The Cocoa component of the PACD Project under its Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) section is currently running its Household Profiling (HH) baseline survey to its more than 10, 000 farmer members and households registered under the project.

The exercise started on the 19th of August 2024 after the M&E team from the Project Management Unit (PMU) ran a Teacher of Trainer (TOT) to 18 participants last month at the Kairak Centre for Sustainable Rural Development in the Gazelle district, East New Britain.

The 18 supervisors are already deployed to the other 5 project sites provinces apart from East New Britain, in New Ireland, West New Britain, AROB, Madang, Morobe.

According to the PACD Cocoa PMU Monitoring, Evaluation and Survey Officer Raphael Tapin the PACD PMU has engaged more than 200 enumerators especially youths from the province project sites from their own farmer cluster groups, lead partners, associations and cooperatives to assist in the HH activity.

He said the 18 successful lead partners in the six provinces were tasked to select enumerators from their own localities such as youths especially those have completed their grade 10 and 12 and are looking for other opportunities or employment, to work with the lead partners and cluster groups to complete this important exercise.

“The enumerators in each province went through two days training with their respective supervisors to familiarise themselves with the application Kobo Toolbox in tablet or phones to do the HH baseline survey in the field”.

The project beneficiaries are mostly from rural marginalized areas such as the Inland and Lassul Baining areas, Gazelle district and part of the Sinivit and East Pomio LLG in the Pomio district of East New Britain, the Tabar Group of Islands in New Ireland Province, four constituencies on Buka Island, Tonsu, Tsitalato , Hagogohe, and Halia in AROB, the Karkar Island, Sumkar District of Madang province, three districts in Morobe Huon Gulf, Markham and Nawaeb Districts and Kandrian Glouster, Hoskins and Talasea Districts of West New Britain.

Mr Tapin added that the enumerators and field officers are going out into the field where the farmers are and collect real time data. The Kobo Toolbox data collection application can be used both online and offline. After the team collected the data into the Kobo Toolbox offline at the end of every day, they find network and upload data into Kobo toolbox Server where data is verified, cleaned and eventually synched into the PACD Project MIS System.

The PACD project is reporting using the MIS to all the stakeholders so whatever field activities will be captured in the MIS, they will upload this information into Kobo Toolbox than it will be uploaded into MIS for PMU Management to view. Even the project Lead Partner can see their implementation activities and progress out in the field undertaken by their Extension Officers.

Currently all the teams in the six provinces are in the field doing this activity. This is a very challenging exercise where some teams are walking long distances for hours climbing mountains, ridges and crossing rivers to reach farmers households and farms.

Other challenges like in East New Britain is the continuous fighting in some of the areas have affect the farmers in those areas for the team not visiting them in their farms and households.

This activity is expected to run till the end of October 2024 an important activity that will set the basis of foundation of the project.

With a focus on effective M&E of the project, effective data collection targeting immediate beneficiaries is paramount as the project initiatives aim to increase cocoa production and improve livelihoods and signifies a significant step towards enhancing agricultural sustainability and economics in PNG’s rural communities.