MULTI-DONOR AGRICULTURE FAST TRACK FUND ANNUAL REPORT 2016

Transcription

1 MULTI-DONOR AGRICULTURE FAST TRACK FUND ANNUAL REPORT 2016 Submitted by the AFT Coordination Unit Agriculture and Agro-industry Department African Development Bank to USAID, Sida & DANIDA January 2017 i

2 Table of Contents Page Cover page... i. Content... ii. Acronyms and Abbreviations... iii List of Tables and Figures... iv Executive Summary... v 1. Introduction Past Achievements: Brief on AFT Prior to Highlights of Key Activities in Fund Governance, AWP&B, Approvals and Disbursements, Financing Fund Governance Annual Work Programme and Budget Approved Grants and Disbursements Cancellable Grants Financing Recruitment of AFT Web Developer Consultant Initial upgrading and updating of AFT Website Workshop for pre-testing the revised Grant Application materials First Call for Concept Notes (CNs) for Invitation for Full Technical Application (FTAs) Recruitment of Independent Consultants FTAs evaluation Evaluation and Grading of Proposals Independent Consultants Meetings of the Technical Review Committee (TRC) AFT Project Launching Workshop, Tanzania Preparation of AFT Grant Contract Agreements Signing of Grant Contract Agreements Commencement of Case Study of the Batch I AFT Grantees Meetings with AFT Donors Conference Meetings In-person Meeting Visit to Grantees in Cote d'ivoire Human Resources Management Bank's Contribution to Personnel Costs AFT Coordination Key Lessons Learned Challenges Highlight of Future Actions Calls for Concept Notes (CN) and Full Technical Proposals (FTPs) Review of Evaluation Criteria for CNs and FTPs Reporting Second Updating the AFT Website Providing technical support for the new Grantees Monitoring and evaluation Lessons learned workshop Tracking Grantees' ability to leverage funding Conclusion Appendix I ii

3 Acronyms and Abbreviations AfDB : African Development Bank AFT : Agriculture Fast Track Fund AATA : Africa's Agricultural Transformation Agenda AHAI : Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department ATA : Agricultural Transformation Agenda AWP&B : Annual Work Programme and Budget CNs : Concept Notes CU : Coordination Unit DACON : Database for Consultants DANIDA : Danish International Development Agency DFIs : Development Finance Institutions ESIA : Environmental and Social Impact Assessment FIFC : Financial Control and Financial Management Department FIRM : Resource Mobilization and partnerships FIs : Financial Intermediaries/ Financial Institutions FTAs : Full Technical Applications FTPs : Full Technical Proposals G8 : Group of 8 KPIs : Key Performance Indictors M&E : Monitoring and Evaluation MSMEs : Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises NGOs : Non-governmental organizations OC : Oversight Committee OG : Operational Guidelines ORPC : Operations and Policy Department PGCL : General Counsel and Legal Services Department PISD : Private Sector Department PCR : Project Completion Report PPPs : Public Private Partnerships PSD ; Private Sector Development REOIs : Request for Expression of Interests RFPs : Request for Proposals RMCs : Regional Member Countries Sida : Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency SNFI : Fiduciary and Financial Management, Inspection and Procurement TAAT : Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation TOR : Terms of Reference TRC : Technical Review Committee TYS : Ten-Year Strategy USA : United States of America USAID : United States Agency for International Development iii

4 List of Tables Titles Page Table 1. All Approved Batch I and Batch II Grants 4 Table 2: Cancellable grants as at 31 December Table 3: Purposes & outcomes of conference call meetings of AFT-CU & Donors, List of Figures Titles Page Figure 1: Analysis of successful Concept Notes by country 5 Figure 2: Twelve projects approved for AFT by the TRC in July & Sept Figure 3: Photograph at the Tanzania 2016 AFT project lunch workshop 8 Figure 4: Signing of AFT Grant Contract Agreements in some locations 9 Figure 5: Field visits to SPIRA and FENASCOVICI 12 iv

