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As the African Development Bank’s biennial flagship, “Evaluation Week” came to a close on Friday 30 September 2022, the Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV) function of the Bank took stock of the quality of information shared during this important learning event.
Held virtually with participants from across the globe, the theme of this year’s event was “Building a Stronger and More Resilient Africa.” The structure and format of this edition were designed to support the Bank in the formulation of its new 10-year strategy against a backdrop of new and exacerbated economic and social challenges that the continent faces. The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, hardship from climate shocks, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have all affected the economies of Africa and have resulted in a call for new policies, strategies, and programs to be underpinned by evidence of what works, what doesn’t work, and why. During the opening session, Simon Mizrahi, Acting Vice President, Technology and Corporate Services at the AfDB on behalf of President Adesina Akinwumi relayed the appreciation of the evaluation function at the Bank and its role in informing the Ten-Year Strategy through lessons and knowledge gained from past experience.
AfDB Evaluator General Karen Rot Münstermann reminded the participants that Evaluation Week was a means of sharing knowledge collaboratively and constructively and that the discussions can wield transformation in the development space. IDEV selected some strategic focus areas and invited sector and technical experts to join evaluators.
Niels Breyer, Executive Director & Chair of the Committee for Operations and Development Effectiveness, AfDB, moderated the roundtable discussion on the role of evaluation in achieving better development results. Given the presence of distinguished panelists Hon. Jérémie Adomahou, Member of Parliament for Benin and Chairman of the African Parliamentarians’ Network on Development Evaluation (APNODE) and Yéo Nahoua, Chief of Staff, Ministry of Planning and Development, Côte d'Ivoire; Niels Breyer specifically steered the discussion to gather views on how to better integrate evaluation findings into national strategies and policies.
Africa’s key challenges in energy access, agriculture, the debt burden and human capital investments were discussed in the subsequent sessions. Evaluation experts were on hand in each session to share evidence-based solutions to build Africa’s resilience.
In the energy sector, discussants concluded that a more holistic approach to development, for example through integrated infrastructure investments and through cross-border cooperation, is required to achieve results at scale.
The energy session allowed participants to discuss the way forward with evaluation experts from IDEV and Power Africa, a USAID-funded agency working closely with the AfDB on several large-scale projects. The challenge for Africa is twofold –providing energy access to the 600 million Africans who live without electricity and climate change adaptation to build resilience against the growing number of climate-related disasters. One of the key recommendations on the evaluation side was to improve the sustainability of projects by working with local partners, regulators, and policymakers. Another aspect is sector reform for efficient transmission and distribution through regional connections, where countries with oversized production capacity can broker their supply to those with low production.
In Agriculture, regional integration with free trade agreements and robust sector policies are key to economic recovery and sustainable growth.
Against the backdrop of the threat of food crises in Africa, the agricultural productivity session of Evaluation Week featured lessons from evaluation, research, and experience in agricultural value chains and other associated fields that could inform the design and execution of future initiatives to increase food production. Experts agreed on the need to harmonize free-trade agreements from bread-basket nations such as Uganda to those in need and introduce reforms to make it a more market-led environment, with private sector attractiveness.
Policy dialogue, technical capacity building and knowledge products, coupled with a focus on public investment management as well as public debt management, are important components for countries to avoid debt distress.
The status and perspectives of Africa’s debt burden were discussed in a dedicated session. The Bank has committed to promoting debt sustainability at a time when 23 African countries are suffering from, or at risk of debt distress. AfDB experts conferred that to effectively find solutions, we need strong insight and involvement with countries, but economic diversification and a shift towards better public finance transparency were essential components of recovery. Evaluative evidence from the World Bank Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) showed that a lack of public investment management was one of the common elements in countries crippled by debt. The key lesson on debt burden management from IEG evaluations is that countries need upstream preparation to identify weaknesses in public finance management and assess risk. The risk assessment should figure prominently in the country’s framework and strategies to enable priorities such as budget support.
Development efforts should be human-centered and involve local stakeholders from the outset, to ensure that investments are relevant and- the results sustainable.
Evaluation Week closed with a session dedicated to human and social development in Africa. AfDB experts were joined by specialists from the African Union, the International Labour Organization and the MasterCard Foundation to discuss employment opportunities, particularly for women and youth. Evidence from evaluations showed that our future development focus should look at a wider context and a shift of mindsets that called for meaningful employment rather than simple job creation. There is a need to invest in statistics and data collection for evidence-based policy and decision-making; and in order to design inclusive policies and pro-employment frameworks, with and for the youth of Africa.
On the sidelines of Evaluation Week, IDEV organized a capacity development workshop for the Young and Emerging Evaluators to support young and aspiring evaluators in their career paths.
Evaluation Week brought together evaluators; government policy and decision-makers; development partners; research and academic institutions; civil society; the private sector; and the staff of the African Development Bank. The event was attended by over 800 participants, with a further 600 watching the event opening live on AfDB’s social media channels.