National Agricultural Livestock and Extension Programme (NALEP) : Study of the Implementation Process

Abstract: In 2007 Sida received a lot of criticism for not keeping track of the Swedish aid to countries in Africa. Aid has been sent to developing programmes which have been poorly evaluated and where there have been high risks of corruption. The aim of this study is to view the implementation of the National Agricultural and Livestock Extension Programme (NALEP), which is the largest development extension programme in the East African country Kenya. The purpose of NALEP is to decrease the poverty and increase the production in the focal areas of the country. It is also supposed to increase the influence the small scale farmers have in their own production. Sweden has been funding the programme since the start in June 2000 and has been the only external financial supporter during the whole process. The programme started off with a five years plan and was later extended another five years. This paper will view the entire implementation process of the programme as well as evaluate whether or not the programme has been successful. The results received by the evaluation have shown that the programme has had a positive effect on the agricultural sector. The programme has also been a relatively successful way to increase the small scale farmers’ influence in the local political decision making processes.