline, per-acre production costs rose sharply, and middlemen still dominate sales.
Read insights Tanzania · EndlineThe Golden Line Programme End Term Evaluation Final Report
The programme created many economic opportunities for women in gold-mining communities. Savings groups (EA$E) and community health businesses look likely to continue, but PPE use at mines remained low, the wage gap had not visibly closed, and advocacy had limited influence on policy.
Jan 2016 – Dec 2020Read insights Ethiopia · EndlineEnd-term Evaluation of Bottom Up Project in Ethiopia
Despite COVID-19, the war in Tigray and flooding in Afar, Bottom Up was relevant and largely effective. The evaluation credits the project's flexible change management for this. A low-cost, eco-friendly IPM method now replicated across the country is its main impact, while international sourcing and consumer engagement targets were mostly missed.
Apr 2019 – Mar 2023Read insights Regional (ECA) · EndlineEvaluation of Solidaridad Practice for Change programme (PfC): Final report
PfC was rated Satisfactory on most OECD-DAC criteria and Highly Satisfactory on coherence. Market Uptake was the weak pathway (Moderately Satisfactory). Targets on workers' conditions were missed, and M&E captured little systemic change or scaling.
Jan 2016 – Dec 2020Read insights Kenya · EndlineEvaluation Report: Endline Survey – The Traceable Organic Coffee from Kenya Project
TRACE Kenya trained far more farmers than planned and reported roughly doubled coffee yields and household coffee income. However, no organic coffee had been sold through certified channels by the time of the evaluation, and keeping certification going depends on a reliable premium market.
Jan 2020 – Mar 2025Read insights Ethiopia · EndlineEnd Line Evaluation for Green Tanning Initiative (GTI) project in Ethiopia
GTI raised awareness of chrome-free tanning and built skills in target tanneries and abattoirs, which improved labour relations, skin quality and gender awareness. Its market linkage, EU market entry, access-to-finance and policy targets were largely not achieved.
Jan 2018 – Dec 2021Read insights Regional (ECA) · EndlineFOSEK End-line Evaluation Final Report 2021
FOSEK reached close to its 120,000-farmer training target and improved coffee quality, cooperative services and, in a Kenyan pilot, dairy sales. The evidence on coffee volumes is mixed, and food security did not improve significantly; the report says this is because the programme was over-extended and focused on outputs rather than outcomes.
Sept 2013 – Dec 2021Read insights Kenya · MidlineCreating Shared Value in MVC in Kenya ('CSV Maize') Project: End of Year Two Evaluation Report
In Year 2 the project reached 4,622 farmers against a Year 2 target of 1,200. 87% of surveyed farmers expected higher maize production than the year before, but market access and soil testing were still at an early stage when the evaluation was done.
Aug 2023 – Jul 2024Read insights