The two speakers will discuss the lessons from the integration of analysis of satellite imagery into the recent impact evaluation of the IFAD’s Agricultural Support Project in Georgia. The project (2010 to 2015) had the main objective to increase the assets and incomes of the rural poor through commercial agricultural and rural enterprises. As part of its activities, the project provided loans to agro-enterprises and undertook the rehabilitation of small-scale infrastructure such as irrigation schemes, bridges and a drinking water scheme.The impact evaluation deployed two innovative approaches: (1) genetic matching method for matching the treatment with the comparison group, and, (2) time-series satellite imagery for comparing the change in vegetation cover between treatment and comparison group farm plots before and after the rehabilitation of the irrigation schemes. The findings from the use of these techniques were triangulated with findings from traditional evaluation methods such as impact surveys, interviews, and, focus groups.
This method of analysis proved to be particularly effective when assessing the impact of the interventions in hard-to-reach areas in Ossetia.
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