QUALITATIVE FINDINGS FROM THE 
FIRST PHASE OF A MIXED METHODS 
STUDY ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE 
VIM PROJECT IN KAYA, BURKINA FASO
*
Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, 
Tufts University
March 2021
DISCLAIMER: 
This report is made poss ble by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development 
(USAID). The contents are the responsibility of xxx and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. 
ViMPlus is part of USAID’s Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced II (RISE) program, which supports vulnerable communities in Burkina Faso and 
Niger to effectively prepare for and manage recurrent crises and pursue sustainable pathways out of poverty. 
This report was prepared by Tufts University under the Victory Against Malnutrition Plus(ViMPlus) 
Activity. This report and the ViMPlus activity are made possible by the generous support of the 
American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the 
terms of the Cooperative Agreement No. 72DFFP18CA00008. The contents are the responsibility of 
Tufts University and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
ViMPlus is part of USAID’s Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced II (RISE) program, which supports vulnerable 
communities in Burkina Faso and Niger to effectively prepare for and manage recurrent crises and 
pursue sustainable pathways out of poverty.
Contact Information for corresponding author:
* , PhD
Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
Tufts University
150 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02111
RECOMMENDED CITATION:
. , and . 2020. Qualitative 
findings from the first phase of a mixed methods study on the sustainability of the ViM project in Kaya, 
Burkina Faso. Boston MA: Tufts University.
CONTENTS
ACRONYMS 4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
SUSTAINABILITY PLANS AND EXIT STRATEGIES 2
SUSTAINABILITY OF SO1 ACTIVITIES 2
SUSTAINABILITY OF SO2 ACTIVITIES 3
SUSTAINABILITY OF SO3 ACTIVITIES 3
CROSS CUTTING ACTIVITIES 4
INFLUENCE OF SHOCKS AND STRESSES 5
LESSONS LEARNED 5
INTRODUCTION 6
PROJECT BACKGROUND 7
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 7
MIXED METHODS STUDY OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES 9
QUALITATIVE STUDY OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES 10
METHODS 10
PARTICIPANT POPULATION 10
FOCUS GROUPS 10
INTERVIEWS 12
INSTRUMENTATION 12
ENUMERATOR TRAINING 13
DATA COLLECTION 13
DATA ANALYSIS 13
LIMITATIONS 14
RESULTS 14
VIM PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND SUSTAINABILITY 15
SO1: INCREASE AND DIVERSIFY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 15
SO2: INCREASE HOUSEHOLD INCOMES 17
SO3: REDUCED CHRONIC MALNUTRITION AMONG CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS OF AGE 
AND PREGNANT AND LACTATING MOTHERS (PLW) 18
CROSS-CUTTING ACTIVITIES 20
HOW DID KEY FACTORS- CAPACITIES, MOTIVATION, RESOURCES, AND LINKAGES￾CONTRIBUTE TO SUSTAINABILITY? 23
CAPACITIES 23
RESOURCES 24
MOTIVATION 26
LINKAGES 27
HOW HAVE SHOCKS AND STRESSES AFFECTED THE SUSTAINABILITY OF ACTIVITIES 
INCLUDING SERVICE PROVISION, SERVICE PARTICIPATION, AND BEHAVIOR CHANGES?28
EXIT PROCESSES 29
STARTING THE EXIT STRATEGY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PROJECT 30
PARTICIPANTS TOOK CONTROL OF ACTIVITIES PRIOR TO THE END OF THE PROJECT 30
RECEIVED PROJECT EXTENSION 30
ESTABLISHED A DIVERSE TEAM OF PARTNERS TO PROVIDE SUPPORT 30
THE ROLE OF RESEARCH AND PARTICIPATORY EVALUATIONS 31
APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABILITY 31
CONTRACTS AND DOCUMENTATION 32
CROSS-CUTTING ACTIVITIES 32
MARKETS AND COMMERCIALIZATION 33
WORKING WITH PREVIOUSLY ESTABLISHED GROUPS 33
PARTICIPATORY AND COMMUNITY-LEVEL ORGANIZING 34
ENGAGING GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES 34
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 34
INTEGRATE SERVICE PROVIDERS INTO PERMANENT SYSTEMS [LINKAGES] 35
RE-THINK THE VOLUNTEER APPROACH [MOTIVATION] 35
CONSIDERATIONS FOR WORKING WITH EXISTING GROUPS 35
CHALLENGES TO THE GROUP APPROACH 36
IMPACT OF THE PROJECT EXTENSION 36
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 36
REFERENCES 36
APPENDIX A: VIM PROJECT PARTNERS 39
ACRONYMS
ATAD
Alliance Technique d’Assistance au Développement
CES/DRS Soil and Water Conservation / Soil Defense and Restoration
CHA Community Health Agents
DFSA Development Food Security Activity 
FANTA Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance Project 
FFP Food for Peace 
FFS Farmer Field Schools
FRI Farm Radio International
GAPs Good Agricultural Practices 
INERA Institute of Environment and Agricultural Research
LIPs Local Implementing Partners 
MAAH Ministry of Agriculture and Hydraulics
MLAs Mother Leaders Animators
RCPB Réseau des Caisses Populaires du Burkina Faso 
SILC Savings and Internal Lending Committees 
SNV Netherlands Development Organization
USAID United States Agency for International Development 
VDCs Village Development Councils 
ViM Victory Against Malnutrition 
ViMPlus Victory Against Malnutrition Plus
VVVs Village Vaccinators 
QUALITATIVE FINDINGS FROM THE FIRST PHASE OF A MIXED METHODS STUDY ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE VIM PROJECT 
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Victory Against Malnutrition (ViM), a Development Food Security Activity (DFSA) funded by the United 
States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Bureau for Food for Peace (FFP),
was implemented by ACDI/VOCA along with Save the Children in four communes of Sanmatenga 
Province. In Kaya commune, the Activity closed in 2018, giving an opportunity to assess the sustainability 
of project ViM’s activities, outcomes and impacts after project exit. Two years after the conclusion of 
ViM in Kaya, we launched this mixed-methods study to assess what elements of the Activity were 
sustained or not, and why. This report summarizes the results of the qualitative phase of this study. The 
qualitative investigation will be followed by a quantitative survey to assess project sustainability, 
expected in early 2021.
The ViM project ViM, implemented between 2011 and 2018, was guided by the following three strategic 
objectives (SOs): (SO1) increase productivity and food availability through improved agricultural 
practices and technologies and enhancing value chains of key agricultural productions; (SO2) increase 
household income by improving value chains, stimulating links between producers and buyers, exploring 
alternative income opportunities, and facilitating access to credit; and (SO3) reduce chronic malnutrition 
among children under five years of age and pregnant and lactating women. ViM also addressed 
crosscutting issues on gender and the environment.
This study on sustainability in Kaya builds on previous studies of sustainability of 12 development 
projects in four countries (Rogers and Coates 2015), which established a conceptual framework 
comprised of critical elements of sustainability. To be sustained, activities and behaviors must 
incorporate all three elements: motivation (to provide service, to make use of them, to practice 
behaviors); capacity (skills to implement and manage activities); and resources (provision for the 
continued availability of funds, inputs, and training). If one of these elements is lacking, sustainability is 
jeopardized. Rogers and Coates (2015) found that a fourth element is often essential as well: the 
creation of linkages between community groups started or strengthened by the project and 
organizations that have permanent presence in the community or interact with it and have an interest in 
continuing to support them. Finally, a key element of sustainability identified in these studies was that 
project activity exit should be gradual, so that individuals and community groups increasingly take 
responsibility for implementing their activities independently before the project has exited. This 
conceptual framework proved relevant to the sustainability of the ViM project in Kaya. Importantly, this 
study also examined the influence of external factors to the sustainability of impacts and activities as the
commune has faced several shocks and stresses since the conclusion of the project in 2018, including 
heightened insecurity and terrorist activity, influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the COVID￾19 pandemic which appear to have limited travel and group activities.
populations in the project area post-ViM Kaya faced the dual challenges of a high level of terrorist 
activity in the country, resulting in an influx of internally displaced persons into the commune, and the 
pandemic of Covid-19 which resulted in limitations on travel and group activities.
In the first phase of this sequential mixed methods studies we collected qualitative data through focus 
group discussions and individual semi-structured interviews with ViM program activity implementors, 
local implementing partners and collaborators, community organizations, service providers, and 
beneficiaries in four areas of Kaya commune. Although we were able to triangulate key findings, the 
QUALITATIVE FINDINGS FROM THE FIRST PHASE OF A MIXED METHODS STUDY ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE VIM PROJECT 
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results are specific to this context and are not statistically representative. However, findings provide 
preliminary indications of which sustainability and exit strategies were effective.
SUSTAINABILITY PLANS AND EXIT STRATEGIES
The ViM project incorporated several elements into their project design to promote sustainability.
• Identify and work with existing groups in the community
• Collaborate with local institutions who will continue to be present and provide support to the 
groups formed or strengthened under ViM
• Establish linkages between community groups and local government, local NGOs (Local Implementing 
Partners, or LIPs), and markets 
• Facilitate official recognition for groups and individuals through contracts and integration into 
persistent systems and organizations
• Prepare community groups for program exit; gradually transfer responsibility from ViM to the groups
SUSTAINABILITY OF SO1 ACTIVITIES
Producer associations formed or strengthened by ViM reported that they continued to meet, though 
many respondents said meetings were less frequent than before, and some activities were dropped. For 
example, lead farmer trainers stopped implementing farmer field schools because they felt they had 
already trained farmers in the good agricultural practices (GAPs) they had been taught, so these were 
no longer needed. ViM intended to implement gradual handover of responsibility to Producer 
associations during the last two years of the project. The Producer associations involved in lowland 
agriculture (rice, vegetables) did continue to grow the crops and implement the techniques they had 
learned and to market their crops throughout the years since project ViM’s exit. However, some 
activities have lessened due to constraints on gathering in groups and limited resources.
The presence of local institutions, particularly local implementing partner, ATAD (Alliance Technique 
d’Assistance au Développement), was mentioned as a source of support, and participants from one
producer association focus group reported receiving training and materials from a new project that 
entered the area. However, most Producer associations and producer leaders reported challenges to 
sustained activities such as lack of resources and an absence of continued support. One issue raised was 
that during the project ViM arranged for subsidies to key inputs used in trainings and activities, but those 
subsidies has ended with the conclusion the project and no alternative source was identified.
Although an important ViM goal was to help Producer associations receive official recognition, several 
Producer associations mentioned that they had not completed the process of receiving legal recognition 
and official status by the time of ViM exit, and that this was a problem for them. Farmers did report that 
they continued to have access to credit through internal savings and loan groups (SILCs) and rural banks.
However, the market information system established by ViM, SIMAGRI, apparently was not used by 
producers; we were unable to establish whether the system still functions.
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Farmers reported continuing to use agricultural techniques that improved their efficiency or productivity 
if these techniques did not require purchased inputs, such as composting and erosion control. Those 
that required purchased resources were reportedly not continued. Respondents specifically mentioned 
not continuing construction of stone bunds which required purchasing stones and renting or obtaining a 
truck, which individual farmers were unable to do; this activity also required working in groups, and 
group work was limited due to COVID-19 restrictions and fear from heightened security risks.
Input fairs were organized to link producers with input suppliers; those fairs were not intended to 
continue once linkages were established. Reports on sustainability of this activity were mixed, with some 
farmers saying they were better aware of how to access inputs, but most participants did not feel that 
lasting relationships were established.
Many respondents reported that their participation in ViM activities was motivated by the pleasure in 
learning new things and by the respect of the community for their knowledge, but it is not clear that this 
motivation, without the benefits of improved production and marketing, was sufficient to maintain their 
involvement after the project ended.
Village Vaccinators (VVVs) were trained by the ViM project to provide various veterinary services. The 
project ViM initially provided them with supplies and materials (e.g., syringes and vaccine, seeds for 
improved fodder), and they were trained to charge for their services as a way of ensuring funds to 
purchase new materials as well as a source of income. The VVVs reported that they were continuing to 
provide services; some said it was challenging to find clients and mentioned farmers’ inability to pay, and 
one participant had greatly expanded their client base. This was the only service provider model that 
incorporated a system for continued resources and motivation (income). That said, did not feel they 
had been integrated into a persistent network to receive support or continued capacity building.
