Member's Documents
Evaluation of the Quality at Entry of African Development Bank Group Operations (2013-2017)
Published by: Independent Development Evaluation, African Development Bank
The evaluation responds to persistent challenges that have been observed over the years with respect to QaE, which have lessened the impact of the Bank’s operations. The evaluation used a mixed-methods design that was both formative and theory-based. Evaluation findings drew from several sources of information (document reviews, interviews of Bank staff, clients and comparator institutions, site visits) and applied both qualitative and quantitative analytical methods. The evaluation team also developed an innovative tool which represents an evidencebased standard for QaE based on the best practices of comparator organizations and which can predict the likelihood of projects achieving their expected outcomes.
The evaluation revealed that the existing Bank QaE tools for sovereign operations do not distinguish projects based on their likely performance, and that the existing procedural framework for QaE does not systematically assess some of the crucial contextual factors such as the capacity of the borrower’s project implementation unit. In regards to NSOs, the Bank’s conceptual framework for QaE is aligned with those of comparators on many aspects except on evaluability and the effect of NSOs on private sector development. Other challenges were observed with respect to differentiating projects on the basis of risk, mechanisms for contestability, independence and verification, and the Bank's enabling environment for QaE. A number of recommendations were made to the Bank that touched upon the review processes and tools for quality assurance; member country readiness; planning and budgeting; business development; staff capacity; incentives and resources; and credit as well as corporate governance risk of NSOs.
