This section details the evaluation recommendations, based on the present report (see chapter VIII), that the Government of Ecuador and IFAD Management agree to adopt and implement within specific timeframes. It is extracted from the Agreement at Completion Point document,¹ signed between the parties.

The Independent Office of Evaluation does not sign the Agreement at Completion Point but facilitates the process leading up to its conclusion. The recommendations agreed upon will be tracked through the President's Report on the Implementation Status of Evaluation Recommendations and Management Actions. In addition, the Agreement will be submitted to the Executive Board of IFAD as an annex, along with the new country strategic opportunities programme for Ecuador.

Recommendations regarding strategy

Recommendation 1:

• Strengthen institutional anchoring. IFAD's future programme in Ecuador should in the first place ensure a more solid and stable institutional anchoring for both the negotiation and the implementation of the programme. It is vital that the negative effects of delays in entry into effect and during implementation be reduced to a minimum. To this end, IFAD should start by expanding its current relations, which are based mainly on the Ministry of Finance and two sectoral institutions (the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture and Fisheries and the National Institute of Popular and Solidarity Economy of the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion) as the main counterpart bodies, and bring in other ministries responsible for implementing the Government's strategy, such as the Coordinating Ministry for Social Development, the Coordinating Ministry for Production, Employment and Competition and the National Secretariat for Planning and Development. It is also important to expand relations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Integration as the main body responsible for cooperation policies and with the Technical Secretariat for International Cooperation as the body responsible for negotiating, managing and coordinating the non-repayable international aid that Ecuador negotiates with other governments. These bodies are not only key players in strategy, but can constitute a kind of extra insurance should some kind of institutional instability arise in the future. The Fund should pay special attention to building a solid relationship with the Technical Secretariat for International Cooperation in view of its fundamental role in planning, the definition of priorities for public investment and evaluation of Government action.
• In the second place, it is vital to safeguard the decentralized autonomy needed by the project management unit(s) so that – acting within the framework of current legislation and under the corresponding ministry – they can provide efficient management, protecting projects from the risks that various IFAD-supported projects in the country have suffered in the past.
• Proposed follow-up action. Preparation of the new country strategy (COSOP) will provide an appropriate framework for working with the country to analyse improvements in institutional anchoring and proposing the institutions that should coordinate IFAD's relations with the country, together with appropriate mechanisms for improving the performance of projects.
• Timeframe for its implementation. Ongoing.
• Body/Bodies responsible for implementation. IFAD's LAC Division, and the Ministry of Finance for the Government of Ecuador.

Recommendation 2:

• Opening to other players. Apart from the above, working within the framework of the progressive decentralization required under the new constitution, IFAD should explore possibilities for operations with decentralized autonomous administrations, especially provincial governments. Such action is not only important in itself, but would also open up opportunities for collaboration in the future, in view of the increased responsibility for rural development to be assumed by these administrations in the near future. The still limited institutional capacity for implementation within the Government, especially in decentralized administrations, should be seen as an opportunity for IFAD to support institution-building in the sector.
• Proposed follow-up action. Within the framework of the new country strategy (COSOP) to be prepared.
• Timeframe for its implementation. Ongoing.
• Body/Bodies responsible for implementation. IFAD's LAC Division.

Recommendation 3:

• Boost non-lending activities, focusing particularly on policy dialogue within the framework of the strategic guidelines and priorities for the country. IFAD's future strategy should be designed bearing in mind the Fund's limited role as donor from a financial viewpoint and Ecuador's status as a medium-high-income country. Under these circumstances, financial aid is not the most important aspect of the partnership between IFAD and the Government of Ecuador. Rather, apart from seeking to ensure the highest quality of operations, support should focus on: contributing to policy dialogue, taking advantage of a moment when the Government has a clear political will to provide community-level support to agriculture; contributing innovative approaches; and investing in knowledge management.
• The promising progress on policy dialogue in the most recent experience (for example through the rural dialogue group) deserves ongoing support, also through grants. Within this space, a fluid dialogue is being carried on concerning policies on key aspects of rural development and is showing good prospects of making an effective contribution to policy dialogue on territorial development and rural poverty. Similarly, the policy of responding to one-off requests from the Government, for example support regarding the models of access to land envisaged in the Government's new strategy, should be continued.
• IFAD should pay even greater attention to knowledge management in Ecuador, continuing its support to grants and considerably increasing its contribution to projects. The Fund must be capable of synthesizing and disseminating its experience and demonstrating the potential success of its future operations in Ecuador, in this way increasing its visibility. It must also facilitate access to new knowledge in the areas of agricultural production, food security, food sovereignty and the environment, promote the exchange of experience with other countries in the region or other regions supported by IFAD, and facilitate access to world-class experts as a major added value to the country programme. The CPE recommends that priority areas for innovation should be defined, so that attention can be focused on key aspects that are specific to the country and a programme of innovations can be systematically pursued.
• Cooperation through grants should adopt a medium- or long-term programme approach and be designed in the framework of current national strategic guidelines and priorities. To this end, IFAD and the Government should ensure a sufficient level of participation on the part of bodies responsible for non-repayable international aid, such as the Technical Secretariat for International Cooperation and the National Secretariat for Planning and Development. Such participation should encompass grant negotiation and approval processes, with particular attention to regional grants in view of their scant linkage to Ecuador's priority policies in the past.
• Proposed follow-up action. In the framework of the new country strategy and its implementation.
• Timeframe for its implementation. Ongoing.
• Body/Bodies responsible for implementation. IFAD's LAC Division, and the Technical Secretariat for International Cooperation for the Government of Ecuador.