SUSTAINABILITY OF SO2 ACTIVITIES
The main intervention discussed for SO2 was the organization of savings and internal lending 
committees (SILCs) and the provision of business and money management training for women aimed at 
helping them to start their own small businesses. According to our respondents, group meetings have 
dwindled, as have contributions of funds to village banks. However, further investigation is needed to 
learn if participants in fact did start businesses and whether these are continuing and thriving. Members 
largely agreed that they learned valuable financial skills through their participation. Women participants 
from SILCS were also involved in agricultural training and sometimes in Producer associations. The 
promotion of improved agricultural techniques, diversified production, and agricultural marketing were 
considered valuable to improved livelihoods in these rural, agricultural communities. 
SUSTAINABILITY OF SO3 ACTIVITIES
The ViM project established village care groups each headed by a mother leader (MLA). During the 
project, MLAs met to receive training in nutrition, sanitation, and health care, and were responsible to 
train members of their village care groups. MLAs and village care group member received incentives in 
the form of agricultural training, goats and chickens, outfits (such as a shirt or pagne) to wear during 
QUALITATIVE FINDINGS FROM THE FIRST PHASE OF A MIXED METHODS STUDY ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE VIM PROJECT 
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work, as well as food rations. Withdrawal of these benefits was noted as a disincentive to continue 
conducting group meetings. Women cited respect from the community and an appreciation of the 
importance of their work as motivating factors, but reported their activities declined once other 
incentives and free materials were lacking.
Nonetheless, respondents reported that they continue to apply the practices they learned in their own 
households, and that they are willing to provide advice and training to people who come to them and 
ask. Most said they no longer conduct group meetings, though they continue to promote good feeding 
practices, vaccination, and sanitation in their communities. MLA meetings required travel, which is now 
constrained by COVID-19 limitations as well as by fear of terrorist attacks. In one community, the 
village care groups were continuing to operate with the support (information and materials) of a new
non-governmental organization working there.
A common theme among respondents was that linkages to the existing health care system have not 
persisted, though they were effective while the project ViM was in operation. The absence of 
institutionalized, official recognition of these committees by the health system was cited as a reason that 
they lacked access to new information and were unable to receive supplies for some their previous 
activities such as making soap and constructing improved cookstoves, so these activities have waned.
Project ViM also worked with community health agents (CHAs) and advocated for them to be 
integrated into official health systems. In 2016 the Ministry of Health officially recognized their role and 
began paying them a monthly salary of 20,000CFA ($36) per month. But while CHA respondents 
contended that they have continued their responsibilities, they no longer receive remuneration. Further 
investigation on this issue is needed to better understand where CHAs currently stand within official 
health systems.
Committees were also trained to assist in the construction of latrines. Members of these committees 
reported that they were still available and willing to assist anyone who asked for help, as long as that 
person had the materials for latrine construction. Further investigation is needed to identify whether any 
latrines have been constructed since project exit.
CROSS CUTTING ACTIVITIES
ViM implemented mass communication activities related to cross-cutting issues of gender and the 
environment. Activities included the production of radio programming and theater skits intended to 
raise awareness of themes relating to health and sanitation, agriculture and the environment, and to 
women’s empowerment and autonomy. With support from Farm Radio International (FRI), the project 
provided training and equipment to the local radio station so that these programs could continue, but 
apparently these plays and programs were not continued once project ViM ended.
Project ViM centered women across their activities, promoting gender autonomy and equality and 
working with all community members on gender relations. Women were explicitly involved in 
agricultural training and in Producer associations; internal savings and loan institutions were established 
explicitly for women; the project provided literacy training to women. Many of the focus groups and 
interviews included explicit mention of the increased participation of women in community activities and 
meetings and in agricultural work and in marketing and noted women taking leadership roles in 
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community organizations. One local government representative (male) noted women’s increased 
presence and involvement in local markets. Women respondents cited increased confidence and 
willingness to speak up in community groups as a result of literacy training that increased their sense of 
autonomy and empowerment. Some women who received literacy training were able to further their 
formal education.
INFLUENCE OF SHOCKS AND STRESSES
The major shocks to the communities were the ongoing threat of terrorist attacks, which resulted in a 
flow into Kaya of internally displaced persons (IDPs) fleeing more dangerous areas of the country, and 
the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused mandatory limits on travel and meetings in groups. Both the 
COVID-19 restrictions and the fear related to threat of terrorist attacks were cited as reasons why 
group activities had diminished, including MLA monthly meetings, village care group meetings, SILC 
meetings, and some producer association activities. The influx of IDPs was cited as a source of pressure 
on land and water availability as well as school and health services, though specific effects on ViM 
activities were not mentioned. The pervasive sense of insecurity, made more acute by the flow of IDPs, 
was mentioned by many. Respondents also mentioned the long-term stress of climate change and 
prolonged drought.
Adapting to these shocks and stresses is challenging. Limits on gathering and mobility meant that 
meetings or activities that require travel outside the community, like MLA activities, diminished or 
stopped, while behaviors in the home or activities within the community were more likely to be 
sustained. Any impact on access to markets remains to be investigated. Drought was another persistent 
challenge for producers. Respondents cited water scarcity as a reason for not continuing with tree 
planting activities, while the water conserving use of zai pits and demilunes was sustained and expanded.
LESSONS LEARNED
Activities were sustained when they incorporated the combination of motivation, capacity, resources, 
and linkages and diminished when any one of these was absent. Although service providers did report 
being motivated during project ViM by the personal satisfaction of learning new things, making 
contributions to their communities, and obtaining respect for their work, the lack of concrete material 
motivation resulted in reduced activity. Depending on the goodwill of volunteers is not a realistic 
expectation when people have competing responsibilities and priorities. When linkages were not 
effectively sustained, the continuation of activities was jeopardized, for example, when village care 
groups were unable to obtain supplies or continued training to support their work. 
Some questions remain open to further investigation, including the degree to which agricultural and 
small business activities have resulted in sustained, improved livelihoods (including food security and 
nutritional outcomes), and how the policy of working with already existing community organizations 
affected the inclusion of all community members. This qualitative study provided suggestive indications 
of the factors leading to sustained project activity interventions; these will be assessed quantitatively in 
our follow-up study.
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INTRODUCTION
Development projects are commonly assessed for impact but not for the persistence of benefits after 
external project investments end. Moreover, recent studies of development food security activities 
(DFSAs) observed that impact at the time of project exit does not necessarily predict longer term 
benefit, implying that impact evaluations do not always provide a complete picture of long-range project 
effects (Coates et al., 2016, 2016; Rogers et al., 2016, 2017; Rogers & Coates, 2015). Understanding 
what activities, outcomes, and impacts persist after donor resources are no longer provided is critical to 
ensuring durable, resilient, effective development. In addition, climatic and human-generated shocks and 
stresses are increasingly affecting global food security (FAO et al., 2018; Food Security Information 
Network (FSIN), 2018). For sustained impacts, development initiatives must take into account how 
results and expected sustained activities, service delivery, service participation, and behavior changes will 
respond to and overcome emergent risks.
Resilience in the face of shocks and stresses, whether social, economic, political, or climatological, is also 
key to achieving development outcomes and sustaining them post-project (Ansah et al., 2019; Béné et 
al., 2015). Strengthening resilience capacities is essential to enabling households to absorb, mitigate and 
adapt to changes. Escalations of conflict, climate shocks, and the resulting internally displaced persons 
(IDPs) crises they engender are increasingly challenging global food security, and the Center-North 
Region of Burkina Faso is currently confronted by each of these shocks and stresses (FAO et al., 2018; 
Food Security Information Network (FSIN), 2018). Development initiatives must therefore contend with 
the presence or anticipation of such shocks and stresses in program design, implementation, and 
adaptation. Understanding how to bolster resilience capacities among individuals, communities, and 
institutions has therefore become paramount to successful development projects (Fan et al., 2014; 
UNDP, 2012; Vaughan, 2018a). Further, guidance on designing food security interventions whose effects 
can persist in the presence of such shocks is critical, especially in contexts where the potential for 
periodic shocks is high. There may be specific components of an intervention that can be designed and 
implemented in anticipation of presumptive shocks and stresses to increase the likelihood of resilience 
to changing circumstances.
USAID’s Bureau of Food for Peace (FFP) program (now incorporated into the Bureau for Humanitarian 
Assistance, BHA) has incorporated many of the recommendations that arose from Tufts University 
research into its 2016-2025 strategy, now requiring detailed sustainability plans for all DFSAs and 
weighing their quality heavily in the proposal scoring process. FFP has also highlighted sustained results 
and resilience as key thematic areas of its learning agenda (Food for Peace, 2019). Although the 
sustainability and exit strategies studies which have already been developed have shed light on factors 
facilitating sustainable results, further guidance is needed to operationalize the findings throughout the 
project cycle, including in project monitoring and evaluation, and to develop reliable, measurable 
predictors of sustainability that can be used to modify project components during the life of the activity 
to enhance the likelihood of sustainability and the capacity of beneficiary households and communities to 
respond constructively to shocks after a project ends.
This qualitative research is part of an ongoing mixed methods study contributing to this needed guidance 
by exploring the sustainability of impacts and activities of a DFSA project known as Victory Against 
Malnutrition (ViM) implemented from 2011-2018 by ACDI/VOCA. ViM’s overarching aim was to reduce 
food insecurity among vulnerable rural populations in four communes of the Sanmatenga province, 
located in the Centre-Nord Region of Burkina Faso. This study is focused specifically on one commune, 
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Kaya. While a new initiative, ViMPlus, launched following the end of ViM and generally broadened its 
geographical target in the Centre-Nord Region, Kaya was not included in the scope of the new Activity.
Although not perfectly comparable to other communes, Kaya was thus identified as a unique 
opportunity to evaluate the sustainability of the ViM project’s implementation and exit strategies and the 
continued activities and results attained since the end of the ViM project. in an area where the new 
Activity, ViMPlus, will not continue. Building on Tufts research with Food and Nutrition Technical 
Assistance Project (FANTA), on Lessons on Sustainability and Exit Strategies of previous DFSA projects, 
this study evaluates the sustainability activities and impacts and the effectiveness of the exit strategy of 
the ViM project implemented by ACDI/VOCA in Kaya Commune. 
PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Victory against Malnutrition (ViM) Project was a USAID/FFP funded Title II Multi Year Assistance 
Program (MYAP) implemented in four communes of Burkina Faso between August 2011 and September 
2018. The project was managed by ACDI/VOCA in partnership with Save the Children (SC), the 
Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), and three Local Implementing Partners (LIPs). Several 
government and private actors were also key collaborators throughout the project’s lifetime.
Project ViM’s overarching objective was to reduce food insecurity among vulnerable rural populations in 
four communes of the Sanmatenga province, located in the Centre-Nord Region of Burkina Faso. ViM 
had three strategic objectives: (SO1) increase productivity and food availability through improved 
agricultural practices and technologies and enhancing value chains of key agricultural productions; (SO2) 
increase household income by improving value chains, stimulating links between producers and buyers, 
exploring alternative income opportunities, and facilitating access to credit; and (SO3) reduce chronic 
malnutrition among children under five years of age and pregnant and lactating women. The project also 
addressed crosscutting issues on gender and the environment.
ViM targeted four communes: Barsalogho, Kaya, Namissiguima, and Pissila. It was originally a five-year 
project, but received a two-year extension, thus concluding in September of 2018. In Kaya, ViM targeted 
all 71 of the commune’s villages, reaching an estimated 57,136 beneficiaries.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
This study follows recent research investigating what factors are associated with sustained impact of 
development initiatives in food security. In 2009, USAID launched FANTA
(https://www.fantaproject.org/), an initiative supporting research and evaluations of nutrition and food 
security interventions, aiming to “strengthen global-level guidance and standards”. As part of this 
initiative, our team from Tufts University conducted a multi-country study of sustainability and exit 
strategies of 12 Food For Peace (FFP)-supported development food assistance projects (Rogers & 
Coates, 2015). This study identified a set of critical factors required for ensuring the sustainability of 
service provision, beneficiary demand, and enduring benefits after donor funding ends.
