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2008 Annual Evaluation Review: Lessons from a Decade of ADB Country Assistance Program Evaluations
Completed: 2008

This report summarizes IED's key achievements in 2007 and synthesizes the key findings and lessons from 2007 evaluation reports. It also highlights common lessons from a decade (1998-2008) of ADB country assistance program evaluations (CAPEs) in a theme chapter.

  IED's Key Achievements in 2007

• Meeting targets set out for 2007 by completing 41 major evaluation reports comprising 3 annual reports, 24 higher-level evaluation studies, 13 project and program evaluations, and 1 technical assistance (TA) cluster evaluation.
• Continuing higher-level evaluations such as the country- and sector-level evaluations to directly feed into the CPSs on a timely basis.
• Providing timely feedback to upcoming policies and strategies.
• Embarking in mid 2007 on a pilot program of validating about 50% project completion reports.
• Adoption of new evaluation guidelines on nonsovereign operations and for the validation of project completion reports.
• Expanding dissemination and feedback through continued commenting on operations documents, strengthening IED website, and preparation of several publications on independent evaluation and learning in ADB.
• Strengthening evaluation capacity development through a multi-year regional TA piloted in the Greater Mekong Subregion.
• Continuing participation in the Evaluation Cooperation Group including leading the preparation of a good practice standards paper for country assistance evaluation.
• Furthering joint evaluations with other development partners such as the Global Environment Facility and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

  Key Points and Emerging Patterns from Various Types of Evaluations Completed in 2007

• The long-term trend toward improved performance of sovereign operations for projects since the mid-1980s, and for program loans since the mid-1990s, continues to be sustained. The success rate for the 13 projects evaluated in 2007 was 69% compared with the long-term average of 63%.
• The assessment of completion reports and IED evaluation of nonsovereign projects prepared from 1983 to 2007 indicate a success rate of 85%, which exceeds the success rate for public sector projects, albeit from a small sample.
• The country assistance programs assessed in CAPEs during the last decade (1998-2008) showed 69% of them to be successful. ADB performance was rated satisfactory in 8 of 15 cases. These ratings were broadly similar for ADB, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank.
• ADB performance with regard to TA projects and indigenous peoples policies has been less than satisfactory.
• The Special Evaluation Study on Private Sector Operations concludes that ADB has not realized its potential to harness synergies in its private and public sector operations to help mobilize private sector resources to support socioeconomic development and poverty reduction in the Asia and Pacific Region.
• The special evaluation studies associated with partnership with other development agencies point to the importance of country ownership, which is one of the pillars of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

 Key Common Lessons Emerging from 1998-2008 CAPEs

• Long-term engagement is required to see the development outcomes of ADB's interventions.
• Focus and selectivity are essential to attain a critical mass and achieve sustainable results.
• ADB can be more effective in client responsiveness and service delivery if it delegates more responsibility and provides commensurate resources to its resident missions.
• There is a need to streamline ADB policies, procedures, and practices to provide more efficient and responsive services.
• Country ownership must be nurtured, risks carefully assessed, and the readiness of implementing agencies secured to ensure that the assistance program can be implemented effectively.
• Efforts to move to results-based country partnership strategies are at the early stages and will require changes in institutional culture and incentives in both ADB and its developing member countries.
• For capacity development to succeed, there are necessary conditions for the government side (government ownership, long-term commitment, use of a mix of ADB assistance modalities, and a supportive policy environment) and for the ADB side (better alignment of TA resources to the country strategy, improved TA management, and enhancement of staff incentives for economic and sector work).
• In fostering economic growth, ADB maintains a competitive advantage in physical infrastructure and physical social infrastructure; the competence and competitiveness of ADB support in urban development, agriculture and rural development, and finance is mixed.
• ADB's contribution to inclusive social development has been strongest in the education sector, but program success varies considerably by country.
• ADB support for good governance, notably at the sector level, has had some success; but governance assistance needs more coherence, strategic direction, and supportive policy dialogue, particularly with respect to corruption risks at the sector and national levels.
• More synergy is needed to harness potential benefits of ADB's public sector and private sector operations.