List of acronyms and abbreviations

Objectives and scope

Since 1990 a series of Country Portfolio Evaluations (CPEs) has been undertaken by the Office of Evaluation and Studies at the request of the Executive Board of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Ghana CPE is the sixth in this series and the first in Sub-Saharan Africa. IFAD's projects portfolio in Ghana is among the largest in the subregion. The first of six projects financed by the Fund, the Volta Region Agricultural Development Project (VORADEP), was approved in March 1980 and the last, the Upper West Agricultural Development Project (UWADEP), was approved in September 1995. IFAD has therefore more than 15 years of experience in programming, designing and implementing agriculture and rural development projects in Ghana specifically targeted to alleviate rural poverty.

The major objective of the Ghana CPE is to assess overall portfolio performance and to draw lessons from experience to improve the future programming of the Fund's intervention, the design and implementation of its poverty-alleviation projects and to the extent possible the performance of the Fund's current operations in Ghana. The main areas investigated by the CPE are: (i) the extent to which IFAD's strategy of intervention in Ghana and the projects designed thereafter responded to the changing socio-economic conditions and to the Government of Ghana's (GOG) policies and priorities; (ii) the performance of projects with respect to their specific objectives by main fields of intervention and major constraints encountered; and (iii) areas of successes in project design and implementation as well as shortcomings of the portfolio. On the basis of the analysis, a set of recommendations and lessons learned to strengthen the strategic and operational orientation of future IFAD involvement in Ghana, as well as project design and implementation, is given.

The main report (Volume I) starts with the presentation of the socio-economic and strategic context of project implementation (Chapters II and III) and the main features of IFAD operations in the country (Chapter IV). The remaining Chapters V to XI are organized by critical themes identified by the CPE which provide most effective lessons from experience to shape future Fund interventions. At the end of every chapter a specific set of conclusions and recommendations and to the extent possible project impacts are presented. Chapter XII synthesizes the overall recommendations of the CPE mission. This Executive Summary contains, in addition to highlights of the overall findings, a synthesis of the lessons learned. Volume II contains the various annexes of the CPE report.

Of the six IFAD-financed projects in Ghana, two are completed: VORADEP (1988) and the Smallholder Rehabilitation and Development Programme (SRDP) (December 1995). Five projects have been initiated by IFAD and only one (VORADEP) was initiated by the World Bank and cofinanced by the Fund on a joint basis. Of these five, only one the Upper-East Region Land Conservation and Smallholder Rehabilitation Project (LACOSREP) is cofinanced by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the remaining four are financed exclusively by the Fund. Total cost for the six projects amounts to USD 124 million of which IFAD's loan amounts to USD 71.6 million.