Ethiopia SOCODEP CE - main report - IFAD

despite their generally good repayment record. Many of the cooperatives visited, or for which data
were obtained, are now de facto bankrupt, and therefore ineligible for further loans.
140. Functional sustainability of physical assets. Roads constructed under the Project were
expected at Appraisal to be maintained by members of the restructured cooperatives. This was
unrealistic for two reasons, (a) because those benefiting from the roads are a much greater population
than simply the cooperative members, and (b) to expect community members to add an even greater
labour burden to their already over-stretched daily lives was impracticable. The fact that the roads
constructed under SOCODEP have been adopted under the Region’s road maintenance programme is
actually better assurance of sustainability than relying on community-based maintenance. The heavy
equipment supplied to the Region will allow other road construction activities to take place for some
time to come. In regard to water supply, the prospects for on-going functional sustainability of
especially handpumps and gravity water supply schemes are very poor. The financial contribution
made by households for repairs and maintenance are based on affordability rather than need, and they
are insufficient to cover the costs of repairs. Furthermore, spare parts are particularly difficult to
obtain, and insufficient attention has been paid to operation and management aspects of this
component.
141. Assessment of sustainability. In view of the very limited sustainability of institutional
strengthening efforts, the limited on-going access to credit, and the unlikely sustainability of the water
supply component, sustainability is assessed overall as unlikely (rating of 2) 53 .
C. Innovation, Replicability and Scaling-Up
142. Innovation. At the time of project design, SOCODEP’s focus on cooperatives and credit
represented a response to the apparent liberalization of national politics and economics, and to the
change in cooperatives legislation. The inclusion of the other components (veterinary revolving drug
fund, rural road construction, small-scale enterprise development) was not particularly innovative, and
their lack of integration represented a lost opportunity. The BSF component (water supply, health and
basic sanitation) in effect represented a new project, itself split into three components, and again the
opportunities for integration and synergy were largely lost.
143. Worth mentioning as being innovative at the time in Ethiopia, was the effective monitoring and
evaluation system of the BSF component. When the BSF component began it introduced a
comprehensive Baseline Line Survey and before project completion it undertook an Impact
Assessment Study. This M&E system, which did not exist for the other components, formed the basis
for developing trainings, capacity building, learning and measuring results that helped contribute to
the performance of this component. The innovative methodology of the Impact Assessment Study
made extensive use of local knowledge and participation, and used simple, inexpensive techniques for
impact measurement in the field.
144. Knowledge management. The collation and sharing of knowledge among the project
stakeholders was limited by the weak M&E which was repeatedly highlighted in Supervision reports.
After the MTR a number of internal assessments were carried out (dated 1999 and 2000), which
presented some critical and insightful views, but the extent to which these led to subsequent action
was limited. The lack of physical availability of internal and external project documentation is a
critical issue. Not surprisingly, the extent to which project experiences were used by project
stakeholders in useful policy dialogue at Regional or higher level was also very limited.
145. Replicability. The same factors which have limited the impact of institutional strengthening and
constrained the quality of many the project actions and outputs remain in place today. Were the
Project to be implemented today using similar mechanisms (ie operating through a Project
Coordinating Unit attempting to synchronize and harmonize the work of disparate Government
organs), similar outcomes would result. The model is not replicable.
53 “Hardly any of the supporting factors are in place”. IFAD OE Project Evaluation Guidelines, December
2005.
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