As illistrated in Figure 1, sustainable impacts of development initiatives depend on the continued use of 
services and and sustained behaviors established by the initiative. These are supported by ensuring that 
service delivery mechanisms are upheld, that beneficiaries maintain access to these services, and that 
demand for these services remains. To strengthen the likelihood that these criteria are met requires a 
sustained source of resources, sustained capacity to provide services and to continue behaviors, and 
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sustained motivation on the part of beneficaries and service providers, and in most cases, established 
and continued linkages to relevant organizations.
Figure 1. Conceptual framework
Note 1 Adapted from Coates and Kegode. 2012. “Kenya Exit Strategies Study Round 2 Report.” Unpublished, submitted to FANTA April 
8.
The conceptual framework developed by Coates and Rogers (2015) provided a starting point to 
evaluate sustained impacts of the ViM project in Kaya. While this framework emphasizes how external 
factors can influence sustained impact, the shocks and stresses related to security concerns are 
becoming increasingly relevant to everyday lives in Kaya, along with several other areas of Burkina Faso 
(ACLED, 2020). This trend unfortunately reflects the situation in a growing number of developing 
countries; conflict is considered a key factor contributing to surges in food insecurity globally (FAO et 
al., 2018; Food Security Information Network (FSIN), 2018). The need to understand how development 
initiatives not only generate sustained results but contribute to building resilience of beneficiaries and 
partners in the face of shocks and stresses among them has therefore become critical.
In addition to examining the factors identified in this conceptual framework, this study also assesses 
shocks and stresses to identify what specific ones are felt by project stakeholders. (Zseleczky and Yosef 
(2014) define shocks as “external short-term deviations from long-term trends that have substantial 
negative effects on people’s current state of well-being, level of assets, livelihoods, or safety, or their 
ability to withstand future shocks” (Zseleczky & Yosef, 2014). These may include terrorist attacks or 
natural disasters, such as drought, disease outbreaks, or market changes. On the other hand, stresses 
are “long-term trends or pressures that undermine the stability of a system and increase vulnerability 
within it” (Zseleczky & Yosef, 2014). Stresses may include climate variability, chronic poverty or food 
insecurity, or long-term oppression of certain groups. Once shocks and stresses are identified, we 
explore how they have affected the sustainability of ViM’s impacts and activities form the ViM project.
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Finally, we will examine how different ViM activities strengthened beneficiaries’ resilience capacities, or, 
their “potential for proactive measures to be taken in order to deal with shocks or stresses” (Vaughan, 
2018b). 
MIXED METHODS STUDY OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES
This mixed methods study is guided by the following three objectives and research questions:
• Conduct formative research to examine the persistence of behavior change and, where appropriate, 
service provision and use since the conclusion of the ViM project in Kaya.
− Approximately two years after the conclusion of ViM project in Kaya, what activities, services, 
service participation, and behavior changes have been sustained?
− What factors have contributed to the persistence of the sustained activities, service participation, 
and behavior changes?
− What factors have challenged the persistence of the sustained activities, service participation, and 
behavior changes?
• Explore the impact that shocks and stresses have had on sustained impact and how the ViM project 
contributed to strengthening resilience capabilities among beneficiaries.
− How have shocks and stresses affected the sustainability of activities including services, service 
participation, and behavior changes?
− How have these shocks and stresses affected sustained impact?
− How have shocks and stresses influenced the key factors in the conceptual framework (sustained 
capacity, resources, motivation, and linkages)?
− What resilience capacities are necessary to adapt to, mitigate, or absorb these shocks and 
stresses?
− How did ViM project activities contribute to strengthening these resilience capacities?
• Draw insights from findings to generate recommendations for the current ViMPlus project design, 
implementation, and adaptation.
− What insights and lessons about the sustainability of activities, services, service participation, and 
behavior change in Kaya can be applied to ViMPlus design, implementation, and adaptation?
− How can knowledge about factors predictive of sustainability be operationalized into monitoring 
and evaluation tools that will signal whether these factors are being successfully integrated into 
project operations, in order to inform ongoing learning and adaptation of activities within the 
ViMPlus implementation period?
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− What elements of the experience of sustainability in ViM project areas through shocks and 
stresses can be used to develop a set of principles to inform the design, implementation, and 
adaptation of other activities (e.g. as part of ViMPlus) that enhance resilience?
QUALITATIVE STUDY OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES
The qualitative phase of this study provided formative findings to better understand the context of the 
ViM project in Kaya, better understand the exit strategy, exit processes, and sustainability plans, and 
begin to understand the sustainability of project results and activities. Findings also serve to inform the 
development of quantitative instruments for the next phase of the study.
METHODS
PARTICIPANT POPULATION
We conducted 20 focus groups with beneficiaries and service providers trained under the ViM project in 
Kaya between 2012 and 2018 (Table 1). We also conducted 20 interviews with program implementors 
and local implementing partners (LIPs) (Table 2). We used purposive sampling to recruit individuals with 
specific knowledge, expertise, and/or experience related to each category. 
FOCUS GROUPS
We collected focus group data from four separate areas of Kaya to explore how different contexts may 
affect the sustainability of activities and impacts from the ViM project (Figure 2). 
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Figure 2. Map of Kaya Commune, Burkina Faso with target study areas circled in yellow
Note : Original map source: BNDT, DGRE, Mairie de Kaya, 2010
We conducted focus groups with service providers and beneficiaries. Service provider groups included 
Mother Leader Animators (MLAs), CHA’s (Community Health Agents), Producer Leaders, and Village 
Vaccinators (VVVs). Due to accessibility and travel challenges, we conducted an additional two individual 
interviews with service providers (VVVs) who were not able to participate in a focus group. Beneficiary 
focus groups included members of Producer associations, Savings and Internal Lending Committees 
(SILC), and village care groups. For beneficiary focus groups, we purposefully invited members from 
different groups to observe different perspectives and interactions. Table 1 provides an overview of the 
make-up of all 20 focus groups.
FOCUS GROUP DEMOGRAPHICS
ROLE SECTOR GENDER TOTAL
Female Male Mixed 
gender
MLA Health 3 0 0 3
CHA Health 0 0 1 1
PA members Agriculture 1 1 1 3
Producer leaders Agriculture 2 2 0 4
SILC members Micro-finance 3 0 0 3
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Village care groups
members
Health 2 1 1 4
VVVs Agriculture 0 2 0 2
Total 11 6 3 20
INTERVIEWS
Twenty interviews were conducted with project implementers, including individuals from the awardee 
organization (ACDI/VOCA) and LIPs (Table 2). In addition, we held two one-on-one interviews with 
VVVs as they were unable to travel to participate in their designated focus groups.
INTERVIEW DEMOGRAPHICS
ROLE SECTOR GENDER TOTAL
Female Male
ACDI/VOCA Agriculture, Gender 1 2 3
ATAD (Alliance Technique 
d’assistance au 
Développement)
Agriculture 0 2 2
RCPB (Réseau des Caisses 
Populaires du Burkina Faso)
Micro-finance 0 1 1
INERA (Institut de 
l’Environnement et de 
Recherches Agricoles)
Agriculture 0 2 2
MAAH (Ministry of 
Agriculture and Hydraulics)
Agriculture 0 3 3
Ministry of Education Gender 0 1 1
Ministry of Health Gender 1 0 1
FRI (Farm Radio International) Health, Gender 0 2 2
Save the Children Communications 0 1 1
SNV (Netherlands 
Development Organization)
Health 1 2 3
VVVs Agriculture 0 1 1
Total 3 19 22
INSTRUMENTATION
The LIP interview and FG protocols were developed based on ViM documents, a framework of 
sustainability created by Rogers & Coates (2015), instruments used in previous studies, and literature 
relating to resilience in development projects. Interview protocols included questions that were both 
general and specific to ViM’s three strategic objectives. 
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FG protocols followed participatory impact assessment methods, which integrated rating and ranking 
activities into open-ended discussion (Ager et al., 2010; Catley et al., 2008). Protocols targeted 
participant’s work or the type of activity they engaged in with the ViM project. 
Each protocol included a consent script, facilitator instructions, questions, and probes. Protocols were 
originally developed in English, translated to French, then translated to Mooré using a voice recorder, as 
Mooré is not commonly written. They were reviewed for clarity by a panel including expertise in 
community development, Burkina Faso, nutrition, agricultural development, and health. Their comments 
and revisions were incorporated to improve clarity and appropriateness of the content.
ENUMERATOR TRAINING
Prior to collecting data, enumerators participated in a five-day workshop and training where they:
1. Reviewed study objectives and key background information for this study
2. Participated in practical training and review of principles of research ethics 
3. Reviewed the conceptual framework and methodologies
4. Participated in practical training on coordinating and implement focus group discussions and 
individual interviews
5. Reviewed all study instruments and protocols
6. Participated in practical training with each study instrument including mock focus groups and 
mock interviews
7. Conducted multiple pre-tests with relevant stakeholders in the field and participated in 
debriefing sessions to help improve the instruments
DATA COLLECTION
Interviews were conducted with program implementors and LIPs through Zoom or in person, 
depending on the risk associated with COVID-19. All interviews were recorded. Following data 
collection, recordings were translated from Mooré to French, transcribed, and prepared for analysis. 
FGs were conducted in Mooré with ViM beneficiaries and service providers trained under ViM. As 
noted, the FG facilitator used participatory impact assessment methods to engage participants in active 
discussion. In addition to the facilitator, a note-taker was present to take observational notes, and all 
FGs were audio recorded with participant consent.
DATA ANALYSIS
Recordings from interviews and FGs were translated from Mooré to French and transcribed by agents 
from a transcription service. Agents were trained to do transcriptions using the Kuckartz et al (2008) 
“simple transcription system” (Dresing et al., 2015). Once transcriptions were complete, data were 
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IN KAYA, BURKINA FASO | 14
cleaned, with any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) removed and coded and transcriptions were 
prepared for analysis. 
Cleaned transcriptions were imported into a shared NVivo project for analysis. Each dataset was 
classified based on the participants’ gender, data collection method (either FGD or interview), sector of 
work (agriculture, health, commerce, gender, etc.) and role (e.g. LIP role in ViM project).
To improve trustworthiness and rigor of findings, each transcription was analyzed by two researchers 
independently using context-driven coding based on the conceptual framework. Codes were established 
a priori based on the conceptual framework. During this process, codes were quantified to later provide 
opportunities to compare themes that emerged across gender, data collection type, and role (Creswell, 
2014). In addition, new codes were added when a new theme or pattern emerged. Once all 
transcriptions were analyzed and coded by two independent researchers, we compared analyses and re￾structured and merged our codes. We then repeated the analysis using the new set of codes. Following 
the second analysis, we compared findings to examine similarities and differences between the different 
classifications and sub-groups. 
LIMITATIONS
As is the case in a qualitative study, findings reflect the experiences of participants within a specific 
context. While this study can provide important insights about sustainability and resilience in the 
context of ViMPlus intervention areas, our primary focus is on Kaya during this phase of the research, 
because Kaya is the one commune that was included in the ViM project but not continued into the 
ViMPlus project, providing an opportunity to observe what was sustained after the project’s ViM’s exit.
Since this is a qualitative study with purposively selected respondents, results are not strictly 
generalizable to the population of Centre-Nord as a whole, but the circumstances are broadly 
comparable, and the insights gained are likely relevant.
Accessibility challenges also limited our study to some degree. We intended to collect data from 
communities in different parts of the commune, but there were some areas and specific individuals we 
were unable to reach. For example, we could not find a sufficient number of VVVs to hold the 
anticipated three VVV focus group discussions. We were able to conduct two VVV focus groups and 
two individual interviews VVVs who could not make it to either focus group. 
