Mid-term evaluation of investment climate improvement project : fiscal and policy components

The ICI project is a USAID West Bank and Gaza financed task order under the General Business Trade and Investment (GBTI) II Indefinite Quantity Contract (IQC) awarded to Chemonics International. In the third quarter of 2011, the project was suspended due to budgetary constraints, but was restarted at the end of 2011. While the period of suspension was not lengthy, its impact on the continuity of the project was significant in that all staff had been released from their commitment when the suspension took place. Upon restart of the project, only two members from the earlier incarnation of the project returned. As a consequence, the project has essentially been launched twice, with all of the administrative and logistical issues ramping up a project typically entails. This is important to keep in mind in reviewing the activities and accomplishments of the project at the time of this assessment in October 2012. The project is scheduled to end in August 2013, giving it only 10 months more for achieving its objectives before it comes to an end. At the request of USAID/WBG an evaluation was conducted of the Investment Climate Improvement (ICI) project being implemented by Chemonics. The field portion of the assessment took place October 2-12, 2012. The evaluation had the following primary objectives: (1) review, analyze, and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of USAID's ICI project in achieving program objectives and deliverables designed to strengthen the policy-making capacity of the Palestinian Authority (PA); and (2) provide specific recommendations that inform the design of one or two follow-on projects in the areas of fiscal reform and economic policy reform. The evaluation contains findings and recommendations for the several components of the project. (Excerpt, modified)