How might we design a financial sustainability and reinvestment tool to enhance agricultural growth and food security?

In 2018, 9.2% of the world’s population experienced severe food insecurity; however, Sub-Saharan Africa is disproportionately affected, with an estimated one third of its population facing an insufficient quantity of food and undernourishment (Roser 2019). To intervene, the United Methodist Church’s (UMC) General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) has invested $1.34 million dollars in grants through the Yambasu Agriculture Initiative (YAI) across multiple African countries to support the development of agriculture projects, intending to promote economic growth, food justice, and long-term financial sustainability.

As the project enters its second year, a mid-term evaluation is needed to determine: what processes are being leveraged by UMC Conferences and project sites to achieve the project’s desired outcomes; the efficacy and efficiency of those processes; and what bottlenecks are impeding advancement toward project outcomes. UMC has identified three premier sites that host a diverse range of agricultural activities: Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mozambique. By interviewing UMC project staff, beneficiary household members, as well as greater community members, in conjunction with conducting financial analysis, the i-Lab team will provide vital insights through a synthesis of evaluation data to demonstrate the Initiative’s successes, and how it may be improved moving forward.