RESULTS
The data from the qualitative phase of this mixed methods study led to several important observations 
on the sustainability of activities and impacts, which will be further examined by the upcoming 
quantitative study of key indicators. First, we summarize the activities from each strategic objective (SO) 
and provide evidence of their apparent sustainability from the points of view of different participants, 
including program implementers, LIPs, service providers, and beneficiaries. We then employ the 
conceptual framework to examine how important the previously identified key factors associated with 
sustainability-capacities, resources, motivation, and linkages- were, and how they affected sustained 
results and activities. Next, we present an assessment of the shocks and stresses participants have faced 
since the conclusion of the project. We share participants’ reflections on how these have affected the 
persistence of the ViM project’s results and activities. Finally, we provide an overview of the exit 
processes and sustainability strategies, as articulated by participants.
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VIM PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND SUSTAINABILITY
We asked project implementers, LIPs, service providers, and beneficiaries what practices and activities 
were expected to continue past the conclusion of the project and, if they were expected to continue, 
how well they have been sustained approximately two years after the project ended. 
SO1: INCREASE AND DIVERSIFY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
To increase and diversify agricultural production (SO1), the ViM project worked with producer 
associations and established the service provider roles of producer leaders and VVVs. In addressing 
SO1, they also provided technical training to project beneficiaries working in other sectors, including 
MLAs, village care groups members, and SILC members. In Kaya, ATAD (Alliance Technique d’ 
Assistance au Développement) served as the LIP, and technical support was provided from SNV 
(Netherlands Development Organization) and INERA (Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches 
Agricoles, a public research agency of the Burkinabe government and one of four specialized institutes of 
the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique - CNRST) at different points of the 
project.
Technical trainings for Producer associations were designed and implemented by a combination of LIPs, 
international organizations, and the Burkinabe government, including ATAD, SNV, and INERA, to build 
producer capacities. These trainings were administered through practical activities including farmer field 
schools (FFS), demonstration plots, and farm exchange visits. In Producer associations, training topics 
focused on specific crops or livestock husbandry. More generally, beneficiaries gained technical trainings 
on sustainable agricultural and natural resource management (NRM) practices. Technical trainings 
focused on sustainable agricultural practices, like sowing and harvesting techniques, conservation 
practices, and NRM techniques, such as soil and water conservation techniques, production and planting 
of tree seedlings with high nutritional value, and trainings on construction of improved animal shelters. 
Beneficiaries learned how to produce and use certain inputs, such as fertilizer and compost, and where 
to purchase others, such as insecticides, as well as how to apply them safely.
Across focus groups, participants valued the technical training they received through ViM. Technical 
practices like sowing and harvesting that did not involve obtaining new resources were considered to 
improve the efficacy of their work were and were frequently mentioned as still being implemented. 
Producer group members, village care groups members, MLAs, and SILC members all discussed using 
demi-lunes and zai pits to prevent erosion to this day. Members of Producer associations noted their 
sustained use of composting techniques and making their own fertilizer, as explained by the following 
participant:
During the project we were taught how to make fertilizer and apply it. Indeed, it was 
beneficial to us. Today we continue to do the work: every seventh day we start making a 
new hole with fertilizer on the 14th day we turn and water the previous ones…this has 
helped us consistently produce fertilizer and we bring it to the field with us. 
The less sustainable practices necessitated resources, materials, or funds that were not always 
accessible. In a FG conducted in Bendengo, male producer group members explained how they had 
learned to construct stone bunds and saw the value in them, as illustrated by the following excerpt:
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In this region, there are no more trees. But when we made the stone bunds, we saw a 
difference between where we built them and those places that did not build them, because 
with the stone bunds our trees are growing. 
Despite seeing value in building stone bunds, after project ViM concluded, they have been limited by not 
having access to enough stones. Part of this issue was not having access to a truck to obtain the stones.
This issue also came up with sustained use of inputs. Whereas ViM had organized input fairs and 
coordinated subsidies to inputs, ViM’s departure ended these activities and benefits, ultimately resulting 
in decreased usage. Moreover, recent restrictions on gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic made 
it hard for the group to meet and work together and combine funds to accomplish these large projects. 
Producer associations
A central approach to address SO1 was working with agricultural Producer associations. The project 
worked with groups representing a range of crops and products including sorghum, cowpea, rice, 
commercial crops (tomatoes, onions, etc.), small ruminants, and poultry. At the onset of the project, 
PMOs and LIPs identified and evaluated existing Producer associations to select those that were dynamic 
and well-organized. Selected groups then engaged in participatory evaluations to determine their 
perceived needs. From there, ViM supported Producer associations through a range of trainings and 
activities described above responding to those needs and providing technical training.
In addition to technical trainings, ViM emphasized developing organizational capacity. LIP respondents 
described how ViM worked with Producer associations to update their systems, providing trainings in 
creating action plans and helping them improve internal organization and structure to meet criteria for 
legal recognition. LIPs referenced several efforts to help Producer associations become more official. For 
example, one PMO interviewee said that LIPs signed contracts with the Producer associations to ensure 
continued support. Yet there was disagreement in the producer leaders focus group, as portrayed in the 
following excerpt:
It would have been good if the ViM project designated other structures or people who could 
continue to support us after the project ended. In addition, we have seen that other 
structures have official documents certifying their existence and work… If the ViM project 
had helped us become an official cooperative and union…that would help us to work better 
and receive recognition. We know that these structures exist here. But (project ViM) left,
and we have no documents attesting to our existence. 
Producer leaders
Training activities related to SO1 and producer group support were expected to continue through the 
leadership of producer leaders, also referred to as endogenous producer trainers. During the project, 
producer leaders received technical training and best practices for conducting trainings with farmers.
Training practices included running FFSs, establishing and maintaining demonstration plots, coordinating 
exchange visits with other farmers, and conducting home visits to provide farmers with advice. They 
also worked with, and often were a part of, Producer associations that also received support from the 
ViM project.
From the viewpoint of most LIP and PMO respondents, producer leaders should be sustaining these 
activities as a way to continue to work through new challenges that arise for farmers, with support from 
the local implementing partners, such as ATAD. Although ATAD continues to provide counsel to 
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several of the service provider and beneficiary participants, their perspectives of these activities differed.
For them, the FFSs and demonstration plots were implemented by producer leaders during the ViM 
project to provide specific technical training. Now that the training is done, they believe there is no 
longer a need to continue implementing these activities. When probed whether the approach could still 
be used to train farmers on emergent producer challenges, one ATAD participant argued that yes, in 
theory this should work, but worried that without project or LIP support, it was unclear that the 
necessary leadership skills were there.
That said, several producer leaders reported that they continue to work with farmers and act as go￾betweens with technicians to bring information to farmers. Members of Producer associations and 
producer leaders from Koulougo and the surrounding area said that they continue to work as before, 
although they seem to have gained new support from new externa projects. Participants from this FG 
could not recall who was providing the new trainings in which beneficiaries were participating.
Village vaccinators (VVVs)
ViM established the role of VVVs in project areas. VVVs received training to administer poultry 
vaccinations and techniques to preserve livestock forage to provide these services and technical trainings 
to their communities. The project equipped them with materials necessary to carry out this work, 
including syringes, needles, and coolers to transport vaccines. They also received livestock feed seed and 
molds to conserve feed. These trainings and materials were supplied to help them establish their own 
businesses as vaccinators and livestock experts. During the project, VVVs thus began their work of 
administering vaccines and training farmers how to conserve livestock feed. From the start, VVVs 
charged for these services to cover their costs of inputs and travel and to generate some income. This 
model was meant to help sustain activities once the project concluded.
There were mixed responses pertaining to VVV’s sustained work. One VVV described how his clientele 
has grown from providing vaccinations in six villages during the ViM project to nineteen. Others said 
that they have continued working but raised several challenges that impede them from growing their 
businesses. Although their work included a remuneration process, once the project ViM ended, they 
were on their own to identify business opportunities and had no systematic support. Beyond input 
providers, VVVs could not identify any linkages that continue to provide support today. Rather, they 
received training and expected to work for themselves with their new capacities in their communities.
Participants felt they lacked institutional support that would help them better access resources and 
generate clientele. Some even felt a sense of abandonment post-project.
VVVs further noted challenges related to the materials needed for their work. As noted, project ViM
equipped them with syringes, needles, and coolers to transport vaccines. A number of participants 
described how these materials have since “become defective”. They also lacked some necessary 
resources, namely a refrigerator to preserve vaccines that they purchased.
SO2: INCREASE HOUSEHOLD INCOMES
SO2 focused on increasing household incomes by training producers in improved production practices, 
as described in SO1, and by improving market linkages and access to business development services.
While qualitative data could not collect information on gross margin for crops or value of purchased 
from smallholders, we explored how savings groups and village banks were continuing.
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Savings groups and village banks
To improve access to financial resources and credit and strengthen financial management skills among 
beneficiaries and particularly among women, ViM partnered with local financial institution network, 
called the Réseau des Caisses Populaires du Burkina Faso (RCPB) to set up Savings and Internal Lending 
Committees (SILC) and village banks (caisses villageoises). Each group had between 15-30 members that 
met weekly with one designated group leader from within the group. 
One objective of village banks was to support women starting or running micro or small enterprises 
who needed to borrow a larger amount of funds for their business activities. Throughout ViM the
project, LIPs worked with groups to strengthen members’ economic skills and opportunities by 
providing mentorship, advice, and ideas for business activities. These groups had a credit rate of 200,000 
or 100,000 FCFA to begin with, and members could take 75,000 to 100,000 FCFA to begin with. After 
that, if some women wanted to borrow a greater amount, they could advance to the second level, called 
ACA, wherein they could borrow up to 1,000,000 FCFA. Many women enrolled and participated in this 
program and established businesses such as vegetable cultivation, retail sales, etc. Finally, in addition to 
gaining competencies in money-management, these groups benefited from cross-sectoral activities. In 
each FG with SILC members, participants described how in addition to the SILC-specific activities, they
received a range of trainings, from health and sanitation practices, to building improved cookstoves, to
agricultural and forestry trainings, as described here:
…We didn’t have a perfect command of crops. But they came to show us ow to dig holes, 
to plant so that the fruits would be more abundant than before. 
Like other stakeholder types who participated in trainings, they also received inputs such as improved 
seeds and tree seedlings. In addition, beneficiaries received food rations distributed during the project.
Several participants noted that while loans are continuing, the group members do not work together 
anymore as they did during the ViM project; rather, everyone works by themselves. It is unclear exactly 
why groups have reduced their meetings, but constraints on mobility is one potential factor, as we will 
further describe in our section on the influence of shocks and stresses. Also, some of the activities have 
not continued, such as tree planting. However, digging zai pits is something that they learned during the 
project ViM, and they are continuing with that. In another focus group, participants explained that while 
they continued working as a group on agricultural production after the conclusion of the ViM Project, 
they stopped making financial contributions. It was unclear whether this was a contribution to the 
savings group fund or contributions to some collective agricultural production fund, but it is likely the 
former.
SO3: REDUCED CHRONIC MALNUTRITION AMONG CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEARS OF AGE AND 
PREGNANT AND LACTATING MOTHERS (PLW) 
ViM implemented several activities aimed at alleviating food insecurity and specifically to reduce chronic 
malnutrition among children under five and pregnant and lactating mothers (PLW). These activities 
sought to improve mother and child nutrition (MHCN) practices, the quality of health services, and 
hygiene and sanitation practices. During the project, they established village care groups and fostered 
leadership through the service provider role of Mother Leader Animators (MLAs). To bolster initiatives 
to construct and maintain public and household latrines and hand-washing stations, they also created 
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latrine committees. Each of these groups was expected to maintain several activities after the project 
ended.
Village care groups and MLAs
In ViM’s the first year of the ViM project, ViM staff launched initiatives to identify MLAs and helped to 
establish neighborhood groups, later known as village care groups to help implement activities related to 
SO3. Village care groups received training in topics related to healthcare, WASH, and nutrition. From 
each village care groups, one individual was appointed as an MLA. During ViM the project, MLAs from 
each committee came together and received specialized training in these topics. Then each MLA went 
back and trained their committee on the topic.
