July 22, 2013

Ex-post Evaluation Outline

On the Project of Flood Control and Irrigation System Construction

in Batheay Area, Kam Pong Cham Province, Cambodia

Korea Global Development Consulting Center (KGDC)

  1. Background

Cambodia is one of the strategic development partners with which Koreaput greater emphasis on promoting foreign, economic, and cooperative relationship with the Kingdom of Cambodia. Over the years the volume of development cooperation with Cambodia increased significantly both in grant aid and concessional loan. From 2007 to 2011 the volume was US$ 187 and 27 development projects were implemented under the channel of bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Among them the grant aid projects were 21, amounting to US$34 million, designed by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), an arm of bilateral cooperation agencies of the Korean government. The annual contribution of KOICA’s development cooperation program was US$23 million in 2011.

The overall development goal of the Cambodian government is “poverty reduction and economic growththrough enhancement of agriculture sector development”[1].The Rectangular Strategy of the Royal Government of Cambodia established four pillars of strategic growth bringing agricultural sector development as the top agenda of national development. Agricultural development is placed in the center of Cambodia’s developmental program and rehabilitating and enhancing irrigation potential is one of the high priority investment requirements for increasing agricultural productivity as the Cambodian agriculture depends heavily on paddy crops and the potential for expanding irrigated land area is great.

Agricultural and rural development is the first priority area of Korea’s commitment to Cambodia’s progress through development cooperation program. The Country Assistance Strategy 2008-2010 and the Country Partnership Strategy 2012-2015 for Cambodia put a greater emphasis on supporting the program of agricultural investment, especially in the area of water resources management and irrigation. Accordingly, a number of projects have been implemented in these areas including a reservoir rehabilitation project in Tamouk, the Integrated Water Resources Development Project in Kraing Ponley River, and the Feasibility of Battambang Multi-purpose Dam.

Two of the grant aid projects were carried out consecutively in the region of Batheay District, Kam Pong Cham Province, from 2007 to 2010: (1) The Batheay Flood Control Project(2007-2008, US$ 2 Million) and (2) Te Batheay Irrigation Construction Project(2009-2010, US$ 2.5 Million).Three years have passed since the completion of the projects and those projects are subject to ex-post evaluation according to the Development Cooperation Evaluation Guideline(November 2008).The purposes of ex-post evaluation are (1) to improve future aid projects through feedback of lessons learned in the process of the project preparation and implementation and (2) to provide a basis for accountability, including the provision of information to the public. Through the evaluation of failures as well as successes, valuable information is generated which, if properly fed back, can improve future aid programmes and projects.[2]

  1. Outline of the Evaluation Project

1. Scope of the Work

An end-of-the-project evaluation was made in 2009, confirming the rationale and objectives achievement of the projects. As this ex-post evaluation is a comprehensive review on the overall results of the projects including impacts, effects, and sustainability as well as the appropriateness of the process. The evaluation research will be placed on the process and outcome of the projects in terms of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability and the cross-cutting issues - gender main-streaming and environment– focusing on effects and impacts, not only direct but also indirect social, economic, institutional, environmental and other development indicators resulting from the activities.

2. Evaluation Team and Methods

The Korea International Cooperation Agency(KOICA) entrusted the evaluation task, ‘Ex-post Evaluation on the Projects of Flood Control and Irrigation Construction in Batheay Area’to the Korea Global Development Consulting Center (KGDC), on independent research institute. KGDC is a non-profit think-tank/consultancy which supports the efforts of government and private sector in international development cooperation through research, policy development and consulting.

This evaluation task will be undertaken by a team arranged by KGDC for five months from July to November 2013. The team consists of three(3) Korean experts, one(1) Korean research assistant and two(2) local consultants of Cambodia. A Cambodian official in charge of monitoring the projects may join the activities of research survey in Cambodia for a joint evaluation in the field. Korean team is consisted of one Team Leader (T/L), two experts in water resources management and agricultural irrigation respectively and one assistant research. Korean experts will undertake the evaluation on projects defined by their specialties. As this evaluation is being carried out since their completion couples of years ago, the focus of the evaluation will be highlighted on the outcomes of the projects - short, mid and long term effect and impact - as well as sustainability.

Along with the in-Korea research, a survey will be carried out in advance with a wide range of recipient stakeholders including the responsible government ministry, project/program execution institutes and beneficiaries in Cambodia. Questionnaires will be sent to the main stakeholders so as to be compiled before the field visit scheduled in early September 2013. The in-Korea research and questionnaire survey will lay out the foundation for the following field visit/on-site interviews, and the joint evaluation workshop in Phnom Penh. The Team will produce a tentative research result early October subject to public debate and supplementary survey to be finalized not later than early December. One of the two local consultants, a senior consultant, will carry out the role of in-country coordinator for the field survey and prepare an independent evaluation report on the projects. The other local consultant will assist and facilitate the in-country survey, field visits and interviews, under the supervision of the senior consultant.

Upon compiling the results of field survey and research which is scheduled on the first week of September 2013 for a one-week field mission, a workshop will be arranged in Phnom Penh. The workshop will be held on the last day of field survey in which the members of the evaluation teal present their findings and preliminary conclusion and major stakeholders of the Cambodian side express their observations and opinions in the standpoint of recipient. A number of stakeholders will be invited to the half-day workshop as presenters and discussants of the several topics to be presented. Opinion and ideas will be exchanged in a participatory manner in the workshop.

KDGC is expecting the KOICA Cambodia Office will provide the evaluation team with general support. The local consultants consisting of a senior consultant and a junior researcher will work in close collaboration with the KOICA Cambodia Office and the Korean experts as well. The local survey and the communications within Cambodia will be handled mainly by the local consultants as the focal point of the field survey.

3. Request for the Support & Results of the Evaluation

To secure the objectiveness, participatory approach is integral to produce a credible and useful results on this evaluation. Thus, the necessary support from related authorities, agencies, and institutes as well as a variety of interviewees and questionnaire respondents both in Korea andCambodiamust be sought out throughout the whole process encompassing surveys, interviews, and a field workshop. In this regard, the active participation and support from the Cambodian side, especially the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology (MOWRAM), would be highly appreciated.

The results will be compiled and summarized into a report in English and Korean, submitted to KOICA upon the completion by the end of November 2013. The evaluation reports will be disseminated to associated institutes to be shared and tapped into future cooperation between Korea and Cambodia.

1

[1]Royal Government of Cambodia, National Strategic Development Plan 2009-2013, June 2010

[2]OECD, Principles for Evaluation of Development Assistance, Paris 1991