This section presents the recommendations based on the evaluation report (chapter VIII) that the Government of Mali and IFAD's management agreed to adopt and implement, following a specific timetable. It is an extract from the agreement at completion point signed by the parties in question.

According to IFAD's 2011 evaluation policy, the Independent Office of Evaluation has the task of facilitating preparation and finalization of the agreement at completion point to be included in the final report of the Mali CPE, without being a party to the actual signing of the agreement. The recommendations agreed by the Government of Mali and IFAD will be tracked in the President's Report on the Implementation Status of Evaluation Recommendations and Management Actions.  In addition, the ACP will be submitted to the Executive Board of IFAD as an annex along with the next project proposal.

Since March 2012, the political situation in Mali has been unstable, particularly in the north of the country, where Islamist and Tuareg rebels hold control. However, it is still volatile in the south, too, where it has proved hard to establish a transition government. In April 2012, a new interim government was installed. Certain bilateral donors and the European Union resumed emergency operations and some interventions in the south, while the main multilateral donors (the African Development Bank [AfDB] and the World Bank) are considering the conditions for a possible resumption. IFAD decided to use resources earmarked for projects in the north of the country (PIDRN and PIDRK) to fund action to support the local population (supply of seed and other inputs, restocking of community health centres) in collaboration with multilateral agencies and through NGOs.  Other IFAD projects are continuing their interventions in the south as normal.

Recommendation 1. IFAD and the Government should take advantage of this "forced pause" to define the thrusts of the new COSOP.  This evaluation highlights how important it is to take great care in preparing the COSOP in order to establish a consistent, well-structured programme. Given the limited resources allocated to preparing COSOPs, IFAD could use grants in order to ensure an adequate level of expertise in formulating the COSOP and a participatory preparation process. The following measures will be needed in order to revise and correct strategic orientations: Presentation in the COSOP of a diagnosis of the poverty situation and rural development opportunities (agricultural and non-agricultural), and a more thorough analysis of conflict-related risks and measures to reduce these risks.

Preparation of a plan for communication and policy dialogue activities, which should include in particular:

(i) experience gained in supporting local communities (for example, issues related to the responsibility for local development interventions and to those national norms that are ill-suited to fragile zones, and weakness in supervision of the ANICT);

(ii) lessons learned in involving grass-roots and umbrella organizations in project management and policy dialogue; and

(iii) issues connected with ensuring the sustainability of productive and environmental microprojects.

More weight to the south of the country in setting geographical priorities, and encouragement of more thematic approaches. This recommendation is justified not only by the recent crisis in the north of the country, but also by the prevalence of poverty and considerably greater population density in the south.

Proposed follow-up action

Pursuant to the recommendations of the evaluation and in view of the political crisis affecting Mali, a strategy document for the interim period was drawn up jointly and signed by IFAD and the Malian Government. The strategic thrusts established in this document are as follows: concentration of activities in the south of the country/interventions in northern regions as far as possible channelled through partners still active in these regions in order to help local inhabitants continue their activities and maintain their infrastructure.

Although there are no plans for a new COSOP, when the next IFAD project in Mali is being formulated, a diagnosis of the poverty situation and rural development opportunities (both agricultural and non-agricultural) will be presented, together with an analysis of conflict-linked risks and measures to reduce these risks.
Communication and policy dialogue aspects will be promoted by boosting the capacities of the Country Coordinating Office for IFAD Projects and Programmes (CNPPF) to fulfil its monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management, capitalization and communication functions.

Proposed timetable

The interim document signed jointly by the Government and IFAD is currently being implemented. When the conflict ends, it will be updated as indicated above during formulation of the next IFAD project.

Partners concerned

The Government of Mali, the CNPPF and IFAD.

Continuation of recommendation 1

It would be desirable for the portfolio to encompass interventions with a thematic or subsectoral focus, thus allowing a greater focus on structural aspects, reforms and policy dialogue. Moreover, in the case of conflict, this would allow the reallocation of activities and resources to zones where operations can continue in conditions of security. Taking into account the findings of the evaluation, the issues and subsectors that need special attention include rural finance, small-scale irrigation schemes, protection of natural resources and rangelands, basic infrastructure (see also below) and capacity-building for local communities, with a special focus on the economic integration and training of young people.

Greater involvement of other donors in financing basic infrastructure and services. IFAD's last two corporate-level strategic frameworks and the joint evaluation by the AfDB and IFAD in Africa have already pointed in this direction. Institutions such as the AfDB, the West African Development Bank (BOAD) and the European Union are active in financing transport and basic infrastructure. A more precise definition of the respective roles would mean that the experience of other donors with regard to infrastructure could be used to greater advantage and that IFAD's experience in agricultural development and rural poverty reduction could be optimized (see above).

More systematic involvement of private entrepreneurs and their professional organizations in programme activities, beginning with the project design phase but also during implementation. This also entails focusing right from the start on the economic viability of production activities and paying closer attention to processing, enhancement and marketing. At the same time, risks of a negative impact from the social (for example, land tenure issues) and environmental points of view must be taken into account before intervening.

Proposed follow-up action

The Government and IFAD's West and Central Africa Division totally subscribe to these recommendations. IFAD's portfolio in Mali has now been reorganized around the following two issues: (i) increasing agricultural productivity in a context of climate change; and (ii) providing rural inhabitants with appropriate financial services. A further issue selected for special attention is that of the professional training and employment of rural young people.

