Appui au Développement du Menabe et du Melaky, Madagascar (AD2M)

Western Madagascar suffers from frequent droughts and climate change exacerbates the variability of rainfall. With a significant majority of households in the region depending on rain-fed irrigation for their livelihoods, there are important consequences for health, nutrition, and education for all household members. To promote holistic rural development, the International Fund for Agricultural Development funded the program Appui au Developpement de Menabe et Melaky (AD2M). Among the many goals of the program, AD2M focused on creating irrigation infrastructure and the means to sustain it.

AIR partnered with Lead Analytics to conduct an ex-post impact and process evaluation of the AD2M program. The impact evaluation relied on archived satellite imagery to select areas with similar topographical and hydrological characteristics to AD2M areas prior to the beginning of the program. The team used this sampling frame to conduct 2,000 surveys in two districts that contribute to a quasi-experimental design. Qualitative research with 18 key informant interviews and 16 focus groups discussions provided insight both into the impact and performance to better understand what aspects of project implementation were successful and which aspects provided room for improvement.