5.5.2.4. IA Zambia
PROFIT Zambia is a five-year project that began in June 2005. It is funded at the level of $15 million, including $5 million for local grants. The Cooperative League of USA (CLUSA) implements the project with the Emerging Markets Group (EMG) and International Development Enterprises (IDE) as sub-contractors.
The project contributes to USAID’s objective of increasing private sector competitiveness in agriculture and natural resources via increased access to markets, enhanced value-added production and service technologies, increased access to financial and business development services, and an improved enabling environment for enterprise growth.
The goals of the PROFIT project are to:
- improve the competitiveness of selected industries in which large numbers of MSEs participate and might benefit;
- foster the sustainability of competitiveness to enable firms and industries to respond to market demands, both in the short and long run; and
- increase the breadth and depth of benefits at the industry, MSE, and household levels.
Impact Assessment Overview
PROFIT is a good example of the new generation of private sector development (PSD) projects and is being implemented in an important African setting. Impact assessment of its effectiveness in achieving its goals at the value chain, MSE, and household levels will generate information that can be used by USAID/Zambia, other African missions, USAID generally, and other donors to gauge the effectiveness of this approach and help to inform decisions about the design of future projects. In addition, the design of the impact assessment will be integrated with the project’s performance monitoring system to ensure quick feedback of some findings to project management and may enable them to modify their approaches to improve project performance.
As in other countries, the PROFIT impact assessment will employ a longitudinal, quasi-experimental design based on a mixed-method approach. A sample of project clients and a comparable group of non-clients will be surveyed twice, with a two-year interval between surveys. Data from these surveys will be supplemented by qualitative information collected before, during, and after the two surveys. Impacts will be measured at the value chain, MSE, and household levels. The impact evaluation will be designed by the PSD Impact Assessment Initiative team in consultation with PROFIT project staff and the local research partner.