Project Completion Report Validation
Dabieshan Area Poverty Reduction Programme People’s Republic of China
Date of validation by IOE: November 2017
I. Basic project data
Approval (US$ m) Actual (US$ m)
Region
Asia and the Pacific
Region Total project costs 70.8 66.6
Country
People’s Republic of China
IFAD loan and per centage
of total 31.9 (45%) 27.25 (41%)
Loan number 766-CN Borrower 38.9 (55%) 39.35 (59%)
Type of project (subsector)
Agricultural
Development Cofinancier 1 - -
Financing type E Cofinancier 2 - -
Lending terms* Intermediary terms Cofinancier 3 - -
Date of approval 15-Dec-2008 Cofinancier 4 - -
Date of loan
signature 19-Feb-2009
Beneficiaries Date of effectiveness 19-Feb-2009 Other sources
Loan amendments
Number of beneficiaries 412,798 overall (141,849 direct, 83,937 women) Loan closure
extensions -
Country programme managers
Marchisio, Matteo (current)
Thomas Rath Loan closing date 31-Mar-2016
Regional director(s)
Hoonae Kim (current);
Thomas Elhaut Mid-term review Sep-2012
Project completion report reviewer
Adolfo Martinez Mark Keating Philippa Morgan
IFAD loan disbursement at
project completion (%) 85.5 %
Project completion report quality control panel
Mona Bishay
Michael Carbon Date of the project
completion report 26-Mar-2016
Source: Project Completion Report
* There are four types of lending terms. This project was funded by an IFAD on intermediate terms, with a rate of interest per annum equivalent to 50 per cent of the variable reference interest rate and a maturity period of 20 years, including a grace period of five years; (iv) loans on ordinary terms, with a rate of interest per annum equivalent to one hundred per cent (100%) of the variable reference interest rate, and a maturity period of 15-18 years, including a grace period of three years.
II. Programme outline
1. Introduction. The Dabieshan Area Poverty Reduction Programme (DAPRP) was approved by IFAD’s Executive Board on 15 December 2008 and became effective on 19 February 2009. Implemented in the course of six-years, from 2009 to 2015, the project was completed on 30 September 2015 and the loan was closed on 31 March 2016. Programme costs were estimated to be US$70.85 million, including an IFAD loan of US$31.86 million (SDR21.438 million) and counterpart financing of US$38.99 million. The programme aimed to reach approximately 77,000 households in 720 villages across eight counties in the Xinyang Prefecture in China.
2. Based on the experience drawn from a previous IFAD-funded intervention1, DAPRP adopted a modular approach2 in order to ensure flexibility in a rapidly changing economic environment and to ensure quality of service provision. Each county was to implement a range of modules in line with the demand of its beneficiaries, its comparative advantages and natural resource endowments. These would provide the Government and other donors with the means to further scale up the programme.
3. Programme area. The Henan Province is situated in central China, in the mid- downstream of the Yellow river. Located in the transitional area between the subtropical and temperate climate zones, Henan is characterized by a continental climate with distinguished seasons and an annual rainfall of about 600-1,200 mm. The programme was implemented across eight poverty-stricken counties of the Xinyang Prefecture, namely: i) Guangshan; ii) Gushi; iii) Huaibin; iv) Huangchuan; v) Luoshan; vi) Shangcheng; vii) Xixian; and viii) Xinxian.
4. Henan has experienced rapid development of its economy over the past two decades, which has expanded at an even faster rate than the national average of 10 per cent.
This rapid growth has transformed Henan from one of the poorest provinces to one that matches other central provinces, though still relatively impoverished on a national scale. In 2011, Henan's nominal Gross Domestic Product was RMB3.20 trillion (US$427 billion), making it the fifth largest economy in China, although it ranks nineteenth in terms of Gross Domestic Product per capita. The agriculture sector has been a pillar of its economy, with the nation’s highest wheat and sesame output and second highest rice output. Henan is also an important producer of beef, cotton, maize, pork, animal oil, and corn.
5. Counties included in the programme area show the typical characteristics of poor regions in China. Inhabiting remote areas, people find it difficult to reach markets to sell agricultural produce, to access education and health care services. Furthermore, opportunities for income generating activities through agriculture, livestock and aquaculture value chains remain scarce. Features of poverty in the area include households falling back recurrently into poverty and a high migration rate. The main causes for poverty in the programme area can be summarized as follows: (i) frequent natural calamities - floods and droughts do occur almost on a yearly basis; (ii) limited farm size that averages 0.08 hectares per capita, which is almost exclusively used for subsistence agriculture by very poor households; (iii) limited access to inputs and productive assets; and (iv) remoteness and poor social infrastructure.
6. Opportunities identified at design stage for rural development and poverty reduction in the intervention area were: (i) the existence of commercially-viable agricultural, aquaculture and livestock value chains, to which the rural poor had however limited or no access; (ii) the emergence of farmers’ associations and cooperatives; and (iii) job
1 Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Modular Rural Development Programme.
2 A module is defined as a small-scale set of inter-related activities aimed at achieving a specific objective that can be implemented independently of other modules and that can be easily replicated in other areas. A module includes all variable costs required for proper implementation of the activity concerned. The modules are adapted to the needs and thresholds of poor rural groups and households. The size of a module ranges from one or more households in a single village to a cooperative/association, a group or an administrative village.
migration as a tool to stabilize household livelihoods. The DAPRP proposed to support these opportunities along two strategic thrusts, namely: (i) enhance the integration of poor, and very poor, rural households in the above-mentioned value chains; and (ii) focus on very poor households, often represented by women in the villages, characterized by unstable supply of labour because of disease, low skills and illiteracy, economic and social isolation, lack of access to social services, low or no income buffer and risk-averse behaviour.
7. Project objectives and components. The key programme objective is described in the President’s Report as “innovative and diversified development modules [that] lead to increased income and reduced poverty for farm households in a sustainable and gender-equitable way in eight poverty-stricken counties of the Xinyang Prefecture”.
8. The programme included two technical components and one management component:
(a) Agricultural Development and Market Access:
Technical Extension (module 1): aimed at enhancing the adoption rate of new and improved technologies and improve the effectiveness of technical service delivery through the integration of different technical resources.
