NDPI and PIND are proud to announce the launch of an independent impact assessment developed by the Initiative for Global Development. After five years of our partnership and work in the Niger Delta, NDPI and PIND were confident that the model we had created was both innovative and had the potential to bring significant and equitable improvements to entire communities, not only to individual beneficiaries. But after 5 years, it was important to get an outside perspective. What changes have we really made? Have our P4P chapters significantly affected levels of violence in the Niger Delta? Are our innovations in agricultural value chains making a difference in the lives of cassava and fish farmers?
We were thrilled to partner with IGD to conduct this open and honest assessment. We challenged IGD to consider our work holistically and to be honest about ways in which we could improve. Over the past year, we have worked with IGD to find innovative ways to measure systemic change resulting from value chain and business linkage development, peacebuilding, and development of the ecosystem and enabling environment in the region.
NDPI/demo and IGD worked together to think beyond the number of beneficiaries we have reached, and to consider what was necessary to make systemic change in the region. What did our partners envision for us in the future? Are the current models of monitoring and evaluation the most appropriate to measure the kind of systemic change we hope to make? What is systemic change, anyway?
A few key thoughts came out of our partnership with IGD:
- Economic development and peacebuilding are mutually reinforcing. The communities we are training to stand up to violence through our P4P chapters are made up of fish farmers, palm oil harvesters, and poultry farmers. The people who are trained through our Economic Development Centers face violence at home, as well. And, as alleviation of poverty is strongly associated with peace, economic development is inherently a strategy of conflict prevention. The work we do is not siloed and our project participants benefit from further integration of our work in economic development, peace building, capacity building, and advocacy.
- We established a better definition of how to achieve systemic change. The Impact Assessment notes that the NDPI/demo model itself represents an innovation that can act as a multiplier effect. This is represented through 6 critical success factors: building strong foundational networks amongst all stakeholders, developing critical cross-sectoral relationships, identifying and empowering local change agents, committing to the development of sustainable market systems holistically and comprehensively, embracing lean principles to diffuse innovation, and possessing strong organizational DNA.
IGD also recommended key opportunities for NDPI to maximize our impact and continue to evolve innovations towards a level of systemic change.
- Intensify focus on the enabling environment
- Explore partnerships with technology-focused organizations
- Explore ways to change the overall narrative of the region in traditional and new media
- Bolster the demand side of value chain development by creating more linkages into larger markets
NDPI and PIND are excited to continue to unpack the results of the Impact Assessment and are committed to further exploring the positive impacts that can result from a private-sector approach to development. This is just the beginning of a long process of discussing and uncovering the important concepts that IGD has developed.
Download the full assessment report below
Please continue to follow our discussions on social media on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/demoFoundation, on PIND’s twitter handle @PINDFoundation, and on NDPI’s Twitter handle @NDPIfdn.