Final Report on the Assessment of the Effectiveness of the Implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy of the Caribbean Development Bank over the Period 2004-2009

Poverty reduction has featured as a development priority of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) for several cycles, in particular in the context of the Special Development Fund (SDF). Successive reviews of SDF focused on what has been done in terms of poverty reduction in the context of the SDF facility, but not on how CDB as an organisation has operationalised its poverty reduction efforts beyond the SDF framework. This report assesses the effectiveness of the implementation of Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) over the period 2004-2009, within the context of the standard evaluation criteria - Relevance, Efficiency and Efficacy.

Road Improvement and Maintenance Project

In December 1997, the Board of Directors of CDB approved a loan to GOSKN of an amount not exceeding the equivalent of 7.026 million (mn) United States dollars (USD), which was funded by a mix of funds from CDB’s Special Funds Resources and Ordinary Capital Resources (OCR), to assist in financing the reconstruction of approximately 17 kilometres (km) of the Island Main Road (IMR) and institutional strengthening of the Public Works Department (PWD) of the Ministry of Communications, Works, Public Utilities and Posts (MCWPUP)1 to carry out effective road and bridge maintenance in the island of Nevis. In July 2001, the Board of Directors of CDB approved an additional loan to GOSKN of an amount not exceeding the equivalent of USD3.75 mn from CDB’s OCR to address funding constraints arising from tender prices received, which were higher than the estimates at appraisal.

2011 CDB Evaluation Policy

The objective of this policy is to ensure that CDB’s Board of Directors, President, Advisory Management Team, CDB staff, and other stakeholders and partners are provided with timely, credible, and evidence-based information on the relevance and performance of CDB’s projects, programs, policies, and other development activities. Such information is needed to foster organizational learning, support decision-making, and ensure accountability for results.

Multicycle Evaluation of the Unified Special Development Fund Fourth and Fifth Cycles 1996-2024

This final report was submitted by Universalia on the Multi-cycle Evaluation of the Unified Special Development Fund [SDF(U)] 4 and 5 covering the period 1996-2004. It's main objectives were to determine whether the CDB has met the agreed obligations and commitments made during the replenishment and resolutions, identify the factors that have contributed to the advancement in the achievement of the core objectives of these two cycles and those constraining the achievement of results, identify SDF 4 and 5 contributions to development outcomes, and make recommendations which are forward looking and within the context of improving the framework of future SDF replenishments.

Mid-Term Evaluation of the Basic Needs Trust Fund 5

The Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) is known as the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) flagship poverty reduction initiative. The CDB launched the BNTF Programme, initially called the Caribbean Education Development and Basic Human Needs/Employment Sector Programme, in 1979, with financial assistance from US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Evaluation of Technical Assistance Operations 2000-2004

This is the latest in a series of periodic programme evaluation studies on the technical assistance (TA) operations of the Caribbean Development Bank. It covers the period 2000-2004, with some retrospective analysis to provide a clearer understanding of trends and changes in TA operations.The report consists of 10 chapters, beginning with an Introduction, covering the study’s objectives, scope and context, and a chapter on Methodology. The third chapter provides a review of other TA evaluation studies and changing perspectives on technical assistance, followed by four chapters that summarize the analysis undertaken and the findings from that analysis. Chapters 4 and 5 provide an overview and analysis of TA operations generally, with a profile of CDB’s TA policy framework and TA operations over time, followed by a more detailed analysis of TA operations during 2000-2004. Each of these chapters looks at both overall TA operations, including a number of specialized programmes, in order to analyze changes over different time periods, and what is referred to as the general or core TA programme, which excludes the specialized programmes, and which is the particular focus of the study.Chapters 6 and 7 present the study’s analysis of a sample of TA projects using the Bank’s standard evaluation criteria with minor adaptations. The results of the analysis are presented first in terms of overall performance, and then for each individual performance criterion, with examples to illustrate the factors that influenced the performance rating and some of the key findings from the project sample.The final three chapters provide a summary of key findings and conclusions, options and recommendations, and lessons learned. Findings and conclusions of the Report reflect the information collected and analysis undertaken as of late 2006 when the Report was initially prepared. There has been some subsequent refinement of data in Chapters 4 and 5, and some further clarification of procedures for identifying the relevance of individual TAs to CDB’s strategic objectives and corporate priorities since 2004, as well as clarification of some of the recommendations in the light of discussion since the Report was first prepared.