septembre 29, 2012

Mali - IFAD setting the scene for good programme implementation

by Adriane Del Torto
PAPAM – Information and introduction to IFAD procedures Workshop, Bamako 25 to 27 September 2012
PAPAM
The Agricultural Productivity Programme in Mali (PAPAM), is one of the largest programmes in Mali IFAD has co- financed with the World Bank, for a total of 160 million dollars. After being declared effective in March 2011, the programme has had a few difficulties in officially starting up its activities to the magnitude of the programme as well as the difficult institutional set up of the programme and the numerous financiers involved. To make matters worse, the tragic events of March 2012 have further slowed down activities.
In order to make sure that PAPAM is on the right track, the IFAD Mali Country Team decided to take advantage of this situation and provide some informal training to the different stakeholders involed in the implementation of PAPAM.
IFAD, in collaboration with the West African Rural Foundation (WARF) and the Ministry of Agriculture of Mali organised an information and introduction workshop on IFAD procedures, which was held at the Laico El Farouk Hotel in Bamako from 25 to 27 September 2012.
Workshop Day 1 – opening and introduction to IFAD
The workshop opened by the Honourable Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Mali, Dr Yaranga Coulibaly, who took time out of his busy schedule to support the PAPAM and IFAD teams with he dedication to the success of this programme.
During his opening statement, His Excellency the Minister of Agriculture evoked the importance of PAPAM which is a demand based integrated development programme. The programme, has had a difficult start up due to the complexity of the institutional setup and the numerous financiers which will be servicing Mali during its most severe crisis. He has asked all of the partners of the programme to take advantage of the start-up difficulties of this programme to question not only the setup but our own capacities and take the necessary steps to ensure that this programme is launched quickly.
At the opening were also present the World Bank representative Mr Nicaise Ehoue, Mr Aboulaye Touré, PAPAM Coordinator as well as Mr Philippe Remy, CPM at IFAD.
After the opening statements, the IFAD and WARF teams proceeded to introduce the workshop objectives and learning sessions.  Several presentations were made to introduce IFAD and its procedures. A special session was dedicated to the difficulties in the institutional setup of the programme and the necessity to address how to favour synergies between all of the actors.
This synergy will be important throughout the entire programme life, but crucial as the programme is starting up. Good communication and cooperation between the programme actors will allow to prepare a proper annual work plan and budget, which is the basis of the planning for the activities for the year to come, not to mention a condition for the first programme funds to be disbursed.
Other crosscutting themes such as targeting , gender inclusion and knowledge management were addressed. Importance was given to addressing these activities at project start up in order to make sure that the activities are integrated into normal project life and are not seen as additional. Gender was elaborated as a participative exercise assuring all levels of community and helping to avoid elite capture in IFAD financed projects. Good targeting at the beginning of a programme assures better results as well as sustainability of activities after the programme.
The importance of teamwork and good communication between all actors, was stressed.
Day 2 – Efficiency and transparency
If the first day of the PAPAM workshop insisted on how to facilitate good project management, the second day of the workshop stressed the importance of efficiency and transparency.
Extensive presentations were made on the documents guiding project implementation and procedures and processes for withdrawal applications, procurement and overall project management. Participants discussed how many of the documents are distributed, but very little time is given to become familiar with design documents, financing agreements, letter to the borrower and other reference documents to programme implementation. In fact, the participants are very grateful of the workshop and the diversity of the themes addressed.
The participants were involved in case studies and were invited to discuss the difficulties in managing multifaceted demand based projects with a large number of partners and actors. Technicians from the field appreciated the initiation to accounting procedures. Even though they will probably not apply the knowledge, they recognise the importance of understanding how things work and how funds are channelled so that they can improve their own planning processes.
Planning
Another critical issue of project management given a lot of importance in the discussions.  The first key to good planning, according to Mr Mamadou Sow, procurement specialist is to be realistic! Some delays in programme management are not compressible and these need to be taken into consideration when planning activities. It is useless he says to allow 30 days for a process when legally 60 days are the rule, especially when it comes to procurement. Tips to save time can be applied to areas where project management teams are involved, such as the preparation of reports and communiqués. This in all cases obliges a strong leadership and good communication starting from the IFAD team in Rome to all of the operators on the field. There is lots of work to come!


The end marks the beginning – Day 3
Although the information and initiation workshop to IFAD procedures for PAPAM, the Agricultural Productivity Programme in Mali, a World Bank Programme co-financed by IFAD, has come to a close, it is really marking the beginning of this programme, which now detains more tools to be able to be more efficient in implementing the project.
The third and last day of the workshop addressed more financial management, including yearly audits and the importance of the audit exercise in steering projects in the right direction.  In addition some information was given on corruption and fraud and the policies IFAD has put into place to combat these in development programmes. The audience was informed of the existence of an independent investigations office to fight corruption and how this office works, encouraging all parties to keep an eye open and to report any suspicious behaviour, with the reassurance that any report would be entirely confidential and object of close investigation before any action or sanction is taken on IFAD’s behalf.
Then a thorough session was held on Monitoring and Evaluation as well as the RIMS (Results and Impact Monitoring System). This cross cutting issue to all IFAD projects and programmes is at the forefront of discussions now, as M&E it was gives us the necessary data to analyse in order to assess impact and successes on the field.
Importance was put on the necessity of building the M&E system into the project as soon as it becomes effective. In Mali, PIDRN (Investment and Development Project in the Northern Regions of Mali) has been especially successful in designing its M&E system and collecting the data. In fact, the M&E specialist from this project was invited to make the presentation of the system and how the project has achieved its successes in M&E. Again, planning, communication and rigour are key to successful M&E in addition to a proper baseline survey and the identification of the right indicators. PAPAM has been encouraged to work with PIDRN to learn from their experience and further capitalise on the experience of M&E.
Finally, the workshop gave an overview of the different aspect of project implementation including supervisions, midterm review and closing. Each step was explained as well as the objective of the different missions and how to prepare for them in due time.





Over the past three days, a lot of information has been shared with actors from PAPAM, from the Chamber of Agriculture (APCAM) from the Ministry of Agriculture and its services, the World Bank and other partners involved in the implementation of PAPAM. It is obvious that this workshop has not been exhaustive and could not address all of the concerns in implementing such an important an complex programme. The workshop however has achieved its goal in providing information to the entire PAPAM team and create synergies between all of the technical and financial partners. It is now that the real work will begin, PAPAM according to the suggestions received will now finalise the AWPB and proceed to making the request for the initial deposit so that activities can officially begin.

Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire

Partager vos suggestions avec le réseau FIDAfrique/Share your opinion with FIDAfrique network