Day #12-13 - Second field trip in Hoa Binh

This field trip gave us the opportunity to evaluate a recent training program that had been run by Bloom. Villagers were given theory and practical lessons in growing tomatoes, giving them skills that could be transferred to growing other vegetables. This would allow them to start growing crops with a higher return on investment than their traditional cassava and rice crops.

In the lead-up to the field trip we were given a basic framework for the evaluation, to help us plan for our interviews with participants.

The standard framework for project evaluation looks at the project's
1. relevance
2. effectiveness
3. efficiency
4. impact
5. sustainability

The evaluation also check on indicators, that should be defined at the project's inception. In this case, things such as the number of program participants, cash flows for participants, future plans of participants and types of crops now grown in the village are all key indicators.

The first stop on the field trip was a cassava plantation, where we saw first hand how difficult it is to harvest that crop. It's one of the few things that grow on hilly areas, so it's always farmed on steep ground. We had to climb for ten minutes, then pull the massive roots our with our hands. The roots that got stuck had to be dug out of the rocky ground.

It was fun to try but would be back-breaking work for the (mostly female) farmers who work the harvest, which lasts for a few weeks. After we carried our harvest down the hill we were invited to cook it up and sample it in a local house.

Cassava is quite bland, a bit like potato. It's used in food production, as well as being eaten boiled. It's also used to feed livestock. Most of the farmers here grow it to sell it - even though it sells for criminally low prices and barely makes them a profit once costs are covered.

After lunch we started interviewing the program participants. We heard about their lives, their difficulties growing enough rice on their land to feed their families and their hesitance to grow new types of crops. While the Bloom training program was very successful in many areas, a lot of follow up work still needs to happen.

After lunch we met a farmer who had received a microloan from Bloom last year, which was funded by the last UTS student visit. She'd used the money to buy pigs and was doing very well with breeding a selling piglets.

At night we were invited to the house of the Head of the Commune, one of the most important men in the village. His wife if head of the Women's Union in the village and works closely with Bloom. They introduced us to local music, singing for us and playing gong music. They also taught us a dance-game, where we had to dance through sticks that moved in time to the music. Is was great fun - once we found the beat.

We collected more information the next day via interviews. Then we had to say goodbye to the friends we'd made in the village.

Hoa Binh is a beautiful part of Vietnam and it was incredible to be taken there by Bloom, to be given access to village life and to be invited into so many people's homes, to hear their stories. The field trips really have been unforgettable.