Since the early 2000s, the FXBVillage Poverty Reduction Model has been regularly evaluated. A real impact on the economic, health and social status of children and adults has been demonstrated:
- In 2024, an external evaluation by an independent Burundian firm was carried out 21 months after the close of the VillageFXB project. Despite a difficult context marked by inflation and flooding, the vast majority of gains have been maintained, as the figures show: 92% of households have kept an income-generating activity and continue to save within AVEC, 97% have maintained their vegetable gardens, and 79% remain affiliated to a mutual health insurance scheme. While some indicators - such as the number of daily meals and income - have been affected by economic and climatic shocks, access to healthcare, child immunization and vocational training are showing sustainable progress.
- In 2024, Yever conducted an external and independent evaluation of the FXBVillage program in Mon State (Myanmar). Carried out at the close of cohort 2 (2021-2024) and four years after the end of cohort 1 (2017-2020), it highlights sustainable results despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the coup d'état of 2021. Key findings: an average income increase of 75% for cohort 1 and 69% for cohort 2, driven by income-generating activities; improved dietary practices (+22% daily meal frequency, +33% dietary diversity); significantly improved access to healthcare; and substantial progress in living conditions and hygiene thanks to the installation or rehabilitation of latrines and water points. Based on field visits and surveys of 81 households, the evaluation concluded that the program was highly relevant and effective in a crisis environment, and that budgets were used efficiently.
- A partnership with the City of Paris, underway since 2006, has enabled FXB to lead over 900 families (nearly 5,500 people) to economic and social autonomy in Kigali, Rwanda. An external evaluation, carried out by Le Group'-Consultants Mutualisés Experts du Secteur Solidaire in 2019, revealed, among other things, that among these families - some of whom had already graduated from the program 10 years earlier - 81% had maintained the cultivation of a vegetable garden, intended primarily for self-consumption, beyond the duration of the project. All the homes visited showed a particular effort to adopt appropriate hygiene and environmental protection practices. 81% of parents reported a high level of satisfaction with the support received for their children's education. Former participants expressed a very high level of satisfaction with the support received for their economic development.
- In 2018, an independent Burundian consultant conducted a retrospective evaluation of 8 VillageFXB programs run in Burundi between 2006 and 2017. The 800 beneficiary households were divided into three analysis groups, according to the time elapsed between the evaluation period and the end of the households' participation in the programs. The evaluation, carried out between 1 and 12 years after the end of the programs, showed that 74% of households could easily find food on a regular basis, 83% of households had access to an improved sanitation facility, between 44 and 56% of households were saving on a regular basis, and average monthly incomes were higher than the regional average.
- In 2016, a VillageFXB program in Villupuram, India, was evaluated by an independent researcher one year after the end of its implementation. The aim was to measure the sustainability of impacts. All women beneficiaries were still involved in collective income-generating activities (IGAs), with varying levels of profit. The most profitable IGA was the hemp rope-making unit. In terms of sanitation, the most significant change concerns access to improved latrines. Beneficiaries also confirmed a better knowledge of diseases and prevention tools. Finally, FXB has increased pupils' and students' desire to learn, and motivated disadvantaged families living in rural areas to support their children's higher education.
- In 2015, using baseline data, semi-annual and annual evaluations, as well as the final results of the VillageFXB poverty reduction model evaluation methodology, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard analyzed changes in the status of beneficiary families before and after their participation in the programs. This analysis was carried out by comparing them to a sample of families drawn from national Demographic Health Surveys. The study is based on data from 20 programs implemented between 2009 and 2012 in Rwanda and Uganda, representing over 1,500 households.the results show that VillageFXB programs led to significant improvements in economic security, health and nutrition, access to water, sanitation and hygiene, psychosocial well-being, as well as children's school participation.
- In 2014, an external evaluation of a VillageFXB program in Uganda, carried out by the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative, revealed that former beneficiaries were significantly less affected by multidimensional poverty than their peers, even three years after the end of the program. The greatest improvements were in housing and land ownership, savings, access to child immunization, dietary diversity and access to improved water sources.
- Between January 2012 and January 2014, three successive external evaluations, conducted by an independent Burundian evaluator, were carried out to measure the sustainability of the results of the VillageFXB program in Nyakabiga, Burundi, one, two and three years after its conclusion. The results of these evaluations show that 98.2% of children are still in school, 93.7% of households eat at least two meals a day, 88.9% of children under five have a normal brachial perimeter, and families manage to save an average of 207,000 Burundian francs a year (around 132 USD). In addition, access to health care remains permanently assured, and all births were attended by medical staff.
- In 2009, an external evaluation of the VillageFXB program in Buriram, northeast Thailand, conducted byThaksin University, revealed that 100% of young participants completed elementary school and moved on to secondary education, compared with the national average for elementary school completion of 40%. In addition, the evaluation found a 60-62% increase in the average income earned by participating families, with over 80% of families continuing to pursue income-generating activities. The evaluation concluded that the VillageFXB program had been effectively implemented and "had significantly improved the living conditions of a large number of orphans and vulnerable children".
- In 2008, a mid-term evaluation of the VillageFXB poverty reduction pilot program in Bu Tuo, China, conducted by UNICEF and the Bei Jing Institute of Information and Control, revealed significant results. The analysis revealed a substantial increase in household income and assets, a 25% reduction in household debt, and significant improvements in children's health, education and emotional well-being. Among children who had lost both parents, emotional and psychosocial status improved dramatically, increasing six-fold since their participation in the program.
- In 2007, an external evaluation of a VillageFXB program in Rwanda, conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (South Africa), revealed that four years after the end of the program, 86% of beneficiaries were still living above the poverty line, and 97% were still operating their initial income-generating activity. What's more, their children attend school more regularly, stay in school longer and achieve better results than their peers.