Proposed timetable

The new project focusing on the Integration of Young People into Agricultural and Rural Value Chains (FIER) will be developed in 2013 for start-up in 2014 so far as this is possible. All the financial resources available for the next three-year resource cycle will be allocated to this programme, which will focus solely on the south of the country to start with.

In 2013, a new source of funding will be available from IFAD: the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) Facility, intended to boost the resilience of smallholders and rural communities vulnerable to climate change. Recourse to the ASAP Facility will enable advances made under IFAD projects to be scaled up and action under PAPAM to be complemented by activities making it easier for smallholders and ecosystems to adapt to climate change.

Partners concerned

There are plans to expand the partner base at various levels: ministerial departments, with new lines of collaboration with the ministry responsible for employment, professional training and youth.  New technical and financial partners will also be associated with IFAD-supported programmes in Mali, especially the United States Agency for International Development, Netherlands Development Cooperation, the French Agency for Development and the Canadian International Development Agency. Under the FIER project, the private sector will be a particularly important partner in identifying needs in terms of skills and appropriate professional training. The AfDB and the OPEC Fund for International Development have been contacted with a view to cofinancing the programme, particularly for the installation of infrastructure.

Recommendation 2. Definition of an action plan for current operations.
With regard to operations in the south of Mali, the plan should focus on the institutional bottlenecks encountered during implementation of PAPAM in order possibly to review IFAD's contribution to this programme. For operations in the north (PIDRN and PIDRK), it would be appropriate, given the conflicts and the risks of misappropriation of resources, to plan for a definitive termination of these projects if the situation does not change within a clearly defined period.

Proposed follow-up action

A strategy linked to the crisis has been developed jointly by IFAD and the Malian Government. In line with the recommendations of the evaluation, it consists of concentrating actions in the south of the country, where current projects are being continued so far as possible.

With regard to projects in the north, at the end of 2012 the staff repatriated to Bamako will be reduced to a bare minimum, while retaining the skeleton teams needed to continue so far as possible to carry out actions in the north with certain reliable partners who are still active there (NGOs, the World Health Organization etc.). PIDRN and PIDRK are therefore not being concluded early, but in 2013 and 2014 respectively, as planned.

The new FIER project will intervene only in the regions of the south, and its expansion will be considered after resolution of the conflict, depending on the request of the Government, IFAD's added value and the identification of complementary resources.

Proposed timetable

This set-up is already in place. In the medium term, the resumption of interventions in the north will be considered after the conflict has been resolved and will depend on the priorities set by the new government and IFAD's added value. Projects running until 2018 will benefit from additional funding, so that their activities can be expanded into the northern regions. The project for young people, which will focus initially on the south of the country, can then be complemented with a component specifically for the north with additional funding when the political situation allows.

Partners concerned

IFAD, the Government of Mali, the CNPPF and technical and financial partners.

Recommendation 3. Improvement in the management system at the programme level.
This evaluation recommends:

Boosting of the management and monitoring system at the country programme (strategic) level. A common logical frame of reference needs to be developed, within which the respective contributions of each project can be measured and evaluated, and which would be integrated into a harmonized monitoring and evaluation system. This also requires a greater involvement of IFAD, the Government and other partners in Mali in the regular monitoring and annual review of strategy; examples from other countries indicate that this requires the allocation of sufficient resources.

Dedication of more attention to analysis and capitalization, and to consolidation of the experience of IFAD projects, in order to discuss and share them with development partners and provide input to policy dialogue based on concrete experience.

Improvement in the effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation systems for individual projects by strengthening their methodology (particularly for impact studies) and monitoring of the quality of activities and their costs (anticipated and actual), by allocating the necessary human and financial resources and support to national monitoring capacities in collaboration with other donors.

A better match between objectives and human and financial resources among: IFAD headquarters, the IFAD country office and the National Programme and Project Coordination Unit within the Ministry of Agriculture, so as to take account of the priorities described below.

Proposed follow-up action

IFAD has already stepped up its efforts to support implementation of the portfolio, particularly through direct supervision, which was started in 2008. A country office was opened in 2012 to facilitate the task of supervision, capitalization and participation in policy dialogue. Its establishment was accompanied by a joint IFAD-Government reflection in order to define the respective tasks of the CNPPF and the new IFAD country office. Implementation of this mechanism and its improvement will be continued. This will make it easier to move from a project approach to a programme approach, in which the various activities financed by loans and grants will be linked and coordinated. Economies of scale will be sought in order to reduce the size and, if possible, the number of project coordination units.

Particular efforts will be made to be more efficient in monitoring and evaluating the programme and to move definitively from a project approach to a programme approach, which will be harmonized on the basis of the model developed under PIDRN. Institutional innovations will be sought in order to increase programme clarity and visibility, especially through implementation of a communication strategy and recruitment of an officer responsible for communication.

In the context of ASAP funding, an officer responsible for monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management and capitalization will be recruited in order to supervise aspects linked to adaptation to climate change.

Proposed timetable

These activities are already under way and will be stepped up during the coming year.

Partners concerned

IFAD, the Government of Mali, all projects and the CNPPF are concerned by this development.

Signed by:
Mr Baba BERTE
Minister for Agriculture of the
Republic of Mali

Date: 20 March 2013

H.E. Yaya N. Tamboura
Commissioner for Food Security of the
Republic of Mali

Date: 8 March 2013

Kevin Cleaver
Associate Vice President
Programme Management Department
IFAD

Date: 28 March 2013