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Determining Factors of Project Implementation Performance
In 1991, the Executive Board decided that Country Portfolio Evaluations (CPEs) should be carried out in countries where a substantial number of projects have been financed by IFAD. The first CPE was undertaken in Yemen towards the end of 1991, followed by Sudan (1992), Bangladesh (1993) and Pakistan (1994). Except for the latter, the CPEs have been reviewed by the Evaluation Committee of the Executive Board. These four CPEs which cover a total of 44 projects, most of them initiated by the Fund, are proving to be a useful instrument for enhancing dialogue between IFAD and concerned Governments.
Project Management and the ability of national institutions to follow-up, once the loans are closed, have been a problematic area for most IFAD-financed projects. This is partly because projects designed for the rural poor tend to be complex and partly because most governmental or semi-governmental implementing agencies lack the kind of motivation and organizational capacity that is necessary for working with poor rural communities.
Some of the practical lessons which emerge from IFAD's attempts at solving these issues may be summarized as follows:
- Projects with a sharp focus either on a clearly defined group of beneficiaries or on a specific purpose or type of activity combined with a substantial management support component have performed better than average.
- Project managers are the key to success but generally lack adequate authority, managerial skills and continuity in their assignments. Implementation effectiveness is enhanced when managers appointments are transparent and based on merit , when training enhances managerial skills, and when the release of project resources is linked to actual progress made by implementing institutions. This implies that monitoring systems are oriented to serve management.
- well thought-of communication and participatory monitoring activities built into project design lead to a higher level of responsiveness of implementing agencies to intended beneficiaries' views;
- Experience has shown the difficulties to set up or use parallel non-governmental or community-based organizations, for project implementation. However, when possible, the involvement of NGOs and grass root organizations in the projects has been a critical factor of success particularly when adequate project resources were allocated to group formation and training;
At the same time the tendency of successful NGOs to become very large should be monitored, otherwise they might attract most of the disadvantages of a large bureaucratic organization. There is therefore a great potential in linking small or medium sized NGOs with formal governmental institutions. The success of such an approach depends on the readiness of the government concerned, as the sovereign borrower, to pass on resources to rural communities, through these NGOs rather than through the line departments and to overcome the reluctance of line departments to allow such channelling of funds to non-governmental organizations.
