A total of 312 families participated in the program between 1995 and 2000. This represents about 10 per cent of all target families in the Tebi, Tagari and Haeapugua sub-districts of Tari. Figure 9.2 shows the distribution of families in the program whose location was recorded by GPS (Vail 2002a).

Sixty-one families (20 per cent) left the program or were dropped, either for their own reasons or due to external circumstances such as fighting. Of those still in the program in April 2000, 195 families were ranked according to a point score that measured the number and condition of program components each family had acquired. By this measure, 143 families (73 per cent) were rated as doing well, while the progress of 23 families (12 per cent) was regarded as unsatisfactory.

While it is difficult to demonstrate that general health improved as a result of participation in FHRIP, it is fair to say that families with a supply of clean water, a well-kept toilet and nutritious crops in their garden are better able to meet their basic needs than those, the majority, who do not. There were many individual examples of families who became better off because of their participation in the program. Those who acquired small livestock took the first step towards the more diversified and productive local farming system that will be needed if the challenges of environmental degradation and population growth are to be met in the coming years. The additional labour input required also provides potential employment for underemployed youths and men.

In terms of individual program components, the water supply unit proved to be fairly robust in a family setting. The main problem was the deterioration of the plastic sheet used as a catchment, which had to be replaced after about six months to one year. Rabbits were slow to be accepted, but became increasingly valued and popular among people in the program and outside it. By area, the best results were in the western parts of Tari, where excellent local program leadership provided an inspired role model for peers. On the other hand, nutritional gardens did poorly in the more remote, environmentally degraded areas to the north of Tari. In the east, local voluntary groups ran most programs, and results depended upon their organisation and commitment.

These mixed results illustrated a flaw that became increasingly evident as time went on. Because most communities lacked an internal structure capable of running a diverse and challenging set of activities, the burden was placed upon individuals, groups, and the FHRIP management team, rather than the community as a whole, to keep the program running. Hence FHRIP satisfied only in part the prerequisites of community-based development — it offered forms and inputs but lacked the capacity to build a structure in the community able to take advantage of them.

FHRIP survived the strains placed upon it by breakdowns in law and order, communications and transport, but the decision to close the Tari branch of the Institute of Medical Research in 2000 meant that a new operating arrangement would be required if the program were to continue. FHRIP had been cooperating with Community Based Health Care (CBHC) for some time, and in September 2000 a partnership was formed under which CBHC provided management and a new direction, based on their experience in Tari and other highlands provinces.