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Cabo Verde -Country Strategy and Program Evaluation (2008-2017)

Date: 28/11/2018
Type: Country strategy and program evaluation
Sector(s): Agriculture & Agro-industry, Environment, Climate Change
Status: Completed

Between 2008 and 2017, the operations of the African Development Bank (AfDB or the Bank) in Cabo Verde amounted to approximately UA 210 Million (USD 297 Million), including grants provided by the African Water Facility, the Climate Investment Fund, the Middle-Income Countries Trust Fund, and the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa.

To inform the Bank’s new country strategy for Cabo Verde, IDEV undertook a country strategy and program evaluation which encompasses two Country Strategy Papers (CSPs): the CSP 2009-2012, extended to 2013, and the CSP 2014-2018. It examines questions such as: To what extent the specific interventions have been relevant to answer the needs of the country? To what extent sustainability issues were considered during the design of the strategy and its monitoring? And to what extent the AfDB strategy in Cabo Verde has been designed to promote Gender Equality and Social Inclusion? The evaluation covers 26 operations, primarily in the areas of governance (both budget support and institutional support projects, including the promotion of Public-Private Partnerships), infrastructure, agriculture/water management, environment, energy and statistics.

In terms of methodology, the evaluation was theory based and comprised three levels of assessment: the Bank’s strategy, the portfolio and the individual interventions. Overall, the Bank’s performance in Cabo Verde during 2008-2017 was rated satisfactory with respect to the relevance, effectiveness and sustainability of the strategy and individual interventions in the portfolio, and unsatisfactory with respect to efficiency. The evaluation noted that the Bank has been a reliable partner for the Government of Cabo Verde, providing a substantial and continuous source of financial and technical support for governance reforms and infrastructure development. Concerns were raised regarding the timeliness of the implementation of the infrastructure portfolio and the Trust Fund grants. The evaluation also provides valuable lessons and recommendations to the Bank for future engagement with other Middle-Income Countries and Small Island Developing States  to strengthen the support of the Bank to Cabo Verde for the future lending cycle.

Evaluation main findings

  1. Relevance: Overall, the Bank CSP was well aligned with national development priorities and AfDB corporate priorities, with the exception of regional integration.
  1. Effectiveness: The main strategic outputs of the Bank’s support were achieved. However, outcomes were more difficult to achieve for the three clusters (governance, infrastructure, agriculture/water management). In some cases, this is related to the weak synergies among pillars.
  1. Efficiency: Severe delays negatively affected the implementation of infrastructure operations. Likewise, the Trust Fund projects supporting governance and interventions addressing climate change mitigation, agriculture and water management were hampered by delays and implementation bottlenecks.
  1. Sustainability: The country strategies incorporated a good analysis of factors that would likely affect program sustainability but failed to implement sufficient mitigation measures.
  1. The Bank’s performance: Effective partnerships has been critical to the Bank’s support to Cabo Verde. Practically, all of the major infrastructure and water resource investments have leveraged Bank resources with those of other donors to meet investment’s financing requirements. The participation in multi-donor Budget Support Group and using PBOs are good practices for donor harmonization and to encourage national ownership to implement key reforms.

Evaluation main recommendations

  1. The Bank should continue to support government-led reforms aimed at boosting inclusive growth and fiscal sustainability, but this should be underpinned by a better understanding of binding constraints.
  1. The new CSP should identify ways to maximize synergies across the Bank’s strategy pillars.
  1. Strategic results should be agreed upon with the national authorities and be regularly tracked.
  1. The new strategy should put more emphasis on project quality and sustainability.
  1. Scale-up Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) interventions and reforms to boost employment and to make the growth process more inclusive.
  1. Make watershed management programs more sustainable by integrating agricultural value-chain development and mainstreaming climate change adaptation/ mitigation.
  1. Strengthening the Bank’s in-country presence for policy dialogue is encouraged, at least with a Portuguese-speaking focal point based in Praia.

Task Manager: Monica Lomena-Gelis

File(s): 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon Cabo Verde - Evaluation of the Bank's Country Strategy and Program 2008-2017.pdf2.38 MB
PDF icon Executive Summary Cabo Verde CSPE (En).pdf288.35 KB
PDF icon Approach paper CSPE Cabo Verde 8.8.2017.pdf1.27 MB