Economic crop, livestock and fishery production (modules 2-7): it aimed at increasing the productivity and cash income of poor households through diversification and technology enhancement of agriculture activities.
Farmer cooperatives support (module 8): supported existing cooperatives to reach the targeted poor and improve their access to input and output markets, processing, market information, and extension services.
(b) Strategic support to the very poor:
Village development fund (module 9): it addressed the need for continued investment in village-level access to public facilities and infrastructure.
Poor women’s capacity building (modules 10): provided training to poor women living in selected programme villages.
(c) Project management (three levels of management and participatory village planning).
9. Target group. The targeting strategy of DAPRP was based on the national strategy of using a household and village-based approach. In addition, the programme was to increase the participation of these poor households and villages in the determination of their priority development opportunities. Following the strong gender focus of IFAD and national poverty reduction programmes, the gender action plan of DAPRP was based on the following elements: i) 60 per cent of the direct beneficiaries of the programme would be women; ii) provide institutional support to local Women’s Federation in order to guarantee gender mainstreaming in implementation at the grassroots level; iii) specific activities designed for women to enhance their human and social capital; iv) focus on infrastructure and public facilities in the most disadvantaged villages to increase access to information, markets and social facilities by women; v) agricultural production modules adapted to the characteristics of women-led poor households; and vi) gender training.
10. DAPRP aimed to reach about 77,000 households in 720 of the poorest villages in eight counties of Xinyang Prefecture, Henan Province. Based on the PCR, within the eight counties, 83 townships with the highest concentration of poor households were identified. These townships cover in total 1,084 administrative villages.
11. The programme included all 83 townships but limited its interventions to about 720 administrative villages. Of these, 500 villages with an official poverty incidence of more than 20 per cent were given priority.
12. Financing. Based on the President’s report, the total project cost was estimated at US$70.8 million. At project completion the actual total cost was US$66.6 million, with an IFAD actual disbursement rate of 85.5 per cent. Tables 1 and 2 below provide the details of the project costs.
Table 1
Project costs and disbursement by financier (US$ '000) Funding source Planed Expenditure Per centage of
total (%)
Actual disbursement
Per centage of total (%)
Disbursement rate (%)
IFAD 31,900 45 27,256 41 85.4
National Government 38,900 55 39,347 59 101.5
Total 70,800 100 66,603 100 94.1
Sources: President’s Report, IFAD, 2008; Programme Design Report, IFAD, 2008; Project Completion Report, IFAD, 2016.
Table 2
Component costs (US$ '000)
Approved % of total approved
Actual expenditure
% of total actual expenditure
Expenditure rate Market Access and Agricultural
Development 47,225 73 51,308 77 109%
Strategic Support of the Very
Poor 9,571 15 5,848 9 61%
Programme Management and
Village Implementation Groups 7,958 12 9,447 14 119%
Total 64,754 100 66,603 100 103%
Sources: President’s Report, IFAD, 2008; Programme Design Report, IFAD, 2008; Project Completion Report, IFAD, 2016.
13. Project implementation. Programme management followed the generic structure of IFAD projects in China. Programme Leading Groups (PLG) were established at Prefecture and County levels to provide overall supervision and guidance, while Programme Management Offices (PMOs) - structured from Prefecture down to township levels with project activities substantially decentralized – were created to cover programme management, coordination, monitoring and reporting.
14. The Prefecture Programme Management Office (PPMO) coordinated and guided the counties to apply strategies such as targeting, participatory exercises and gender focus, annual work planning and budgeting, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), disbursement, and annual supervision. The Bureau of Finance supported the PPMO and county programme offices in financial management, disbursement and financing arrangements of programme activities.
15. Implementing agency. The Ministry of Finance is IFAD’s counterpart and lead programme implementation agency. The Ministry of Finance carried out its responsibilities through the Departments of Finance (DOF) at provincial level, and the Bureau of Finance (BOF) at prefecture and county levels. The Ministry of Finance, in its capacity of borrower of the IFAD loan, received and transmitted the loan proceeds to the Henan provincial Department of Finance, subsequently to Xinyang Prefecture and to each of the counties for financing the execution of programme activities. At provincial level, the overall management was entrusted to the Provincial Programme Coordination Office jointly established by the provincial Department of Finance (DOF) and Development and Reform Commission.
16. At prefecture and county levels, leadership was exercised by the PLGs established by respective local governments. Each PLG was led by a senior official of the local government and composed of representatives from local BOFs, Development Reform
Commissions and line agencies such as the Agriculture/Forestry Bureau, Livestock/Fishery Bureau, Women Federation and Poverty Alleviation Office.
17. The implementation of the programme production modules (2-7) was originally delegated to county-level specialized Implementing Agencies, under the coordination of the County Programme Offices. However, during implementation, the responsibilities were shifted to the farmers’ cooperatives and associations which were in a better position to: (i) link the production to market demand and value chains; (ii) target technical services and inputs to the specific modules; and (iii) pre-finance module implementation, leverage financial resources of government agencies, and upscale successful modules.
18. Intervention logic. The poverty reduction strategy of DAPRP was based on: i) development of innovative intervention approaches; ii) improved access of rural poor to remunerative markets; and iii) enhance targeting of the very poor groups. The programme design was adapted to the capacities and coping strategies of poor and especially the very poor households, while it took into account the technical and social barriers currently faced by the target group. This was crucial in the light of: i) fighting persistent deep poverty among some households; ii) the severe feminization of poverty and farm labour; and iii) the high degree of vulnerable households falling back into poverty.
19. The cornerstones of the adapted design was: a) to build the component activities on the coping strategies of the rural poor, and improve gradually their productivity; b) to provide specific support to the very poor through Component B in order to strengthen their basic capabilities to enable their integration in market access and production modules of Component A and to strengthen and stabilize the effects on their livelihoods.
20. The Provincial Programme Coordination Office established an institutional setup including implementing institutions and Village Implementing Groups ready in place immediately after the programme became effective. The DOF/BOF at all levels actively participated in planning and management of programme implementation. This was facilitated by the involvement of cooperatives as both beneficiaries and service providers to individual households for the production modules.
