Evaluation of the Congo Basin Forest Fund: A thematic evaluation

Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV) at the African Development Bank (AfDB or "the Bank") has undertaken an evaluation of the Congo Basin Forest Fund (CBFF), a ten-year program established in 2008. The CBFF aims at alleviating poverty and mitigating climate change by reducing the rate of deforestation in the Congo Basin through the efficient management of its forest resources.

As the current phase of the CBFF ends in 2018 and two of the program’s contributors (the British and Norwegian Governments) have decided to pull out, the key CBFF stakeholders (including the donors, Governing Council, AfDB Board of Directors and CBFF Secretariat) called for an independent evaluation.

The main purpose of this independent evaluation of the CBFF is threefold: i) to provide learning from the Fund implementation – what worked and what did not work, and why?; (ii) to inform decisions of the donors, CBFF Governing Council and AfDB Board of Directors on the way forward for the CBFF; and (iii) to ensure accountability for CBFF investments in several key results areas towards donors, AfDB Board, and the Central Africa Forest Commission (COMIFAC).

The evaluation finds that overall, the CBFF has performed well. Its portfolio was strategically coherent and effective in generating relevant outputs and outcomes against its seven main areas, including the promotion of innovations for transformational change required to reduce deforestation, and supporting capacity development in the Congo Basin countries. The CBFF projects have been, however, inefficiently delivered, with results that are unlikely to be sustained, notably where projects do not have alternative sources of funds.

The evaluation recommends that the CBFF and its Governing Council should ensure a full and considered completion phase for the fund, and that the secretariat should invest in capturing and capitalizing on all lessons learned from the CBFF’s innovations and achievements. Furthermore, it recommends that, should the fund continue or if the African Development Bank uses a similar trust fund model, it should:

• Analyze how the political and international environment has changed from 2008 to 2018;
• Increase AfDB ownership and governance of the trust fund;
• Coordinate with national agendas related to the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+), climate resilience and sustainable forest and landscape management;
• Tailor operations and procedures;
• Improve communications; and
• Improve performance measurement and reporting.