5 Executive Summary The benefits accruing from the private sector investment in agriculture and agribusinesses are enormous. This is why the private sector is recognized as an engine of economic growth and development in African and elsewhere. As a multi-donor agriculture sector projects pipeline development instrument, the Agriculture Fast Track Fund (AFT or the Fund ) is targeted more at the private sector and its potential to generate smallholder impacts. The goal of AFT is to reduce the infrastructure deficiency in the agriculture sector by developing a pipeline of investment-ready projects that will be attractive to Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and other agricultural finance organizations, and can engage the private sector as project sponsors. Launched in May 2013, the AFT has through its grants supported over twenty projects across different agricultural value chains in the eligible AfDB regional member countries (RMCs) of Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cote d'ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania. Over 30% of the AFT grant awards has been fully implemented. Prior to 2016, AFT coordinating team worked assiduously with AFT Donors in streamlining the entire procurement and disbursement processes while expanding the available options that would meet the needs of the AFT s recipients. In addition, the AFT CU developed communication toolkits (including AFT Newsletter, posters, flyers, roll-up banner, etc), embarked on regular day-to-day interaction and technical backstopping of the existing recipients, and commenced the process of expanding the pool of pre-qualified and pre-registered consultants available for the AFT grant recipients, with the aim of accommodating local service providers and individual consultants of diversified skills, expertise, and different agricultural value chains. Following successful restructuring and review of the Fund's procurement processes, procedures and guidelines with AFT Donors in November, 2015, and the great strides on AFT-funded projects implementation, as reflected in improvements in disbursement rate from 7.3% (in June, 2015) to about 22% (at the end of December, 2015), the donors lifted the moratorium it had placed on further calls for AFT grant proposals. In February 2016, AFT successfully organized a Workshop for pre-testing of its revised grant application materials and processes, including the updated AFT website ( Feedbacks received from participants on the AFT website, CNs and FTA forms led to modifications and revisions of some of the key project documents and the AFT website. This impacted positively on the calls for CNs and FTAs from March - June The rigorous grant application process kick-started with call for and receipt of 210 CNs through AFT activated web portal. After the evaluation the sponsors of the 40 successful CNs from Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cote d'ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania were invited to submit their FTAs. Only 32 applicants submitted their FTAs within the given deadline, the evaluation process led to selection of 18 top-ranked proposals, which were consequently recommended for the approval of the v

6 TRC. In separate meetings held on 27 July 2016 and 14 September 2016, the TRC gave initial approval to 12 grants valued at US$2,312, The successful grant awardees are from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. Consequently, the Grant Contract Agreements were prepared for signature while the new projects were launched in Tanzania from November With the new approvals the value of all projects approved so far rose from US$5,502,178,00 to US$7,814, However, for reasons centered on non-performance, four Batch I projects to the tune of US$1,695, were penciled for cancellation in Cote d'ivoire and Tanzania, thereby leaving the value of effective grants at US$6,118, as at 31 December Other key milestones achieved in 2016 were successful improvement of the database of pre-qualified and pre-registered consultants to now include relevant local service providers (individual consultants and firms) with diversified skills/expertise in different agricultural commodity value chains. The year 2016 also saw the commencement of Case Study surveys of existing grantees to enable the documentation of achievements, constraints and key lessons learned. Some related findings follow in the next paragraph. Among the key lessons learned is the tremendous progress made in 2016 following the reinvigorated drive and the demonstrated increasing interest in the AFT Grant. These were evidenced by the responses and applications received during the last calls, enquiries received on daily basis by the CU, the successful applicants' level of participation in the Tanzania Project Launch Workshop, among others. The major challenges include that due to time and resource constraints the country-by-country project launching, which would have helped create publicity for AFT grant was not feasible. Also, the attitude and erroneous assumption by some grantees who misconstrue the approved grant amount as an entitlement that must be collected at all cost have impacted negatively on speedy implementation of the grant. Moving forward in 2017, the AFT CU has outlined a series of activities to further enhance the implementation of AFT grants. Examples of such activities include: (i) provision of relevant technical support aimed at building the procurement capacity of the new grantees; (ii) scaling up the grant disbursement rate through various means that will enable faster implementation of AFT-funded projects; (iii) working towards achieving the 6-month grant implementation period for the second generation grantees of the AFT; and (iv) realizing the two calls per year target. Added to the above, there will be further review of the evaluation criteria for CNs and FTPs, as well as increased and regular monitoring, supervision and reporting of activities happening on the ground. Appropriate modalities will be put in place to ensure that all AFT eligible countries benefit from the AFT grant while tracking and reporting on the efforts of old grantees that have successfully implemented the grants to leverage or access the intended financing for their parent projects. vi

