Tree Aid: Empowering Communities Through Forest Management in Burkina Faso
Causal Map partnered with Tree Aid to evaluate their Local Governance of Forest Resources (WEOOG PAANI) project in Burkina Faso. Using innovative methods, we assessed the project's impact on forest governance, household and food consumption amongst project beneficiaries in two communes.
Causal Map partnered with Tree Aid to evaluate their Local Governance of Forest Resources (WEOOG PAANI) project in Burkina Faso. We used causal mapping to asses the project’s impact on forest governance, household and food consumption amongst project beneficiaries in two communes.
The study focused on answering research questions, such as:
What’s the difference of impact pathways between the two different implementation communes?
What are the differences in narrative between the different types of interview?
What’s the impact of the intervention on women’s lives?
Are there any unexpected outcomes?
Why is the project directly related to increased crop yield?
The study revealed how integrating forest management with economic empowerment and sustainable agricultural practices, has contributed to community-driven environmental conservation. And it also demonstrated how combining qualitative research with analysis tools (Causal Map app) can provide insights into community development projects.
This map summarises the project's multiple impacts and their relationships, showing how it influenced outcomes like forest protection, agricultural practices, and income generation; providing an overview of the BB6 project's effectiveness in community development and forest management.
Background
Between February and August 2024, Causal Map has worked with Tree Aid to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of their BB6 project in Burkina Faso, focusing on 2 communes (Toécé and Gomponsom). The study used the Qualitative Impact Protocol (QuIP) to assess the project's impact on local communities, particularly in areas of forest governance, income generation, food consumption and household dynamics and Causal Map to analyse and visualise the results.
Causal Map's role
Causal Map provided extensive support throughout the evaluation process:
Training
To be able to conduct quality QuIP interviews, training sessions were held with the evaluation team:
QuIP Lead Evaluator: the main researchers participated in the training held by BSDR to learn how to design and manage a QuIP study.
Causal Mapping Training: A 2-day immersive training in Bristol focused on understanding causal mapping, developing interviewing skills, and preparing research deliverables.
Field researchers training: Causal Map prepared the training script. Tree Aid staff who completed the first two trainings then trained the field research team in Burkina Faso, applying concepts and techniques from the previous sessions.
Causal Map app training: After data analysis, Causal Map introduced Tree Aid analysts to use the Causal Map app, enabling deeper dives into the data.
Research Design and Data collection
We helped the Tree Aid team to develop the research design, including the research questions and the interview guides.
During the data collection phase, we provided ongoing support and feedback to the Field Researchers team. This ensured:
Consistency in interview techniques
Adherence to QuIP methodology
Quality and depth of collected data
Timely addressing of any challenges encountered in the field
Analysis
The evaluation employed the QuIP methodology, which involved:
31 interviews, including household interviews, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews
Causal mapping analysis using AI-assisted coding in the Causal Map App
Examination of outcomes across four domains: food consumption, income, forest management, and household dynamics
Key Findings
Using the Causal Map app we were able to find 1288 causal claims (links) made by the respondents and we also autocoded the sentiment of each link in order to show which contributions were "positive" (blue lines) and which were "negative" (red lines).
Through the different filters in the app, many maps and tables were created to support the quantitative data collected by Tree Aid, including:
Comparing maps by commune
Splitting and comparing data by type of interview and domain
Focusing on specific themes, such as ‘Impact on women’s lives’
Unpacking unexpected outcomes and answering research questions, i.e. ‘Why BB6 project is directly related to increased crop yield?’
The evidence strongly suggests that Tree Aid BB6 project has demonstrated significant positive impacts on the communities in Toécé and Gomponsom. By integrating forest management with economic empowerment and sustainable agricultural practices, the project has created a model for community-driven environmental conservation. The strengthened local governance structures and improved household dynamics suggest that these positive changes may be sustainable in the long term.
Using the “soft recoding” feature in the Causal Map app allowed us to create maps showing different perspectives of stakeholders' stories. This innovative approach enabled us to compare narratives against the project’s Theory of Change and verify the project's impacts across various domains.
Alexandra Priebe from the World Food Programme, interviewing Ashley Hollister and Sarang Mangi from the DeftEdge on their experience on using QuIP and Causal Map in their evaluation.
