PDA has a team of 13 currently working on an impact evaluation of this nationwide project, which was implemented between 2007 and 2014. The evaluation is taking place between November 2014 and May 2015 and will gather data in 90 communities.
Aiming at improving rural poor people’s livelihoods in Ghana through the development of commodity chains for roots and tubers (R&T) supplied by smallholders, the RTIMP consisted of three main areas of work:
a) linking of smallholders to old and new markets;
b) enhancing smallholder R&T production; and
c) enhancing smallholder R&T processing. The evaluation was designed based on the Participatory Impact Assessment & Learning Approach (PIALA), developed through the Improved Learning Initiative (ILI) of IFAD and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The focus of the evaluation is on the four types of commodity chains developed by the project over the last 5 years: gari, high quality cassava flour (HQCF), bonding cassava plywood (BCP) and fresh yam export.