7 1. Introduction 1.1. The private sector has been recognized as an engine of economic growth and development in Africa and elsewhere. This is in consideration of the enormous benefits accruing from the private sector investment in the various sectors of the economy, including its investment in agriculture and agribusinesses either for food and or nutrition security, income enhancement, job creation, or in helping to boost other key economic indicators. The African Development Bank (AfDB), being one of the key institutions advancing agriculture development in Africa accords high priority to the private sector development in the advancement of its agricultural transformation initiatives Essentially, the Bank had sought to attract more private sector investment through its implementation of agriculture and agribusiness development programmes. This initiative supports the objectives of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition launched during the Group of 8 (G8) Countries' summit in May 2012, which is "to lift 50 million people out of poverty over the next decade through a collective commitment to invest in credible, comprehensive and country-owned plans, develop new tools to mobilize private capital, spur and scale innovation, manage risk; as well as engage and leverage the capacity of private sector partners." 1 At the Bank level, the initiative identifies with the Bank's High 5s, which also aligns with its Ten-Year Strategy (TYS), , that emphasizes Africa Feeding Africa as the Bank's core priority. Specifically, it is relevant to three of the High 5s "Feed Africa", "Industrialize Africa" and "Improve the Quality of Life of Africans" and the twin objectives of the TYS Inclusive Growth" and "Transition to Green Growth". Furthermore, it identifies with the Private Sector Development (PSD) Strategy ( ) that aims to address agricultural value chains gaps at firm level through enterprise development. It also supports the Bank's New Agriculture and Agribusiness Strategy ( ), which seeks to bring agriculture and agribusiness to the top of the African transformation agenda with emphasis on value chain development for inclusive growth. Lastly, it aligns with the aim of the AFT Donors: the Governments of the United States (through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Denmark (through the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA)), and Sweden (through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)). However, the private sector investment is associated with inherent challenges, like higher start-up costs, smaller deal sizes, increased risks, and lower returns, which typical of most agriculture investments often make them uncompetitive in comparison to larger projects and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the other economic sectors The Agriculture Fast Track Fund (AFT) is a multi-donor agricultural sector development pipeline targeted more at the private sector potential to generate smallholder impact. The goal of AFT is to reduce the infrastructure deficiency in the agriculture sector by developing a pipeline of investment-ready projects that will be attractive to Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and other agricultural finance organizations, and can engage the private sector as project sponsors. The objective is to develop and advance a pipeline of bankable food security projects that support the AfDB's Africa s 1 African Development Bank Group Memorandum on the "Establishment of a Multi-donor Agriculture Fast Track Fund, April

8 Agricultural Transformation Agenda (AATA) 2. It seeks to fast track promising agricultural ideas and businesses into bankable investments for uptake by Development Finance Institutions (including, but not limited to the African Development Bank (AfDB)) and other commercial financial institutions serving the African continent. The AFT-Fund seeks to finance the upstream activities including, but not limited to project design, feasibility studies, market research, financial modeling, business plan development, legal and regulatory prerequisites requirements, environmental and social impact studies, and other activities necessary to ensure smoothness in project take off. Its targets are the micro-, small- and medium- enterprises (MSMEs) in the African agriculture sector, Government agencies preparing agriculture infrastructure projects, non-governmental and Civil Society Organizations (like farmers' cooperatives/organizations), Agriculture Fund Managers with clients seeking last mile financing or advisory services, and the Bank units such as Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department (AHAI) and the Private Sector Department (PISD) Launched in May 2013, the AFT is supporting over 20 agriculture and agribusiness projects across different value chains among the eligible AfDB regional member countries (RMCs) of Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cote d'ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania This report aims to document the status and operations of AFT for 2016 financial year. The report is expected to guide the AFT Donors, Grant Recipients, Service Providers and numerous stakeholders within and outside Bank on their interactions with the Fund. 2. Past Achievements: Brief on AFT Prior to Pre-2016 Grant disbursements. Before the end of the first half of 2015, AFT was witnessing slow level of grant disbursement and project implementation, a situation which dissatisfied the AFT Donors and led to their placing a moratorium on fresh calls for grant proposals.. Consequently, there was a series of restructuring efforts both to the AFT CU and the Fund's operational processes and procedures. These started with Bank appointing a new AFT Coordinator and recruiting some of the designated long-term consultants and support staff to strengthen the unit. Although no fresh calls for proposals were made the immediate result of the restructuring of the AFT CU was that the grant disbursement performance picked up from 0% in December 2014 to 7.3% in June 2015, approximately 23% in December 2015, and 62% as at December The new AFT coordinating team worked assiduously with AFT Donors in streamlining the entire procurement and disbursement processes while expanding the 2 AfDB African Agricultural Transformation Agenda (AATA) is a continent-wide strategy that prioritizes a business-driven approach to transforming African agriculture. It aligns with the commitments of the Malabo Declaration that seeks to address the four key goals; (i) eliminating extreme poverty in Africa; (ii) ending hunger and malnutrition; (iii) turning Africa into a net food exporter; and (iv) moving Africa to the top of the global value chain. An integral component of AATA is the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), which provides a wide range of tested approaches to increased agricultural productivity and technology delivery nested in eight priority value chains and supported by a capacity development cross-cutting theme. 2

