Evaluation of AFD's interventions in water and sanitation (2003-2015) and their participation in the sustainability of the sector (Multi-Country)
Context
The French Development Agency (AFD) has formalized its intervention strategy into a Water and Sanitation Sectoral Intervention Framework (called CIS). Its main objective is to define operational strategies for the implementation of projects in the countries where it operates.
Given the lack of governance in the drinking water and sanitation sector, the fragility of reforms and the importance of regulatory mechanisms in the management of these services, the AFD has chosen to prioritize institutions, by providing support for the definition and implementation of clear, effective, and inclusive sectoral frameworks.
In order to encourage beneficiaries and final recipients to improve their sectoral framework, the AFD notably uses conditionalities linked to its different financing modalities.
Objective
The objective of this mission is to assess how AFD-financed projects contribute to improving water and sanitation sectoral frameworks, in particular whether the conditionalities (suspensive conditions and specific commitments) attached to AFD financing contribute to improving the financial sustainability of the sector.
The evaluation covers 56 water and sanitation projects in 23 countries in 5 different geographical areas (East Africa-Indian Ocean, West Africa, North Africa, Middle East, and South-East Asia), financed by the AFD over the period 2003-2015.
Our contribution
Our team has carried out the following activities:
- Frame the evaluation method based on an outcome mapping, to help develop and learn project management practices,
- Identify which conditionalities come under one of the sectoral framework improvement actions, and identify which actions come under each conditionality,
- Collect answers from project managers to evaluative questions that characterize the impact of these conditionalities on the improvement of the sectoral framework, regarding the OECD DAC analysis criteria: intervention logic, relevance of the levers used, effectiveness, efficiency, impacts, sustainability, and strategic coherence,
- Conduct three field visits to Morocco, Burkina Faso, and Tanzania to gather beneficiaries' opinions on AFD's intervention strategy in their country,
- Make recommendations on AFD's intervention strategies.
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