MTE of ALDP: Final Report UNITED NATIONS FONDS D’EQUIPEMENT CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FUND DES NATIONS UNIES Mid-Term Evaluation Anseba Local Development Project (in Eritrea) Project Number: UNCDF: ERI/01/C01, UNDP: ERI/01/013/A/01/99 Final Report Emmanuel Ssewankambo ([email protected]) Mengistu Teklemariam ([email protected]) Dawit Ghebrehiwet Kassa ([email protected]) November 2005 i MTE of ALDP: Final Report ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ALDF Anseba Local Development Fund ALDP Anseba Local Development Project ARR Assistant Resident Representative Baito The Regional Assembly Elected by the People (Regional Council) BSF Belgian Survival Fund BTOR Back to Office Report CNA Capacity Needs Assessment CO Country Office (of UNDP) CSOs Civil Society Organisations DRR Deputy Resident Representative GoSE Government of State of Eritrea ICT Information Communication Technologies IDPs Internally Displaced Persons IPF Indicative Planning Figures ITU International Telecommunication Union Kebabi Collection of villages (administrative division of a sub-zoba) LDCs Least Developed Countries LDF Local Development Fund LWF Lutheran World Federation MCs Minimum Conditions MDGs Millennium Development Goals MIS Management Information System MND Ministry of National Development MoF Ministry of Finance MoLG Ministry of Local Government MoPW Ministry of Public Works MTE Mid-Term Evaluation NGOs Non-Governmental Organisations NSC National Steering Committee O&M Operation and Maintenance PCP Project Concept Paper PEM Public Expenditure Management PERA Proclamation for the Establishment of Regional Administrations PIM Project Identification Mission PMs Performance Measures PO Programme Officer (of UNCDF) POP Project Operation Plan PST Project Support Team RAOM Regional Administration Operational Manual RCBP Regional Capacity Building Plan RDPs Regional Development Plans STA Senior Technical Advisor Sub-Zoba Sub-region (Administrative Division) of Zoba TOR Terms of Reference TOT Training of Trainers (Trainers of Trainers) UNCDF United Nations Capital Development Fund UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Education Fund UNV United Nations Volunteers Zoba Regional Administrative Unit of Eritrea ii MTE of ALDP: Final Report TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS..............................................................................................II TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................... III LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................................................IV 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY......................................................................................................1 2.0 PURPOSE OF THE EVALUATION .....................................................................................6 3.0 MTE METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH........................................................................7 4.0 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................................9 4.1 COUNTRY CONTEXT...............................................................................................................9 4.1.1 The National and Policy Context ....................................................................................9 4.1.2 Brief background to the institutional context ...............................................................10 4.1.3 Background to Anseba Region......................................................................................10 4.2 ALDP RATIONALE ...............................................................................................................11 4.3 PROJECT STATUS..................................................................................................................12 4.3.1 Summary of project activities ........................................................................................12 4.3.2 Summary of Financial Status........................................................................................13 5.0 EVALUATION.......................................................................................................................13 5.1 RESULTS ACHIEVEMENT ......................................................................................................13 5.1.1 Output 1: A Participatory and Transparent Planning System .....................................13 5.1.2 Output 2: Access to and Management of Financial Resources ...................................18 5.1.3 Output 3: Regional & Local Capacity to Deliver, Operate & Maintain Projects ........21 5.1.4 Output 4: The Anseba Experiences Informing National Policy ..................................23 5.1.5 New Output 5: Food Security (Natural Resource Management).................................24 5.1.6 Capacity Building ..........................................................................................................26 5.1.7 Likelihood of Achieving the Immediate & Development Objectives............................28 5.2 VARIABLES AFFECTING SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION AND RESULTS ACHIEVEMENT ........29 5.2.1 External Factors ............................................................................................................29 5.2.2 Project-related Factors ..................................................................................................31 5.3 UNCDF STRATEGIC POSITIONING AND PARTNERSHIPS .......................................................33 5.4 SUSTAINABILITY OF RESULTS AND EXIT STRATEGY ............................................................34 5.5 LESSONS...............................................................................................................................35 5.5.1 Project-level lessons.......................................................................................................35 5.5.2 UNCDF – wide lessons ..................................................................................................36 5.6 RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................36 5.6.1 Results Achievement......................................................................................................37 5.6.2 Variables Affecting Successful Implementation & Results Achievement....................42 5.6.3 UNCDF Strategic Position and Partnerships ...............................................................43 5.6.4 Sustainability of Results and Exit Strategy...................................................................43 ANNEX 1: EVALUATION FOLLOW-UP MATRIX ............................................................................44 ANNEX 2: LIST OF PEOPLE INTERVIEWED/FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS......................................50 ANNEX 3: REFERENCES...............................................................................................................51 ANNEX 4: MTE WORK PLAN.......................................................................................................52 ANNEX 5: ANALYSIS OF PROGRESS AS PER THE POP 2001 - 2006...............................................54 ANNEX 6: TERMS OF REFERENCE................................................................................................58 iii MTE of ALDP: Final Report LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1: Sub-zobas, Kebabis and ALDF Projects Sampled for the MTE 8 Table 2: MTE Team Members 8 Table 3: Synopsis of Project Activities from Inception To-date 12 Table 4: Project Expenditures by Year and Funding Source 13 Table 5: BSF Funds Disbursement and Actual Delivered 13 Table 6: Kebabi Priorities in Asmat Sub-Zoba for 2004 and 2005 17 Table 7: LDF Actual Expenditure as at September 2005 18 Table 8: LDF Allocation per Sub-Zoba for 2004 20 Table 9: Number of Projects Approved to Benefit from ALDF by Sector & Year 22 Table 10: Major Trainings Events Conducted and Number of Participants 27 Table 11: Nature of equipment provided to Zoba Administration 27 Table 12: Synopsis of the Annual Planning and Budget Cycle 38 iv MTE of ALDP: Final Report 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Anseba Local Development Project (ALDP) is a five-year programme approved in October 2001, and whose implementation commenced in April 2002. The programme is co-funded by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), Belgium Survival Fund (BSF), and the Government of State of Eritrea (GoSE). The purpose of the Mid-term Evaluation (MTE) of the programme, conducted in September and October 2005 was to: a) Review effectiveness and efficiency of progress towards the attainment of project outputs, immediate and development objectives, and the factors affecting results achievement; b) Examine ongoing relevance of project given policy environment and development priorities; c) Assess relevance and effectiveness of UNCDF strategic positioning and partnerships; d) Assess the likely sustainability of programme results; e) Comment on post-project planning/exit strategy; and f) Extract lessons and make recommendations for improvement of the project design, implementation and results achievement. The MTE identified the achievements of the project as outlined below: a) Piloting a bottom-up participatory development planning process involving stakeholders at the kebabi (collection