Extract of the Agreement at Completion Point

This section presents the recommendations based on the evaluation report (chapter VIII) that the Government of Madagascar and IFAD Management agreed to adopt and implement according to a specific timeframe. It is extracted from the Agreement at Completion Point signed between the parties.

In line with IFAD's 2011 evaluation policy, the Independent Office of Evaluation (IOE) is responsible for facilitating the preparation and finalization of the Agreement at Completion Point that will be included in the final Madagascar Country Programme Evaluation (CPE), without itself taking part in the signature of the agreement. The recommendations agreed upon by the Government of Madagascar and IFAD will be tracked through the President's Report on the Implementation Status of Evaluation Recommendations and Management Action. The agreement at completion point will also be presented to the IFAD Executive Board as an annex to the new country strategic opportunities programme for Madagascar (COSOP).

Recommendation 1. Continuation and fine-tuning of three strategic thrusts: (i) support for devolution and decentralization; (ii) popularization of agricultural techniques; and (iii) value chain approaches

In terms of institutional priorities, the new COSOP should continue to support devolution and decentralization. This entails continued support for the regional structures anticipated by the Agricultural Sector Programme (regional agricultural development funds, agricultural service centres), the progressive regionalization of project management structures, and devolved State technical services. However, it will be equally important to stress the development of partnerships with rural communities in order to support capacity-building so that they can assume responsibility for the planning of local development.

With regard to intervention thrusts, it will be important to continue support for the popularization of improved agricultural techniques (especially intensive and improved rice systems), which is a national priority in view of the low productivity of Malagasy agriculture. The promising results of certain grants and supplementary funds (for example SCAMPIS, INBAR and PARECAM) suggest that grant activities should be better integrated into the country programme, by mobilizing a package of specific grants to the country.

The evaluation recommends continuing agricultural value chain approaches, avoiding less effective mechanisms (for example market access centres), laying more stress on contractualized agriculture and involving traders and private entrepreneurs more fully from the start (i.e. during the project formulation phase), so as to boost synergy among agricultural production, processing and marketing.

Proposed follow-up

The National Roundtable Workshop on the Madagascar CPE was followed immediately by the Inception Workshop for formulation of the new COSOP (2014-2018), so that the strategic orientations flowing from the three main thrusts indicated could be taken into account when starting the formulation process. In addition, inasmuch as a scaling-up action has just been carried out as a result of the previous COSOP, several of the lessons learned resonate with the need to adopt these strategic orientations advocated by the IOE, including the development of partnerships with rural communes at the value chain basin and agricultural production pole levels. Greater involvement of the main stakeholders in the development of agricultural, livestock and fishery value chains will be sought. Contractualized agriculture will in particular be promoted by mobilizing farmers' organizations and agricultural cooperatives. Priority will continue to be given to investment in human capital and the empowerment of rural stakeholders so that they can make the best use of infrastructure.

Moreover, IFAD Madagascar is one of the main partners supporting finalization of the national document of the Agriculture, Livestock and Fishery Sectoral Programme (PSAEP), carried out according to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) process, under which producers (through the Chamber of Agriculture and umbrella farmers' organizations) and the private sector are involved from the very start, in order to boost synergy among agricultural production, processing and marketing. It will be one of the documents on which the new COSOP will be aligned. Support to the private sector and regional structures, together with regionalization of its investment programme, are major orientations of the PSAEP with which the new COSOP must seek greater synergy.

The new COSOP will be designed with a focus on scaling up. Given the intention to prioritize the value chain approach, reflections are already under way to broaden and intensify the scope not only of the model of contractualization between market operators and agricultural enterprise clusters (farmers' organizations/market operators), but also of agricultural development poles. Assessment of progress on the development of value chains (agriculture, livestock and fisheries) will enable the confirmation/completion of those that need priority promotion. Support for the popularization of improved techniques (farmer field schools and technology demonstration and extension centres) will remain a major intervention thrust, in view of the very promising results obtained under various projects.

Proposed timetable
The draft of the new COSOP should be available in the first half of 2014.

Partners concerned
the Preparation and Monitoring Committee for the new COSOP, the IFAD country office, CAPFIDA, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Livestock, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, the Ministry of Finance and Budget, the Ministry of Trade and the ministry responsible for planning.

Recommendation 2. Environmental protection and adaptation to climate change as cross-cutting activities in the strategy and in operations.

If the cross-cutting issue of the environment is to be taken into fuller consideration, it will be important to follow IFAD's strategy in this connection and take measures in terms of partnerships, particularly by (i) establishing a strategic partnership with the ministry responsible for the environment and (ii) stepping up coordination and the sharing of experience with the main donors involved in catchment area management (for example the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the French Development Agency) in order to incorporate this approach into IFAD-supported interventions. Planning at the catchment basin level is not feasible with IFAD's financial resources alone, but would be possible through partnerships with other donors.
Greater coordination between grants and loans would also highlight (i) soil and water conservation measures and (ii) the sustainable development of non-wood products (for example bamboo and rattan) for craftwork and building, drawing for example on lessons from the experience of the INBAR grant and the grant approved for the Indian Ocean Commission.