A central activity of village care groups committees was thus to attend meetings and trainings that their 
designated MLA provided for them and to producer associationss learnings on to others in their 
community. During the Activity project, committees held routine meetings and received education in 
WASH, childhood nutrition and healthcare, and issues surrounding women’s health, such as prenatal 
care. As part of these trainings, participants learned various skills, including how to make soap and 
improved cookstoves. In some instances, they supported activities surrounding building latrines and 
hand-washing stations which were managed and led by project ViM-supported WASH committees. In 
addition, members of village care groups committees benefited from cross-sectoral trainings in 
agriculture managed by local implementing partner, ATAD. Project ViM also engaged care group 
members in workshops on women’s rights and family relations, as expressed by the follow care group 
member:
We still practice what we learned about family relationships. For example, there must be 
agreement and understanding between the man and his wife. Men were told that thy must 
not attack their own wives because the home is meant for understanding.
Finally, committee members also supported MLAs in distributing rations during the project for pregnant 
and lactating women and for children between 6 and 24 months of age. Both MLAs and committee 
members also received rations for their households.
Generally, village care groups participants felt that the practices learned during ViM are ingrained in their 
everyday lives. Participants from both MLA and village care group FGs contended that this also extended 
to community members who they trained or provided advice to. Compared to stakeholders who 
depend on mobility to use the skills they gained during ViM, much of the WASH and nutrition 
competency revolved around the home and thus continued without as much interruption from external 
factors. Both MLAs and VHCN members also reported that they still help other people learn how to 
make soaps and improved cookstoves, and generally provide advice to interested community members. 
Some groups appear to be more active in their communities than others. Participants from village care 
groups in Dondollé described how they continue to conduct routine home visits with pregnant women 
and after they have given birth. This group also continues to provide trainings on vaccinating children. In 
Zhorkoum, committee members continue to provide information on child health and nutrition and 
administer vaccinations. In Koulougo, participants from a mixed-gender focus group discussed their 
sustained capacity to help households construct improved latrines but noted that they only do this work 
when the household has the resources to purchase needed materials. Quantitative data will help 
determine how often this occurs. 
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The data could not confirm how regularly committees continued to meet, although some respondents 
identified challenges that pointed to decreased group meetings. In each area, mobility was restricted due 
to heightened fear of terrorist attacks or the COVID-19 pandemic. In Koulougo, participants also noted 
that the mandates put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 put restrictions on the group size of 
gatherings, which also impacted their work.
As noted, MLAs were selected from within the village care groups. ViM provided them with training in 
health, nutrition, prenatal care, and sanitation that they then brought back to their committees. In 
addition to facilitating routine meetings with their designated village care groups committee, they met 
monthly with other MLAs in their commune and received ongoing training from the LIPs and other 
partners. During project ViM, they also conducted community trainings with their groups, home visits, 
and were linked with the local health clinics and community health agents (CHAs). Although the 
participants did not bring up specific relationships with CHAs, annual reports describe how MLAs were 
trained in screening, referral, and home visit follow-ups to assist CHAs responsibilities of covering 100% 
of their designated villages (Fiscal Year 2013 Annual Results Report: ACDI/VOCA – BURKINA FASO, 2013).
Like the village care groups committee members, MLA participants appraised the skills, competencies, 
and knowledge cultivated through ViM. But outside of continuing to use practices related to health, 
nutrition, and WASH, their implementation of activities appears to have diminished in some areas. MLA 
participants in Gounghin and Koulougo explained that when someone comes and asks to learn from 
them, they happily train the person from their home. However, they no longer conduct community 
trainings or attend regular MLA meetings. In Delga, MLAs asserted that they have continued to conduct 
sensitizations with women and to advise them on how to prevent, track, and manage child malnutrition, 
using the hand measurements and training books they received through ViM to take child measurements 
and recommending where necessary to visit the health clinic and feed them a nutrient-dense porridge.
Community health agents (CHAs) 
In annual, quarterly, and evaluation reports, community health agents were interchangeably called CHAs 
or ASBCs, and later CBHA’s. Here we refer to them as CHAs. During project ViM, CHAs received 
consistent training in growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) and community case management of 
diarrheal disease. They also worked with local health clinics and the staff therein. In addition, they 
engaged with MLAs, who helped them accomplish their objectives of conducting community screenings, 
referrals, and home visit follow-ups.
During the activity, ViM began providing a salary to CHAs while simultaneously engaging in a national￾level debate to integrate CHAs into government health systems. In January 2016, the Ministry of Health 
officially recognized CHAs and began paying the salary of 20,000CFA ($36) per month (FY 2017, P19).
Although further data is needed from the quantitative study, CHA FG participants asserted that since 
the project ViM ended, they are no longer receiving payment. At the same time, they mentioned 
receiving continued support through emergent organizations, so it is unclear what has changed since the 
project ended. This is an important finding to follow up with.
CROSS-CUTTING ACTIVITIES
Mass communication messaging
The ViM project coordinated mass communication messaging to raise awareness on a range of topics 
reflecting each strategic objective and the cross-cutting topics. Not only were these initiatives carried 
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IN KAYA, BURKINA FASO | 21
out through sensitizations carried out by the LIPs and trained service providers, but also through theater 
performances and radio programming.
Starting in the early years of the activity, ViM trained theater actors on targeted knowledge ranging from 
agricultural and WASH practices to gender relations. Theater troupes developed and presented plays 
based on the materials to sensitize communities in ViM project areas. Several interviewed LIPs 
referenced these performances, but all assumed that they were expected to end, and indeed did, once 
project ViM ended. None of the beneficiaries or service providers brought up these plays. 
ViM partnered with Farm Radio International (FRI) and local radio station Radio Manegda to implement 
radio programming that responded to community needs and interests. In an interview with a 
representative from FRI, we learned that the organization provided support by training radio station 
teams and LIPs to use their interactive and digital innovation services to design and produce radio 
programs and to solicit feedback from listeners. FRI provided training on radio production and radio 
equipment.
To develop content for radio programs, FRI conducted formative research to learn about community 
listening habits and to identify important themes. Project ViM also invited cross-sector experts to 
contribute to development of content, including gender consultants, agricultural extension agents, and 
representatives from the ministry of agriculture. FRI and LIPs also coordinated radio listening groups to 
solicit feedback from the community on programming. Radio programming content covered agriculture, 
health, and cross-cutting topics. Gender was a prominent topic, with programs focused on the role of 
rural women in household food security, women’s participation in governance, women’s access to land, 
and engaging men in childcare responsibilities.
FRI also supplied radio equipment which they helped to install and trained LIPs how to use. They also 
covered costs of production during the activity. This equipment was left at the radio stations after the 
project ViM. But while beneficiaries were trained to use this equipment, it is unclear the degree to 
which they have continued to produce radio programming, especially related to gender integration and 
women’s empowerment.
The FRI respondent contended that their organization continues to provide on-going consulting in radio 
production to participants from the ViM project, but further exploration is needed to determine who is 
benefiting from this. All other LIP respondents that mentioned the radio program activities believed that 
they had not continued. Additionally, none of the focus group participants referenced these activities.
Follow up with other stakeholders is needed to understand if radio programs and listening groups have 
continued since project ViM ended.
Literacy education
To enhance women’s capacities to participate in ViM activities, the project coordinated functional 
literacy trainings. One LIP respondent explained:
ViM activities worked not only to enable women’s participation but their empowerment. It is 
the same for the literacy activities, which aimed to reinforce their levels as often (functional 
literacy) was necessary to be able to take on the responsibilities of their roles with ViM.
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Another LIP representative further discussed how literacy education was often embedded in other 
training activities, such as trainings to make soaps or improved stoves. They also emphasized how 
increasing women’s literacy levels lent to enhanced autonomy.
The Dondollé FG comprised of VHCN members lauded the literacy initiatives, also recognizing how it 
expanded their capacity to conduct activities and improved communication skills. Revealing post-project 
impacts, participants also highlighted how the training enabled one community member to pursue her 
education in university, another to become a primary school teacher. While the impact of literacy 
education appears to continue, there was no evidence that the training itself has continued in any 
systematic way.
Impact on women’s empowerment and gender integration
Strong evidence for ViM’s impact on gender relationships and women’s empowerment post-project was 
difficult to secure during this qualitative phase. Most activities specifically related to this objective, such 
as sensitizations through radio programming and theatre performances, were assumed to have not 
continued by LIP respondents.
LIP respondents that worked specifically on this objective asserted that there were major advances in 
women’s empowerment thanks to ViM. One participant described how women were more often in 
leadership roles in mixed groups. As previously noted, literacy training was also seen as an essential 
contribution to improving women’s autonomy and capacity to conduct activities.
The work to strengthen women’s decision-making power had varied results. One LIP respondent told 
the story of a wife who received technical training to construct zai pit erosion protections in their field. 
At first, her husband would not let her construct zai pits in their field. But after multiple discussions: 
Ultimately, she asked to have a few square meters to test the techniques in the field, and 
her husband granted it. When she did, it surprised the husband so much that when the next 
season came, it was the husband who said that they should use zai in the whole field. 
Although this example shows positive results, the LIP respondent still felt that women’s lack of 
autonomy and decision-making power was a detriment to overall impact. They continued:
God only knows how many women have technical capacities, but they do not have the 
decision-making power in household operations. It is the man who decides how to conduct 
agricultural work. So, the woman knows, but she cannot decide. These external factors play 
a huge role in sustainability because if (a woman) comes to learn but is not allowed to 
apply, will she continue to go?
Others shared their observations of the impact of gender integration efforts. Although still discouraged 
that women do not enjoy the same rights as men, one partner from the Ministry of Agriculture 
described how since the ViM project if you go to the beneficiary agricultural plots, lowland fields, and 
markets, you see more women there than ever before, sometimes even exceeding the number of men. 
Another respondent observed a shift in self-esteem and how women carried themselves. Unfortunately, 
many LIP respondents still felt that women lacked decision-making power. Several partners pointed out 
that women’s lack of rights remains a central challenge to sustaining activities and impacts.
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In focus groups, MLAs consistently reported that their work earned them respect from community 
members, often citing it as a key motivation as illustrated by excerpts from two different MLA FGs: 
That is what helps us to continue, it is the respect that people have for us.
It is the positive appreciation from people that encourages us to continue our activities.
Endline indicators collected as part of quantitative data to evaluate the impact of these activities assessed 
changes in women’s decision-making, shifts in women’s opinions on whether it is justifiable for a man to 
hit his wife, and indications of respect gained through their roles as service providers (e.g. MLA’s work).
These indicators will be revisited during the quantitative phase of the study.
Environmental sustainability
ViM beneficiaries and service providers were trained to build cookstoves to reduce the amount of 
firewood needed for cooking and offered trees to plant, using “utilitarian” species to prevent erosion, 
regenerate soil structure, and provide an alternate source of key nutrients for household consumption.
As participants discussed these activities, it was clear how ViM integrated cross-cutting issues, such as 
environmental sustainability, to address other strategic objectives. That said, a major challenge related to 
tree-planting cited was the lack of water. SILC members from Dondolé discussed receiving moringa 
trees during project ViM but noted that they had not grown well over the years due to inadequate 
water and competition from noxious weeds.
HOW DID KEY FACTORS- CAPACITIES, MOTIVATION, RESOURCES, AND LINKAGES￾CONTRIBUTE TO SUSTAINABILITY?
During the project, participants felt they were consistently building capacities, reported multiple 
motivations, ready access to resources, and supportive linkages. In sustained activities and behaviors, 
these four factors remained present albeit weakened two years after the project ended. Where 
activities did not continue, one or more of these factors did not exist.
CAPACITIES
A clear focus of the ViM project was to strengthen capacities. The majority of program partners 
considered capacity-building to be the chief approach to sustainability, and over half of respondents 
referenced it as key to the exit strategy. Service providers and beneficiaries alike were provided training 
and practical opportunities to develop skills that they would be able to continue on their own once the 
project concluded. 
In FGs, all stakeholder types lauded the capacities they developed through their engagement with ViM.
MLAs and village care groups members felt that the knowledge they gained through ViM was invaluable 
for themselves, their households, and to help develop their communities. Producer associations likewise 
valued the training they received, which helped them develop both technical and organizational skills.
