Abstract
The Improving Livelihoods and Governance through Natural Resource Management Project (“project”) is implemented by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under cooperative agreement no. 306-A-00-10-00516-00. The project started in April 2010 and ran through December 2013. The project goals are: (1) to build Afghanistan's capacity to conserve and sustainably manage its natural resources; (2) to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor in and near targeted protected areas; and (3) to strengthen subnational governance related to natural resources management, as well as linkages between communities, provincial and national government institutions. The project works in Band-e-Amir National Park and the Northern Plateau in Bamyan Province, and in the Wakhan Corridor and Little and Big Pamirs (hereafter referred to collectively as "the Wakhan") in Badakhshan Province. These areas are significant in terms of biodiversity conservation and watershed protection. The project also includes a national capacity building component. The project supports and reports results under USAID/Afghanistan's Assistance Objective AO 5: A Sustainable, Thriving Agricultural Economy, specifically Program Element 5.2: Improved Natural Resource Management as a Result of USG Assistance. This performance evaluation: (1) examines whether the project is on track to achieve its intended goals and results (outputs and outcomes) in a sustainable manner; (2) assesses the validity of the program design and logic; (3) identifies project strengths, weaknesses, successes, lessons learned, and opportunities for improvement; and (4) recommends options for USAID and Afghan Government support for natural resource management, protected areas management, and rural livelihoods, including the potential role of the pending Afghanistan Parks and Wildlife Authority (APWA). Evaluation findings are based on evidence of progress from implementing partner quarterly reports and evidence of performance from the evaluation team's field visits and interviews, specifically: progress against performance indicators (baselines, targets and results) and the annual project work plan (activities and outputs), the implementing partner's perspectives on implementation challenges and progress, key stakeholder interviews, and observations on the quality of technical assistance. The most significant findings and conclusions are: (1) governance achievements are substantial; (2) the project design is robust; (3) significant differences in challenges and opportunities exist between Bamyan and the Wakhan; (4) balancing human, livestock, and habitat conservation trade-offs is critical to sustaining community buy-in; (5) work Plan flexibility allows the project to respond readily to emerging technical assistance priorities; (6) the project consistently demonstrates characteristics of quality technical assistance; (7) stakeholder critiques of project performance are few; (8) the project is often associated with snow leopard conservation in people's minds; (9) the project is largely on track with respect to work plan activities and indicator targets; and (10) opportunities exist for improvement. Twenty-four recommendations are also included. (Excerpt, modified)