9 available options that would meet the needs of the AFT s recipients that are largely from the private sector. The efforts came in the form of series of meetings (video/audio conference and in-person) from July-December 2015, full articulation of the important elements to be considered during the eventual review of the AFT Operational and Procurement Guidelines, and development of a Toolkit to aid the fast-tracking of the AFT implementation and procurement processes. Furthermore, project Action Plan for 2016 was articulated and on the strength of the new vision and understanding the 2016 Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B) was developed Also, the ATF CU updated of the AFT website, developed communication toolkits (including AFT Newsletter, posters, flyers, roll-up banner, etc), embarked on regular day-to-day interaction and technical backstopping of the existing recipients, and commenced the process of expanding the pool of pre-qualified and pre-registered consultants available for the AFT grant Recipients' access with the aim of accommodating local service providers and individual consultants of diversified skills/expertise, and different agricultural value chains Moving forward into 2016, a decision was reached between the donors and AFT CU to go for full-scale calls for CN and calls for proposals starting from the first quarter of the year. It was decided that in order to sustain the principle of transparency and fairness, the selection and evaluation criteria would be included in the official calls for CNs and calls for full pproposals. Approvals would continue to be largely dependent on the quality of grant applications received through the calls for proposals preceded by calls for CNs. Among others, the processing steps should include calls for CNs and full technical proposals, evaluation of the applications received, grant award and notification, preparation of grant agreements, grant contract signature and launching activities. 3. Highlight of Key Activities in Fund Governance, Annual Work Programme and Budget, Approvals and Disbursements, Financing Fund Governance. The Technical Review Committee (TRC) and Oversight Committee (OC) governed the Funds (providing oversight and operating modalities) as outlined in the Operational Guidelines (OG). TRC comprises representatives of AHAI, Private Sector Development (PISD), Resource Mobilization and Partnerships (FIRM), General Counsel and Legal Services (PGCL), Operations and Policy Department (ORPC), Fiduciary and Financial Management, Inspection and Procurement (SNFI) and the Financial Control and Financial Management (FIFC) Departments of the Bank. The TRC is chaired by the Director of the AHAI. On its part, the OC met virtually (via and/or teleconference) to make fund governance decisions Annual Work Programme and Budget (AWP&B). The 2017 AWP&B was approved by the AFT Oversight Committee (OC). Among other things, the document outlines the proposed activities for the project year 2017 and their financial implications. Some of the proposed activities are explained in Section 7 of this document under the heading "Highlights of Next Steps and Future Activities. 3

