PROJECT EVALUATION People's Republic of China West Guangxi Poverty-Alleviation Project International Fund for Completion Evaluation Agricultural Development Via Paolo di Dono, 44 00142 Rome, Italy Tel: +39 06 54592048 September 2010 Fax: +39 06 54593048 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.ifad.org/evaluation IFAD Office of Evaluation Bureau de l’évaluation du FIDA Oficina de Evaluación del FIDA Document of the International Fund for Agricultural Development People’s Republic of China West Guangxi Poverty-Alleviation Project Completion Evaluation September 2010 Report No. 2200-CH Photo on cover page: Soil improvement. The comparison of project with county achievements reveals that the relative contribution of the project was highest in terms of areas improved by irrigation schemes and soil management techniques . Source: Ernst Schaltegger People’s Republic of china West Guangxi Poverty-Alleviation Project Loan No. 552-CN Completion Evaluation Table of Contents Currency Equivalent iii Weights and Measures iii Abbreviations and Acronyms iii Map of the Project Area v Map of the Project Area – Close Up vii Foreword ix Acknowledgements xi Executive Summary xiii Agreement at Completion Point xix I. EVALUATION OBJECTIVES, METHODOLOGY AND PROCESSES 1 A. Methodology and Processes 1 II. COUNTRY AND SECTOR BACKGROUND 2 A. The Economy 2 B. Policies 4 III. PROJECT BACKGROUND 6 A. Location, Rationale and Partnerships 6 B. Design Features and Process 8 IV. IMPLEMENTATION RESULTS 9 A. Agricultural Development 10 B. Rural Financial Services 13 C. Social Development 14 D. Infrastructure 15 E. Project Management 16 V. PROJECT PERFORMANCE 17 A. Relevance 17 B. Effectiveness 19 C. Efficiency 22 VI. RURAL POVERTY IMPACT 25 VII. SUSTAINABILITY AND INNOVATION 32 A. Sustainability 32 B. Innovation, Replication and Scaling Up 34 VIII. PERFORMANCE OF PARTNERS 37 IX. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 40 A. Conclusions 40 B. Recommendations 42 TABLES 1. Basic Project Data 7 2. Project and County Level Output Indicators, Agricultural Development 11 3. Project and County Level Output Indicators, Rural Financial Services 13 4. Project and County Level Output Indicators, Social Development 15 5. Project and County Level Output Indicators, Infrastructure 16 6. Project and County Level Output Indicators, Project Management 16 7. Trends in Infrastructure Coverage in Project Administrative Villages 21 8. Topics and Impact Domains in Schoolchildren Drawings 25 9. Results from the Ranking Exercise at the Evaluation Wrap-up Meeting 26 10. Gaps between Design and Implementation of VIGs 31 11. Evaluation Rating Summary 41 FIGURES 1. WGPAP – From Demonstration to Extension, Areas and Animals 12 2. WGPAP – From Demonstration to Extension, Incremental Output Values 12 3. Village Coverage per Project Activity 22 APPENDICES 1. Mission Itinerary 45 2. List of Persons Met 47 3. Bibliography 55 4. National and Regional Policies and Programmes 59 5. Financial Progress including Contingencies, in ‘000 CNY 61 6. Project Costs including Contingencies by Funding Source, in ‘000 CNY 63 7. Evaluation Framework 65 8. Definition of the Evaluation Criteria used by the Office of Evaluation 71 ANNEXES (*) I. Client Perspective on Rural Finance II. Household Survey Data III. Social Development, Rural Infrastructure, Gender, June 2009 (*) Available upon request from IFAD’s Office of Evaluation [email protected] ii Currency Equivalent Currency Unit Yuan (CNY) US$ 1.00 8.26 (at Appraisal, December 2000) US$ 1.00 6.84 (at Completion, September 2008) CNY 1.00 US$ 0.147 (at Completion, September 2008) Weights and Measures 1 mu = 0.66 ha 1 ha = 15 mu Abbreviations and Acronyms APR Asia and Pacific Division, Project Management Department, IFAD COSOP country strategic opportunities paper ERR economic rate of return ESSN Environmental Screening and Scoping Note FFT food-for-training FFW food-for-work FPA Farmers Professional Association GACFFPA Guangxi Administration Centre of Foreign Funded Projects for Agriculture GDP gross domestic product GZAR Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region IOE IFAD Office of Evaluation M&E Monitoring & Evaluation MDG Millennium Development Goal MIS management information system MTR mid-term review OECD Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development PCR Project Completion Report PIA Participatory Impact Assessment PMO Project Management Office PRA participatory rural appraisal RCC Rural Credit Cooperative RCCU Rural Credit Cooperative Union RCF Rural Credit Foundation RIMS Result and Impact Management System UNOPS United Nations Office for Project Services VAM vulnerability assessment and mapping VDP village development plan VIGs village implementation groups WEILAI Water, Economy Investment, Learning and Assessment Indicator