21. Following upon the recommendations provided in the Mid-term Review (MTR) of 2012, there was no reallocation of programme resources between disbursement categories;
the reallocations of loan proceeds were effected among counties and adjustments were made among the modules in terms of size and costs. Modifications were justified on the grounds of changes of farmers’ needs and markets conditions.
22. Delivery of outputs. Annex IV presents a detailed breakdown of physical progress of outputs, including the Results and Impact Management System (RIMS) indicators as reported in the Project Completion Report (PCR) and the 2015 Supervision Mission Report, respectively.
23. The Project Completion Report Validation (PCRV) noted a number of data discrepancies between output data reported by the PCR and the Supervision Mission Report from November 2015, with the latter reporting substantially higher achievement of targets. The project management team conducted a data synchronization and cleansing exercise to capture the most accurate programmatic results in the PCR (See annex III).
24. Under Component A.1: Technical envoy (TE), 414 TEs (69 per cent of MTR target) were trained with updated technologies and assigned to providing technical services in 309 administrative villages. 54,052 farmers received technical services from the TEs;
eight counties established incentive mechanisms for TEs (100 per cent agreement of MTR target). Under component A.2: Economic trees; 38,909 (106 per cent of MTR target) farmers were trained on the development of economic trees; while 32,545 households were provided with grafts/ seedlings for economic tree development (109
per cent of MTR targets). Key outputs for Component A.3: Cash crops and medicinal plants; included the development of 856 ha of cash crops and medicinal plants and trained 17,320 farmers. In total 638 farmers received training on fish farming; 465 farmers benefitted from the fish pond module and 173 benefitted from the rice fish module (Component 6 & 7 respectively).3
25. 135 pro-poor membership promotion completed (112 per cent of MTR target) under component A.8: market access through cooperative strengthening. 12,522 poor households benefitted from technical coaching (200 per cent of MTR target). Total membership amounted to 47,893 people, of whom 27,059 were new members after receiving the module support. Participating cooperatives were equipped with 1,346 sets of new value added facilities, introduced 99 new production technologies and certified 56 products. 29,223 benefitted from consultant trainings and exposure (121 per cent).
26. 51 villages (63 per cent of target) benefitted from village development funds, constructing roads and building irrigation schemes. 8,770 beneficiary trainings on participation and management were carried out (270 per cent of MTR target). 74 Women Federation staffs and 4,585 (57 per cent of MTR target) women farmers were trained in new technologies on crops and livestock production and skills for off-farm income generating activities under component B.2: capacity building for poor women.
III. Review of findings
A. Core criteria
Relevance27. Policy Relevance. As stated in the 2005 Country Strategic Opportunities Paper (COSOP, the active COSOP at programme design), the Fund’s niche was defined by emphasizing its catalytic role and developing innovative, strategic pilot programmes with the Government and other donors for scaling up. The 2005 COSOP built heavily on the Government’s Development-Oriented Poverty Reduction Programme for Rural China, 2001 –2010. Its two strategic thrusts, access and innovation, were aligned to IFAD’s corporate policies and reflected the context and IFAD’s changing role in China, where contribution to innovation and scaling up was regarded as very important alongside the provision of finance. It did not present any detailed targeting strategy, just stating that "the selection of areas for pilot sector programmes will be based on poverty incidence and the potential for successful pilot implementation." Positive results from pilot programmes would then become a basis for policy adjustments and for scaling up with the Government’s own resources. (IFAD COSOP, 2005).
28. The Dabieshan Area Poverty Reduction Programme was one of the early projects of IFAD in China where a strong focus to markets’ access was introduced. The programme also included areas to improve beneficiaries’ access to information, knowledge, natural resources and others. In this regard, the programme was of high relevance with regards to IFAD’s COSOP.
29. Relevance to national needs and the rural poor. As mentioned, the 2005 COSOP was much based on the Government of China’s Development-Oriented Poverty Reduction Programme for Rural China, 2001-2010. Such programme’s principal aims in poverty reduction were to be achieved through: i) focus on implementation of ecologically sound agricultural development; ii) strengthen marketing and financial services for the poor; iii) encouragement for private entrepreneurs and farmer organizations; and iv) the development of off-farm economic activities, including appropriate migration.
30. As mentioned, DAPRP used the farmers’ cooperatives as implementers, and their role was aligned with the third aim of the Chinese Poverty Reduction Programme
3 DAPRP Supervision Mission Report 2015, P.26.
(encouragement for private entrepreneurs and farmer organizations). Additionally, the productive and capacity building modules were also in line with the Poverty Reduction Programme.
31. The China COSOP 20164 estimated that China’s 200 million to 250 million smallholder farmers are responsible for the bulk of national crop production. The rising demand for high-value agricultural products in urban areas has opened opportunities for smallholders, as high value products are more labour intensive to produce and generate higher return per hectare. The projects modular approach was flexible enough to adapt the support provided to the priority needs of the different localities.
Moreover, DAPRP employed a pro-poor approach which included the piloting of a technical envoy system as a poverty reduction tool to transfer technology and knowledge to poor groups, thus making it highly relevant to the rural poor.
32. Design. The DAPRP programme design, focused in building a set of activities aligned with China’s strategies to overcome rural poverty by gradually improving productivity (modules 2 - 7), strengthen abilities (module 1 and 10), and enabling access to markets and production (module 8-9).
33. The programme responded to the COSOP thrusts (innovation and access) and also incorporated in the programme design the strategic focuses, namely: strategy design, microenterprise development, marketing, gender, technology transfer and natural resource management. In the course of programme implementation these design focuses proved to be highly relevant in addressing the challenges for rural development and poverty reduction in the programme area.
34. In addition, DAPRP was first to introduce the value chain approach, linking production with market demand through the critical role played by the farmers’ cooperatives and associations. The approach proved to be successful and was afterwards incorporated into the design of other on-going programmes in China.
35. Targeting. The targeting strategy was designed to target poor and very poor households, including the lower level of vulnerable and low-income households who risked slipping back into poverty. The targeting approach was undertaken in two stages. The first stage included a selection of poorer villages and townships in nationally or provincially designated poverty counties. Under stage two, households within selected villages under stage one were categorized by Village Implementing Groups/PMOs prior to programme implementation prioritizing poorer households and women. As such, the target strategy was in line with government national poverty reduction priorities and relevant to local needs.
