World Bank Assisted Intervention Development Projects on Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria: An Impact Evaluation of National FADAMA III in Enugu State.

Abstract: This evaluation research which deals with the World Bank-assisted intervention development programme known as Fadama III in Nigeria precisely sought to investigate how the National Fadama III Intervention Development Project impacted poverty alleviation of the residents of Enugu State that participated in the project in relation to their income level. The study made use of 168 benefiting households in the Fadama III project and 67 non-benefiting households that were randomly selected. The data used in the study were collected via a well-structured questionnaire that was analysed with the use of descriptive inferential statistical tools. The difference-in-difference estimator was also adopted in the comparison of changes that occurred in the outcome measures and the discoveries revealed among other things that 50% and 43.3 % of the respondents from both Fadama and non-Fadama participants are respectively within the age range of 51-70 years. It was also discovered that both the treatment and control groups respectively had 56% and 59% males, 97.3% and 97% married people and 41.7% and 50.7% secondary school graduates. The annual average income of most of the Fadama III participants (39.9%) increased to above N400,000 after their participation in the project as opposed to most of the participants (63.1%) income level of N1.00-N100,000 before the inception of the Fadama III programme. The study also noted that the increase in the income level of the participants may be attributed to their having an additional source of income, and recommended the initiation of more poverty alleviation projects and mass media promotion of it in order to encourage more youth participation in similar projects.