Islamic Republic of Pakistan: Dir Area Support Project - Extract Agreement at completion point - IOE
Islamic Republic of Pakistan: Dir Area Support Project - Extract Agreement at completion point
Completion evaluation
Introduction
In 2007, IFAD's Office of Evaluation (OE) conducted a project completion evaluation of the Dir Area Support Project (DASP). This was the first evaluation by OE of an IFAD-funded project in Pakistan for ten years. Its results were supposed to also inform the Pakistan Country Programme Evaluation (CPE), which OE is also conducting in 2007/8.
In November 2007, a multi-stakeholder workshop was held in Peshawar to discuss the main results of the evaluation, as well as to provide inputs for the preparation of its Agreement at Completion Point (ACP). The latter represents an agreement by IFAD (represented by the Asia and Pacific Division) and the Government of Pakistan (represented by the Economic Affairs Division in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Statistics and the Government of North West Frontier Province (GONWFP)) of the key evaluation findings and recommendations, proposals to implement them and a commitment to act upon them. Section B of this ACP summarises the main evaluation findings, section C contains the recommendations that were agreed to be implemented, whereas section D refers to recommendations originally formulated by the evaluation team but not found acceptable by some of the partners.
Main evaluation findings
Overall, the DASP is rated as moderately satisfactory, but it presents a picture full of contrasts. It is a project with a relevant design for rural poverty alleviation, having been able to achieve effective implementation with moderate efficiency. However, it did not benefit from the required intensity and quality of supervision and implementation support. In fact, the performance of IFAD and its partners is rated as moderately unsatisfactory on average. In spite of this, the rural poverty reduction impact is satisfactory. However, with the exception of the employment generation activities, sustainability appears to be at risk. Moreover, the lack of knowledge management and a proactive approach to replicating and up-scaling innovations promoted under the DASP represent missed opportunities.
The evaluation further showed that it is possible to design and implement multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder area based projects in difficult environments. Such projects can be effective, as the DASP shows. However, the complexity of the DASP was not met by adequate technical support by IFAD, the Co-operating Institution and the GONWFP. The major lesson learnt is that ambitious design objectives and complex undertakings cannot be left to business as usual, as they require dynamic follow-up.
The fundamental working hypothesis that development must be owned by the people who are affected by change has been confirmed. In only ten years, the Jirgas have been transformed from rather exclusive councils of village elders into rejuvenated and broad-based Village Organisations (VOs). At the same time, women were allowed to step out and form Women's Organisations (WOs). Both are remarkable achievements in the Dir rural society context.
The VOs and WOs have become launching pads for multiple development activities, which would not have been possible without their existence. However, due to the relative void of intangibles generated by the project, policy dialogue was close to impossible. IFAD should have put more effort in policy dialogue, which however requires better knowledge management and documentation of good practice in the first place.
Recommendations agreed upon by all partners
In this section, the ACP workshop participants listed all relevant recommendations deemed acceptable and feasible for implementation, i.e. eight out of the ten recommendations formulated by the evaluation team. The table below shows those accepted recommendations including indications of funding sources, implementation and follow-up responsibilities, and deadlines for delivery.
Recommendations deemed acceptable and feasible
Recommendation |
Resources from |
Implementation Responsibility |
Implementation Deadline |
Follow-up Responsibility |
Encourage VOs and WOs to form more cluster organisations |
DASP; until June 2008 |
PMU |
June 2008 |
PMU, Apex Body, Line Departments |
Promote the CBO Apex body in concert with the CBOs, and the district and provincial authorities |
DASP; until June 2008, possibly with additional resources after this date 1 |
PMU, SDU and GONWFP |
June 2008 and beyond |
SDU |
Deploy a new round of training and coaching of VOs and WOs aimed at a more pro-active management of internal savings and lending |
DASP; until June 2008 |
PMU |
June 2008 (already ongoing) |
PMU and Apex Body if resources are available (see 132.(i).(ii) |
Constantly update the output monitoring databases and the impact monitoring systems where applicable |
DASP; until June 2008 |
PMU, seeking references from other projects, whether IFAD funded or not. |
June 2008 |
SDU and IFAD |
Envisage a new agricultural and livestock impact study |
DASP; until June 2008 |
PMU and line agencies, with inputs from other similar projects for the terms of reference |
June 2008 |
SDU |
In concert with all other projects implemented in NWFP, harmonize the staff salary scales. |
DASP; until June 2008 |
DG, SDU, in consultation with Finance Department |
June 2008 |
SDU, EAD, IFAD |
Assure, for all adaptive agricultural research trials undertaken in the framework of the DASP, an orderly handover to either the CBOs or the DOAE. |
DASP; until June 2008 |
PMU and line agencies |
June 2008 |
PMU and SDU |
Address quality deficiencies at the level of line departments' recording and quality control routines. |
DASP; until June 2008 |
PMU and line departments, by designing new data collection formats. |
June 2008 |
SDU and IFAD |
In addition to the above, workshop participants themselves formulated the following three recommendations: (i) For future projects where IFAD envisages a community development approach, it was recommended that such projects would include a three-year phasing-out stage, (ii) IFAD should explore supporting post-project sustainability through working with financial apex institutions or even possibly trust funds, and (iii) efforts should be made on capacity building of the project in terms of impact monitoring, including by creating linkages with other organisations, and that these measures could be financed with the remaining DASP funds (see also Table 1 above).
Recommendations originally formulated by OE but found
non applicable by some partners
The recommendations contained in paragraphs 134 and 135 of the evaluation report, regarding the determination of additional funding thresholds by the GONWFP, to the tune of PKR 40 million per year, and regarding a Phasing-out Facility, were not considered feasible under the present circumstances. In order to mitigate project completion stress, but without being able to guarantee approval of post project funding, IFAD invites SDU to submit a proposal for a US$200 000 country grant from IFAD's competitive grant's programme. Such a grant would be administered by a recognized NGO acceptable to IFAD. The SDU agreed to present a respective proposal to IFAD by 31 December 2007.
Should the proposal pass successfully through the competitive screening process, these additional resources would be used primarily for the consolidation and strengthening of VOs, WOs, cluster organizations, and especially for the set-up of an Apex Body formed by such CBOs.