36. Given the positive alignment of the programme design with the IFAD COSOP, the Government’s objectives and the needs of the rural poor, this PCRV rates the relevance of the DAPRP as satisfactory (5), in line with the rating provided by PMD.
Effectiveness
37. The Dabieshan Area Poverty Reduction Programme achieved most of the project output targets (modified following the recommendations of the MTR) within the agreed time frame. At programme completion, almost all of the first level results and core indicators were achieved, as also reported in the corresponding RIMS. 141,894 people have directly participated in project activities, of which 83,937 (59 per cent) were women. Poor and very poor households (B2 and C)5 reportedly accounted, respectively, for 40 per cent and 49 per cent of beneficiaries.
38. The targeting strategy was broadly observed during project implementation, however, some issues were noted with household selection at the village level. While the targeting strategy itself was effective, the supervision mission report 2015 noted inadequate transparency with the participatory targeting mechanism for the selection
4 China COSOP 2016, P.2.
5 For more detail on the household classification see Annex III.
of households resulting in some bias. Supervision missions confirmed that, in general, programme implementation was well targeted to the poor households, although in some cases better-off households were also included in modules 2 and 3 (cash crops and tree crops). Some cases of targeting to better-off households were carried out during the implementation of other modules, reason being that the geographical area selected does contain above-average, better-off households.
39. Notably, some of the programme’s ten modules were more effective than others; for example, module 2: Economic tree; module 3: cash crop and medicinal plants;
module 4: pig raising; module 6: pond fish; and module 8: market access did all efficiently reach their respective targets and, in many cases, even exceed them. At the same time, module 1: technical envoy; module 5: poultry raising; module 9:
village development fund; and module 10: capacity building for poor women did not fully meet their targets. Overall, modules achieved an average of 97.296 per cent of targets. Module 7: rice fish was phased out at MTR.
40. Each module contained a number of activities with specific objectives; in total, there were 23 measurable activities, out of which nine were downsized during MTR. Out of the nine downsized specific objectives five had a moderate reduction (minus 20 per cent of original target). However, two components’ targets were reduced below or close to half of their original target, and two measurable activities were phased out at MTR.
41. The results and reach of the DAPRP by module are presented below:
(a) Module 1: Technical Envoy (TE). Implementation of the TE modules covered 267 villages, including 249 high-level poverty villages in 66 townships within the eight programme counties, benefitting 42,084 farmer households; of these, 38,016 were poor households. The overall number of beneficiaries amounted to 58,649, with women accounting for 57.4 per cent of the total. A total of 414 technical envoys were trained under this module.
(b) Module 2: Economic Tree. The largest tree crop supported in the programme counties was tea plantation, followed by camellia and willow, providing 32,545 seedlings. The implementation of the economic tree module reached 113
villages in 33 townships within the eight programme counties, benefiting 32,545 farmer households, including 29,652 Category B and C households.7 The
cumulative beneficiary farmers were 38,031, with women accounting for roughly 60 per cent of the total. The survey carried out at programme completion
showed that approximately 93 per cent of beneficiaries adopted technical recommendations for economic tree crops.
(c) Module 3: Cash crop & Medicinal plants. The three largest crops supported through the module were soft wheat, glutinous rice and canola. The module reached 48 villages in 17 townships of the programme countries with a total number of 14,197 farmer household, including 12,417 poor households, benefiting 17,320 farmers of which 9,985 were women. A total of 14,197 seeds/seedlings for medicinal plants were provided. The survey carried out at programme completion showed that approximately 97 per cent of beneficiaries adopted recommended farming techniques.
(d) Module 4: Pig Raising. Pig raising modules were implemented in 86 villages, benefiting 6,695 farmers. It provided 6,508 farmers with materials to build biogas systems and included also 9,347 trainings. The survey carried out at programme completion showed that approximately 94 per cent of beneficiaries adopted technical recommendations for pig production.
6 Arithmetic average of percentage achieved for output results as reported in the 2015 Supervision Mission Report physical progress output table.
7 Household category is shown in Annex III.
(e) Module 5: Poultry Raising. The Poultry Raising module was implemented in 60 villages, reaching 3,822 beneficiaries. This module did not meet its target (6,282), given the lingering threat of avian flu. The targets for this module were revised and downsized at MTR; at programme completion, it achieved only 64 per cent of the revised targets.
(f) Module 6 and 7: Pond Fish and Rice Fish. Fish modules were implemented in only three counties. Rice fish8 module implementation encountered a number of difficulties, including inflated price of suitable fish, water contamination and high labour demand for night watchmen guarding the paddy fields. Consequently, both modules were terminated before MTR, reaching 398 fish pond systems and 143 rice fish systems overall. The survey carried out at programme completion showed that 100 per cent of beneficiaries adopted good practices with regard to fish culture.
(g) Module 8: Market Access. At programme completion, a total of 135 farmer cooperatives were strengthened and committed to promoting the pro-poor membership by implementing various modules in eight counties, against the originally identified 120 cooperatives/associations. As a result, module 8 exceeded its appraisal targets, reaching an overall 141 per cent.
(h) Module 9: Village Development Fund. The village development fund was planned in 80 poor villages and then implemented in 51 villages. It financed the completion of 102.4 km village roads; 3.3 km of irrigation canal; and 30 ponds.
It benefited 9,670 households; among them, 8,019 (83 per cent) were poor and vulnerable households. Female beneficiaries represented 60 per cent (7,290) of the total beneficiaries. However, the output relating to “poor village
infrastructure improved with participatory planning” achieved just 63 per cent of the set target.
(i) Module 10: Capacity Building for poor women. The module intended to build up capabilities of women federations and rural women by providing
capacity building services. The target was set at 8,000 trainees but reached only 4,585 at completion (57 per cent of the original target).
42. Monitoring and evaluation. The PCR, while acknowledging the efforts made by the Programme Management Offices at prefecture and county levels to set up a functional M&E system, states that the usefulness of the M&E system was compromised by the inconsistencies for household categorization and lack of alignment among indicators across log frame and RIMS, a fact also evidentiated at MTR and by the IFAD Supervision missions.
43. Based on the above evidence, the PCRV rates the effectiveness criterion for DAPRP as moderately satisfactory (4), the same rating provided by PMD.
