Asia
I. Outline of the ProjectCountry: Republic of Indonesia
Project title: Project for Training of Agricultural Extension Officers on Improvement of Farm Management
Issue/Sector: Agriculture
Cooperation scheme: Technical cooperation project
Division in charge: Indonesia office
Period of Cooperation(R/D): October 29th, 2003
Implementation: January 5, 2004 - January 4, 2007
Partner Country's Implementing Organization: Agency of Agricultural Human Resources Development, Ministry of Agriculture(AAHRD)
Supporting Organization in Japan: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Related cooperation: Project for Improvement of Agricultural Extension and Training System ("PIAETS") , September 1, 1999
– March 31, 2002

1 Background of the Project
The Indonesian government had shifted its policy focus of the agricultural sector development from the increase of foodproduction to the improvement of farm income. Under the new policy environment, emphasis was put on "agribusiness andagribusiness system development" by which the farmers and other players concerned with the sector were encouraged topursue higher profitability through the increased production of high-value products and strengthening of efficient marketing
channels. To achieve this, the government had come to recognize that it was essential to improve the agricultural extension
services by enhancing the capacity of agricultural extension workers. The government, however, had not had an effective
training system for field extension workers, which led to a request to the Japanese government for a technical cooperation on
this development issue. The Project for Improvement of Agricultural Extension and Training System ("PIAETS") wasimplemented from September 1999 to March 2002 with an aim of developing a new training system for extension workers in thecountry. Through this project, the PIAETS training approach (method) was developed and piloted with a great success. The
project was completed on March 31, 2002 but the Indonesian government had requested the Japanese government to continue
support for a successor project through which the newly developed PIAETS training system was to be further improved andextended to other areas of the country. Under this context, the Project for Training of Agricultural Extension Officers onImprovement of Farm Management was initiated and has been implemented since January 5, 2004.

2 Project Overview
The project under review has been carried out with an aim of enhancing the training system for field extension workers involving
national training instituteions.

(1) Overall Goal
Farm management in selected districts is improved through the MP3* training.
*MP3 method: Renamed from "PIAETS method" after the Project started(2) Project Purpose
Field extension officers in selected districts acquire skills in extension methodology through the improved training program (MP3method).

(3) Outputsi) MP3 training program is improved in BDA-Kayuambonii) TOT (training of trainers) program is established in BDA-Kayuamboniii) The training program is applied to selected districts.

(4) Inputs
Japanese side:
Long-term Experts:

3 (2 in the 3rd year)

Short-term Experts:

2Trainees received:

7

Equipment:

12,492 million yen

Local cost:

25,342 million yen

Indonesian side:
Counterpart personnel:
Local cost:
Others:102,477 million IDR
Provision of project offices (Jakarta, Kayuambon), 4 wheel drive vehicle

II. Evaluation Team
Members of Evaluation Team
1) Leader:
Mr. Nobuhiko HANAZATO, Deputy Resident Representative, Indonesia Office, JICA
2) Evaluation Planning:
Mr. Makoto YAMANE, Assistant Resident Representative, Indonesia Office, JICA
3) Evaluation Analysis:
Mr. Atsushi SUZUKI, IC Net Co., Ltd.

Period of Evaluation
September 4 — 15, 2006

Type of Evaluation
Terminal

III. Results of Evaluation
1. Summary of evaluation results(1) Relevance
In Indonesia, agricultural extension services were largely provided in the past in a “top-down” manner with an aim of increasing
food production, notably rice. Policy focus was, however, shifted to high value agriculture. At the same time, the decentralization
reforms initiated in 1999, and most agricultural extension functions including staff recruitment, training and funding have been
devolved to district level. In this context, it was recognized essential to improve the capacity of agricultural extension agents at
district and village levels so that they could respond to the needs of farming community as well as other stakeholders.
Introduction of a participatory extension approach/methodology was regarded as an effective way to improve the national
agricultural extension system under a new policy context. The aim of the Project under review was to enhance the knowledge
and skills of field-level extension officers necessary for the demand-driven extension services that were in turn expected tocontribute to the improvement of farm management. Therefore, the implementation of the Project was in accordance with thedevelopment policy of the Indonesian government and was highly relevant to the local needs.
On the other hand, Japanese government has defined social development and poverty alleviation as one of the significant
development issues in the latest assistant policy for Indonesia. In line with this, a program for establishment of stable foodsupply system and increase of farm/fishery income has been identified. The project evaluated was designed as one of inputs
under this program; hence, it is considered that the consistency with the assistance policy of the Japanese government toward
Indonesia was high.
Through the above analysis, the Team has concluded that the relevance of the Project was "high".

