UNDERSTANDING EXCEPTIONAL PROJECTS

2013 ARRI LEARNING EVENTRome, 20 September 2013

INTRODUCTION

• Since 2002, around half of projects evaluated by IOE have

been rated as ‘moderately satisfactory’ overall.

• What factors explain the smaller proportion rated as either

exceptionally good or exceptionally poor?

• In particular, what explains good projects in fragile states

and poor projects in middle-income countries (MICs)? 2

METHOD

• Largely based on an analysis of a purposive sample of evaluations

of 54 projects in 31 countries, plus interviews.

• Explanatory factors separated into 3 groups:

- context (where?)

- design (what?)

- management (who?)

• Recognise limitations of the study.3

Findings - CONTEXT

• General country classifications (MIC, LDC, etc.) explain little.

• More poor projects, and fewer good projects, in fragile and

conflict-affected situations (FCS) and in countries with low

country performance ratings (CPR).

• Strong association between factors in difficult contexts: good

projects generally had good designs and good management. 4

Findings – DESIGN

• 93% of poor projects had poor designs. Only 21% of good

projects had poor designs.

• Common design criticisms:

- poor fit with the context.

- over-complex and over-ambitious.

• 5 out of 6 exceptionally good projects with poor initial designs

had good quality project management.5

Findings - MANAGEMENT• 90% of poor projects had poor management.

• Common management criticisms:

- problems with project staff.

- weak implementation partners.

- lack of sufficient IFAD support early on.

- weak monitoring and evaluation.

• Quality of project management team/director strongly associated

with good or poor results. 6

CPM INTERVIEWS

• Quality of project management team and quality of

implementing institution is key.

• Understanding and fitting projects to the context is important,

especially in fragile, post-conflict and post-emergency

situations.

• Quality of design has improved. Management and early

implementation support now needs more emphasis.7

SUMMARY

• Context, design and management all matter. Strong association

between factors in all situations.

• FCS are more challenging, but can be offset by good design and

management.

• Project design has improved but persistent flaws are still being

identified.

• Quality of project management, and early implementation support,

are key.

8

ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION

1. Is there sufficient emphasis on the quality of project

management?

2. Is IFAD’s policy and practice in fragile and conflict-affected

situations sufficiently different?

3. How can the design and management capacity in middle-

income countries be better accessed and deployed?9