Efficiency
44. The overall financial achievement of the programme was 93.9 per cent against the appraisal target. The total programme cost amounted to US$66.6 million, broken down as follows: IFAD at US$27.25 million (40.9 per cent), and government at US$39.35 million (59.1 per cent).
45. All in all, the actual disbursement rate of the DAPRP project is satisfactory, given that the national government disbursed 100 per cent of the approved amount. However, as of programme completion, IFAD disbursed only 85 per cent of the approved amount.9
8 Integrated rice field or rice field/pond complex, where fish are grown concurrently or alternately with rice.
9 The PCR explains: “At the implementation level, adequate adjustments and adaptation were eventually not employed in a way mutually and willingly agreed between IFAD and the project management to address the challenge of verifying household level project expenditures, where official invoices were not possible to be obtained. Despite the efforts made by the provincial DOF and Audit Department to recognize these expenditures through special purpose (pro forma) invoices, as well efforts of IFAD missions to improve this approach, unfeasible practice thereafter made the county PMOs unwilling or
46. The programme directly benefited approximately 87,000 households, and exceeded the design target by 10,000 households. The average total cost per beneficiary household was estimated at about US$795. Using the number of total beneficiaries from the programme completion report data corresponding to 412,798 individuals, the average programme cost per beneficiary amounts to approximately US$167, with the IFAD share corresponding to US$72.
47. Taking into consideration the average cost per beneficiary of the six ongoing IFAD- financed projects in China amounting to US$55, the DAPRP cost per beneficiary is relatively high. This is mainly caused by the relatively large investment of component A: Agricultural Development and Market Access, (accounting for 77 per cent of the total cost of the programme).
48. Project internal rate of return.10 Annex X of the PCR presents a detailed analysis of the project economic internal rate of return (EIRR). At project end, the EIRR was 17.5 per cent with a repayment period of 7.1 years. While this is 8.5 per cent lower than the EIRR estimated at appraisal, the estimate seems to be based on a sound analysis and is still satisfactory. The PCR also states that some of the project components such as economic trees, pig raising and cash crops showed an estimated EIRR of 20 per cent.
49. Based on the above narrative, this PCRV rates the efficiency of the Dabieshan Area Poverty Reduction Programme as moderately satisfactory (4), in line with the rating of PMD.
Rural poverty impact
50. To assess the poverty impact of the programme, the programme completion mission reviewed solely the modules designed to create economic growth, excluding the modules focused on training and capacity building. Rural poverty impact was assessed during the Project Completion Report preparation process through a survey and it included comparing the available data with baseline information gathered at the programme design stage, but not to a counterfactual situation. In addition, the PCR does not provide much information on the methodology used to carry out the survey;
it should be noted that the quality of the information presented in the PCR is inconsistent across modules.
51. By project end, 32,463 households received project services; and benefitted 59,073 men (individuals) and 90,004 women (individuals).11 Overall, the PCR reported a decrease in poverty from 13.6 per cent in 2009 to 9.6 per cent in 2015 in the Xingyang prefecture. Furthermore, the proportion of poor and very poor households (category B2 and C) reported decrease poverty levels of 27 per cent to 21 per cent, and 20 per cent to 13.5 per cent respectively.12
52. The supervision mission conducted in 2015 reported that the program had in many cases contributed to reducing rural poverty through increased income, although it noted limited data on program outcomes and impact due to inadequate data gathering by the PMOs during implementation. In the absence of robust monitoring
unable to take advantage of this approach. Thus project disbursement requirements eventually limited the full reimbursement and withdrawal of IFAD loan funds, leaving somewhat deviated perception of IFAD and project management on the causes.”
10 The project analysis was based on the following hypothesis: a) Calculation period of the programme is 20 years; b) Cost- benefit from the eighth year to the 20th year is the same as that of the seventh year; c) Labour daily wage set from CNY 80 to CNY 120; d) The analysis is based on the comparison between cases with and without the programme; and e) It does not include the benefit from trainings, technical envoy, support to women and farmers’ cooperatives.
11 DAPRP RIMS 2015.
12 DAPRP PCR 2016, P.14
data, relevant government statistical data and results from the mid-term RIMS survey carried out in 2012 were used to assess the program impact.
53. The PCR presents impact data for the different production modules, but without mentioning the sources for this information, which made it impossible to verify:
(a) Module 2: Economic Tree. Willow branches increased from 300kg/mu13 to over 1,500 kg/mu in 2015; gross income went up from 600 CNY/mu to 3,000 CNY/mu. Tea growers in two of the eight counties increased their income, and plantation production increased from 2,500-4,000 CNY/farmer to 5,000-8,000 CNY/farmer.
(b) Module 3: Cash crop & Medicinal plants. The yields of soft wheat increased by 75-100 kg/mu, reaching an average of 500 kg/mu, equivalent to 2,200 CNY/mu in 2015. Glutinous rice yield also increased from 400 kg/mu to 580 kg/mu.
(c) Modules 4 & 5: Pig Raising and Poultry Raising. According to the survey conducted at programme completion, with respect to the poultry raising module, 94 per cent of the farmers adopted the technologies recommended by the IFAD programme (such technologies are not specified in the PCR), and 81 per cent of the farmers reported an income growth. The pig raising module had a lesser impact, where only 30 per cent of beneficiaries showed income growth.
(d) Modules 6 and 7: Pond Fish and Rice Fish. The survey carried out at
programme completion did not measure the outcome indicators for rice and fish given that it was phased out at MTR. Based on the PCR, fish production
increased from 50 kg/mu to 150 kg/mu and income increased.
54. Households’ income and assets. Program implementation positively contributed to an increase in beneficiary households’ income through the development of economic trees, cash crops, livestock and fish culture, although the increase varied by activity.
Governmental statistics indicated that average farmers’ per capita annual net income in program areas increased from CNY 4,500 in 2009 to CNY 8,514 in 2014.14 While the increase cannot be wholly attributed to DAPRP, the program contributed significantly to the increase in incomes.