Proposed follow-up

On the one hand, the Strategic Environmental Evaluation carried out by the Environment and Climate Division in 2012 is a major "first", and recommendations have already been made and will be incorporated into the new COSOP. Nevertheless, updating will be needed in order to take account of the formulation process under way, with a view to proposing contextualized and operationally viable actions. On the other hand, a document containing the National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change for the Agricultural Sector (including Livestock and Fisheries) has already been developed with the support of the IFAD Madagascar office and is now awaiting finalization/official adoption. This national document is being taken into account in the PSAEP/CAADP and will provide a frame of reference to be combined with IFAD's specific strategy through the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP). Moreover, the scaling-up action carried out jointly by CAPFIDA and the IFAD country office has allowed identification of various good practices that have proved effective under projects, helping small farmers to react through multiple adaptation approaches to natural resource management, land-use management, at the level of grassroots communities. Lastly, various partners are already working together on the issue of climate change, including the Ministry of the Environment and Forests, which is the lead agency. Contact with working groups (Climate Change Thematic Groups [CCTGs] and REDD+) will be continued and stepped up, and closer, beneficial contacts will be pursued with the GEF and other projects not funded by IFAD.

Proposed timetable
The environmental dimension will be taken into account during the formulation process for the new COSOP, while continuing actions already being carried out in the field by projects currently under way. The timeframe fixed is the first half of 2014.
Partners concerned
The Preparation and Monitoring Committee for the new COSOP, the IFAD country office, CAPFIDA, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Livestock, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, the Ministry of the Environment and Forests, the core unit of the PSAEP/CAADP, CCTGs and other partners, including NGOs specializing in climate change adaptation.

Recommendation 3. Setting the long-term sustainability of benefits at the heart of the programme

The innovative character of IFAD projects and their focus on inaccessible zones and on the poorest and most vulnerable groups means that they have tended to take off slowly and then pick up speed during the final two or three years of their implementation. This does not always allow the benefits to be consolidated. It is vital in the next COSOP to anticipate a strategy to consolidate benefits (for example in the case of PPRR and AD2M) through selective support initiatives (i.e. financing follow-up only for components that show good results) and a more realistic timeframe for new projects (for example ten rather than six years, in view of the difficulties of getting under way). This concerns rice growing and small-scale irrigation, but also cash crop value chains and multiservice one-stop shops to support enterprises.

Proposed follow-up

The scaling-up exercise resulting from the last COSOP also showed that the withdrawal strategy currently in use (Asset and Knowledge Transfer Programme) can be expanded into a programme to ensure the long-term sustainability of benefits. This programme should be planned when designing projects and be launched mid-way through the project, at the earliest. With regard to projects nearing completion, specific evaluations will be carried out to identify the challenges in making the benefits permanent, critical activities and priorities concerning the consolidation of benefits. Depending on the situation of the individual project, the results of this evaluation will determine its performance and consistency with the next COSOP and whether it should receive additional consolidation financing or else start on the process of preparing a second scaling-up phase.

The relatively weak coverage (at the district level) in certain intervention regions of projects nearing completion does not for the moment provide a critical density or mass that could lead to a visible change at the regional level. The consolidation of benefits at this stage of projects could, as in the case of AD2M, be advantageously combined with the scaling up, through geographical expansion, of application of the agricultural enhancement model tested, confirmed and ready to be replicated. The remaining time will allow an evaluation of as yet unexploited opportunities and sustainability issues, and also the development of a possible extension project in the same regions, or even beyond but in similar zones or potential production poles.

For new projects, formulation and planning will necessarily take account of the time and other factors essential in order to ensure the sustainability of the benefits gained from IFAD's actions in Madagascar. Thus the FORMAPROD programme that has just been launched is already planned to cover a ten-year period, so as to overcome the constraints on sustainability inherent in a shorter project cycle and also allow time for action to revitalize agricultural training and boost rural enterprises to be successful.

Proposed timetable: in-depth examination of the withdrawal strategy with regard to the sustainability of benefits and analysis of options for the consolidation/scaling up of current projects will follow the preparation cycle for the new COSOP, so that these tasks should be finalized by the first half of 2014.
Partners concerned: the Preparation and Monitoring Committee for the new COSOP, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Livestock, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, the Ministry of Finance and Budget, the IFAD country office, CAPFIDA, IFAD-financed projects currently under way.

