This report is as a result of the three weeks impact assessment study conducted in two communities (Kake II Bokoko and Kombone Mission of the Meme division in the South West Province) by a multidisciplinary team comprising of five members. The exercise was a follow-up to the suggested development plan (SDPs) designed for the two communities during the village studies conducted in 1995/96 through a participatory rural appraisal technique (PRA). The impact assessment exercise was also done using the same approach to assess whether the proposed projects for these two communities have been implemented or not, if implemented what was the level of implementation and the impact they have on the lives of the community members in relation to the goals and objectives of the projects and if not, what were the factors responsible and why.
The purposes of the impact assessment are;
- To enable participants acquire skills and knowledge in project evaluation.
- To initiate a process of systematic follow-up to SDPs that PAID-WA assisted in developing over the years in other to increase their impact
- Four SDPs were developed in Kake II Bokoko, these were;
- The provision of pipe borne water
- Provision of health center
- Provision of market
- Training the village councilors on leadership skills.
The water project had taken off ground after so much follow-up by the village development committee and the able Chief but later abandoned some where along the line during implementation for lack of funds and assistance from other stakeholders such as government or NGOs.
The market project also started on a temporary open ground on a weekly basis but was also abandoned due to the inconveniencies of the site in terms of access and conflicts with market days with neighboring communities like Kumba and Mile 1.
An integrated health centre has already started with the help of government but as at now, is housed in a temporary place with only four staff two of whom are on voluntary service hoping to be taken care of by the VDC and village council. As for the training of the village councilors, nothing has yet been done but there is still hope for training opportunities.
In Kombone Mission, three SDPs were developed,
- Provision of electricity
- Provision of market
- Malnutrition and environmental sanitation
Both the electricity and market projects started but abandoned for lack of proper follow-up which is attributed to the absence of a village development committee (VDC). Although they were not able to implement the project to take care of malnutrition and environmental sanitation, the mission church of God has recently built a health centre for the community which we believed could take care of most of their health needs and environmental sanitation through health education especially during infant and anti-natal clinics.
From the results of the evaluation in both communities we discovered that water remains the priority problem for Kake II and electricity for Kombone Mission. To that effect, the study team together with the communities developed action plans for both communities in relation to their priority need and the level of implementation of these projects for subsequent follow-up to ascertain the realization of the projects.
At the end of the three weeks impact assessment exercise, the team discovered that even though the implementation of the SDPs in both communities (Kake II and Kombone Mission) had taken off ground, very little was achieved and as a result, the level of impact they were meant to attain was never felt by the people. To that effect, the team developed action plans for both villages depending on the SDPs and their priorities needs. The team also put into consideration the resource mobilization capacity of the communities and locally available ones. The action plans included community water for Kake II Bokoko and electricity for Kombone Mission. The main objective of the action plan was to facilitate the implementation process of the pending projects in other to increase their impacts within the village and their surroundings.