55. According to the PCR, 75 per cent of the project beneficiaries expressed increase of household assets. The ownership of motorcycles increased from 40 per cent to 57 per cent; 78 per cent of households have purchased tractors, which represents a 48 per cent increase from baseline value. Additionally, there was a substantive increase of home electronics. Households owing a refrigerator increased from 27 per cent in 2009 to 92 per cent in 2015 and televisions from 80 per cent to 92 per cent. Given that the assessment does not take into consideration a comparison group, these improvements may be attributed to multiple factors, primarily to the overall economic development of the region.
56. Human and social capital and empowerment. DAPRP included a specific focus on enhancing human and social capital for women in project areas by incorporating a gender action plan that would allow women in isolated villages to have access to project activities. The project also contributed to human development through increased literacy rates for both men and women, increased access to safe drinking water and an overall drop in chronic malnutrition for under 5-year olds. Availability of safe drinking water increased from 81 per cent in 2009 to 99 per cent in 2015. Project beneficiaries benefitted from an increase in knowledge through participation in the module trainings while farmers interviewed in the RIMS survey noted a “change of development mentalities” through their participation in project activities.15
13 Mu is the Chinese unit to measure area. 1 mu is equal to 0.067 ha.
14 DAPRP Supervision Mission Report 2015, P.13.
15 DAPRP PCR 2016, P.15.
57. Food security and agricultural productivity. Results from the RIMS survey conducted in 2012 indicated that more than 73 per cent of program households increased grain production midway through the project. Moreover, the number of households with hungry season decreased from 26 per cent in 2009 to 10 per cent in 2012, with no beneficiaries reporting a hungry season by project end16. Governmental statistics validate these findings with reported increases in grain availability per capita in project counties from 749 kg in 2010 to 783 kg in 2015. However, success relating to food security is a result of joint efforts, and cannot be exclusively attributed to DAPRP.
58. Institutions and policies. The program had no significant impact on government policy.
59. Even though the programme showed examples of tangible beneficiary improvements through the interviews held at programme completion, there were limitations in information quality and a lack of evidence to verify the information provided in the PCR regarding programme impact. In addition, there was no comparator group in the PCR survey, which would have been essential given the rapid development of the region. Therefore, rural poverty impact is rated moderately satisfactory (4), in line with the PCR rating.
Sustainability
60. DAPRP was designed to be sustainable through the alignment of program features with government strategy, embedding program implementation within government institutions and a strong design focus on engagement, participation and ownership of local communities. Strong Government support throughout project implementation enhanced country ownership. Moreover, the government has ensured additional funding to support the technical envoy and other support services. The governmental technical agencies provided technical support and guidance at county and township levels, while specific project activities were undertaken by farmer cooperatives. While challenges were noted with the degree of implementation support the agencies provided, the unit’s functionality is sustainable and many cases of cooperation between government agencies and cooperatives resulting in local development were documented.
61. According to the design report, the production activities supported through the modules were commercially viable at current prices (relevant in 2008) and were fully integrated in a local and regional market economy. The environmental impact undertaken at project end concluded that the project had improved access of the poor to the market with price premium, ensuring sustainability.
62. The program supported farmer cooperatives are sustainable provided they foster and grow a strong membership base and continue to provide responsive services to members beyond the program’s scope. At the village level, the village committees, a core part of Village Implementing Groups, have benefitted from enhanced capacity in planning and managing community development projects and can sustainably provide services to local farmers. The 2015 Supervision Report noted that farmer cooperatives had actually expanded their outreach to a larger number of poor households in project areas.
63. In light of the above, sustainability is rated as moderately satisfactory (4), equal to the PCR rating.
B. Other performance criteria
Innovation and scaling up64. Innovation. As part of Module 8, “Market access through cooperative strengthening”, the programme financed the introduction of 109 new technologies. However, the PCR
16 DAPRP PCR 2016, P.15.
does not specify what type of technologies were introduced, nor the results achieved through the adoption of such technologies. Additionally, the PCR states that “the programme adopted mature technologies, well adapted to the local ecosystem and to beneficiaries’ cultural context; therefore, no significant technical innovation was observed as a result of programme implementation”. Based on the information available in the PCR and other official programme documentation, this PCRV reaches the conclusion that the DAPRP did not cater to a strong innovative approach.
65. The project promoted a number of innovative concepts at design, including: i) its modular approach, which allowed for more flexibility and the ability to respond swiftly to changing conditions; ii) the piloting of the technical envoy system as a poverty reduction tool to transfer technical know-how to poor groups; iii) support for integrating the poor into emerging farmers’ association and cooperatives in China;
and iv) strengthened decentralised development approach through self-management village development funds.17
66. DAPRP’s modular approach was innovative through its flexible implementation strategy allowing for inputs and associated activities to be undertaken in a specific time sequence, thus promoting more efficient market-driven production. The program piloted the technical envoy system, targeting poor and vulnerable households through extension service provision which aided in preparing beneficiaries to upgrade production with higher yields and better quality. Public-private partnerships between farmer groups and line agencies promoted pro-poor cooperative development, innovative in that farmer groups were mostly seen as beneficiaries and not active partners in development.
67. Given the lack of evidence and explanation of the innovative concepts shown in the programme design and in the PCR, this PCRV rates innovation as moderately satisfactory (4), in line with the rating provided by PMD.
68. Scaling up. The project reported some success as regards the scaling up of TEs as evidenced through the incorporation of a technical envoy system in the Talents for Mountainous Area Scheme sponsored by national agencies, with a focus on aiding poor households in mountainous areas to reduce poverty levels and increase development through targeted technology transfer.
69. At design, the programme envisioned that the high degree of community participation at the village level would effectively lead to scaling up. While challenges were noted with the ability of the farmer cooperatives to fully target the poor for programme implementation, the cooperatives did provide a strong platform for linking producers to markets, supporting scaling up and replication.
70. While production models and technologies demonstrated good potential for income generation, there is a risk to scaling up due to lack of commitment and participation by implementing agencies evidenced by the 2014 Supervision Mission.
71. Based on the information above, the PCRV rates scaling up as moderately satisfactory (4), same as the PCR rating.
Gender equality and women’s empowerment
72. Out of the programme direct beneficiaries, 59 per cent were women, and the same percentage holds for the trained beneficiaries. The programme completion report survey showed a 4 per cent increase of women-led households (from 6 per cent at start-up to 10 per cent at programme completion).
