Established in 2004 as a United States Government corporation, the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) mission is to reduce poverty by supporting sustainable, transformative economic growth in developing countries that create and maintain sound policy environments. MCC is designed to support innovative strategies and to ensure accountability for measurable results.
The current MCC Compact with the Republic of Namibia aims to reduce poverty through economic growth in the education, tourism, and agriculture sectors. As part of the agricultural component of the Compact, the Community-Based Rangeland and Livestock Management (CBRLM) Sub-Activity aims to improve the productivity and sustainability of the livestock sector through enhanced rangeland resource and livestock management that will result in an increase in income from livestock farming. Improved rangeland and livestock management will be achieved through a series of interventions managed by the Millennium Challenge Account Namibia (MCA-N), including: improved community-based land use planning for rangelands; the introduction of technologies and skills to improve grasses and thereby productivity of livestock; training on animal care and husbandry; and, improved marketing and entrepreneurial skills.
When dealing with large scale social investment projects, it is essential to ensure that monies are being used effectively and resulting in the intended outcomes. MCA-N’s results-based approach, with its strong focus on monitoring, impact evaluation, and data quality, will drive program designs and allow MCA-N to make necessary improvements to interventions over the course of the compact.
NORC is carrying out surveys during 2010-2014 to support the impact evaluation of this project. Work under the contract began in September 2010 with the development of a multi-modal data collection methodology and sampling plan for approximately 3,500 household interviews in rural Namibia for the baseline survey. NORC carried out a listing excercise in December 2010 and January 2011 to identify eligible households within the intervention zone and and define a sample frame for actual field work which began in April 2011. Data collection field work, including questionnaires, focus groups, and key informant interviews, is carried out by NORC in collaboration with our local subcontractor, Survey Warehouse.