SILC group members also received training to manage their groups and to work with the financial 
institutions and village banks. All stakeholders were provided with cross-cutting trainings aimed at 
gender and the environment. 
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FG participants felt they gained essential knowledge that they have retained and continue to apply.
When asked what makes them think that capacities are sustained, one village care groups member 
observed:
If you walk into most women’s yards, it is clean. Some did not know how to make porridge 
to give a child to eat, but with the training on porridge preparation during the project, they 
continue to prepare this porridge for their kids. Even regarding vaccinations, today we 
continue to do vaccinations and weighing children. If you see a pregnant woman today, she 
is following the normal weighing procedures, and when they give birth, they have their 
children vaccinated. 
In a FG with members of Producer associations, one participant described how project ViM helped them 
learn improved agricultural practices and they were thereafter motivated to learn more and to teach 
others.
Although participants appreciated the capacities gained through their engagement with ViM, most 
described how the end of the project left them without a link for continued development. For the most 
part, MLAs and village care groups members felt they lacked continued linkages to the clinics or CHAs
they worked with during ViM, and thus had no source of new information. Importantly, the participants 
from groups citing continued opportunities for trainings also had new organizations implement projects 
in their areas. Otherwise, health sector service providers and beneficiaries cited the lack of new 
information as a primary challenge to continue their work. One MLA from Gounghin explained:
What is preventing the sustainability of our work? We no longer gain new knowledge, as we 
are no longer receiving training.
Most VVVs and producer group members said they lacked a channel for obtaining new relevant 
information that could help their work, with only one exception. Many participants expressed a feeling 
of abandonment, as expressed by one VVV:
The biggest change since the project left is there are no more trainings and follow-ups. We 
are left to ourselves to continue to carry out our tasks. So it is very difficult, but we continue 
according to what we had learned. We strive to continue to always be available when 
people need our services, but the work goes slowly as if it was going to end.
RESOURCES
Participants were asked where they gained access to materials and resources during and after ViM the 
project. In several cases, participants said that during the activity, materials and resources were given to 
them “by the project”. At different points of the activity, service providers received materials and 
toolkits to support their activities. VVV’s were provided vaccination equipment and materials to grow 
and conserve livestock feed. CHA’s were provided tools to take anthropometric measurements. MLA’s 
received supplies such as picture books and flip charts to help them conduct group health/nutrition 
sessions with their neighborhood groups. In lieu of financial remuneration, MLAs were also offered 
agricultural and livestock training and given goats or chickens to support their livelihoods. All service 
providers also referenced receiving some kind of clothing or outfit that helped to distinguish them in 
their role.
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Practically all service providers and beneficiaries received agricultural supplies, like improved seeds or 
tree seedlings. Producer associations received other agricultural tools including shovels and 
wheelbarrows and were provided materials for certain activities. For Producer associations engaged in 
ViM’s lowlands improvement project, the project provided the equipment to construct irrigated 
perimeters and install water catchment devices. SILC members also received toolkits to accompany the 
training they received during the project. 
When asked where they accessed resources since Project ViM ended, the majority of participants said 
they didn’t have a new source. This is well-reflected in an excerpt from a women’s focus group of 
producer leaders from Koutoula-Yarcé. After listing the materials needed for their work, the facilitator 
asked: 
Facilitator: During the project, did you have access to these resources? If you needed to 
replenish a resource, how would you do so?
Participant 1: It was the project. 
Participant 2: Yes, it was the project who came to Kaya and called us so that they could 
deliver the materials.
Facilitator: And since the end of the project, how do you access these materials?
Participant 3: Since the end of the project, we have not had any new materials to work, we 
don’t have the means to buy new materials for work.
This theme implicates an issue of simply handing out materials and resources during a project, which 
becomes an expectation. Across stakeholder types, participants felt they had limited sustained access to 
needed materials. Without what was seen as needed materials, service providers felt blocked from 
conducting trainings. This especially created a challenge to recruiting and training new community 
members or group members. For example, in a focus group with SILC beneficiaries, one participant 
described how they do not have new working manuals to give to new members. MLA’s described similar 
challenges, describing how they received picture books to support their work
Part of the perception of non-accessibility is that resources provided were seen as non-local or even as 
“white people” materials. This theme came out from agricultural activities to nutrition activities alike.
For example, MLAs explained that women who received food rations comprising a specific imported 
flour were skeptical about using a local substitute.
While some of the materials provided were likely brought in from outside the community, the ViM 
project did make efforts to promote local resources and to link service providers and beneficiaries to 
sources of materials. The input fairs implemented during the project aimed not only at introducing 
producers to different inputs, but also to connect producers with input providers. Upon further probing, 
it seemed that the problem wasn’t necessarily that the materials aren’t available, but that participants 
often lacked the financial resources to purchase materials on their own. This is an important nuance to 
explore further, as there are many possible contributing factors to this challenge. While it may be true 
that many beneficiaries and service providers don’t have the financial resources to purchase materials, it 
may also be true that the resource of interest isn’t considered a worthwhile expense at the household 
level – that the benefit isn’t recognized. 
For service providers, limited resources restricted implementation of certain activities. MLAs explained 
that without some form of remuneration or sustained linkages, they could not purchase materials to 
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conduct certain trainings like making soap or improved cookstoves. VVVs on the other hand were, in 
theory, remunerated for their work and could thus purchase basic materials such as vaccines. However, 
they lacked certain resources necessary in this context, namely a refrigerator in which to store vaccines 
that they must purchase as inputs. Having the resources to store vaccines is essential in this context 
because one vial of vaccine is good for about 200 chickens, but most clients have small flocks. Unless the 
VVV sets up multiple vaccinations during the time period right after they purchase the vaccine, they 
cannot make up for the costs of inputs.
As was the case with capacities, some village care groups participants did not share the challenge of 
access to resources post-project ViM as a result of their continued work through the support of a new 
organization/intervention. For example, members from a village care groups committee in Zorkhoum 
comprised of CHAs reported that after ViM left, a new project arrived, picking up on with the provision 
of training and materials, thus enabling them to continue to implement activities.
MOTIVATION
Recognition of the value of activities and practices learned under the ViM project was one of the most￾cited sources of motivation that cut across beneficiary and service provider types. Participants saw the 
benefits of activities for themselves and for community development more broadly and were motivated 
to share these benefits. This was particularly true for certain health, nutrition, and WASH activities and 
for agricultural production. MLAs and village care group members felt inspired and responsible to 
continue working to decrease child malnutrition and to educate their communities of the importance of 
vaccinations. Producer leaders and members of Producer associations felt that they had increased their 
production capacity due to their training and support from ViM.
Another principal motivating factor across participant type was knowledge and skills acquisition offered 
through ViM’s activities. This motivation was especially strong during project ViM, when they were 
regularly receiving trainings and participating in activities. After the project, stakeholders maintained 
motivation to continue to learn in their respective fields, but inadequate linkages restricted the degree 
to which most participants felt they had a source for new information. In the cases where new 
organizations had launched activities in their communities, participants portrayed their motivation to 
continue developing capacity. For example, in Zorkhoum, participants representing the areas’ village care 
groups have maintained their activities, benefitting from further training and support from a new 
organization. Unfortunately, most participants did not feel they had linkages to former or new sources 
of information or training.
When discussing their motivations, a producer group member from Bendengo exclaimed that even if 
they had to pay for the cost of travel themselves, they would gladly travel to receive further training.
This reflects how the motivation to strengthen capacity coincided with another frequently cited 
motivation: enjoyment or interest in the work itself. Service providers and beneficiaries from agricultural 
and health sectors emphasized how they were motivated by “an awakening of consciousness and 
knowledge”, to learn about things other than their normal work, and “for love” or “enjoyment” of the 
work. Several participants described how they felt proud doing this work and were motivated by the 
respect it helped to garner from their community. These motivations were sustained even two years 
after the project, although they did not necessarily translate into action.
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MLAs were motivated by community development and enjoyment/interest for the work, but their 
decreased activity level underscores how this is not motivation enough. Aside from VVVs, all service 
providers were expected to continue activities without remuneration, as volunteer work. While some 
respondents felt that the volunteer approach was good for sustainability, most LIP participants saw it as 
a flawed approach, as articulated by the following respondent:
To tell the truth, the biggest challenge was the volunteer expectations. People are no longer 
ready to sacrifice their time, their energies, and their resources for the community without, 
in return, benefiting from them either the beneficiaries, or in their own households, or from 
the development agent partners. This is one of the shortcomings that played a role in 
sustainability. While we were there, all were engaged, but after our departure some say ‘the 
supervisors are no longer here, why should I bother?’. 
LINKAGES
LIP respondents, service providers, and beneficiaries all felt that the ViM project did not effectively 
established vertical linkages to help activities continue. While MLAs and village care groups members 
worked with health agents from local clinics during the project, nearly all participants reported that 
these linkages had not continued and lamented the lack of stronger, or perhaps formal, connections. As 
previously noted, this affected their access to new information, training, and resources.
There were some contradictions when discussing linkages. LIPs discussed several activities implemented 
to establish vertical linkages between producers, Producer associations, VVVs, producer leaders and 
input providers and other support services. LIPs described the importance of input fairs, where 
producers were introduced to input providers to enhance their access to key resources once the 
project concluded. From the perspectives of producers, producer leaders, and VVVs, these input fairs 
do not seem to have built lasting relationships or linkages.
A few LIPs recognized the lack of attention to bolstering linkages to support service providers’ sustained 
activities. One LIP reflected on this as a challenge for MLAs:
The mother leaders there, there has not been an institutionalization allowing them to be 
integrated into the health system. Since then, mother leaders have not been recognized by 
health facilities as a resource that can support them to promote activities in health, 
nutrition, hygiene, and sanitation.
Another theme that emerged in the vein of linkages was participants’ feeling that the project had 
abandoned them, some naming broken promises. Producer group members from Delga said that ViM 
promised them a storage facility to store livestock feed that never came to fruition. MLAs from 
Koulougou said they never received promised animals and pots and dishes to make soaps. Producer 
leaders in Koutoula-Yarcé explained:
They promised to help us with fertilizer and with breeding cattle and how to work with them 
so that we can use the manure in our fields. But they could not do all of this before leaving, 
they just told us about it. Even the barrels and wheelbarrows that were promised, we did 
not get them. I know that if all these promises were kept today, we would have seen the 
benefits. 
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This feeling of abandonment and broken promises underscores participants’ feeling that they lacked a 
strong network and supportive linkages.
Although vertical linkages were not seen as well-established, project ViM appeared to have more 
successfully bolstered horizontal, or peer-to-peer linkages. Multiple participants pointed to increased 
social cohesion as a positive impact from the ViM project that carried over as a key motivator to sustain 
activities. In a focus group of MLAs from around Koulougo, one participant described how the ViM 
project helped to diminish the fear of talking to new people.
Before, if we saw strangers we would quickly go home. If a meeting was called, even some 
men would not go out. Now we are sitting and discussing together. Nowadays, when a 
meeting is called, the village chief himself will come. 
This point was further emphasized by participants in two different focus groups:
This work made us closer to older people. Before young women like myself would say, ‘I 
want to get closer to the mother [older, respected women in the village], but I am afraid of 
them’. Now we share the same fields and work in the same groups together. We laugh 
together. 
The project united us women. Coming together to work is itself a motivation for us. First, it is 
a motivation. Second, we are able to share our experiences together and we feel united 
together no matter what the circumstance. Third, it creates peace among us.
ViM’s specified target to empower women through different project activities led participants to feel 
“united as women”. As one MLA participant explained, “(ViM) created an understanding between us 
women, and life has become easier for us”. 
HOW HAVE SHOCKS AND STRESSES AFFECTED THE SUSTAINABILITY OF ACTIVITIES INCLUDING 
SERVICE PROVISION, SERVICE PARTICIPATION, AND BEHAVIOR CHANGES?
