National Agricultural Technology and Training Programme: Technical Assistance Fund - IOE
National Agricultural Technology and Training Programme: Technical Assistance Fund
The objective of the programme was to improve the production and marketing capacity of rural enterprises of small- and medium-scale producers through sustainable access to technical assistance services. The programme applied a demand-driven approach to technical assistance services in order to spur significant progress on developing a technology market by incorporating and training individual technicians, enterprises and universities. In addition, the programme was able to adapt a new element to its logical framework by implementing the Food Production Bond.
The evaluation found that women’s empowerment and participation was one of the greatest achievements under the programme, in addition to the positive changes in incomes, agricultural production, food security and human and social capital. A total of 7,000 women benefited, representing 48 per cent of all project beneficiaries. On the other hand, the evaluation identified opportunities for improvement in areas such as monitoring and evaluation, environment and natural resources management; and in methods to strengthen the sustainability of technical assistance markets.