Monitoring and Evaluation

Bangladesh is located at the confluence of three major rivers – the Ganges, the Brahmaputra or Jamuna, and the Meghna – which flow through the country and drain into the Bay of Bengal through a low and flat topography. While the country has seen economic growth of about 6% per year during the last decade and substantial reduction in poverty, the sustainability and expansion of these successes face considerable challenges with its vulnerability to floods, heavy rainfall, erosion, rising sea levels and cyclonic storm surges affecting the nearly 600 km of coastal zones – especially with the changes in climate. Furthermore, the coastal zone hosts close to 28 percent, or 42 million people, of the population of Bangladesh and is characterized by rapid population growth.

The Coastal Embankment Improvement Project (CEIP) aims at restoration of the agriculture sector within the polder areas and rehabilitation of infrastructure with “build back better” designs that can guard against both tidal flooding and frequent storm surges.

SHELADIA is responsible for the Monitoring & rigorous Evaluation (M&E) of project performance as well as project impact. The primary purposes of these services include; (i) carrying out independent M&E of project progress, inputs, outputs, processes, outcomes and impacts in relation to the various project works and activities; (ii) carrying out independent monitoring of project specific operational risks and mitigation measures; (iii) providing independent and regular feed back to the Project Steering Committee on its evaluations of the above as well as on any other specific issue as directed by the PSC.

YAAJEENDE, meaning “bounty” in the Pulaar language of Senegal, is one of the first programs of USAID’s global hunger and food security effort: Feed the Future (FtF). The objective of FtF is to work with host governments and development partners to tackle the root causes of global poverty and hunger. The program focuses on intensification of agriculture production, enhancement of agro-food links, promotion of good nutrition and enhancement of governance linked to food security.

SHELADIA is providing technical services and leadership in the areas of irrigation, water supply, and monitoring and evaluation. In order to promote effective irrigation technologies and to improve water resource management, part of SHELADIA’s responsibilities involve researching and making recommendations for initaitives to maximize use of water related resources including, but not limited to: pumps and drip systems, earthworks, aquaculture, livestock watering, and clean drinking water. More specifically, our team is also promoting the use of treadle, hand, and solar pumps.

Additionally, in collaborating with our partners on the project, SHELADIA is organizing Water Management Committees (WMCs) and training them in water action planning, resource mobilization and management, proposal writing, and other necessary skills to advocate for improved public water and sanitation services.

Although Maharashtra – home to Mumbai – is the most industrialized state in India, more than half of the population lives in rural areas. As a result, agricultural production plays an important role in local and regional economic well-being.

The objective of the water sector improvement project was to strengthen the state’s capacity for multi-sectoral planning, development, and sustainable management of water resources; and to improve irrigation services delivery and irrigated agriculture productivity.

Sheladia’s services covered the establishment of a water resources regulatory agency, innovative pilots such as private commercial linkages and user-centered groundwater management, and participatory rehabilitation and modernization of about 286 selected irrigation schemes (9 major, 13 medium and 264 minor) covering about 670,000 ha of cultural command area.