FIDAfrique - IFADAfrica

Uganda country programme evaluation report, Profile and Insight

Daouda NDAO — 2013-05-15T11:49:51Z

IFAD's main contribution has been in developing the vegetable oil subsector, where support has been based on an innovative public-private partnership and a value-chain approach. The evaluation underlines that this is indeed a far-reaching achievement.

At the same time, the evaluation identifies a number of challenges regarding sustainability and the provision of rural finance, which is essential for promoting better incomes and food security. It also underlines that several agreed objectives and targets from the 1998 and 2004 country strategic opportunities programmes were not achieved. In the future, the main challenges for IFAD relate to disagreements on government policies and strategies for agriculture and rural development together with unpredictable and sudden policy changes.

IFAD's Independent Evaluation: Ten Years of Progress

Daouda NDAO — 2013-05-07T13:21:36Z

The booklet includes an overview of IOE activities through the years, an account of lessons learned from evaluations and observations from internal and external partners.

TRAINING WORKSHOP ON KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND CAPITALIZATION Dakar, 25th to 28th June 2013

Daouda NDAO — 2013-04-30T12:25:56Z

Background
Knowledge management and the capitalization of experiences are essential practices for organizations and development projects. The mobilization, management and communication of knowledge from experiences, approaches and innovations constitute a key factor for improving the performances of individuals and organizations to achieve desired development results. Development projects and organizations in Africa constantly need to acquire the competences and skills for defining and implementing relevant knowledge management policies and strategies. Since 2004, WARF has acquired relevant expertise in this area through a number of capacity development workshops and a regional initiative on knowledge management.

Objectives
Workshop participants will be able to conceptualize, plan, implement and evaluate strategies for knowledge management and the capitalization of experiences of their organizations or projects. Specifically, they will be able to:
Elaborate plans for knowledge management and identify technical and human resource requirements for their implementation,

Use key tools and methods for learning, analysis and documentation of experiences and practices,
Understand and use techniques and materials for the sharing and diffusion of information,
Monitor and evaluate strategies for knowledge management and the capitalization of experiences.

Profile of participants
The workshop is open to personnel of development projects and organizations with responsibility for the management and administration of programmes and/or components, knowledge management and communication officers, monitoring and evaluation officers as well as consultants or other interested actors.

Working Language: English

Conditions and cost of participation
The cost of participation is one thousand five hundred US Dollars (US$ 1500) or one thousand one hundred and forty-five Euros (€ 1144). This amount covers registration fees, documentation, tea/coffee breaks and lunch during the 4-day workshop. The deadline for registration is 10th June 2013. Please contact us for any additional information or clarifications.

Contacts :

Tel : +221 33 865 00 60
secretary@frao.info or training2013@frao.org

Below is the registration form

Workshop on Knowledge Management and Capitalization of Experiences

Daouda NDAO — 2013-04-24T12:14:08Z

The workshop was an ideal opportunity for participants to analyze, discuss and evaluate their experiences in their respective countries. At the end of this training, we have collected some of their impressions, about their expectations on the organization as well on the content of the training.

Abdoulaye BAH II, Communications Officer for the national confederation of farmer organizations in Guinea (a partner PNAAFA, Guinea).

"I am personally very satisfied because the training went beyond our expectations. I just hope we can put into practice what we have learnt and I hope that WARF will continue in this path because this module is and will be very useful for our projects in Guinea and in each of our countries. "

Aristide Souapebe GABPOBE, Head of Capacity Building of farmers' organizations and their representations, PADER-G, Chad component.

"This training has answered my concerns and my expectations for the projects I'm working on right now. I would however suggest that effective mechanisms be put in place so that learners can really capitalize on what they have learned during these four days. I invite WARF to join us so that we could put into practice the recommendations from this training. "

Andre BOUTNA, monitoring and evaluation officer of the Rural Development Support Project in Gera (PADER-G), Chad.

"After this training, I can tell you that my impressions are absolutely positive. I really enjoyed the teaching method, which is very suitable for our needs by focusing more on practice than theory. I have appreciated the quality of the presentations, which is very relevant to the theme and issues that brought us here. We should have such trainings more often. "

SIDNA Ely Ould Ahmed, Manager component innovation and Knowledge Management for ProlPRAF, Mauritania.

"This is the training we have waited for long time. It has allowed us to gain a lot of knowledge which hitherto we lacked. I did not really have a clear picture of all that is capitalization and knowledge management. Now I can easily say that I received the tools necessary for the capitalization of experiences we have already made or that our partners have already undertaken to develop industries that we have in Mauritania. "

Mélance Ntirampeba, Assistant Monitoring and Evaluation, Government Project, Burundi.

