Achievements
As a learning organisation, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation critically assesses the impact of its endeavours and strives to make sustainable changes.
Impact assessment
Transparency and progress
Helvetas wants to know exactly what impact its development projects have. This enables us to learn from success or failure, plan projects better and steer them in the right direction. Lastly, impact assessment serves to show accountability towards donors and project partners.
Learning from Evaluation
HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation is a learning organisation. Staff and partners are encouraged to learn from their daily experience in development cooperation in different ways, e.g. by reflecting periodically on what went well, what could have gone better, and what implications this has on future work. Also, scheduled evaluation exercises can provide space for learning. In a learning organisation, individual/collective reflection and learning lead to improved ways of working, achieving goals and innovation.
Impact study on organic and Fairtrade cotton in Burkina Faso
Impact Studies
Helvetas and its partners have been supporting an organic and Fairtrade cotton production programme in Burkina Faso coordinated by the Union Nationale des Producteurs de Coton du Burkina (UNPCB – National Union of Cotton Producers of Burkina Faso) since 2004. A field study by the University of Berne assessed the impact of the programme on the socio-economic conditions of men and women producers. The study shows that organic and Fairtrade production enable the producers to increase their income and at the same time to improve soil fertility, human health and food security. As production costs are lower, there is less risk of producers running into debt than with conventional cotton production.