10 Approved Grants and Disbursements. The approved grants were valued at US$7,814, at 31 st December This comprises the approvals in Batch I for 70.41% and Batch II for 29.59% respectively (Table 1). Table 1. All Approved Batch I and Batch II Grants S/N Description Amount (US$) Percentage 1. Approved Grants in Batch I 5,502,178, Approved Grants in Batch II 2,312, ,59 Total 7,814, Cancellable Grants. The value of the cancellable grants as at the end of the year is US$1,695, Three of the affected Grantees are from Tanzania while one is from Cote d'ivoire (Table 2). Table 2: Cancellable grants as at 31 December 2016 S/N Grant Name Country Amount (US$) 1. Kijan Agro Tanzania Limited Tanzania 490, Darsh Industries Tanzania 220, Msugulika Dam Agdevco Tanzania 260, Louis Dryfus Cote d Ivoire 725, Total 1,695, The effect of the cancellation on the total grants status is that the value of all grants approved under Batch I will be reduced from the US$5,502, to US$3,806, while the value of all approved grants will be also reduced from US$7,814, to US$6,118, at 31 December The cancellable grants represent 30.8% of total Batch I approvals and 21.7% of all approvals to date Financing. The balance of available funds will be about US$11-12 million after provision has been made for the 12 new projects approved by the TRC in September The value of the 12 new projects is US$2,312, Recruitment of AFT Website Developer Consultant. In January 2016 the AFT contracted CYNAPSYS SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, a Tunisian-based company, whose address is Elgazala Pole de Communication Technologies, P.O. Box 10, Ariana 2088, Tunisia, to work as a Web-Development Expert Consultant. The contract was initially for 4 months from 20 January 2016 to 19 May 2016 but was later extended by two 2 months from 20 May 2016 to 19 July Due diligence was followed in hiring CYNAPSYS SOFTWARE ENGINEERING and Mr. Hassen Berriche worked with AFT as the Consultant designate and Project Team Leader for the company under the contract Initial upgrading and updating of AFT Website. Following a successful recruitment of the Consultant Web Developer, the AFT CU put in place all necessary modalities, including resources to facilitate the updating and upgrading of the AFT website ( The aim was to enhance its functionality, browser interoperability and design, including reviewing and updating the web server configuration and the Drupal modules. The specific additional functionality were developed and website made ready for use for calls for CNs and Full Technical Applications (FTAs) in March - June

11 3.4. Workshop for pre-testing the revised Grant Application materials. The workshop was held in Accra, Ghana from February 15-16, The objectives were to: (a) pre-test the revised Call for Concept Notes and Full Application Forms with selected existing and potential AFT Grant Recipients; (b) gather feedback on the revised AFT tool kit and other grant processes (procurement, disbursement, overall project flowcharts, logical framework and key performance indicators (KPIs); (c) review the updated AFT website, specifically the online grant application portal; and (d) share AFT project information with development partners and private sector actors. The workshop was well attended with AFT grantees, the private sector, including MSMEs, donor & development agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders adequately represented. Following the feedbacks received from participants on the website, CNs and FTA forms, changes were made to the key project documents and the website, which impacted positively towards the success of the calls for CNs and FTAs from March - June First Call for CNs for On the 1 st March 2016, the AFT launched the first call for CNs through its upgraded website. Response to the call was satisfactory. By the closing date at the midnight of the 15 March 2016, a total of 210 CNs were received through the AFT activated web portal. The following is a breakdown of the CNs received by country: Nigeria (46), Tanzania (32), Ghana (26), Burkina Faso (24), Ethiopia (20), Mozambique (17), Cote d'ivoire (16), Senegal (14), Benin Republic, (8) and Malawi (7). After painstaking evaluation by selected experts, a shortlist of 40 successful CNs applications was produced and the applicants consequently invited to submit the FTAs. The breakdown by country of the 40 successful applications is presented in Figure 1. Fig. 1: Analysis of successful Concept Notes by country 3.6. Invitation for Full Technical Application (FTAs). On 18 April 2016, invitations were sent out to each of the 40 applicants entities whose CNs were successful for submission of the FTAs. They were given four weeks and two days, ending at the midnight of 18 May 2016 for the submission. The deadline had to be extended by another 5 days, ending at the midnight of Monday, 23 May The situation arose because of some technical challenges witnessed with the AFT web portal during the last week of the Call, which caused some applicants to request for an extension of the closing date. In a meeting of the AFT CU, the applicants' request was considered and granted 5