Recommendations for the future programme

Recommendation 4:

• Select flexible loan instruments to support programmes instead of projects. Territorial development programmes constitute the heart of the Government's policy in support of rural development. IFAD's support has therefore evolved from an initial approach focusing on improving agricultural production to a territorial development approach. This latter approach seeks to promote various economic sectors, such as sustainable tourism, craft production, fisheries and the service sector, in order to create greater job opportunities and sources of income alternative or complementary to agriculture. Support for the Government of Ecuador's plans as a partner in rural development in the framework of the country's new priorities (the National Buen Vivir Plan) and the decentralization process therefore requires mechanisms that will allow support to programmes, with greater flexibility and longer-term effects than the traditional mechanisms of support to projects. IFAD should seek to form partnerships with other international aid bodies and seek greater local counterpart involvement in order to cofinance and jointly develop flexible instruments to support such programmes.
• Proposed follow-up action. Starting from approval of the new country strategy.
• Timeframe for its implementation. Inception anticipated during the new finance cycle 2013-2015.
• Body/Bodies responsible for implementation. IFAD's LAC Division, and the Ministry of Finance for the Government of Ecuador.

Recommendation 5:

• Boost monitoring and evaluation (M&E). With IFAD's support, the Government should strengthen its M&E system both in terms of interventions on the ground and at the programme level (including impact assessment) and ensure that it is in line with the national M&E mechanisms of the National Secretariat for Planning and Development and local administrations. In view of the opportunity provided by the preparation of a new National Development Plan, the new programme supported by IFAD should include a tangible, credible results and impact management framework, with results at the programme level coordinated with results at the country level. It is also important to boost the M&E of grants with a view to taking the lessons learned on board, improving visibility and ensuring an efficient and effective contribution to the programme."
• Proposed follow-up action. Include the new M&E system in the new country strategy to be prepared.
• Timeframe for its implementation. Ongoing.
• Body/Bodies responsible for implementation. IFAD's LAC Division, and the Ministry of Finance and the National Secretariat for Planning and Execution for the Government of Ecuador.

Recommendation 6:

• Physical presence in the country. The CPE recognizes that the Fund's closer management, based on direct supervision and the presence of a liaison officer in Quito since 2008, has helped to improve the status of the portfolio and increase IFAD's visibility in Ecuador. Nevertheless, the CPE recommends that IFAD should step up its presence in the country,² in view of the high cost of managing the programme from Rome (see VII C, Programme management) and with the further aims of collaborating more actively with the Government on policy dialogue and knowledge management, and boosting the partnership with the Government and other donors. In dialogue with the Government, IFAD should consider the possibility of establishing the Programme Manager in Ecuador, or alternatively of managing the programme from a subregional hub.
• Proposed follow-up action. Since February 2013, the Programme Manager for Ecuador has being working from IFAD's Subregional Office in Lima.
• Timeframe for its implementation. Ongoing (already under way).
• Body/Bodies responsible for implementation. IFAD's LAC Division in coordination with the Government of Ecuador.

1/ The full Agreement at Completion Point is available online here

2/ IFAD appointed a new Programme Manager for Ecuador in February 2013. This new manager, who will also be responsible for IFAD's portfolios in Bolivia and Venezuela, works from IFAD's Subregional Office in Lima.