Ghana is the largest recipient of IFAD’s loans and grants in the West and Central Africa region. Compared with past results the performance of IFAD-funded portfolio in Ghana has improved according to most evaluation criteria. Highlights of the portfolio are institutional development, support to local governance and agriculture technology transfer. Project efficiency will however need to be strengthened as, in several cases, start up and implementation have been slow. Gaps and flaws in design, coupled with supervision by cooperating institutions and lack of an IFAD country presence until 2010, also contributed to efficiency problems.

IFAD-supported interventions have been active in fostering innovative approaches in Ghana. These have included products (e.g. new saving products adapted to lower-income clients), technology (e.g. disease-resistant roots and tuber varieties), and processes (e.g. matching grants, farmers’ field fora extension models, agricultural value chain approaches). Many of these innovations would have benefited from sufficient pilot testing or a more detailed foresight analysis prior to being scaled up. Also, IFAD’s past tendency to scale up innovations country-wide without involving other donors has led to the risk of IFAD’s limited resources being scattered geographically. The opening of an IFAD country office in 2011 with an outposted country programme manager can provide better opportunities for developing partnerships, including for scaling up successful innovations.