Transcript Slide 1

INTERIM REPORT
Prepared and presented by
Mohammed Ahmed
Introduction
• The West and Central Africa Division views
effective project implementation as the
foundation of its efforts to achieve impact and
sustainability.
• the 5th Regional Project Implementation
Workshop in was organised in Dakar, Senegal,
from 8 to 11 November 2010
PARTICIPANTS
• A cross-section of stakeholders
(285)
–loan and grant project staff,
–government officials,
–farmers’ organization and NGO
leaders, private sector,
– cooperating institutions, and IFAD
staff.
MAIN THEME
• “Value Chains for
Opportunities and Growth:
What Role for IFAD funded
Projects?”
• was decided by the projects
following a survey in July
2010.
MAIN OBJECTIVES
• To clarify the evolution of IFAD’s strategic
focus and operational approaches to its
projects and to other partners;
• To develop shared understanding and
approaches amongst IFAD project staff, IFAD
staff and other stakeholders regarding the
value chain approach
• ; and
• review progress in achieving the targets laid
out in the Accra Action Plan of December
2010 and utilizing lessons learnt, develop
measurable follow-up 2011 Action, and
Supervision Plans for improving project
implementation.
WORKSHOP APPROACH
Varied methods including lectures,
panel discussions, small group
discussions culminating in plenary
sessions and field visits related to
value chain
Welcome and Introduction of
workshop objectives
• The Director of the host project, PRODAM
gave the welcome address in which he
expressed his satisfaction to the fact that the
workshop theme emerge from the projects
themselves
• The UNDP resident representative indicated that the
outputs of the IFAD projects in Senegal are very
satisfactory and there deserved to be amplified to
better responded to the Government policy for food
security
• The IFAD Director for West and Central Africa indicated
that the main lesson drawn by IFAD projects in the
region shows that rural population are capable of
reversing the negative tenders such as food security,
unemployment and urban emigration oif the youth and
developing sustainable economic alternatives where
favorable establishments are put in place
• The Senegalese Minister of Agriculture who
chaired the opening ceremony praised the
cooperation between IFAD and Senegal which has
been developed in the 1990s with 14 approved
projects to the tune of 235 millions US dollars
• West Africa Rural Foundation Executive Director
took participants through the programme
dynamics and the logistical arrangements
OVERVIEW OF CONTEXT, POLICIES
AND STRATEGIES (Director WCA)
• The West and Central region has
great potentials for growth such
as :
– Improve political stability – less conflict
– Existence of Large urban market
– Reduction in dependency on food imports
– Processing of crops on the increase
– Increasing support for Agric by all partners
• But it faces challenges such as:
–Under utilization of the irrigation area
potential (only 5% under irrigation)
–Less than 5% save or borrow from RFI
–Bureaucracy and high unofficial cost
An evolving role for IFAD in WCA
Moving from (but not away from)
strengthening collective action in poor rural areas through CDD
to…
helping smallholders and rural poor to sustainably escape
poverty by becoming competitive providers of goods and
services in supply chains
while…
ensuring stability and sustainability of production systems in
context of climate change – particularly in Sahara-Sahel zone
This is reflected in what IFAD do
• Strengthening farmer organizations, financial
services, seeds and fertilizer access, and
infrastructure to support value chains – for staple
crops for local markets and and cash crops for export
and biofuels
• Continuing to support community-based
organizations to ensure voice and participation of
poor and vulnerable in economic opportunities
• Innovating and scaling up NRM and climate
adaptation through re-greening, better livestock
management, micro-irrigation, local renewable
energy
And how IFAD work
• Decentralizing to better serve projects and support
sector policies (CAADP investment plans)
– 4 subregional hubs with CPMs and CPOs – Dakar, Yaounde,
Accra, Brazzaville
– In addition, 6 country offices with CPOs – Nigeria, Burkina
Faso, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Togo
– Regional services – WCA Regional Gender Specialist in
Dakar and financial assistants in all four hubs
• Strengthened regional team to support CPMTs with
COSOPs, lending, supervision and implementation
support and grants
Immediate challenges for IFAD and
project
• Rapid mobilization of financing and cofinancing
• Increasing disbursements but ensuring that
we:
– Disburse with integrity (proct and fin. Mgmt)
– Disburse with quality (technical partners and
participation)
– Disburse with results (M&E)
Some Key Challenges Going Forward…
• Assessing markets – better quality identification of
opportunities and constraints using value chain and
other tools
• Balancing market opportunities with support to the
poorest
• Public-Private Partnerships – expanding role of
private sector in projects (financing, inputs, technical
support) while ensuring benefits for IFAD target
group
• Building the future of agriculture – farming as an
attractive business for young people
Vision of IFAD in WCA in 2020
• IFAD staff based in every country in WCA with
decentralized regional support in hubs
• Broader range of financing options to work with both
public and private sector
• Key agency linking farmer organizations and
governments with local and international investors
• Preferred partner for those who care about
smallholder- gender-, youth- and environmental
friendly approaches to agricultural development
VALUE CHAIN
• Panel Discussion- Learning and exchanges on the
challenges, successes and modalities for integrating value
chains into operations
– Innovation to increase productivity or improve quality of a
commodity or service to satisfy end users demand.
(technology or institutional)
– Governance- decrease transaction cost and improve on
conducive institutional environment for private public
partnership
– Beside the price, buyers in value chain approach consider
factors like supply, packaging , quality of the items
– Capacity building of the actors of the value chain will lead to
increase the negotiation capacity of the rural producers and
will to lead to a win-win situation between the buyers and the
sellers
• Parallel Sessions to discuss linkages between
Value Chain and
• Rural Enterprises, Professionalization of
organisations, Financing modules and
modalities and Good Governance
Financing modes and modalities
Group
Lessons learnt: Challenges facing microfinance
• Limited range of financial products and services to
support agri-business
• Low profit margin in some agricultural enterprises
• Huge financial requirement associated with value chain
infrastructure – often beyond the scope of
microfinance institutions and their capital base.