"I've had some very rewarding experiences that can be capitalized in my country and that can greatly benefit our national projects. I am very impressed by the spirit of sharing that I've seen here. I hope these types of training will be renewed more frequently because we all need them and that and we will keep in touch. "

Group Picture of the Participants to the Workshop

Annual Report on Results and Impact of IFAD Operations

Foly AKOUSSAN — 2013-01-16T16:45:51Z

However, while projects are held to be highly relevant and reasonably effective, their efficiency and sustainability continue to remain a challenge. Performance in fragile states is markedly lower than in non-fragile states. Knowledge management and partnership (especially with multilateral and bilateral organizations) need to be pursued more systematically, and monitoring and evaluation at both COSOP and project levels need further emphasis. These areas will require greater attention going forward.

Policy dialogue is the main learning theme of the 2012 ARRI. IFAD's performance in policy dialogue at the global and regional levels is satisfactory. However, the Fund's contribution to policy dialogue at the country level is episodic and not systematic across the board. This is partly attributable to overly ambitious objectives for policy dialogue in relation to the resources allocated, as well as limited staff resources, skills and competencies in this area.

Download the report

M&E Guide: Introduction to Participatory Monitoring-Evaluation

Foly AKOUSSAN — 2012-12-07T12:18:28Z

Forest Resource Management Project Performance Assessment- Zambia

Foly AKOUSSAN — 2012-11-30T16:39:41Z

The project started in 2002 and ended in 2007, one year earlier than foreseen. It was cofinanced by IFAD, the German Development Service and a grant from the Irish Government. The FRMP aimed to address some of the complex relationships between poverty, damage to the fragile environment and the sustainable forest resource use. The total cost of the FRMP was US$15.9 million, with the IFAD loan amounting to US$12.63 million.

In striving to achieve the overall goal of increasing the incomes of poor people who depend upon forest resources for their livelihoods, the project scored a number of successes. The FRMP facilitated the formation of village resource management committees and producer groups. Communities acquired valuable knowledge and skills under the project's various training programmes in areas such as forestry protection, bee-keeping, and rattan and bamboo production. Opportunities were created for women members to manage money and gain greater control over resources and access to knowledge; however, the lack of concrete targets and indicators made it difficult to assess the scale at which this was happening. The project also supported the rehabilitation of feeder roads and facilitated the construction of social infrastructure, thus bringing health and education services closer to the communities.

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The FRMP experimented with the use of public-private partnerships, and although the project faced some difficulties in the practical application of this model, it was an important stepping stone for implementing the Government's related agenda.

However, for several reasons, the project did not achieve the main results expected. Although the FRMP objectives remain highly relevant, there was no consensus between IFAD and the Government of Zambia with regard to the overall conceptual framework and purpose of the project. The Government of Zambia felt that the project should focus on the regeneration of the country's depleted forest resources, while IFAD's objective was specifically to raise the income of the poor in the project area. In addition, there was no consensus or agreed strategy on how to address the policy inertia emanating from the Government's failure to establish the Zambia forestry commission. Failure by the design team to address these critical issues as well as legislative, policy and institutional challenges resulted in the project being formulated and implemented in a constrained environment.

Partly as a result of the above, the project also suffered a long gestation period and numerous delays in implementation. The efficiency of the project was also affected by the lack of clarity in the contractual obligations of the contracted agencies. This led to confusion and the duplication of roles and responsibilities between the project facilitation unit and the contracted agencies. The direct recruitment of staff to the project facilitation unit instead of using seconded staff from the Forestry Department resulted in unforeseen expenditure. The institutional design features were also affected by hasty recruitment and the lack of technical expertise within the contracting agencies.

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While the project was effective in mobilizing people into various groups such as village resource management committees, area resource management committees and producers' groups, it failed to develop robust institutions and systems for the long-term management and preservation of forest management arrangements. Similarly, the project invested considerable resources in training beneficiaries in sustainable forest management practices, but failed to meet its stated objectives of supporting beneficiaries to embark on the development of sustainable income-generating activities.

The PPA noted that there was a dearth of reliable information on rural poverty impact for the project period. Based on the information available, there was no evidence to suggest that the targeted increase of 30 per cent in household income and net assets was achieved. Similarly, despite the project's income-generating activities – such as chikanda propagation (a local orchid delicacy), munkoyo processing (a local brew) and mushroom preservation – there was very limited evidence improved food security as a result of non-timber forest products.

The single most critical factor affecting the sustainability of the income-generating activities relates to the inadequate development of linkages between the producers and their markets. The efforts to ensure this were too little, too late. Overall, the mission noted that despite IFAD's attempts to obtain assurances from the Government to support the project, the long-term sustainability of the project was affected by the Government's reluctance to integrate the project activities into its annual budget and maintenance programmes.

