Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV) of the African Development Bank (AfDB) evaluators undertook a benchmarking exercise with its Asian counterpart, the Independent Evaluation Department (IED) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This mission, from 13-17th November 2023, was scheduled in the framework of ongoing IDEV evaluations, with an over-arching aim to identify lessons and good practices that can be useful for the AfDB.
Benchmarking between multilateral development banks has been identified as part of the design of three ongoing IDEV evaluations to serve as a key source of information on how well the AfDB compares with similar institutions and extract lessons from their experiences to improve AfDB’s performance in implementing its decentralization program, its One Bank approach, and the integration of its sovereign and non-sovereign operations. The three domains under scrutiny during the visit to Asian Development Bank Headquarters in Manilla, the Philippines, were the extent and the effects of the sister organization’s decentralization efforts; the functioning of its matrix model and its One Bank approach; and the specific efforts in creating synergies between sovereign and non-sovereign operations in Asian development projects.
During the three days, May Mwaka and Mohammed Jalaludeen Issahaq, both Principal Evaluation Officers, IDEV, met IED colleagues to share knowledge and best practices on selected evaluations of mutual interest, including the Evaluation of the African Development Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy 2013-2022, completed in December 2022. Issahaq presented the methodology used and the main findings of the evaluation in a session attended by around fifty ADB counterparts. The presentation and discussions were timely, as the IED function of the Asian Development Bank is currently working on an evaluation of its Strategy 2030.