Follow-On Impact Evaluation of the Tenure and Global Climate Change Project in Zambia
May 2023
By L. Persha, A. Soloyveya, S. Siddiqui, A. Rigaux & J. Wallach. (USAID)
The final impact evaluation report of USAID’s Tenure and Global Climate Change project in Zambia looks not just at impacts for livelihoods, food security, agriculture and women’s empowerment, but importantly at tenure security and land governance outcomes. The project operated in four chiefdoms of Zambia and activities focused on formalisation of customary land rights and on agroforestry. The evaluation was conducted seven years after the start of the project, and two to five years after participant households received their Customary Land Certificates (CLCs). It therefore allows for a slightly longer-term assessment on impact than is the case for evaluations of land administration projects that are carried out immediately after they end. The evaluation used a cluster-randomized controlled-trial approach to assess average impacts of the project activities. Substantial positive impacts on household tenure security are reported to be sustained, as is greater confidence in land governance. However, there little evidence was found of any improvements in household livelihoods or women’s empowerment from the project’s activities, despite more women having documented proof of land rights and greater awareness of CLCs.