73. The programme strategy and targets to ensure gender equitable participation in the programme activities are summarized in the following three approaches:
17 DAPRP President’s Report, P.5.
(a) Women will represent at least 50 per cent of all beneficiaries. Based on the available information in the PCR, this objective was reached.
(b) The programme includes a capacity building for poor women module that will promote income generating activities, training and social and economic empowerment. Modules 2 to 7 were designed to create income generating activities and module 1 proper training. Given the programme results described in previous paragraphs 32 to 37 under effectiveness, and taking into consideration the level of women’s participation, this objective was also reached.
(c) Village participatory planning, ensuring that programme priorities will reflect the interest and demands from women and men. The PCR states that a beneficiary participatory assessment was conducted in two out of the eight counties covered by the programme. However, the PCR does not contain sufficient information regarding the demands from women and men submitted during such exercises.
74. Based on the above set strategy and targets to ensure gender equitable participation, and on the available information in the PCR, this PCRV rates gender equality and women’s empowerment as moderately satisfactory (4), in line with the rating provided by PMD.
Environment and natural resources management
75. The programme designed and implemented modules aimed at increasing land and labour productivity and farmers’ income through adopting resource-saving and environmental-friendly farming practices, with a focus on knowledge transfer to programme beneficiaries. The implementation of the crop production modules 2 and 3 resulted in increased land and labour productivity. For instance, the yield of glutinous rice production increased from 400 kg/mu to 580 kg/mu between 2009 and 2015 at programme completion.
76. Biogas digesters provided to pig raising beneficiaries reduced pollution and increased the supply of renewable energy at household level. Fish ponds were rehabilitated, which remarkably increased the productivity of fish producers; the economic tree modules brought tangible returns to the beneficiaries and also improved the local vegetation coverage, reducing land degradation by soil erosion. Additionally, technical empowerment improved the production conditions of farmers, thus enhancing beneficiaries’ resilience to external shocks, including natural disasters.
77. The PCR rates natural resources and the environment as moderately satisfactory (4), in line with the rating provided by PMD.
Adaptation to climate change
78. The PCR states that climate change adaptation was not a top priority at programme design. However, some of the programme activities, such as technical training, incorporated climate change adaptation technologies, the introduction of drought- tolerant crop varieties, and land terracing for tea and camellia plantations.
Furthermore, project activities and upgraded agricultural infrastructure contributed to an improved ecological environment which in turn enhances resilience of small holder farmers to climate change.
79. Even though the DAPRP did not incorporate a thorough climate change component, programme activities such as trainings and tree plantation helped to increment awareness and skills to address, to some extent, some of the climate change challenges. The PCRV rates the adaptation to climate change as moderately satisfactory (4), in line with the rating provided by PMD.
C. Overall project achievement
80. Programme activities have positively responded to the needs of the target groups through the achievement of most of the module targets. Even though not all
programme activities were successful, the results demonstrate that the necessary measures were taken into consideration to deliver the expected results. In addition, the programme has been moderately gender sensitive and environmentally responsible, and training and other capacity building sessions were carried out, thus contributing to project sustainability.
81. While recognising the success of the programme, this PCRV considers that the DAPRP could have achieved a higher degree of impact by using its approach as a pilot for other national projects, and by promoting farmer cooperatives to link farmers to markets. Overall project achievement is rated by this PCRV as moderately satisfactory (4).
D. Performance of partners
82. IFAD. IFAD conducted at least one supervision mission per year as well as implementation support missions, consultations on key implementation issues, including annual work plan and budget formulation, targeting, M&E, and fiduciary management. The PCR also states that the ICO-based consultations were effective and efficient for problem solving measures. However, the PCR also mentions that the IFAD fiduciary supervision and support could have been better delivered and organized. The PCRV rates the performance of IFAD as moderately satisfactory (4), as per the rating provided by PMD.
83. Government. The Department of Finance and the Bureau of Finance successfully carried out their respective responsibilities for financial management; notably, the counterpart financing from the government exceeded the appraisal target. In addition, the implementation of the programme production modules (2-7) was originally designed to be delegated to county-level specialized Implementing Agencies, but such responsibilities were later shifted to the farmers’ cooperatives and associations. Such approach promoted enhanced sustainability and, more important, empowerment of civil society. The PMO faced a number of challenges with financial management reportedly due to difficulties in tracking task completion dates as a result of some implementing agencies withdrawing their rights of withdrawal application due to the lengthy reimbursement process.18 Furthermore, as a temporary institution, the PMO suffered high staff turnover rates as the PMO could not guarantee long term employment, which in turn led to lower quality implementation. The performance of the Government is rated as satisfactory (5) by the PCR and the PCRV maintains this score.
IV. Assessment of PCR quality
84. Scope. The PCR follows the PCR guidelines, however it does not provide much detail and quantitative information on most of the programme modules activities and results. The annexes include relevant information of some of the programme components, however not all the programme activities and process are thoroughly explained. In addition, given the large number of programme sub-components and activities, the PCR does not provide a clear guideline nor mapping of programme activities and lacks information with regards to the selection criteria for the target group and the monitoring and evaluation process. The PCR scope is rated moderately satisfactory (4).
85. Quality. The quality of the PCR is rated moderately satisfactory (4). While the PCR process was inclusive of stakeholders, it does not provide sufficient data and analysis to have an overall picture of the programme achievements and lessons learned.
Information reported was confusing and contradictory in some case, for example the assessment of the monitoring and evaluation systems noted on the one hand major flaws and data quality issues, while on the other hand, stated the M&E system was well managed and captured accurate data on poverty outreach and beneficiary
18 DAPRP PCR, 2016, P.71
participation. The information reported under the sustainability category was referenced almost exclusively from the 2015 Supervision Mission Report with limited verification from other sources.
86. Lessons. The PCR includes important lessons derived from the implementation of programme activities, mainly related to fiduciary issues given that the DAPRP is one of the few projects in China with loan proceeds not fully disbursed. Out of the twelve lessons presented in the PCR, seven are related to fiduciary aspects. Some lessons provide positive advice on how to improve specific components; for example, they mention the importance of adopting a more advanced value chain approach.
Additionally, the positive collaboration with farmer cooperatives shows their capacity to be viable intermediaries with which IFAD could engage more. PCR lessons are rated as satisfactory (5).