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The following broad recommendations need to be taken into consideration when developing future IFAD operations in Zambia.

Recommendation 1.

Project design must be based on a realistic institutional analysis and foundation. Where the institutional structure that provides the cornerstone of a project is not yet in place, IFAD should refrain from starting operations until the new structure has been set up.

Recommendation 2.

Income-generating projects must be based on activities that have proven technical and commercial potential. An important finding that was highlighted in the project mid-term review and remained valid at the end of the project was that individuals and groups only adopt income-generating activities if the activities are commercially and technically attractive. Future projects should ensure that: (a) cost-benefit and value chain analyses during project design are undertaken in a timely manner; (b) private-sector stakeholders familiar with specific activities are involved in implementation from the start to ensure that the project has solid technical and commercial foundations; and (c) due attention is given to facilitating market linkages.

Recommendation 3.

Ensure that the institutional framework is owned by the Government by ensuring that the design process is undertaken within an inclusive partnership and that appropriate support and capacity-building is provided. The FRMP sought to respond to the general trend of private-sector involvement and decentralization in its institutional framework. However, this set up was not fully owned by the Government, who believed that it would have been more appropriate for the project to have been placed with them. In order for an innovative framework to work, it must be accompanied by the appropriate support and capacity-building for all stakeholders. In the case of FRMP, the Forestry Department would have benefited from more support in overseeing and monitoring the project activities, including appropriate resources to carry out its duties properly.

Recommendation 4.

Improve Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system design and functionality. Despite attempts to generate impact data, the FRMP M&E system had constraints that characterize IFAD M&E systems in general. These related to the limited scope of the data (focusing on activity and output level), excessive complexity (about 280 indicators), low-quality data (inaccuracies) and weak institutional capacity. In order to address these issues, IFAD should apply a two -pronged strategy whereby more complete data are collected, coupled with continued support by IFAD to build project management competencies in all processes related to M&E (data collection, analysis, reporting, etc.). This may require more proactive support from IFAD in these.

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Forest Resource Management Project Performance Assessment- Zambia

Foly AKOUSSAN — 2012-11-30T15:58:28Z

The objective of the project performance assessment (PPA) of the Forest Resource Management Project (FRMP) in Zambia was to assess the overall results of the project and generate findings and recommendations for the implementation of ongoing operations in the country and the design of future operations. This assessment builds upon the previous project completion report validation and adds findings from a mission to Zambia conducted in November 2011.

- Zambia

Project Performance Assessment of the Burundi PRDMR

Foly AKOUSSAN — 2012-11-08T12:25:25Z

The relevance of PRDMR is deemed satisfactory in relation to Burundi's economic and social indicators at the time, IFAD's strategy for economic recovery, and the needs of vulnerable poor people living in rural areas. But the programme was designed to address a complex set of root causes of poverty and insecurity, and although each of the programme components was relevant to the needs of beneficiaries, the interventions as a whole made the programme complex and difficult to manage.

- Burundi

Project Performance Assessment of the Burundi PRDMR

Foly AKOUSSAN — 2012-11-08T12:19:42Z

The programme's effectiveness and efficiency are considered satisfactory based on the level of achievement of both objectives and budget despite the delays incurred; the sound choice of partners, particularly NGOs; and the innovative community-driven approach.

Rural poverty impact is also rated satisfactory in view of the benefits seen among the target groups in terms of income and assets, food security and agricultural productivity, human and social capital, and empowerment. The assessment notes weaknesses in the conservation of agricultural land and environmental resources but underscores the programme's strong influence on government policies and institutions.

Download Full Document (in French) (In French, PDF version - 3.31 MB)

Sustainability is rated moderately satisfactory. The programme interventions show good signs of sustainability, specifically the high degree of ownership by local populations and good financial returns on several activities. Nevertheless, challenges remain – particularly in consolidating infrastructure management committees. The programme's greatest success lies in its innovations and their scaling up throughout the country: government organization of communities and livestock development by other partners through their support to the cattle solidarity chain. The assessment rates this aspect as highly satisfactory. Based on the programme's positive impact on women overall, gender equality and women's empowerment are judged satisfactory.

Finally, the performance of IFAD and the Government is considered satisfactory. The Government and partners have commended the coordination unit for sound programme management, the technical quality of the team and its flexibility in providing implementation support when needed. The Government committed to PRDMR design and operationalization, and the programme has revitalized local administrations, which lead to strong support for implementation and monitoring. It is, however, crucial that both IFAD and the Governemnt continue to protect the impressive achievement by PRDMR.

Download Full Document (in French) (In French, PDF version - 3.31 MB)