BACKGROUND
The IKI Secretariat at Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH has commissioned Arepo to conduct an interim evaluation of the IKI project „Growing greener: Restoration and sustainable use of agro-pastoralist systems in open arid landscapes“. The project aims to enhance the climate resilience of open land systems and associated livelihoods by enabling large-scale restoration of degraded rangelands across semi-arid regions in the four Southern African countries Botswana, Madagascar, South Africa, and Zambia. By scaling the ‘Herding for Health’ (H4H) approach of participatory land use planning to 30 agropastoral communities, the project intends to promote sustainable, market-oriented land use systems that restore vegetative cover, boost beneficiaries’ incomes, and sequester carbon in restored rangeland topsoil. Clear women and youth empowerment goals emphasize gender-sensitive development. To sustain project impacts and achieve further scaling, the project aims to influence policy-making by actively engaging political partners in national governments, as well as civil society organizations.
TASKS
Arepo is responsible for the overall project management. The goal of the Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) is to ensure accountability, foster learning, and support management. This includes assessing progress, providing insights for future projects, and offering adaptive management recommendations for the current project. Field visits to all four countries will be conducted to evaluate the project’s trajectory. Interviews, on-site foresight workshops and document analysis will serve as the primary methods of data collection.