87. Candour. While the narrative is objective and the PCR does incorporate both positive and negative programme results, the PCR ratings could have improved or decreased if more information was provided, obtaining a better picture of programme achievements. On this basis the candour of the PCR is rated as moderately satisfactory (4).
V. Lessons learned
88. The PCR contains a good number of important and valuable lessons learned that should be considered for future IFAD-funded interventions programmes in China, especially in terms of fiduciary management.
(a) When a PMO is institutionalized within a government administration structure, adequate fulltime PMO staffing should be a pre-condition for disbursement and maintained throughout. Capacity building through training, workshops and exposure visits at the early stage of project implementation should be adequately planned and budgeted for. Although the project management structure was established in line with programme design, the PMO was plagued with issues including inadequate capacity, understaffing and high turnover rates during program implementation, which in turn impacted program efficiency, management and reimbursement of expenditures incurred.
(b) Involving farmer cooperatives for achieving poverty reduction can be an
effective strategy in value chain and market access focused projects. Including service providers along with government implementing agencies can be more efficient and effective for the delivery of production and market services within a value chain. However, a more advanced value chain approach targeting pro- poor value chain development would require a thorough analysis of all stakeholders in the value chain to better identify and define roles and
responsibilities based on areas of strengths and weaknesses at design followed up by facilitation during implementation.
(c) Establishing and implementing a robust M&E system at project onset is essential for effective project monitoring and reporting. The project consistently faced issues with the reporting of input and output monitoring data, and the timely capturing of outcome level data. Furthermore, the project missed an opportunity to utilise M&E information to inform programme management decisions
throughout the project. An M&E training component should be included at design for future projects with a higher degree of supervision provided to the Project Management Unit to ensure the uptake and use of data collected during the project’s lifespan to inform management decisions and to facilitate knowledge sharing.
(d) With IFAD introducing a risk based disbursement arrangement coupled with improvement of financial accountability and tightened supervisory and auditing regimes in the country, the current practice of invoice-based disbursement has proved its limitations under DAPRP. It is deemed necessary to reduce the level
and details of ex-ante checks while increasing ex-post review to ensure project efficiency. The unfulfilled disbursement loan in DAPRP partly reflects such need.
Annex I
Definition and rating of the evaluation criteria used by IOE
Criteria Definition * Mandatory To be rated
Rural poverty impact Impact is defined as the changes that have occurred or are expected to occur in the lives of the rural poor (whether positive or negative, direct or indirect, intended or unintended) as a result of development interventions.
X Yes
Four impact domains
Household income and net assets: Household income provides a means of assessing the flow of economic benefits accruing to an individual or group, whereas assets relate to a stock of accumulated items of economic value. The analysis must include an assessment of trends in equality over time.
No
Human and social capital and empowerment: Human and social capital and empowerment include an assessment of the changes that have occurred in the empowerment of individuals, the quality of grass-roots organizations and institutions, the poor’s individual and collective capacity, and in particular, the extent to which specific groups such as youth are included or excluded from the development process.
No
Food security and agricultural productivity: Changes in food security relate to availability, stability, affordability and access to food and stability of access, whereas changes in agricultural productivity are measured in terms of yields; nutrition relates to the nutritional value of food and child malnutrition.
No
Institutions and policies: The criterion relating to institutions and policies is designed to assess changes in the quality and performance of institutions, policies and the regulatory framework that influence the lives of the poor.
No
Project performance Project performance is an average of the ratings for relevance, effectiveness,
efficiency and sustainability of benefits. X Yes
Relevance The extent to which the objectives of a development intervention are consistent with beneficiaries’ requirements, country needs, institutional priorities and partner and donor policies. It also entails an assessment of project design and coherence in achieving its objectives. An assessment should also be made of whether objectives and design address inequality, for example, by assessing the relevance of targeting strategies adopted.
X Yes
Effectiveness The extent to which the development intervention’s objectives were achieved, or are expected to be achieved, taking into account their relative importance. X
Yes
Efficiency
Sustainability of benefits
A measure of how economically resources/inputs (funds, expertise, time, etc.) are converted into results.
The likely continuation of net benefits from a development intervention beyond the phase of external funding support. It also includes an assessment of the likelihood that actual and anticipated results will be resilient to risks beyond the project’s life.
X
X
Yes
Yes
Other performance criteria
Gender equality and women’s empowerment
Innovation and scaling up
The extent to which IFAD interventions have contributed to better gender equality and women’s empowerment, for example, in terms of women’s access to and ownership of assets, resources and services; participation in decision making; work load balance and impact on women’s incomes, nutrition and livelihoods.
The extent to which IFAD development interventions:
(i) have introduced innovative approaches to rural poverty reduction; and (ii) have been (or are likely to be) scaled up by government authorities, donor organizations, the private sector and others agencies.
X
X
Yes
Yes
Environment and natural resources management
The extent to which IFAD development interventions contribute to resilient livelihoods and ecosystems. The focus is on the use and management of the natural environment, including natural resources defined as raw materials
X Yes
Annex I
Criteria Definition * Mandatory To be rated
used for socio-economic and cultural purposes, and ecosystems and biodiversity - with the goods and services they provide.
Adaptation to climate change
The contribution of the project to reducing the negative impacts of climate
change through dedicated adaptation or risk reduction measures X Yes Overall project
achievement
This provides an overarching assessment of the intervention, drawing upon the analysis and ratings for rural poverty impact, relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability of benefits, gender equality and women’s empowerment, innovation and scaling up, as well as environment and natural resources management, and adaptation to climate change.
X Yes
Performance of partners
IFAD
Government
This criterion assesses the contribution of partners to project design, execution, monitoring and reporting, supervision and implementation support, and evaluation. The performance of each partner will be assessed on an individual basis with a view to the partner’s expected role and responsibility in the project life cycle.
X X
Yes Yes
* These definitions build on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Development Assistance Committee (OECD/DAC) Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation and Results-Based Management; the Methodological Framework for Project Evaluation agreed with the Evaluation Committee in September 2003; the first edition of the Evaluation Manual discussed with the Evaluation Committee in December 2008; and further discussions with the Evaluation Committee in November 2010 on IOE’s evaluation criteria and key questions.
