In response to Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine, countries worldwide and governmental organizations initiated a coordinated effort of economic sanctions against Russia. The imposed measures aim to penalize the Russian economy through hardships in Russia’s relations, trade, and financial sectors. The force behind these sanctions remains as the last leg of deterrence before moving toward the use of existential force. However, the impacts of these sanctions cannot be contained within Russia’s borders. Economic sanctions aim to disrupt the economy. However, Russia must interact with the outside world to maintain its economy and society. Neighboring countries sharing borders with Russia are subsuming the effects of the sanctions with sometimes even more profound impacts based on the respective countries’ size and pre-sanction stability.

To understand the current situation, USAID/Armenia utilized the Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis Project (LEAP III), implemented by Integra, to conduct an on-the-ground qualitative investigation to examine the current situation in Armenia, a country heavily dependent on the Russian economy. The study looks at the sanctions’ immediate and possibly longer-term direct impact on the Armenian economy. The study outlined the troubling, often surprising implications of the sanctions on Russia on the Armenian economy and potential benefits and opportunities. The study focused on the agriculture, food security, and tourism sectors and cross-cutting issues, including transportation/logistics and currency fluctuations.

Based on the study findings, Integra developed several recommendations aimed at helping Armenian stakeholders in the agricultural, food processing, and inbound tourism sectors overcome or soften the negative impact of the recent developments. Among those are recommendations to help U.S. ICT firms smoothly relocate to Armenia, bridge the information asymmetry gap at local banks, help food processing exporters to begin hedging foreign exchange risks, assist producers in diversifying export destinations in the face of new opportunities and help property owners bring those up to a level for rent-out for tourism.

ABOUT LEAP III
LEAP III provides a mechanism for USAID field missions and bureaus to efficiently and cost-effectively access rigorous, independent, and high-quality analytical services to support economic and policy analyses, strategy and project design, monitoring and evaluation, training, and knowledge management.

In late July, Integra’s evaluation team made the first of three trips to Indonesia to collect data, speak with stakeholders, and design three separate performance evaluations for the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) Green Prosperity Project.

Totaling $313 million over five years, the Green Prosperity Project was designed to increase productivity, reduce reliance on fossil fuels by expanding renewable energy, and reduce land-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Under the project, this was to be done through the improvement of land use practices and better management of natural resources. Particularly in Indonesia, a country with a large forest-dwelling population, developing alternative land-use mechanisms is an essential part of safeguarding the future wellbeing of the diverse population. Divided into five portfolios – partnership grants; community-based natural resources management; renewable energy; technical assistance and project preparation; and the Green Knowledge activity (a knowledge-sharing component) – the Green Prosperity Project developed and implemented solutions for some of Indonesia’s key environmental issues. This included the development of participatory land use and planning mechanisms as well as a grant financing facility aimed at funding renewable energy initiatives throughout the country.

Integra is currently in the process of evaluating the successes and impact of facility grants within the renewable energy and community-based natural resources management portfolios. Our on-grid renewable energy team, led by Matthew Addison, is focused on the impact made by on-grid renewable energy projects financed by the GP Grant Facility. Our social forestry team, led by Scott Bode, is conducting an evaluability assessment of the project’s efforts in developing community-engaged forest management (‘social forestry’) processes. Finally, our peatlands rehabilitation team, led by Corey Nelson, is assessing the performance of peatland rehabilitation efforts. These efforts will continue through submission of the final report, estimated for completion in January 2020.

Integra is conducting this evaluation on behalf of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. For more information about this assignment, please visit the project page here.

Under the Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis Project (LEAP III), Integra is currently conducting a Performance Evaluation of USAID/Zambia’s Community Forests Program (CFP).

In 2014, USAID Zambia awarded a Cooperative Agreement to BioCarbon Partners, Ltd. (BCP) to implement the Community Forests Program (CFP) in Zambia. The CFP is designed to exemplify and support the Government of Zambia’s (GRZ) Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) strategy by establishing the largest REDD+ program to-date in Zambia. The CFP aims to establish REDD+ project areas across a minimum of 700,000 hectares within the Zambezi and Luangwa Valley ecosystems, and in so doing, to support deforestation mitigation activities taking place on a total of up to 2 million hectares, involving up to 10,000 households.

Integra is conducting a performance evaluation of USAID/Zambia’s Community Forests Program (CFP), which will provide USAID/Zambia with an independent review of progress made by this important project, and hopefully identify lessons that can be applied to future activities in the sector. The evaluation has three main objectives:

• Document the overall effectiveness of the project in reducing deforestation of biologically significant forest landscapes
• Identify lessons learned from the project—specifically, the strengths and weaknesses of the design and implementation of the CFP, and how they contributed to the project’s successes and challenges
• Assess the sustainability of CFP results related to forestry conservation. That is, are the gains and successes of the CFP likely to continue after the end of the project

Integra has partnered with RuralNet Associates Ltd., a local Zambian firm, to conduct four simultaneous field assessments in CFP project areas.

LEAP III provides a mechanism for USAID field missions and bureaus to easily and cost-effectively access rigorous, independent, and high-quality analytical services to support economic and policy analyses, strategy and project design, monitoring and evaluation, training, and knowledge management.

For more information, please contact the LEAP III Chief of Party, Mark Gellerson, at mgellerson@integrallc.com.  You may also download our two-page factsheet here. 

Integra is pleased to announce it has been awarded the Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis Project (LEAP III), released by The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment.

LEAP III provides a mechanism for USAID field missions and bureaus to easily and cost-effectively access rigorous, independent, and high-quality analytical services to support economic and policy analyses, strategy and project design, monitoring and evaluation, training, and knowledge management.

All too often, economic growth is constrained by poorly designed policies, making it difficult for both local entrepreneurs and international businesses to operate in the developing world. Whether flawed government regulation or inefficiently designed value chains, these types of structural obstacles have proven to be a key hindrance to achieving robust and sustainable economic growth.

Designed as a demand-driven project, LEAP III will provide field support for analytical services as requested by USAID Missions, Bureaus and Operating Units, providing a vehicle for USAID to support partner governments, civil society counterparts, and capacity-building among its staff,. Assistance will be provided across all sectors, including economic growth, agriculture, education, women’s empowerment, environment, and infrastructure. Under LEAP III, Integra and its partners will provide a variety of analytical services to USAID and its partners, including, but not limited to: cost-benefit analysis, public financial management analysis, performance and impact evaluations, and inclusive growth diagnostics.

To meet the high demand of USAID missions spread around the globe, Integra has assembled a team of world-class partners, including Limestone Analytics, Bixal Solutions, and Palladium International to assist in the implementation of LEAP III. Together, we look forward to improving development programming by providing USAID and its partners with high-quality analytical and evaluative services.

For more information, please contact the LEAP III Chief of Party, Mark Gellerson, at mgellerson@integrallc.com.  You may also download our two-page factsheet here.