Abstract:
Although, the twenty indicators developed by the Department of Agriculture to
measure the performance of home gardening activities based on the input use
efficiency and materialistic outcomes measure physical aspects of the home
gardens, they are not sufficient to measure the social impacts of home gardening
activities. This paper focuses to discuss the use of Transformational Development
Indicators (TDIs) to measure the social impacts of home gardening projects. Area
Development Program of World Vision Lanka has launched a project to develop the
area of Weeraketiya DS Division of Hambantota District and one of the component
was home gardening which implemented in 2003. Objective of this study is to
measure the social impacts of the home gardening project using TDIs. Information
on TDIs was collected by a questionnaire survey from a sample of 426 households
in Weeraketiya DS division. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and direct
observations were made in addition to the sample survey. TDIs were observed
under categories of child development, gender issues, family resilience and
transformation, community transformation and system transformation. All
indicators were measured in the five point scale from -2 to +2. The non-parametric
Wilcoxon Raked Sign Test was employed to analyze the data. Results revealed that
although many of the indicators of input use efficiency have not been significantly
improved in home gardens during Jast five years, the TDIs shows significant
improvements in the aspects of child development, gender related issues and family
resilience. It can be concluded that incorporating TDIs in conventional indicators of
performance measurement of home gardens and agricultural development programs,
invisible but important aspects of development such as social values can be
effectively captured to make a better picture.
