Ex-post evaluation of the North Gaza Emergency Sewage Treatment Plant Project – NGEST - Palestine
Context
The Gaza Strip is facing serious water issues: today, it is estimated that only 4% of the water withdrawn locally meets sanitary drinking water standards, a situation that can be directly attributed to the intrusion of sea water into the water table and the pollution of the latter by wastewater. Wastewater treatment, as well as its reuse, are therefore important levers to improve the water situation in Gaza by contributing to a sustainable and healthy recharge of the aquifers.
Through two financing agreements, the French Development Agency (AFD) contributed €16M to the North Gaza Emergency Sewage Treatment Plant (NGEST) project, completed in 2018. This project aimed to provide a long-term solution for wastewater management in the northern Gaza Strip by building a new wastewater treatment plant and infiltration basins.
Objective
As part of its ex-post evaluation mechanism, the AFD evaluates the projects and programs it finances once they are completed. This study aims to assess the extent to which the NGEST project has achieved its objectives, to identify the key factors that influenced its implementation, to estimate the impact that the AFD has had through the project, and to make recommendations for sustaining and enhancing the positive impacts of the project as well as for the implementation of future projects in the region.
Our contribution
Our team has conducted the following activities :
- Structuring the evaluation process :
- Definition of the main points to be examined
- Definition of evaluation criteria, key indicators, and their sources
- Conduct the evaluative analysis :
- Site visits and exchanges with various stakeholders (donors, beneficiaries, etc.)
- Establishment of the historical narrative of the project and identification of the main problems encountered, their sources, and the measures put in place
- Assessment of the project’s definition and implementation according to criteria of relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, sustainability and "added value" of AFD's intervention
- Conclusions and recommendations :
- Regarding the definition and technical, financial, and institutional implementation of the project
- Regarding the levers for improving the project’s sustainability and strengthening its positive impacts
- Regarding good practices and points of attention applicable to future projects in the region
Our team used its cross-disciplinary expertise in evaluation and sanitation in order to identify levers to strengthen impacts and sustainability of the project, and to propose good practices for the definition and implementation of future projects in the region.
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