12 accordingly. However, at the end of the new deadline of 23 May 2016, only 32 of the 40 applicants eventually submitted their FTAs for the AFT grant Recruitment of Independent Consultants FTAs evaluation. Due diligence and competitiveness were applied in the recruitment of Independent Consultants who would evaluate the FTAs. The Request for Expression of Interest (REOI) was published on the AFT website. In addition, the REOI was sent out to over 150 independent professionals, including those short-listed from the updated AFT Roaster of Consultants, AfDB s Database for Consultants (DACON) and others recommended by experts within the Bank. The REOI was sent out on 3 May In response, 46 consultants expressed interest. Consequently, on 9 May 2016, the AFT CU sent out to them the Request for Proposals (RFPs) (Technical and Financial) and the related Terms of Reference (ToR) for review of about 40 FTAs. By the midnight of Monday, 16 May 2016 deadline for submission of proposals, which would also include comment on the TOR, 38 proposals were received. An Evaluation Committee was constituted to evaluate the individual consultant's proposal submissions on the basis of the Bank s evaluation criteria for selecting professional consultants. At the end of the evaluation, three (3) successful Consultants were consequently recruited, one each from Nigeria, Burkina-Faso and Tunisia Evaluation and Grading of Proposals by Independent Consultants. The 3 recruited Consultants successfully evaluated and graded all 32 applications working from their respective locations. Among other things, the AFT CU provided them with the Evaluation Criteria/Guide (Scoring Matrix & Reviewer Scoring Sheet), AFT Full Application Guidelines, the ToR, and Reporting Guidelines. The FTPs were evaluated based on each of the stated "nine broad criteria" and scored on a scale of 1 (Poor) to 5 (Very Good) as spelt out in the application form and the evaluation criteria/guide. The scores from all 3 Consultants were used to determine the "average score" on the basis of which all applicants were ranked. The process led to selection of 18 top-ranked proposals that were consequently recommended for the approval of the Technical Review Committee. Generally, the AFT CU observed that there were no major variances among the individual scores awarded by the 3 consultants for each applicant. Also, the unit observed that the quality of majority of the submissions was high and most applicants provided adequate information about their planned investments, expected output, and impact Meetings of the Technical Review Committee (TRC). The meeting of the Technical Review Committee (TRC) was held on 27 July 2016 and 14 September 2016 to take decision on 18 projects recommended to it by the AFT CU. The TRC is chaired by the Director of AHAI and comprises of representatives of AHAI, PISD, FIRM, PGCL, ORPC, SNFI, and FIFC. Other departments/units in the Bank may be invited to the TRC meeting depending on need, especially when projects relevant to their operations are scheduled for review or their technical input is desired by AHAI. Such units might include (but not limited to) Transport Infrastructure, Regional Integration, Governance and Financial Reforms, Research and Regional Departments. As specified in paragraph of the AFT Operational Guidelines, the TRC will be responsible for: (a) Reviewing and approving or rejecting proposals of up to US$ 500,000; (b) Reviewing and making recommendations to the Oversight Committee (OC) to consider proposals over US$ 500,000 and less than US$ 1,000,001; 6

13 Amount (US Dollars) (c) Reviewing and clearing proposals above US$ 1,000,000 for OC clearance before Board presentation and Approval; and (d) Ensuring that all proposals for funding under the AFT meet the technical, safeguard and fiduciary quality standards of the AfDB, the objectives of the AFT including compliance with legal, financial and procurement standard operating procedures. During the meetings, the TRC gave its approval to twelve (12) grants, which together amounted to US$2,312, The grants range from US$100, US$361, and are for applicants from five RMCs: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania. Figure 2 shows the projects and approved amount while detailed information on each is presented in Appendix I. All the approved grants are within the US$500,000 approval limit of the TRC and none was therefore referred to either the OC or the Bank Board for further review and approval. Project Fig. 2: Twelve projects approved for AFT by the TRC in July & Sept AFT Project Launching Workshop, Tanzania The AFT 2016 projects launching workshop organized by the AFT Coordination Unit for the twelve (12) newlyapproved projects was held at the AfDB Country Office in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania from November 2016 (Fig. 3). The tasks of the mission was carried out in three parts: (a) initial introduction and workshop opening remarks and comments; (b) presentation of the basic rules, processes and procedures of AFT Grant, including operations, procurement and M&E requirements; and (c) review of the Terms of References (TORs) for different studies approved for new AFT Grantees and determination of fit-for-purpose procurement methods in a procurement plan for each component of the Grants. The key activities of the workshop included first, the presentation of a welcome message by the former Resident Representative, AfDB Tanzania Field Office, Dr. Tonia Kandiero, an opening remark by the AFT Coordinator, Dr. Jonas Chianu. Second, there were presentations on the Programme Overview, AFT implementation rules and procedures, procurement expectation, and M&E Data expectations. Among other things, time was taken to distinguish between the AFT eligible cost (like cost on feasibility studies, preparation of investment and business plan, product certification, market analyses, environmental and social impact assessments (ESIA), etc.) and the non-aft fundable expenses (like 7

