Partner: Government of Ghana; IFAD
Period: 2025
Country of operation: Ghana
Category: Community Development
Project Snapshot:
Participatory Development Associates (PDA) supported the Rural Enterprise Programme (REP) in its Pre-Completion Survey, in partnership with Radix Consult Limited, to assess the programme’s impact on improving the livelihoods and incomes of rural poor micro and small entrepreneurs (MSEs).
The Rural Enterprise Programme (REP), initiated in 1995 as a pilot, has been implemented for nearly 30 years. Its core aim is to enhance the livelihoods and incomes of rural entrepreneurs, particularly poor families able to transform capacity-building support into productive assets. The pre-completion survey, which also served as an endline study, was commissioned to evaluate the relevance, effectiveness, challenges, sustainability, and impact of the Programme, in order to inform the Programme Completion Review (PCR) Report and future programming.
The study covered 28 districts across all 16 administrative regions of Ghana, targeting diverse sectors within the MSE space. A quasi-experimental design was adopted, comparing intervention recipients (treatment group) with non-recipients (control group) to assess REP’s impact on livelihoods, profitability, and enterprise growth. A mixed-methods approach combined quantitative and qualitative data, drawing on:
- Desk review of programme documentation
- Interviews with government officials, implementation partners, and stakeholders across the MSE ecosystem
- Surveys with REP beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries
In total, 1,508 participants (758 treatment, 750 control) were surveyed, and 45 qualitative interviews were conducted with programme funders, implementing partners, district assemblies, regional/district/local committees, and beneficiaries.
The overall development objective of REP is to increase the number of rural MSEs that generate profit, achieve growth, and create employment opportunities.
As part of the evaluation, PDA:
- Produced an inception report
- Designed data collection tools
- Recruited and trained enumerators
- Completed field data collection
- Provided monitoring support
- Conducted data cleaning and management
- Engaged key stakeholders, including MSEs, Business Advisory Centres, IFAD, and District Assemblies
- Carried out data analysis and reporting
The final evaluation report was completed and shared with the client in August 2025.
To validate the findings, a Stakeholder Validation Workshop was held on 10th September 2025 in Accra, bringing together 86 participants (69 males and 17 females). The workshop created a platform for feedback, discussions, and consensus-building on the survey results. Participants included representatives from the Ghana Enterprises Agency, GRATIS Foundation, ARB Apex Bank, Bank of Ghana, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Local Government Service, and other key stakeholders within the MSE ecosystem.