Review of NIC-032 inta/agricultural extension project

This report is a review of the Norwegian support to INTA (an agricultural extension project in Nicaragua) which consists of two major components: support for the Process of the Generation and Transfer of Agricultural Technology and Trainingtraining and Technical Assistance for Women Farmers (PROCATEPA)Through available information, interviews with INTA staff and farmers, the main conclusions include: INTA has played a positive role in promoting technological innovations among the farmers. However, to what extent the benefits generated outweigh the costs remains an open questionNORAD support has made a strong positive impact on mainstreaming gender issues within INTA, but a lot remains to be donethe PROCATEPA project has empowered women and has had a positive impact on the family incomesNORAD support to the project has shown good resultsin terms of efficiency, providing support through NGOs would probably have been cheaper. New approaches by using other partners such as private companies and gremios can still be further explored. Having a state institution investing in training and methodological development is valued as part of an institution building processin comparison to co-ordination and co-operation with other institutions and projects, NORAD's participation has been weakwithout a significant input of donor funding for a long-term period, INTA will have serious difficulties to sustain itself as a functioning institutionthe evolution and present state of Government (Norwegian) policy on agricultural research and extension is reflected by the New Agricultural Technology Project support by the WB, IFAD and COSUDE. The private sector will also play a stronger role, and pending on the outcome of the elections, important changes may be introducedthe percentage of professional female staff has improved but there still remains a serious imbalancethe shift from Women in Development (WID) to mainstreaming gender issues within INTA has been quite successful. To view the family as the target and by focusing on women in this context has greatly improved INTA staff's acceptance of the need for a gender dimensionThe GON approach has been strongly influenced by donor policies, not least the WB. The new Project has many positive aspects, not least the long-term perspective proposed (16 years). However, there is a risk that donor support will continue to be fragmented. There has yet to be established a system for monitoring the impact of INTA's activities on the standard of living of the beneficiaries. Lots of information has been generated but there is a clear lack of definition of what kind of information is needed and for what.