• Complexities in the lending industry and sustainability
• Monitoring and evaluation of programmes effort for
those working through capacity building of MFIs
institutions could be challenging while gender
mainstreaming could pose a challenge a well.
Professional organizations
• Professional organization emanated from rural farmers
• Capacity building is a important dimension of farmer
organization development
• State governments should provide an abiling environment
who would recognize farming as a profession
• Contracting is a key factor of the professionalization
• Farmers organization should obey the biding rules and
regulations
• The development of professional organizations of women
and youth specialized in processing and marketing of
produces is the key to professionalization
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
• Integration of value chain approach in national
and regional agricultural policy
• Creation of policy dialogue mechanism where
different actors will discuss and exchange their
views on how to operationnalise the value chain
approach
• Importance of standards for marketing of
agriculture produce
• Establishment of a fund to promote the small
rural entrepreneurship
GOOD GOVERNANCE
• Establishment of regional projects to promote
some commidities with vigourous action plans
• The projects and programmes should
implement market information in their
intervention area for information
dissemination using telephone, TV, radio
• Governments should play a regulatory role
rather then been a actor
LESSONS AND CHALLENGES OF
PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION IN WCA
• 5 projects in Liberia, Nigeria, Sao Thome,
Guinea and Congo at different levels of
project implementation outlined some of the
challenges they are encountering
• Key among them are as follows:
ASRP -Liberia
• Inadequate community Involvement
• Problem of staff recruitment
• Delay in disbursement – missed the
main farming season
• Logistical problems
CBNRM-ND Nigeria
• Challenges in original design- assumption of
25% funding by the states (Killer assumption)
• Complex institutional Arrangements, too
many agencies involved eg 13 monitoring per
year by different agencies
• Counterpart funding- contribution of states
linked to IFAD release of funds
• Challenges in WA preparation
PAPAFPA - Sao Tomé
• Delays due to stringent procurement
procedures
• Island nature of the country, no ground link
only by sea
• High cost of materials due to limited suppliers
• Low level of human resource
• Lack of salary policy - no incentive, not
attractive to the youth
PNAAFA -Guinea
• No involvement of peasant farmers in
policy design/ formulation (COSOP)
• Problems of counterpart funding
• No sustainability
South PRODER – Congo
• Frequent changes in the project Team
• Difficulty in getting to the field
MAIN CONCLUSIONS OF PORTFOLIO
PERFORMANCE REVIEW ( June 2009July 2010)
Key Accomplishments Stand Out
Taking over of 96% of the portfolio under Direct Supervision
• Two supervision / implementation support missions per project per year
Significant reduction in the disbursement lag from 47% to 12%
• More than USD 340 million (43%) disbursed out of USD 800 million
• 540 withdrawal applications processed
Sustainability of the portfolio stands at over 86%
• 31 out of 55 projects moderately satisfactory or satisfactory
• Sustainable impact, results and continuity
Total arrears in WCA reduced by more than 24%
• Reduced from USD 51.9 million to USD 39.3 million
• Resumption in Liberia, Central African Republic and Togo
41 Projects are “Not-at-Risk” and therefore 85%
Overall Best Implementation Progress
Country
Project Name
PBAS Project
Rating
2010
Scores
2009
Scores
%
Change
Senegal
MATAM 2
Not at risk
105
94
11%
Niger
PPILDA
Not at risk
100
99
1%
Cape Verde
PLPR
Not at risk
99
93
6%
Gambia, The Rural Finance Project
Not at risk
97
101
-4%
Ghana
Rural Enterprise Project II
Not at risk
96
91
5%
Mauritania
Oasis Sustainable Dev.
Not at risk
96
96
0%
Remaining Challenges
M&E
• 38% considered unsatisfactory
Disbursement Rates
• 35% considered unsatisfactory
Audit Reports
• 35% not received on time
Qualified Audit Report
• 20% with major financial issues
Actual Problem Project
• 15% poor financial management
Key Actions being taken to Improve
Performance
Simple
Rigorous
• Design simpler projects (fewer components), minimising risks in
civil strife countries; and
• Simpler coordinated implementation arrangements.
• More rigorous supervision and implementation support including
customized training program for IFAD staff and projects.
Aggressive
• More aggressive restructuring and closing of projects which do
not take actions to improve.
Increase
• Increased partnerships with local and bilateral institutions with
demonstrated ability to obtain results in difficult countries.
To Conclude…
Continued pro-activity in the following:
Dynamic and proactive management at country level: strengthening and
using CPMT; better management of country teams; capacity building (at IFAD
and project level); coordinated approach with partners.
Implementation is as key as design: good COSOP and design, with
monitored implementation and support – assurance of implementation
readiness for successful project. Priority now: good work planning and
budgeting, procurement planning.
Direct supervision and systematic implementation support and continuous
follow-up of project activities with one main outcome: achieving RI (results and
impact)!
METHODOLOGY AND TOOLS FOR
PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
• M&E
– Set up M&E Teams and manuals before
commencement of projects
– Capitalise on Existing data to avoid re-inventing
the wheel
– WCA to or anise forum and training sessions for
Project management
• Scaling up
–Develop a methodological guide
for Successful practices
–Need for political will and existence
of Institutional capacity
• Disbursement
– Procurement Plan should be related to AWP
• Decentralisation
– Create financial autonomy
– Much Support from the hub and not from the
centre
– Legal service aagreement to describe the
relationship between IFAD offices and UNDP