WF Women’s Federation WFP World Food Programme WGPAP West Guangxi Poverty-Alleviation Project iii iv v vi vii viii Foreword The overall objective of the West Guangxi Poverty Alleviation Project (WGPAP) was to achieve sustainable and equitable poverty reduction in the karst area of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) in south-western China. To that end, the project aimed to increase productive capacity, both on- and off-farm, and to offer better access to economic and social resources, including financial services, education, health and social networks in ten of the poorest GZAR counties. Total project costs were estimated at US$107.3 million, including an IFAD loan of US$30.4 million, a World Food Programme grant of US$11.2 million, and contributions from the Government and beneficiaries of US$54.0 million and US$11.7 million, respectively. The Office of Evaluation (IOE) of IFAD undertook a completion evaluation of the WGPAP in 2009. The evaluation noted that the project was relevant to the needs of the rural poor inasmuch as it addressed the major dimensions of rural poverty. Its design was consistent both with national policies and with the IFAD- Government country strategy, and it also integrated lessons from previous IFAD-financed interventions in China. Provision of rural credit helped to support agricultural investments and led to increased off-farm income-generating activities, including opportunities for migrant labour. The evaluation also discerned a significant impact in the domains of social capital and empowerment, food security, natural resources and the environment. Systematic, broad-based training activities and literacy courses, especially for women, greatly contributed to this success. As far as institutions and policies are concerned, remarkable progress was seen in the service delivery capacity of both the county/township authorities and the Rural Credit Cooperatives network. Overall, the success of WGPAP can be attributed to strong synergy of three key ingredients, namely, quality at entry, implementation capacity and a conducive policy and institutional environment. Quality at entry was marked by the early unwavering determination, by and among the main partners, to reach agreement on key fundamentals of the project: solid partnerships forged along proven patterns, strong participation and ownership on the side of national partners during design, and participatory mechanisms involving large numbers of the target population. The project’s implementation capacity was driven by the experience and ability of the provincial project management office to provide decisive guidance, by the presence of committed and qualified human resources, and by the continuity of such human resources. The project environment was conducive as implementation was supported by a set of government policies with a clear rural poverty-reduction focus that emerged at WGPAP design, and the local government structure showed itself to be capable of integrating the project as a mainstream undertaking. The Government of China displayed a strong sense of ownership in the project, particularly at the local level. Finally, the stable political environment and booming economy during the life of the project constituted a robust bottom line. Concerning areas for improvement, the evaluation noted that the strategy of reducing women’s workload was pursued in water and biogas access, but not as a cross-cutting theme in agriculture, thus underpinning the persistent labour-intensive nature of farming activities. In addition, the project achieved little impact in the field of women leadership development, one of the IFAD-Government country strategy priorities. Regarding environmental protection, the evaluation observed that, while the WGPAP was innovative in the agricultural development component in general terms, it failed to convey strong and consequent messages regarding fertiliser use. Given the scarcity of land in China, farmers try to maximize land productivity by extensive use of fertilizer, three times higher than the world average, thus adding to land pollution. This completion evaluation report includes an Agreement at Completion Point summarizing the main findings of the evaluation. It sets out the recommendations that were discussed and agreed upon by IFAD and the Government of the People’s Republic of China, together with proposals as to how and by whom the proposals should be implemented. Luciano Lavizzari Director, Office of Evaluation ix x Acknowledgements This completion evaluation was led by Mark Keating, Evaluation Officer, and prepared with contributions by consultants Ernst Schaltegger, Claude Saint-Pierre, Rauno Zander and Giulia Mezzi. Internal peer reviewers from the IFAD Office of Evaluation (Andrew Brubaker, Ashwani Muthoo and Jicheng