The Impact of the Development Fund’s and LI-BIRD’s Community-based Agrobiodiversity Programme in South Asia – with emphasis on Nepal

FNI Report 06/2019 - The Development Fund of Norway (DF) has commissioned an evaluation to analyse the impact, relevance and sustainability of its Community-based Biodiversity Management South Asia Programme (CBM-SA). The programme aimed at improving the ‘biodiversity-based’ livelihood security of local communities. Target groups were small-scale farmers, disadvantaged farmers in particular, with a special emphasis on women. The focus of the evaluation is on Nepal. The CBM-Nepal Programme has successfully responded to the most central needs of the target groups in seven of the ten. Seed and food security and livelihoods have improved greatly within the target groups. The programme has repatriated and secured access to crops that are adaptive to climate change and has introduced agricultural methods that are similarly more resilient. The CBM-Nepal Programme is highly relevant to, and has influenced the policies, strategies and plans of the government of Nepal, and has also contributed to achieving Nepals commitments to relevant international agreements. The evaluation offers recommendations as to how the experiences could be better documented, analysed and shared nationally and internationally, and how conditions could be identified for scaling up the model to a national level in Nepal and in other countries. Towards this end, it offers recommendations for capacity development, focus of work and long-term commitment.