(2) EffectivenessBased on the following analysis, the overall Effectiveness of the Project could be judged as "high".
1) Achievement level of the expected outputs
Output 1: Except the maintenance and use of computer-based database, all the indicators for the Output 1 are likely to beachieved within the project period.
Output 2: Since the Indonesian C/P staff has been able to conduct, monitor and evaluate TOT for BBDA/BDA's instructors bythemselves, the expected Output 2 can be regarded as having been achieved completely as a result of project activities.
Output 3: While it is still difficult at this stage to assess the level of understanding of the participants concerning the MP3
methodology, as far as assessed based on available information obtained by the Evaluation Team in the field study, the level ofachievement of the Output 3 will be possibly high.
2) Achievement level of the Project Purpose
Since the MP3 has been applied in 7 districts, the target set at the beginning of the Project has been achieved. Out of 7 districts,
the post-evaluation information was colleted only from 2 districts. Consequently, it is still difficult to conclude the level ofachievement regarding the Project Purpose; however, it appears to be very high as far as assessed based on available
information and interviews conducted by the Team. The contribution of outputs realized as a result of the Project was also
observed high, which means theoretical logic between Outputs level and Project Purpose level was generally good.
(3) Efficiency
Based on the following analysis, the Team has concluded the Efficiency of the Project has been moderate to high.
According to the results of the evaluation questionnaire and interviews with project personnel, it appears that inputs have been
appropriately provided by the Japanese side and utilized efficiently to carry out the project activities. Although the number oflong-term experts was reduced from 3 to 2 in the third year, planned activities have been properly conducted that have brought
about the successful results.
The Team has learned that disbursement of operational funds for the Project from the Indonesian side was sometimes delayedparticularly in the first year, which had affected the progress of the Project to some extent. It was inevitable since there was agap of timing between the budgetary request and the R/D signing. And also, there was a change in the government budgetarysystem in 2004. However, after the Project had commenced, the C/Ps made efforts to secure budget and the amount released
has remarkably increased from the second year, which contributed to the efficient implementation of the project activities. The
preparatory work between Indonesia and Japanese side to detail the activities and budget plan before the commencement of
the Project would have improved the first year operation.
While it is difficult to accurately assess the cost-effectiveness of the Project in monetary terms, looking at the fact that theProject has managed to cover 7 districts within a period of three years with relatively small inputs, it is considered that the costeffectiveness of the Project has been reasonably high.
(4) Impact
It is apparent that the Project has brought or will bring about a number of expected and unexpected positive impacts on thenational training system for extension agents as well as extension services delivered by the public extension system. According
to the interviews made with instructors, it was confirmed that the acceptance of the methodology by each center has been quite
high and its internalization as one of ordinary training courses has been in progress. The results of the evaluation questionnairealso supported the assessment result that overall impact of the Project may be generally high.
On the other hand, it was difficult in this study to assess as to what to extent the Project has brought or will bring about impact
on the Overall Goal. This is due to the following reasons:
There is a logical gap between the Overall Goal and the Project Purpose in the PDM
There are still a number of external factors (assumptions) that must be satisfied before realizing the Overall Goal although all
the factors had not necessarily been addressed in the PDM
Any comprehensive study to objectively measure the level of impact on the Overall Goal has not been conducted since thecommencement of the Project.
Based on the above analysis, it was concluded that the Impact of the Project could be "moderate".

