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

1/ See Section D below.

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.