Recommendation 4. Better definition of the respective roles of CAPFIDA and the IFAD office in Madagascar in supporting the portfolio, non-lending activities and monitoring of the COSOP

It will be important to define the respective roles of CAPFIDA and the IFAD country office in increasing detail in an ongoing process. It will be best not to overburden the IFAD office with administrative duties, but to focus more on its role of strategic guidance in non-lending activities and involvement in subregional activities in order to obtain a better understanding of experiences and disseminate information on them (regional grants, sharing of experience among countries). It is recommended that the experience of CAPFIDA and its financing should be shared and discussed within IFAD's Financial Operations Department as an example of an instrument to support implementation of the country programme and non-lending activities. IFAD will also have to prepare for the out-posting of the Country Programme Manager to Antananarivo.

In this context, it is also desirable to incorporate the monitoring of non-lending activities and grants into the monitoring activities of the COSOP and the SEGS/ZARAFIDA system.

Proposed follow-up

With regard to CAPFIDA, its tasks and status should be updated in order to ensure that they are distinct from but complementary to those of the IFAD country office. Here it will be particularly a case of maintaining flexibility and fluidity in its activities in order to guarantee a prompt response to requests. With regard to its institutional position, it will be located within the Ministry of Agriculture. Reflection on the reorganization of CAPFIDA has already started within the body, and the process will be continued, particularly in the context of activities concerning the institutional set-up, as anticipated during formulation of the next COSOP carried out by the IFAD country office, which will seek to establish a clear division of roles and responsibilities in order to improve synergy and increase the overall performance of these two structures. IFAD will encourage sharing and discussion of the experience of CAPFIDA within the Fund's Financial Operations Department.

The amalgamation of the monitoring of non-lending activities (knowledge management, policy dialogue and partnership development) and that of grants will enrich the mechanism and tools of the SEGS/ZARAFIDA system. Given the particular nature of these activities, which focus particularly on the quality of results, a special framework for their monitoring will need to be designed. New tools will also be developed, put in place and used to ensure effective monitoring of implementation of non-lending activities.

Proposed timetable
The reorganization of CAPFIDA will take until the end of 2013.
Partners concerned
The Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance and Budget, the IFAD country office and CAPFIDA.
Recommendation 5. In the short and medium term, special attention to two operations (AROPA, FORMAPROD)
These two operations entail certain risks that should be dealt with as soon as possible through a review of their implementation, or indeed their design. In the case of AROPA, it could prove necessary to reconsider the project's approach through a clearer definition of the various objectives and support mechanism for: (i) farmers' organizations and their umbrella organizations in the poorest communities; (ii) the chamber of agriculture; and (iii) the institutions anticipated by the Agricultural Sector Programme (regional agricultural development funds and agricultural service centres).

In the case of FORMAPROD, it will be necessary to support preparations for implementation and establish a solid management team at the central level (rather than delegating management to other project teams that are not involved with agricultural training). It will be important to continue and step up collaboration with partners with proven technical experience in agricultural training (for example the French Development Agency, the Island of Reunion and other partners yet to be identified), carry out a study of successful initiatives in the same sphere in Sub-Saharan Africa or elsewhere, and organize exchange visits.

Proposed follow-up

Following the monitoring mission in November 2012, the AROPA project has already made considerable progress on improving its internal organization and fine-tuning its implementation approaches. The project result framework is currently being revised to provide greater consistency and clarity in its intervention rationale and coordination among the various objectives and support mechanisms put in place. The organizational chart has already been revised to clarify roles and improve internal effectiveness. A chart showing how roles and responsibilities are to be divided will be drawn up with the various partners involved. This task is all the more important in that it is a major element in the project withdrawal strategy.

The FORMAPROD programme is one of the financing tools for the revitalization of agricultural and rural training as defined in the National Agricultural and Rural Training Strategy. An institutional organization has recently been established to carry out this revitalization. It encompasses not only the Ministry of Agriculture, but also the Ministries of Livestock, Fisheries, the Environment and Forests, Handicrafts, Technical Teaching and Professional Training; and the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for mobilizing and coordinating it. A support mission under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture and supported by FORMAPROD will examine: (i) the organizational and institutional issues currently being raised by the Ministry of Agriculture and its partners; (ii) fine-tuning and clarification of the division of the various actors' roles; and (iii) boosting of the national and regional-level management mechanisms for FORMAPROD, which should enable it to provide effective coordination and thus guarantee achievement of the objectives set, and also the consistency and visibility of FORMAPROD itself. In addition, discussions and collaboration with institutions experienced in the sphere of agricultural training through the various partnerships already established will continue and be boosted by collaboration with other bodies (UNESCO, the French Development Agency, the International Agricultural and Rural Training Network etc.).
Proposed timetable: end 2013.
Partners concerned
The Ministry of Agriculture, the IFAD country office, CAPFIDA, the National Agricultural and Rural Training Council, all IFAD-financed projects, the National Chamber of Agriculture, the Agricultural and Rural Training Service of the Ministry of Agriculture.