(5) Sustainability
The Team has concluded that overall Sustainability of the Project outcome would be high from the following observations.
Technical and organizational sustainability: Through the Project, instructors at 7 national training centers under the AAHRD will
be able to acquire adequate knowledge and skills in conducting MP3 trainings for extension officers. According to anecdotal
information obtained by the Team, the technical as well as organizational sustainability of the MP3 methodology appears very
high since most instructors have already been able to conduct the MP3 training for extension officers without much assistancefrom master instructors or Japanese experts.
Financial sustainability: It is observed that the sustainability of MP3 from next year will largely depend on the fund availability forthe training. After the Project terminates, the BBDA/BDAs and districts need to secure the budget for the training expense. In
regard to this issue, the Team has learned that AAHRD headquarters had already instructed each BBDA/BDA to secure thebudget to run at least one MP3 training in the year 2007. It is reported that all the BBDA/BDAs are willing to continue it. It can beconcluded that securing the budget will lead to the further expansion of the MP3 target areas in the future.

2. Factors promoting sustainability and impact
Several factors were recognized to have contributed to the smooth implementation of the project. They included:1) Indonesian counterparts and Japanese experts have made substantial efforts to increase communication through regularmeetings and solve various problems concerning the project activities as quickly as possible;
2) The same officers who had worked for the previous project were assigned as the counterparts to the current Project, which
has ensured the continuity of the activities;3) The Indonesian counterparts (instructors) have had high ability to understand the MP3 and apply to their training;
4) Japanese experts had high level of communication skills using local language.

3. Factors inhibiting sustainability and impact
On the other hand, it was observed that the following factors had negatively affected the project implementation:
1) There was a logical gap between the Overall Goal and the Project Purpose in the project design, which has led to confusion
among project members over the concept of the Project, that is, whether the Project tries to institutionalize the MP3 training
system, or to improve farm management though the improvement of extension activities using the MP3.
2) Lack of communication among project members and inadequate allocation of local costs by Indonesian government wereobserved particularly in the first year of the project. Two project offices were set up in Jakarta and Kayuambon, which caused
difficulty in frequent communication among project members.

4. Conclusion
Based on findings and analysis made in the study, the Team has concluded that the project activities have been successfully
carried out under the close collaboration between Japanese experts and Indonesian C/Ps. All the Outputs and Project Purpose
are expected to be achieved by the end of the Project on 4th January, 2007. In this regard, the Project could be regarded ashaving been "successful". Contributing factors to the smooth implementation of the Project included: high commitment of both ofJapanese experts and Indonesian C/Ps towards the realization of the project purpose, good relationship between them, andhigh competency of C/Ps and instructors of training centers.
On the other hand, a theoretical gap between the Overall Goal and Project Purpose in the project design was recognized. Inorder to make the Indonesian agricultural extension services to be beneficial for the farming community and achieve the OverallGoal, a lot of efforts are still required though it is considered beyond the scope of the current project. It is, therefore, expectedthat efforts be continued to improve the farm management based on valuable experience and lessons learned from the Project.

5. Recommendations
The Team has recommended the following measures to be taken before the termination of the Project:
1) Follow-up workshop: The Project is planning to organize a follow-up workshop in October for the BBDA/BDAs’ instructors
who have conducted MP3 training in the respective areas. A number of instructors who did not attend the TOT need to beinvolved in the follow-up workshop.
2) Socialization of the MP3: To further expand the MP3 target areas and increase the number of extension officers trained, it is
crucial for local governments (districts) to be aware of the benefits of the methodology since the training expense is shared
between the national and local governments. Therefore, it is important for the BATD as well as BBDA/BDAs to continue thesocialization activities targeting district authorities.

3) Mid-term action plan: To ensure the sustainability of the expansion beyond year 2007, it is recommended that the Project
formulate a mid-term action plan to cover the next few yeas, in which actions and schedule to undertake socialization, trainingand evaluation is described. Collaboration with other related projects also needs to be considered in the plan.

6. Follow-up situation
In regard to the measures that need to be taken after the termination of the Project in January 2007, the Team has
recommended the following issues:
1) Securing budget
2) Post-training evaluation
3) Impact assessment
4) Use of database5) Use of equipment
6) Collaboration within the AAHRD
7) Incorporation of the Project outcome into other projects8) Exchange of experience with other countries