Midterm performance evaluation of USAID/Mali funded program entitled USAID/Mali sub-national governance project (SNGP) : final evaluation report

consultants conducted a midterm evaluation of the Sub-National Governance Project (SNGP), a five-year, $22 million USAID-funded project, awarded to Tetra Tech ARD (TT) and consortium of four sub-contractors. SNGP has an overall goal of advancing Mali’s decentralization process by creating and institutionalizing effective financial and asset management procedures. The evaluation utilized a mixed methods research approach, leveraging both qualitative and quantitative methods, around seven USAID-developed evaluation questions that formed the principal areas of inquiry and were in turn consolidated under three broader analytic frames: SNGP Theory of Change, SNGP Management Approach and SNGP Performance and Impact. The evaluation’s principal conclusion is that there were fundamental problems in many dimensions of the project, from its conception to its implementation and in the monitoring and evaluation of project activities. Some of these problems were due to TT’s choices in the way it managed the project; some were due to the faulty design of the project; and, yet others were due to external factors in SNGP’s operating environment. The evaluation team’s recommendations include: 1. SNGP should undertake a strategic moment of reflection retreat for its partners where identified problems can be discussed. 2. SNGP should transition to direct funding of partners showing that TT has confidence in their capacity to responsibly manage funds. 3. Revamp SNGP’s PMP so that outputs are tied to intermediate results that demonstrate change. 4. Reduce the number of activities that SNGP supports and in fewer regions, particularly in the North.