Assessment of the impact of the Fisheries Management Science Programme

Background

The central objective for DFID is that commissioned research results in significant positive impacts on the livelihoods of the poor in developing countries. In order to assist them in establishing the extent of impact of the FMSP, this project was developed to assess selected projects and provide evidence of impact. While efforts have been made to contact project leaders for further information on project impact, DFID and the Programme face difficulties in monitoring projects after their completion, especially where uptake and impact occur beyond those project and Programme partners with whom correspondence is maintained. Additional impact monitoring mechanisms, with additional funding that can identify the changes and establish the link are therefore required.

Approach

Fisheries management research, because much of it occurs at an enabling level, often requires uptake within intermediary organisations and that research products are in turn utilised effectively to bring about change. However, in order for intermediaries to utilise outputs there is often a requirement for additional resources or changes. This can make attribution of research impacts difficult as other mechanisms may have contributed to overall impact. In order to address this difficulty, a methodology was developed to examine changes along the pathway from research activities to developmental impact including:

1. Knowledge transfer: The extent of uptake of the research messages by the intermediary organisations.

2. Assets and livelihoods: The extent that capacity to manage, or in the case of the poor, access and manage, livelihoods assets increased.

3. Institutions and processes: The extent of effects upon policies, institutions and organisations.

4. Sustainability: An assessment of the sustainability of changes resulting from project activities and outputs.

Findings

The assessment, produced as a summary report, has shown that the Programme has generated significant amounts of new information. Projects commissioned under the FMSP are widely believed to have been scientifically rigorous and successful in producing new knowledge or in applying and testing existing knowledge and methodologies in new ways. This has led to uptake within intermediary organisations and to either increased benefits directly to those dependent upon the fisheries, including the poor, or to increased revenues to central government. Case studies and summaries of project clusters are provided that highlight some of these positive impacts.