The REL Unit is currently involved in a number of on-going projects while gearing up for some projects that will begin soon. Here is an overview of our on-going projects:
IPO Baseline Assessment – Inception Phase
PDA has been contracted by the Mastercard Foundation as the Impact Partner Organisation (IPO) for its Young Africa Works (YAW) strategy implementation in Ghana. As IPO, PDA is working to track the Foundation’s impact in agriculture, innovations and across the entire Ghanaian economy, particularly job creation and entrepreneurial opportunities for young people. Currently, PDA is working with the Foundation’s Impact Team to conduct an outcomes baseline assessment. The baseline assessment will then serve as a benchmark for tracking the impact of the Foundation’s investment in Ghana in the next two years. Preparations for the baseline assessment are far advanced and data collection started across the country by the middle of June.
Midline Impact Evaluation of Babator Irrigated Farming Hub, Ghana – AgDevCo
PDA and Bath Social Development Research (Bath SDR) are working on a midline impact assessment for AgDevCo’s Irrigated Farming Hub at Babator in the Bole Bamboi area of the Savannah region. The evaluation combines both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. PDA is leading entirely on the quantitative assessment as well as leading the data collection phase of the qualitative component, which will be handled by Bath SDR using the QuIP methodology. Currently, data collection for both quantitative and qualitative components are complete. The PDA team is working on quantitative analysis and reporting while Bath SDR is also working on qualitative data processing and analysis.
FINEDEV Endline Evaluation
PDA and Bath SDR are evaluating Global Affairs Canada’s five-year multi-million funding to Sinapi Aba Savings and Loans (SASL) for enterprise growth and development. Dubbed Financial Inclusion for Enterprise Development (FINEDEV), the project was expected to strengthen SASL’s capacity to provide enterprise loans to small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) that are unable to access credit from the mainstream banks. The first phase of the evaluation which involved key informant interviews with SASL management and staff that participated in the FINEDEV project was conducted in May by PDA and the lead evaluator from Bath SDR – Professor James Copestake. The second phase which involves interviews with SME clients that have benefited from the FINEDEV intervention will commence at the end of June or the beginning of July and will be handled exclusively by PDA.
Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Support for CDD Ghana
PDA’s REL team has been working with the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD Ghana) as a monitoring and evaluation technical partner for its Social Accountability project, I Am Aware (IAA). IAA seeks to empower citizens through sensitisation and information-sharing to demand quality delivery of public services from duty bearers. PDA has been working to support CDD and the IAA implementing partners to better document their results. Through data submitted on an electronic platform built by PDA, we have been supporting CDD with quarterly and yearly analytical reports. PDA also conducts occasional field monitoring and rapid assessments of the partners’ work. In July, the REL team will conduct another monitoring visit to selected regions and districts across the country.
Below are a few of the projects that PDA will soon embark on:
OPM QuIP Interviews in Ghana
PDA and Bath SDR are working on Qualitative Impact Assessment Protocol (QuIP) interviews in Ghana for Oxford Policy Management (OPM). The study involves interviewing micro savings clients in the Greater Accra region to understand their savings culture and financial management practices. Data collection for this evaluation is expected to start soon.
Community Needs Assessment for Beyond Beans in 15 Communities
Export Trading Group (ETG)/Beyond Beans Foundation has contracted PDA (through the REL team) to conduct Community Needs Assessment in 15 communities at Suhum and Samreboi in the Eastern and Western North regions respectively. This new contract comes after PDA conducted a similar assessment for them in 8 communities in the Ashanti region in the last quarter of 2021. The community needs assessment involves qualitative and participatory data collection, social mapping and community census where applicable and sense making/validation engagements, analysis and presentation of findings/report. The data collection phase of the current assessment started in the first week of July.