Since the 2018 conclusion of ViM in Kaya, the commune has been confronted by a number of shocks 
and stresses that could affect the sustainability of ViM implemented activities and impact. As part of this 
study’s resilience assessment, we asked participants what shocks and stresses they feel have affected 
their lives and their capacity to continue activities since the project ended in 2018. The predominant 
shocks revolved around the ongoing insecurity from terrorist activity in the area and the region 
generally. A prevailing strain is the surge of displaced persons, refugees coming in from other areas of 
Burkina Faso or the region generally to flee violence. Several participants described how the influx of 
IDPs has constrained resources in their areas. Participants lamented shortages of resources including 
food, water, limited spaces for their children in local schools, and limited cultivatable land. FG 
participants further described how the terrorism and influx of IDPs created a state of unrest and 
uncertainty, consistently wary of the potential need to pick up and leave as other IDPs had come to 
them, as illustrated by the following producer group member:
We are seated, but we do not know if we will need to depart. This is a constraint blocking 
the continuity of our activities because if you are not in your locality, there are no more 
activities. 
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These discussions also revealed how the insecurity and influx of IDPs has generated fear that further 
constrains their work and well-being. Participants described barriers to mobility which affects service 
providers’ and beneficiaries’ abilities to conduct or participate in certain activities. A notable change in 
activities across participant categories was the reduction in regular meetings. One LIP interviewee 
explained:
I think that the major challenge surrounds the question of security that has emerged with 
time and derailed almost all of the field activities…People cannot move around freely for 
activities that they want to implement, and the populations are being displaced, so it is truly 
a major problem. 
This notion was echoed by many participants in focus groups, especially in the effect on gathering in 
groups. In a FG of producer group members from Faughin, one participant elaborated:
The fact that we cannot meet together in groups disrupts all of our activities. Whether it is 
building stone bunds or making compost: these activities are group activities. Now with the 
insecurity, we cannot work in groups, so for example, if we need to move stones for the 
stone bunds, one person alone cannot pay for a truck…Now that we cannot gather 
together it is just you by yourself working for hours without getting anything done. 
The rising COVID-19 pandemic was another noted shock to mobility and holding group meetings.
Whereas shocks refer to external short-term deviations that negatively affect a populations’ well-being, 
stresses are the long-term trends that jeopardize stability (Zseleczky & Yosef, 2014). Climate change 
was the most cited stress affecting participants, especially as it affects agricultural production. In 
particular, participants referenced the persistent drought in their area. A few participants also expressed 
how the shocks and stresses of insecurity and climate change led to the stress of food insecurity. 
EXIT PROCESSES
ViM’s Sustinability Plan and Exit Strategy, as described in the ViM Final Evaluation Report (Final Evaluation 
of Victory Against Malnutrition (ViM) Project, Burkina Faso, 2018, p. 27), focused on generating sustained 
technical and managerial capacities and was implemented in the following three phases:
• Phase down: incremental decrease of programmatic support and provision of resources
• Phase over: transfer support duties to local and/or permanent institutions
• Phase out: conclude program interventions
To better understand exit processes, we asked LIP respondents to elaborate on the specific approaches 
used as part of the exit and sustainability strategies. The following themes emerged when discussing the 
exit strategy:
• Started the exit strategy at the beginning of the project
• Participants took control of activities prior to the end of the project
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• Used participatory approaches
• Received project extension
STARTING THE EXIT STRATEGY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PROJECT
About half of the 20 LIPs interviewed said that planning for the exit strategy began from the start of the 
project. One LIP extrapolated on this approach for the VHCN groups:
From the moment they were organized into VHCN groups, they received training in health and 
nutrition. As soon as the VHCNs were operational and had the necessary documents, we have oriented 
them towards a positive exit. Even in 2014, beneficiaries knew that in 2017 or 2018 the ViM project 
would end and that what is most important is to keep working to ensure the sustainability of the work 
we have done. And thus, we saw that even at the level of each household, individual beneficiaries took 
ownership of the process and started working without us. We only played a supervisory and technical 
support role until the project ended. 
Although all LIPs felt that starting the exit strategy from the beginning was important for sustainability, 
five interviewees felt that exit strategy activities started too late. Two respondents contended that it 
was not until the last year of the project that the exit strategy was elaborated and implemented. This 
was considered a crucial limitation of the exit strategy for these five respondents.
PARTICIPANTS TOOK CONTROL OF ACTIVITIES PRIOR TO THE END OF THE PROJECT
This previous excerpt further exemplifies the strategy of producer associationssing control and 
implementation of activities to the service providers and beneficiaries prior to concluding the project. In 
the first few years of the project, participants received education and practical trainings in their 
respective activities, facilitated by LIPs. In the last two years the project implementors stepped back, 
allowing the service providers to conduct the activities, providing support where needed. Additionally, 
local associations which were in charge of executing project activities on the ground during ViM project 
implementation, including the Producer associations were in charge of developing plans to continue 
implementing these activities and programs after ViM project’s closure. Participants were also facilitated 
in continuing project activities by government technical services. 
RECEIVED PROJECT EXTENSION
Originally, the ViM project was meant to conclude in 2016, but they received a two-year extension to 
continue through 2018. On one hand, this enabled project implementers to continue working with 
beneficiaries to enhance their capacity to take over once project ViM ended. However, the process of 
waiting to see if they received the extension was clouded in uncertainty for the ViM personnel, resulting 
in considerable staff turnover.
ESTABLISHED A DIVERSE TEAM OF PARTNERS TO PROVIDE SUPPORT
Each LIP respondent discussed the integrated team of partners that contributed to the ViM project. ViM 
was managed by the awardee, ACDI/VOCA, in partnership with Save the Children (SC) and the 
Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) and three Local Implementing Partners (LIPs, or 
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Partenaires locaux d’exécution du projet/PLEP). The LIPs ensured that ViM activities were bolstered with 
the necessary state, technical, managerial and on-the-ground expertise. This team supported the range 
of activities in the field and was comprised of actors from the state, local cooperatives, private 
companies, research institutes, and local and international NGOs. State actors included ministry level 
representatives and regional directorates. 
Local partnerships were established to ensure that activities maintained the necessary level of support 
to continue after the conclusion of the project. While the project awardee, ACDI/VOCA, and partners 
Save the Children and SNV would no longer be working in the area, these other local actors were 
expected to continue their support. LIP respondents and FGs with service providers and beneficiaries 
provided evidence that ATAD remained active in the project areas, providing on-going support. Five 
service provider FGs and two beneficiary FGs discussed how they remained in touch with ATAD agents.
The ATAD partners that we interviewed also discussed their continued presence in the field working 
with ViM beneficiaries. FRI also asserted that they continued to work with those that had received their 
radio training, but this seemed to be a general principle of the organization rather than a specific activity 
being conducted in Kaya. 
THE ROLE OF RESEARCH AND PARTICIPATORY EVALUATIONS
Just as ViM generated a diverse team LIPs, the program also included a number of participatory 
evaluations, both to determine program rollout and execution for regular monitoring and evaluation, 
and also to evaluate program impacts at program exit. For example, between September and October 
of 2018, project ViM conducted several participatory evaluation workshops with community actors such 
as municipal offices and local government officials. One example of this was the program’s evaluation 
workshops related to land tenure access, which were implemented to ensure that land tenure issues 
were accounted for in program rollout. When deficiencies were identified, they were addressed with 
implementing partners, especially to ensure that local governments continued to provide land tenure 
access and other programs instituted during ViM project’s implementation. Yearly participatory 
evaluations were also conducted with Producer associations, which were made up of ViM project 
beneficiaries participating in agricultural programs and activities. ViM program partners found that 
working through Producer associations and conducting yearly evaluations enabled ViM to prepare for 
the exit strategy starting early in the process. 
In contrast to successful implementation of many participatory evaluations, other evaluations did not 
occur, specifically for activities that were implemented shortly before project ViM’s closure; for 
example, threshing machines and other machinery related to lowlands improvement projects arrived 
shortly before project closure, and therefore, ViM planned for input providers to conduct trainings on 
machinery use with project beneficiaries, since project ViM staff would no longer be in the field. Due to 
the late implementation of this component, it was not possible to evaluate this activity. In terms of 
research, some research initiatives related to agricultural production were conducted by INERA and 
other partners, on subjects including local production systems and improved seed varieties. This 
research has had both direct and indirect effects on informing project implementation and post-project 
sustainability. 
APPROACHES TO SUSTAINABILITY
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Throughout interviews, LIPs identified approaches used to improve the sustainability of project impacts 
and activities. These included:
• Contracts and documentation
• Cross-cutting activities
• Markets and commercialization
• Working with previously established groups
• Participatory and community-level organizing
• Engaging government ministries
CONTRACTS AND DOCUMENTATION
One of these methods consisted of using documentation and contracts to ensure continued provision of 
services by ViM partners to project beneficiaries. For example, ViM signed contracts with Ministry of 
Women, National Solidarity, and Family/Ministry for Promotion of Women and Gender (MFSNF/MPFG) 
of the Burkinabe government to continue conducting trainings, plays, and radio campaigns to sensitize 
the public related to women’s rights and gender equality. Project ViM also signed contracts with the 
three LIPs to continue providing technical and material assistance as well as consulting, trainings, and 
supervision. The LIPs in turn signed contracts with Producer associations and individual service 
providers to preserve linkages between various project stakeholders, including local civil society 
organizations, individual beneficiaries, and the private sector. To continue supporting farmers with 
quality extension education, ViM ensured that contracts signed between ViM and the LIPs and between 
the LIPs and the Producer associations included provisions for creating demonstration plots for 
continuation of agricultural extension activities (including Farmer Field School / FFS trainings). Contracts 
were also signed between ViM and the DRAAH-CN regional office of the Ministry of Agriculture, 
stipulating that the government would continue providing technical and material services to project 
beneficiaries after the project conclusion. Contracts were also signed with village latrine construction 
foremen to continue following up on latrine service delivery after project closure. It was unclear from 
the data the specific content of these contracts.
CROSS-CUTTING ACTIVITIES
Cross-cutting activities were also envisaged by the ViM project team to ensure continued service 
delivery. Many participants noted how the focus on gender was key for sustainability. Women’s 
empowerment was woven throughout Project ViM’s activities. Project ViM worked to strengthen 
women’s autonomy by improving their access to information and resources through trainings and 
sensitizations and bolstering women’s participation in different committees. They also established 
leadership positions, such as MLAs, for women to cultivate health, nutrition and WASH skills and 
provide valued services tailored support to their peer communities. At the same time, ViM launched 
initiatives to engage all community members in discussions about women’s rights through radio 
programming and theater performances. MLAs were expected to continue providing these sensitization 
services after project closure, supported by the Burkina Faso Ministry of Women, National Solidarity, 
QUALITATIVE FINDINGS FROM THE FIRST PHASE OF A MIXED METHODS STUDY ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE VIM PROJECT 
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and Family/Ministry for Promotion of Women and Gender (MFSNF/MPFG) of the Burkinabe 
government.
Another cross-cutting area focused on integrated natural resources management (NRM) approaches, as 
environmental questions touched on multiple project interventions including animal husbandry, 
agriculture, and livelihoods. Environmental activities included farm-level soil and water conservation, 
production of organic compost, planting of trees that can be used as a food source to improve 
household nutrition (moringa), and making and using improved cookstoves that reduce wood charcoal 
usage and improve indoor air pollution. Soil and water conservation activities as well as compost 
production are being continued by the LIPs, working directly with Producer associations and individual 
farmers at the household level. ATAD mentioned the formation of CES/DRS groups focused on soil and 
water conservation and soil protection and restoration (conservation des eaux et des sols / défense et 
restauration des sols, CES/DRS). ATAD supports these groups by providing extension advice, trainings, 
and basic materials and tools for soil and water conservation activities. The MLAs are in charge of 
following up on the improved cookstoves program to make sure that stoves are working and being used 
properly.
