Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia, Economic Development, environment, Europe, Infrastructure, energy and climate change, regional policy, Research, rural development, social policy

Socio-Economic Analyses for two UNDP DPRK projects: Support Socio-economic Development of Rural Areas (SED) and Strengthening Ecosystem Resilience and Community Adaptive Capacity in Climate Affected River Basins (SERCARB)


Project description:

Since 2006, the economy of DPRK has been stagnant, resulting in a decline in nominal per capita income. The agriculture sector remains the main contributor to the national economy. The sector is also a major employer for the population. However, its contribution to the national income has declined from about 30% in the 2000s to some 21% in 2011. In order to find the ways to improve productivity of the agriculture sector, UNDP has started two new projects, Pilot Project to Support Socio-economic Development of Rural Areas in DPRK (SED); and Strengthening Ecosystem Resilience and Community Adaptive Capacity in Climate Affected River Basins in DPRK (SERCARB). These are the new generation projects as part of the Country Programme Document (2011-15).


Objectives of the Project:

The SED project aims to improve the living standard of people in rural areas in DPRK. The project is expected to benefit the rural population in pilot counties by promoting employment and income generation, improving household food security and strengthening rural production systems through the revitalization of county and village (ri) level small food and daily necessities factories, raw material bases for daily necessities factories/enterprises, as well as the human and social resources necessary for such development.
The SERCARB project seeks to address environmental sustainability in DPRK through a strong focus on the impact of climate change and the interplay between environmental degradation and extreme weather events. The project aims to minimize the negative impacts of climate change and environmental degradation on the livelihoods of local community and improve community capacity and awareness for environment protection, sustainable management and utilization of natural resources as well as disaster risk management and climate change adaptation.


Project Structure and Involvement of CASE:

SED has built into its inception phase a number of technical surveys and analyses: 1. Sub-sector analysis, 2. Occupation analysis, 3. Environmental impact analysis (of rural production systems and crop cultivation), and 4. Local enterprise assessment (focusing on product assessment, food value, initiating an industrial Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and innovation assessment of rural enterprises that are relevant to the project). Similarly, the Ecosystem Project (SERCARB) has several participatory mappings, surveys and analyses built into its inception stage.


These initial assessment and technical analyses will provide opportunity to review and revise applicable baseline data and indicators for the projects; and lay the foundation for project evaluation and learning.


Project specific objectives are to:
1.    provide up to date information on the socio-economic and climatic situation relevant to the project pilot areas in DPRK;
2.    identify the key drivers relevant to the theories of change informing the projects;
3.    through the implementation of identified analyses and surveys, provide data and statistics for project management.
CASE role in the Project is socio-economic and conceptual side of the survey design. The Team Leader is CASE associated independent expert. Team Leader intervenes at the level of the conceptual framework of the study as a home based assignment.
 

Project Output:

1.    Collecting and reviewing secondary data from all relevant documents providing contextual information and other statistical data relevant to the variables and indicators.
2.    Developing a clear methodology, data collection forms/checklists and work-plan.
3.    Designing and implementing the following exercises:
•    Sub-sector analysis providing a systems overview of agricultural micro-enterprise activity by looking at the movement of each product or service produced by such enterprises from input to output stage.
•    Occupation analysis, inter alia assessing occupational resources (natural, economic, human and social) and other factors relevant at project sites that influence occupational outcomes.
•    Environmental impact analysis (of rural production systems and crop cultivation)
•    Local enterprise assessment (focusing on product assessment, food value, initiating an industrial Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and innovation assessment of rural enterprises that are relevant to the project.
•    Multi-hazard mapping: integrating different area based hazard related information to convey a composite picture of natural hazards in varying magnitude, frequencies and effect. Gathering local knowledge of communities through participatory capacity and vulnerability assessment.
4.    Assisting in the establishment of and providing coordination and support services to technical review and (monitoring and evaluation) M&E advisory groups.
5.    Providing coordination and support services to technical meetings and conference.
6.    Preparing draft study reports.
7.    Compiling final study reports that incorporate all comments on the draft reports.
8.    Participating in and providing technical support to project steering and technical meetings.


Donor: UNDP

Partners: Global Development Research Group (GDRG, Poland)