AVENIR progress and impact assessment: Descriptive report

Muriithi, C.; Ouedraogo, I.; Chege, C.; Kinyua, M.; Nouwodjro, P.; Diouf, L.; Maina, W.; Siagbe, G. (2025) AVENIR progress and impact assessment: Descriptive report. Nairobi, Kenya: CIAT-MEDA. 81 p.

This assessment of the AVENIR project activities demonstrates significant progress in building climate resilience and improving livelihoods among smallholder farmers in Senegal's Sedhiou and Tambacounda regions. Through its integrated approach combining climate-smart agriculture, economic empowerment, and capacity building (reaching 11,500 beneficiaries, 70% women and youth), the project has achieved measurable impacts across key outcome areas.

The knowledge diffusion strategy shows success, with trained farmers serving as effective information nodes - each sharing agricultural knowledge with an average of 21 community members (median of 10 indicates most share with fewer individuals). Regression analysis confirms the program's efficacy, revealing farmers in intervention areas share knowledge 29 times more frequently than controls, with nutrition and integrated pest management training emerging as most impactful. Household resilience has strengthened significantly, evidenced by a composite Resilience Capacity Index of 47%, driven by key resilience pillars.

Notable successes include Bakel department achieving 62% and Goudomp 54% resilience scores through integrated farming systems, and women demonstrating growing leadership with 11% participation in water resource management. Economic empowerment indicators show promise, particularly in agro-processing where bissap value chains generate average household earnings of 130,129 CFA. Nutrition outcomes improved substantially, with 36% of women now meeting minimum dietary diversity standards (MDD-W), rising to 61% in department like Bakel. While climate-smart agriculture adoption shows positive trends (79% manure management in Bounkiling), persistent challenges include uneven technology uptake (5.45% drip irrigation adoption) and geographic disparities in food security (39.9% severe insecurity in Tambacounda). The project's climate information services demonstrate strong potential (47% adoption in Goudomp), particularly when delivered through mobile platforms and community radio.

These findings validate AVENIR's integrated approach while highlighting opportunities for targeted scaling - particularly in strengthening women's economic participation, expanding proven knowledge transfer systems, and addressing regional disparities through localized adaptation strategies. The results provide a robust evidence base for optimizing interventions during the remaining implementation period to maximize sustainable impact.