Independent Office Independent Office of Evaluation of Evaluation Independent O ce of Evaluation Independent O ce of Evaluation International Fund for Agricultural Development International Fund for Agricultural Development Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Rome, Italy Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Rome, Italy Tel: +39 06 54591 - Fax: +39 06 5043463 Tel: +39 06 54591 - Fax: +39 06 5043463 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] www.ifad.org/evaluation www.ifad.org/evaluation www.twitter.com/IFADeval www.twitter.com/IFADeval Independent Office of Evaluation www.youtube.com/IFADevaluation www.youtube.com/IFADevaluation Independent Office Independent Office of Evaluation of Evaluation Independent O ce of Evaluation Independent O ce of Evaluation Republic of Maldives International Fund for Agricultural Development International Fund for Agricultural Development Post-Tsunami Agricultural and Fisheries Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Rome, Italy Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Rome, Italy Tel: +39 06 54591 - Fax: +39 06 5043463 Tel: +39 06 54591 - Fax: +39 06 5043463 Rehabilitation Programme E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] www.ifad.org/evaluation www.ifad.org/evaluation PROJECT PERFORMANCE EVALUATION www.twitter.com/IFADeval www.twitter.com/IFADeval www.youtube.com/IFADevaluation www.youtube.com/IFADevaluation Bureau indépendant Oficina de Evaluación de l’évaluation Independiente Bureau indépendant de l’évaluation Oficina de Evaluación Independiente Fonds international de développement agricole Fondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Rome, Italie Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Roma, Italia Téléphone: +39 06 54591 - Télécopie: +39 06 5043463 Tel: (+39) 06 54591 - Fax: (+39) 06 5043463 Courriel: [email protected] www.ifad.org/evaluation Correo electrónico: [email protected] www.ifad.org/evaluation www.twitter.com/IFADeval www.youtube.com/IFADevaluation www.twitter.com/IFADeval www.youtube.com/IFADevaluation Independent Office Bureau indépendant of Evaluation de l’évaluation Independent O ce of Evaluation Bureau indépendant de l’évaluation International Fund for Agricultural Development Fonds international de développement agricole Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Rome, Italy Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Rome, Italie Tel: +39 06 54591 - Fax: +39 06 5043463 Téléphone: +39 06 54591 - Télécopie: +39 06 5043463 E-mail: [email protected] Courriel: [email protected] www.ifad.org/evaluation www.ifad.org/evaluation www.twitter.com/IFADeval www.twitter.com/IFADeval www.youtube.com/IFADevaluation IFAD internal www.youtube.com/IFADevaluation printing services Oficina de Evaluación Independiente Oficina de Evaluación Independiente Fondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Roma, Italia Tel: (+39) 06 54591 - Fax: (+39) 06 5043463 Correo electrónico: [email protected] www.ifad.org/evaluation www.twitter.com/IFADeval www.youtube.com/IFADevaluation Republic of Maldives Post-Tsunami Agricultural and Fisheries Rehabilitation Programme Project Performance Evaluation April 2017 Report No. 4408-MV Document of the International Fund for Agricultural Development Photos of activities supported by the Post-Tsunami Agricultural and Fisheries Rehabilitation Programme Front cover: Fish trading in front of the fish market funded by the programme, Nolhivaramfaru island. Back cover: Demonstration by the extension workers, Nolhivaramfaru island (left); Water melon farm supported by the programme, Nolhivaramfaru island. ©IFAD/ Shijie Yang This report is a product of staff of the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD and the findings and conclusions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of IFAD Member States or the representatives to its Executive Board. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IFAD concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The designations "developed" and "developing" countries are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. All rights reserved. ©2017 by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Preface The Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD (IOE) undertook a project performance evaluation of the Post-Tsunami Agricultural and Fisheries Rehabilitation Programme in the Republic of Maldives to provide an independent assessment of the overall results of the programme and generate lessons and recommendations for the design and implementation of ongoing and future operations in the country. The programme was designed as a response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and was the first programme