Evaluation Report of the Project: Inclusive and sustainable vegetable production and marketing project (MONVEGI), Mongolia

Summary in the original language of the document

The "Sustainable Vegetable Production and Marketing Project (MONVEGI)" in Mongolia is implemented by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in collaboration with the Mongolian government and its Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industry (MOFALI). The project aims to improve vegetable production, marketing, and consumption in Mongolia and enhance the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, especially women-headed households. The project operated in two phases from 2016 to 2023.
The objective of the external evaluation is to assess the project's performance against the six DAC/OECD evaluation criteria and further questions specified in TORs provided by SDC (see appendix 6.8) and in the SDC-approved inception report developed by FiBL. The evaluation also aimed to analyse the achievements and challenges, strengths and weaknesses of the project design and implementation processes. The scope of the evaluation primarily focused on the exit phase (2020-2023) but also considered the previous phase (2016-2019).
The evaluation methodology involved data collection from various sources, including project documents, stakeholder interviews, online surveys, and field visits. The evaluation team analysed the project's implementation, outcomes, and indicators across different levels, such as seed producers, farmer cooperatives, research institutions, and policy frameworks.
The MONVEGI project strategy comprised four intervention lines: 1. production, 2. marketing, 3. organizational development, and 4. policy. The project's implementing team consisted of four partners, with the main partners being the Mongolian Farmers Association of Rural Development (MFARD) and the Mongolian Women’s Farmers Association (MWFA), supported by the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Service (GFRAS) and Grant Thornton (GT). The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations handled the policy component. The evaluation team found evidence for overall proper project implementation and described numerous effects generated by partners and their activities (Chapter 3.2).