Final evaluation report mid-term performance evaluation of the private sector development activity

PSDA began operations in mid-2015 and is being implemented by Nathan Associates. Beneficiaries of the activity include civil society organizations (CSOs), microfinance institutions (MFI), associations, entrepreneurs, private sector actors, and the Government and people of Myanmar. USAID designed PSDA to be an economic policy reform and institution-building operation with an emphasis on promoting evidence-based, public-private policy dialogue. At the same time, the Activity delivers specific, rapid-response technical assistance (TA) to foster important and evolving policy and legislative reforms. This report answers the following evaluation questions: 1. Which approaches to catalyze economic reforms have been most effective and least effective, based on progress achieved toward intended results? 1a: Which factors influenced the achievement or non-achievement of intended results? 2. To what extent have the approaches to capacity building of the public/private sector made progress toward intended results? 3. To what extent have the grants contributed to increasing broad-based economic opportunities? 4. Which approaches to achieve the objective of improving financial services have been most effective and least effective, based on progress achieved toward intended results? The methods used in this qualitative PE consist of document review, key informant interviews (KII), and focus group discussions (FGDs). Overall, PSDA is a well-managed Activity operating in a complex environment. After two and a half years of intensive work in a slow-moving and opaque policy reform context, PSDA has achieved concrete policy reform success in access to finance, which has led to an increase in broad based economic opportunities, primarily for women. PSDA has also succeeded in improving the capacity of a variety of CSOs to engage in policy dialogue with relevant Government of Myanmar (GOM) ministries. It is recommended that PSDA capitalize on current momentum in a focused number of issue areas for the remainder of the Activity by leveraging key relationships with comm