Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV) conducted an evaluation of the quality of the management of resources in the African Development Fund (ADF)-funded projects. This project cluster evaluation assessed 10 ADF-funded projects covering a total portfolio of UA 169 million (USD 260 million) from the past two completed cycles of the ADF (ADF-13 and ADF-14), covering the period from 2014 to 2019.
The evaluation found that overall, the project cluster met the Bank’s standards in terms of rationale and justifications, although challenges were experienced during the management processes aimed at ensuring that projects are ready for efficient implementation to achieve the expected development outcomes. The Bank's project management tools and practices throughout the ADF project cycle were found to be robust and comprehensive. The Bank also had good performance measurement and results-based management tools, but there were issues with supervision and incentives related to commitments and disbursements. The implementation of the project cluster was found to be broadly in line with the Bank’s fiduciary management procedures and business processes, with some shortcomings highlighted by the audits. At entry, cost-effective and cost-efficient measures were considered to improve project development across the cluster in line with the Bank’s efforts to improve portfolio performance and streamline its processes, however, shortcomings were identified in trying to ensure the timely fulfilment of conditions precedent, and in assessing trade-offs between administrative costs and implementation delays. At supervision and exit, overall, the project cluster efficiency was found to lag behind good practices in terms of management of development projects, with challenges faced by the evaluation in quantitatively assessing the efficient use of ADF resources, in particular a lack of information to calculate project value-for-money (VfM). Managing for sustainability was found to be one of the greatest challenges faced across the project cluster.
The evaluation identified some factors that enhance or undermine the effective management of resources in the selected ADF-funded projects as; budget and financial management, technical expertise among the implementing team, effective risk management, poor coordination between stakeholders, communication between stakeholders, and political commitment.
Some of the key lessons drawn from the evaluation included the importance of relevant stakeholder awareness and engagement; supervision with a risk-based approach that identifies and promptly addresses critical bottlenecks; and use of economic assessment tools when rich data are available to implement a VfM framework. The evaluation also noted the importance of focusing on the hard and soft technical aspects of project implementation, and knowledge generation, dissemination, and utilization, rather than on training and seminars.
Evaluation Task Manager: Joseph MOUANDA, Chief Evaluation Officer