operated by IFAD in the Maldives. The programme was implemented between 2005 and 2013, with the aim to contribute to restoring agricultural gross domestic product to pre-tsunami levels, returning the economy to a stable, long-term growth trend and reducing the fishery sector’s vulnerability to natural disasters. The programme made little progress in the first three years, which meant the original design of the programme was only partially relevant to the rapidly changing country context. After the Mid-term Review, the programme was revitalized to focus on the country's development needs, rather than on disaster relief restoration. Additionally, the initial design focused more on physical inputs – e.g. new boats, new markets, new ice plants – and less on capacity-building or training. The revitalization shifted the focus of the programme from direct support to the fishery and agriculture sectors to policy support to the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture. The programme could have been better revitalized with effective programme planning and a clear intervention logic. Although there was a wholesale set of changes in the components of the programme, there was no systematic reconsideration of the programme’s overall objectives. As a result, the programme was most effective at national policy level with regard to sustainable fishing, but it is rather difficult to measure any direct effect at ground level. The project performance assessment was conducted by Shijie Yang, Evaluation Analyst, IOE, in collaboration with senior consultant Dr Roderick Stirrat (fishery and agricultural specialist). Peer reviewers – Fumiko Nakai, Senior Evaluation Officer, Simona Somma, Evaluation Officer, and Fabrizio Felloni, Deputy Director, IOE – provided comments on the draft report. Chabana Bagas, Karina Gun Linnea and Delphine Bureau, Evaluation Assistants, provided administrative support. IOE is grateful to the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture of the Republic of Maldives and to IFAD’s Asia and the Pacific Division for their cooperation and support and for the valuable comments provided during the evaluation process. I hope the results generated by this project performance assessment will be useful to inform and improve IFAD operations and activities in the Maldives for enhanced development effectiveness. Oscar A. Garcia Director Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD Water melon farm, supported by the programme. Nolhivaramfaru island. ©IFAD/Roderick Stirrat Contents Currency equivalent, weights and measures ii Abbreviations and acronyms ii Map of the programme area iii Executive summary iv IFAD Management's response viii I. Evaluation objectives, methodology and process 1 II. The programme 3 A. Programme context 3 B. Programme implementation 7 III. Main evaluation findings 13 A. Programme performance and rural poverty impact 13 B. Other performance criteria 25 C. Overall programme achievement 28 D. Performance of partners 29 E. Assessment of the quality of the project completion report 30 IV. Conclusions and recommendations 33 A. Conclusions 33 B. Recommendations 34 Annexes I. Basic programme data 35 II. Definition and rating of the evaluation criteria used by IOE 36 III. Rating comparison 38 IV. Approach paper 39 V. List of key persons met 49 VI. Theory of change 51 VII. Project logics: comparison of different basic project documents 52 VIII. Detailed summary of programme outputs and implementation history 54 IX. Processing time for fish market procurement 58 X. Credit facility record 59 XI. Evaluation matrix for the fishery related activities 61 XII. Fishery sector context 63 XIII. Bibliography 65 Currency equivalent, weights and measures Currency equivalent Currency unit = Maldivian Rufiyaa (MVR) US$1.0 = MVR 15.01 Weights and measures 1 kilogram = 1,000 g 1 kg = 2.204 lb 1 kilometre (km) = 0.62 mile 1 metre = 1.09 yards 1 square metre = 10.76 square feet 1 acre = 0.405 hectare 1 hectare = 2.47 acres Abbreviations and acronyms ADB Asian Development Bank APR Asia and the Pacific Division (IFAD) CBPO Community-based producer organization EIRR economic internal rate of return FADiP Fisheries and Agricultural Diversification Programme FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FTC Fisheries Training Centre GDP Gross Domestic Product ICRAF International Center for Research in Agroforestry IOE Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD IOTC Indian Ocean Tuna Commission M&E monitoring and evaluation MFAMR Ministry of Fisheries, Agriculture and Marine Resources (renamed Ministry of Fishery and Agriculture (MoFA) in 2008) MFDA Maldives Food and Drug Authority MoFA Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture