Eswatini: Validation of the Mid-Term Review of the Country Strategy Paper (2020-2024)

Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV) at the African Development Bank (AfDB or “the Bank”) conducted a validation of the Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the Bank’s Country Strategy Paper (CSP) in Eswatini (2020-2024). The main purpose of this validation was to examine the robustness of the evidence provided on the progress made at mid-term and to assess the status of adoption of agreed recommendations from the IDEV Eswatini 2009-2018 CSP evaluation. 
The validation first reviewed the progress made in the implementation of operations under the current CSP (2020-2024) at mid-term. This included operations that were approved during the previous CSP cycle (2014-2018) and whose implementation continued during this CSP. The second aspect of the validation concerned all the Bank’s activities, i.e., lending and non-lending (including grants and technical assistance), and examined the following main evaluation criteria: relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability. The third aspect of the validation was related to the implementation of agreed actions in response to IDEV evaluation recommendations. The final aspect of the validation was the review of the relevance of the lessons identified in the MTR and the overall quality of the MTR report. The principal objective of this exercise is learning. Therefore, the validation did not make recommendations, but drew lessons.

The validation noted that several factors and events slowed down the successful implementation of the first phase of the CSP and substantially impacted portfolio investment projects. These were at the country level (political and social situation), at the Bank level (delays from approval to first disbursement, lack of budget for ESWs, etc.), and external (the COVID-19 pandemic). 

The validation found the Priority Areas of the CSP to be aligned with the country's development priorities and also aligned with the Bank's strategies, including the TYS and the High 5s. The Bank's presence in Eswatini since September 2022 was found to contribute to improving policy dialogue, while offering it the opportunity for better coordination with other development partners in Eswatini. Regarding the continuation of the CSP, the validation examined the decision to maintain the pillars of the CSP as justified in view of the persistence of challenges that Eswatini has faced. 

Overall, the quality of the MTR was generally deemed satisfactory by the validation.
The MTR draws both strategic and operational lessons from the mid-term implementation of the CSP. Through this validation, IDEV reviewed these lessons and identified additional lessons to continue the achievement of Eswatini’s development objectives as follows:
 

1. An adequate monitoring and evaluation of the implementation and the mid-term results requires clearly defined outputs and outcome targets at mid-term.
2. The lack of a clear rating of the various criteria (relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, etc.) in the MTR makes validation difficult. 
3. Failure to sufficiently take into account the risk of inflation and/or the risk of depreciation in the financing of projects in local currencies may generate additional costs, possibly leading to delays and/or the partial (or total) cancellation of projects. It is important to reconcile management of the inflationary risk of imports with the desire of the government to take loans in local currency.  
4. The Bank would benefit from greater realism when defining project implementation timeframes (taking into account the length of approval processes and delegation of authority within the Government).

Task Manager: Eric KERE, Senior Evaluation Officer, IDEV.2