Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV) at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB or “the Bank”) conducted a project cluster evaluation of the AfDB’s Technology for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) program’s first phase over the period 2018-2021. This program, launched in 2018, is an integral part of AfDB’s Feed Africa Strategy 2016–2025 and aims to harness proven technologies to raise agricultural productivity in Africa, mitigate risks, and promote diversification and processing.
The evaluation assessed the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of the TAAT-I program that covered all nine commodity compacts, and for each commodity compact also examined all applicable six enabler compacts in seven purposively sampled countries. This evaluation aimed at providing the Board and Management of the Bank, as well as TAAT Execution Agents, Implementation Partners, and Regional Member Countries (RMCs) with findings, lessons and recommendations, to strengthen the implementation of TAAT-II program and other future related Bank’s programs and initiatives.
Overall, the evaluation found that the program was aligned with the strategies and initiatives of the Bank, as well as the priorities and needs of RMCs. In terms of design, the TAAT-I program was coherent with other Bank-supported operations and those of RMCs, as well as other development partners. In terms of effectiveness, the program performed well in achieving its intended output results, but efficiency was rated partly satisfactory due to challenges in resource allocation and disbursements, as well as procurement of commodities and the COVID-19. In addition, the limited funding to critical partners and inadequate attention to emerging and potential social, economic, environmental, and climate change-related threats posed major risks to the program sustainability.
The evaluation proposed key recommendations, including:
- Strengthening the design and implementation arrangements for TAAT-II program and future Bank supported programs for agricultural development and transformation through enhancing information sharing and coordination between Implementing Partners and AfDB Country Offices.
- Increasing the involvement of the private sector and strengthening the linkage between the TAAT program and the Non-Sovereign Operations funding mechanisms to enable the private sector to seize large-scale emerging opportunities that are expected to benefit more vulnerable populations.
- Strengthening the design, financing, and implementation of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) system.
Task Manager: Andson NSUNE, Principal Evaluation Officer