MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Implementing entity

On January 8, 2007 the Millennium Challenge Account - Armenia (MCA-Armenia) and the RA
National Statistical Service (NSS) signed an Implementing Entity Agreement. By this Agreement the
National Statistical Service-conducted annual Integrated Survey of Living Standards (ISLS) will be used to assist MCA-Armenia with monitoring and evaluation of the Program, in particular to measure the impact of the MCA-Armenia program on the rural poverty. The agreement stipulates that MCA-Armenia and the NSS will be co-funding the ISLS and will expand the sample size to 7872 households as compared to 5184 in 2006. MCA-Armenia will support the ISLS in 2007 and in subsequent years, for a period of up to 5 years. Annually MCA-Armenia will commit up to 327,700 USD to NSS to pay for the salaries of the non-permanent staff involved in ISLS implementation. MCA-Armenia has also committed 68, 000 USD to purchase equipment for NSS, which is required for the survey implementation and collection of credible data. NSS, respectively, commits to fund such other costs as household allowances, business trips and communication as well as other ISLS related expenses.
As a condition precedent for the MCA-Armenia Compact it is required that the 2007 State Budget funding level for the ISLS be equal to that of 2006 so as MCC funding does not result in reductions in the

ISLS State Budget.

According to the Implementing Entity Agreement between MCA-Armenia and NSS, the parties agree that:
The 2007 ISLS sample shall be at least (i) twice that used for rural communities in 2004, (ii) equal to that used for urban areas in 2004, and (iii) equal to that used for Yerevan in 2006 (unless expanded by separate funding), and shall be updated for both urban and rural areas to reflect changes in the housing stock from the last Census;
The structure of the ISLS Survey shall be that of the 2004 survey fielded with assistance from the
World Bank, including all modules but updated to reflect 2006 items to account for improvements in survey design. MCC, MCA-Armenia, and their designated consultants in consultation with
NSS will include additional questions in the structure of ISLS to better measure program impact.
The baseline for the impact evaluations shall be prior household surveys conducted by the NSS, as well as the expanded 2007 ISLS.

MCA-Armenia will be tracking progress on the following indicators through ISLS:

(i) Poverty rate in rural areas;
(ii) Perceived poverty rate in rural areas;
(iii) Change in real income from agriculture in rural areas;
(iv) Change in non-farm income in rural areas;
(v) Satisfaction with public transportation in rural areas;
(vi) Share of respondents satisfied with irrigation services.

The Agreement also sets data sharing/data release requirements in accordance to which ISLS generated data should be provided to MCA-Armenia/MCC and their designated consultants for analyses and utilization in impact evaluation.
For the details of the activities to be undertaken under this agreement see the attached Annex II of the Agreement, which contains the Scope of Work.

Scope of Work