To address some of the challenges facing the agricultural sector in Northern Ghana, USAID/Ghana awarded a Cooperative Agreement No. AID-641-A-14-0001 2014 to a consortium led by ACDI/VOCA to implement its Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement II (ADVANCE II) Activity, as a follow-on to the successful initial ADVANCE activity which ended in March 2014. The development objectives of the ADVANCE II activity were, therefore, underpinned by the hypothesis that if interventions were carefully planned and executed to achieve: i) increased productivity in targeted commodities; ii) increased marketing access and trade; and iii) strengthened local capacity, then these changes would ultimately lead to improved competitiveness of the maize, rice, and soybean value chains. The purpose of this final performance evaluation was to examine the extent to which the goal and objectives of the Agriculture Development and Value Chain Enhancement II (ADVANCE II) activity had been achieved and to establish how interventions contributed towards achieving the following USAID/Ghana’s Intermediate Results (IR): 2.1) Increased Competitiveness of Major Food Value Chains; 2.2) Improved Enabling Environment for Private Sector Investment; and 2.3) Improved Resiliency of Vulnerable Households and Communities and Reduced Under-Nutrition.
Expected Duration: 10 months (May 2020 to March 2021)
Evaluation team members (from ISSER): Prof. Peter Quartey and Dr. Ralph Armah