MARKETS AND COMMERCIALIZATION
Project ViM’s exit strategy included a focus on market facilitation to enable semi-subsistence farmers to 
commercialize at least a portion of their produce more effectively in local and regional markets. Among 
these initiatives was the development of a market information system called SIMAGRI, but it is unclear 
to what extent this resource was taken up and used successfully by farmers to assist them in accessing 
markets. The lowlands and irrigated perimeter improvement programs were also related to market 
access, as these activities facilitated the development of rice and vegetable market gardening that would 
not have been possible without high quality lowland and irrigated plots. ViM project stakeholders 
reported that these activities have continued to be implemented by Producer associations throughout 
the two years since project closure. Other market facilitation activities included input fairs to introduce 
input providers to farmers and Producer associations, but these fairs have not continued after ViM’s
project closure. Interviews with LIPs revealed that the input fairs were not intended to continue after 
project closure, because they have already accomplished their purpose of helping providers and farmers 
to make contact with one another and network. SILC groups were also trained to assist farmers with 
obtaining the financial resources necessary to commercialize their produce, and these activities have 
continued. Additionally, access to credit and insurance through Ecobank Burkina SA, a ViM project 
partner, area also likely continuing, according to interviews with LIPs. 
WORKING WITH PREVIOUSLY ESTABLISHED GROUPS
The ViM project made an effort to work with organizations and service providers that already existed at 
the community level both before and during project implementation, including village vaccinators, 
Producer associations, and SILCs. Since many of these organizations were already in existence at project 
baseline, they were deemed to be satisfactory structures through which to ensure continuation of 
project activities after the ViM project team exited the region. Many of these groups were facilitated by 
the ViM project to improve their service delivery, access needed materials, recruit new members, find 
new partners in the NGO, private, and governmental sectors, and conduct group activities and meetings 
more frequently. In cases where such groups did not exist, ViM facilitated community-level organizing to 
create new groups, as discussed in further detail below. 
QUALITATIVE FINDINGS FROM THE FIRST PHASE OF A MIXED METHODS STUDY ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE VIM PROJECT 
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PARTICIPATORY AND COMMUNITY-LEVEL ORGANIZING 
A key part of the ViM project’s exit strategy involved enabling civil society organizations to organize and 
continue project activities in beneficiary communities beyond the conclusion of the project. These 
included Village Development Councils (VDC), Producer associations, village care groups, SILCs, lead 
farmer trainers, village poultry vaccinators (VVVs), mother leader animators (MLAs), and other village 
leaders. Interviews with stakeholders showed that these actors and committees were still somewhat
active two years after the conclusion of project ViM, with varying levels of activity. For example, focus 
group discussions on SILC groups revealed that although lending and savings are continuing in some 
areas, members have stopped making financial contributions in other communities. Additionally, some 
group members reported that the group continued with SILC activities but that group meetings were 
occurring less frequently. However, most focus group members agreed that they had learned valuable 
financial management principles from the SILC activities.
Interviews with VVVs revealed differing degrees of activity. For the most part, vaccinators continued 
providing vaccination services in communities they had provided services to during project ViM.
However, several VVVs mentioned issues with lack of access to necessary materials and lack of capacity 
to pay for services among farmers as hindrances to full provision of services as envisaged by the ViM 
project. Focus groups and interviews with producer association members revealed that at least some of 
these groups are still functioning and meeting regularly, although not all activities are being continued in 
all groups. For example, some Producer associations stated that the FFS programs were no longer 
needed because farmers had already learned and mastered the GAPs taught in the FFS modules during 
ViM program implementation. Others mentioned that demonstration plots were not being kept up 
anymore because of lack of available land. However, Producer associations continue to meet in some 
areas and to maintain linkages with input providers, LIPs, and government organizations such as INERA.
Producer associations participate particularly in CES/DRS activities, internal lending, compost 
production, and reproduction and use of improved seeds, among other activities. 
ENGAGING GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES 
Several government ministries were engaged to continue interfacing with project stakeholders, including 
LIPs, community organizations, and individual beneficiaries. These engagements were solidified through 
signing of contracts between ViM and various Burkinabe government ministries as described above.
Interviews with project ViM stakeholders, including representatives of government ministries, revealed 
that these linkages were chiefly envisaged as technical in nature, where government ministries provide 
technical support to civil society organizations made up of ViM project beneficiaries to enable them to 
continue applying the principles and techniques they learned during ViM implementation. For example, 
the DRAAH-CN, the Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Water Management of the Centre-Nord 
region, continued to visit farmers and follow up with them on implementation of GAPS that they had 
learned during the ViM project, including conservation agriculture activities as described above. The 
MFSNF/MPFG was also available as a resource to MLAs who were responsible for continuing to educate 
and sensitize the public regarding women’s rights and gender issues. Additionally, the INERA agricultural 
research institute has continued providing technical services to beneficiary farmers through knowledge 
transfer mechanisms.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
QUALITATIVE FINDINGS FROM THE FIRST PHASE OF A MIXED METHODS STUDY ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE VIM PROJECT 
IN KAYA, BURKINA FASO | 35
This qualitative research underscored the importance of ensuring that all four key factors – capacities, 
motivation, linkages, and resources- are sustained post-project. In addition, the influence that external 
factors such as terrorism, influx of IDPs, and climate change had on sustained activities underpins the 
need for purposeful resilience-building initiatives targeting context-specific shocks and stresses. Results 
from this study will inform the development of quantitative instruments for the next phase of the study.
Preliminary analysis of qualitative study data has led to the development of the following 
recommendations for increasing the post-project sustainability of ViM as well as related future projects.
INTEGRATE SERVICE PROVIDERS INTO PERMANENT SYSTEMS [LINKAGES]
Service providers and beneficiaries were not well-integrated into permanent systems, such as 
government institutions or local private companies, that could provide them needed support post￾project. Although MLAs worked with local health clinics and CHAs during the project, no formal 
linkages were established to ensure that the relationship continued after the project ended. This left 
MLAs, a well-trained crew of health change agents, without support and resources needed to continue 
their duties, resulting in a dramatic decrease in activities. In general, service providers/beneficiaries 
trained under ViM (or ViMPlus) could be an asset to strengthen the capacities of more 
permanent/formal systems if better integrated during the project. However, it should not be assumed 
this will happen without purposeful interventions during the project. 
Producer leaders and Producer associations also felt that they lacked needed formal connections or 
official recognition. Compared to other sectors, ATAD appears to be the most active LIP still working 
with ViM beneficiaries in Kaya. However, producer leaders and groups still felt they lacked sustained 
connections to the linkages and resources they were introduced to during ViM. 
RE-THINK THE VOLUNTEER APPROACH [MOTIVATION]
Aside from VVVs, all service providers were expected to continue activities without remuneration, as 
volunteer work. In lieu of financial remuneration as a motivation for MLAs, during the project MLAs 
were provided agricultural and livestock training and given goats or chickens to support their 
livelihoods. While this served as a motivation during project ViM, the conclusion of the activity also 
terminated these offerings. Further, this approach ignores the challenge of women’s time, access to 
resources, and mobility. Adding activities, such as rearing livestock, may be an excellent venture for 
women, but it means they must spend time on that activity, rather than the intended MLA activities.
That time spent also detracts from their available time to participate in monthly meetings with other 
MLAs (as was intended). FG participants contended that they wanted to spend time on the MLA 
activities, wishing they could be paid as if it were a job so that they could focus on it, purchase the 
necessary materials for trainings, and afford to travel to conduct activities. 
CONSIDERATIONS FOR WORKING WITH EXISTING GROUPS
ViM’s approach to working with agricultural producer associations was to identify already existent 
groups in the project area and then select those they determined most dynamic. LIP respondents 
asserted that by working with previously established groups, there was already buy-in from group 
members.
QUALITATIVE FINDINGS FROM THE FIRST PHASE OF A MIXED METHODS STUDY ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE VIM PROJECT 
IN KAYA, BURKINA FASO | 36
Although there are clear benefits to working with dynamic, pre-established groups, it is yet unclear 
whether this approach perpetuate processes of social exclusion, especially of the most vulnerable 
members of the population unless the activity works to increase membership and emphasizes the social 
role of the producer association during the project. Further information is needed to understand the 
evaluation process for selecting groups and to determine who therefore benefited from these activities.
CHALLENGES TO THE GROUP APPROACH
ViM channeled the majority of activities through groups. producer associations, village care groups, and 
SILC members alike received training, support, and materials by engaging in their respective groups.
There were advantages to working as a group as well, from building social cohesion to teaming up to 
complete a large project or combining funds to enable the purchase of inputs.
This approach was effective in many ways. Unfortunately, rising insecurity and restrictions on travel and 
gathering resulting from COVID-19 have curtailed many group activities. Recognizing that these barriers 
are not uncommon in ViMPlus areas catalyzes the need to generate alternate approaches. This may 
consist of supplementing group-level activities with interventions that can be successfully implemented at 
the individual level, as results show that activities practiced at home are more likely sustained.
IMPACT OF THE PROJECT EXTENSION
As noted, ViM received a two-year extension. While it is yet unclear how this impacted the overall 
sustainability of the project, this finding unearths a few big picture questions. On one hand, implementing 
partners say that it enabled them to strengthen the exit strategy. On the other, what does this say 
about the sustainability of the original project design? Are there strategies that could have enabled the 
project to achieve sustained impacts in the original timeframe? These questions posed, it is 
acknowledged and consider the parameters placed on the project design, as specified by the awarding 
agency, both at initial project proposal and when applying for an extension. What impact do the 
processes mandated by awarding agencies have on how resources, be they human, financial, or other, 
are allocated or reallocated at different times?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was made possible by our research team, led by and . We 
thank the team of enumerators including , , , 
, , and . We further acknowledge and the team at 
ACDI/VOCA-Burkina Faso in additional to and from ACDI/VOCA for 
their consistent support. 
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APPENDIX A: VIM PROJECT PARTNERS
The implementing organization and two main international partners were as follows: 
1. ACDI/VOCA (implementer)
2. Save the Children (SC) (partner)
3. Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) (partner)
There were also three Local Implementing Partners (LIPs, or Partenaires locaux d’exécution du 
projet/PLEP). The LIPs ensured that ViM activities were bolstered with the necessary state, technical, 
managerial and on-the-ground expertise, and were comprised of the following three organizations: 
1. Alliance for Development Assistance (Alliance technique d'assistance au développement, ATAD).
2. Action for the Promotion of Local Initiatives (Action pour la promotion des initiatives locales, APIL)
3. Zood Nooma Development Association (Assocation Zood Nooma pour le développement, AZND –
zood nooma means “it is good friendship” in the Mooré language).
Other program partners included the following associations and organizations: 
1. Burkina Faso Association of Wholesalers and Agro-Dealers (Association de grossistes et détaillants 
d'intrants agricoles du Burkina Faso, AGRODIA)
2. Burkina Faso Coalition for Women’s Rights (Coalition Burkinabé pour les Droits de la Femme, 
CBDF).
3. Caritas Burkina (Organisation catholique pour le développement économique et la solidarité, 
OCADES)
4. Burkina Faso Credit Unions Network (Réseau des caisses populaires du Burkina Faso, RCPB)
5. International Rural Radios Burkina Faso (Radios rurales internationales Burkina Faso, FRI)
6. UASID Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel – Enhanced Resilience (REGIS-ER)
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7. ARCADE Agency (Agence ARCADE)
8. Local Village Development Councils (Conseils villageois de développement, CVD)
This team supported the range of activities in the field and was comprised of actors from the state, local 
cooperatives, private companies, research institutes, and local and international NGOs. State actors 
included ministry level representatives and regional directorates, including the following: 
1. Burkina Faso Ministry of Animal and Fisheries Resources (Ministère des ressources animales et 
halieutiques, MRAH)
2. Burkina Faso Ministry of Health (Ministère de la santé, MoH)
3. Burkina Faso Ministry of Women, National Solidarity, and Family (Ministère de la femme, de la 
solidarité nationale et de la famille, MFSNF / also known as the Ministère de la promotion de la 
femme et du genre, MPFG) 
4. Regional Directorate of Environment, Green Economy, and Climate Change (Direction régionale 
de l’environnement, de l'économie verte et du changement climatique, DREEVCC)
5. Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Water Management of Centre-Nord (Direction régionale 
de l’agriculture et des aménagements hydrauliques du Centre Nord, DRAAH–CN).
6. Burkina Faso Institute of the Environment and of Agricultural Research (Institut de 
l’environnement et de recherches agricoles du Burkina Faso, INERA)