Mid-Term Performance Evaluation of the Sustainable and Thriving Environments for West Africa Regional Development (STEWARD III) Project

Sustainable and Thriving Environments for West Africa Regional Development (STEWARD III) is a forest conservation and sustainable livelihoods project implemented by the U.S. Forest Service’s International Program (USFS-IP). It works in transboundary priority zones in the Upper Guinean Forest ecosystem, occurring in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d’Ivoire. It is the third iteration of the STEWARD program. STEWARD I was characterized as a design phase, and STEWARD II as a pilot phase. STEWARD III is intended to be the implementation phase. Its goals are to:

• Conserve biodiversity and improve rural livelihoods in critical trans-boundary landscapes in the Upper Guinean Forest ecosystem;
• Produce harmonized policies and legal frameworks for natural resources management (NRM) in a regional context; and contribute to national strategic plans on climate change in the Mano River Union states; and 
• Promote resiliency in the face of climate change.

This mid-term evaluation has three objectives:

1. To review the progress made in achieving the STEWARD III objectives;
2. To identify critical mid-course program changes necessary to ensure sustainability of the program; and
3. To the extent possible within the constraints of time and budget, identify lessons for consideration in future programming.

Intended users include USAID/West Africa, USFS-IP as the implementing body, and the Implementing Partners of STEWARD.