Mid-term review for Programme for Agriculture and Livelihoods in Western Communities (PALWECO)

Programme for Agriculture and Livelihoods for Western Communities (PALWECO) was a collaborative effort of the Government of Kenya and Government of Finland aiming to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods of the communities of in Busia County, Western Kenya. The Mid -Term Review provided information on the progress and achievement of PALWECO and recommendations for any changes such as, objectives, financing and management and institutional arrangement in order to improve the performance.
The Programme for Agriculture and Livelihoods for Western Communities (PALWECO) covered seven sub-counties of Busia County. The population in the Programme area was estimated at 811,324 in 2012, with over 80% living in rural areas. Palweco was a unique development programme in Kenya with a reasonable budget but limited geographic area, supporting both livelihood development and the devolved government process/decentralisation. The overall objective of PALWECO was to reduce poverty, and improve livelihoods and living standards of the poor in Busia County. The Programme aimed to achieve the objectives by strengthening the capacity of the population to influence structures and processes affecting them and increasing wealth from sustainable farming and non-farming activities, while improving the living standards and livelihoods of the poor. The Programme planned to operate for almost six years, from 2010 to 2016. The objective of the MTR was to assess the progress of the programme, its potential to achieve its targets and to make recommendations on corrective measures to improve programme implementation. The programme was assessed against the OECD/DAC evaluation criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. The lessons learnt and recommendations of the MTR were also shared with other counties and development programmes. Relevance and sustainability of the programme was studied in light of the changed circumstances i.e. the Constitution of 2010, the new governance structure, the principles of aid effectiveness as well as current and emerging aid architecture in Kenya, including EU joint programming, and giving guidance for possible reorientation and/or future programming of Finland’s support. Some of the specific issues for which the MTR provided recommendations included options for scaling up the project activities, future support to the devolution process, alignment with the Kenyan Financial Management Systems and integration of the Human Rights Based Approach and cross cutting issues (gender, reducing inequalities, climate sustainability).