Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV) conducted an evaluation of the African Development Bank Group's COVID-19 response. Based on its experience in recent years during the Ebola epidemic, the Bank adopted a package of COVID-19 response measures to help its Regional Member Countries (RMCs) to mitigate the multifaceted impact of the pandemic. This package included the COVID-19 Rapid Response Facility (CRF), support to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Feed Africa Response to COVID-19 (FAREC), and a US$3 billion Social Bond, to provide fast and flexible support to RMCs through sovereign and non-sovereign operations.
As the primary channel for the Bank’s efforts to combat the crisis, the CRF was intended to provide a flexible range of support within a US$9.7 billion [1] envelope, including US$8.4 billion [2] of financing directly to Regional Member Countries (RMC). Between March and December 2020, the Bank approved 25 crisis-response budget support operations, carried out non-lending interventions such as policy dialogue and advisory, coordinated with other partners, and conducted analytical work.
As an institution with a long-term development mandate, it is pertinent to assess the quality of the Bank's response, particularly its ability to adjust to better support countries in dealing with the pandemic and to draw lessons for future crises. Secondly, the Bank has the opportunity to learn from the experience to date to improve its support to its RMCs. Thirdly, the results of this assessment will inform the ongoing work of the COVID-19 Global Evaluation Coalition, of which IDEV is a member.
[1] Converted from 7.4 billion AfDB Units of Account at December 2022 conversion rate
[2] Converted from 6.4 billion AfDB Units of Account at December 2022 conversion rate
Evaluation Task Managers:
• Clement Banse - Chief Evaluation Officer, IDEV
• Khaled Ibn Waleed Hussein Samir - Principal Evaluation Officer, IDEV
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Summary Report : COVID-19 Response | 1.02 MB |
| Technical Annexes : COVID-19 Response Evaluation | 1.45 MB |
| Executive Summary : COVID-19 Response | 334.91 KB |
| Highlight : COVID-19 Response Evaluation | 302.19 KB |
| Lessons note : COVID-19 Response Evaluation | 323.09 KB |
| Concept Note : COVID-19 Response Evaluation | 436.32 KB |
| Approach Paper : COVID-19 Response Evaluation | 859.09 KB |
| Case Study – The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention | 429.36 KB |
| Case Study – South Africa | 350.33 KB |
| Case Study – Kenya | 400.79 KB |
| Case Study – Nigeria | 674.9 KB |
| Case Study – Tunisia (in French) | 356.98 KB |
| Case Study – Cameroon (in French) | 538.72 KB |
| Case Study – D.R.Congo (in French) | 420.2 KB |
| Case Study – Madagascar (in French) | 467.55 KB |
| Case Study – Djibouti and Somalia | 343.07 KB |