14 expenses on payment for working capital, employee salaries, training/capacity building, post-investment technical advice (TA), etc. Fig. 3: Photograph at the Tanzania 2016 AFT Project Launching Workshop (The Resident Representative, AfDB Tanzania Country Office Dr. Tonia Kandiro (middle), the AFT Coordinator, Dr. Jonas Chianu (sitting extreme right) with AFT Team and Representatives of newly-approved projects during the Project Launch Workshop in Dar-essalaam, Tanzania) There was also an in-depth review of the AFT Procurement and Operating toolkit, including reporting templates, rules, processes and procedures. The second part of the day was used for general discussion and working session on the ToRs, including sharing of typical ToRs and instant review of ToRs already submitted by grantees. Further clarifications were provided on the: (a) operations of the Fund; (b) requirements and documentations to ensure effective and smooth grant implementation; (c) disbursements, including proper issuance of invoices, use of the Bank's Forms A1 and A2, etc.; (d) proper and effective use of reporting templates and timely submission of reports; (e) issuance of "No Objection" and differences between "Bank Review" and "No Objection"; (f) differences and relationships between AFT "Eligible" and "Ineligible" items; (g) differences among RFPs, TOR, REOI, etc., and order of their use; (h) procurement methods and the fit-for-purpose procurement methods. Before rounding off, the workshop went into a working session during which the AFT team reviewed and passed technical comments on the available ToRs submitted by Grantees for different studies. The concerned Grantees were requested thereafter to modify the reviewed ToRs to reflect the input of the AFT Preparation of AFT Grant Contract Agreements. The AFT CU worked with the Legal Department of the Bank to prepare the Grant Contract agreements for the newly approved Grantees from October December Inputs were also received from the grantees before execution of the contracts Signing of Grant Contract Agreements. Greater majority of the new Grantees had signed the Contract Agreements. For the Bank, although it is the duty of the Vice President for Operations to sign the contracts, he had delegated the duty to Country Directors and Resident Representatives of the Bank in affected countries to avoid unnecessary delay. Below are some pictures made available to the AFT CU by some 8

15 Grantees during the of grant contract agreement signing events in some countries (Figures 4a-4d). (A) Signing of AFT Grant Contract Agreement Alhaji Abdul- SalamAkate signed on behalf of Akate Farms and Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, AfDB Resident Representative, Ghana Field Office signed on behalf of the Bank. (B) Alhaji Abdul-SalamAkate of Akate Farms and Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, Resident Representative, AfDB Ghana Field Office posed for photograph after signing the AFT Grant Contract Agreement, November (C) The Director, AfDB Country Office, Abuja, Nigeria, Ousmane Dore congratulating the Managing Director of Mokk Investments Limited, Lagos, Nigeria, Mr. Adekunle Abdul after successful signing of the Grant Contract Agreement in Abuja, Nigeria. (D) The Director, Agriculture and Agro-industry Department, Chiji Ojukwu (2 nd from right), Director, AfDB Country Office, Abuja, Nigeria, Ousmane Dore, (1st from left), MD of Mokk Investment Ltd., Adekunle Abdul (2 nd from left) and Orolu Babatope, Program Director, Mokk Investments Ltd. (1 st from right) posed for photograph after the signing event.. Fig. 4: Signing of AFT Grant Contract Agreements in Some Locations Commencement of Case Study of the Batch I AFT Grantees. The case study activity was kick-started at Fédération Nationales des Sociétés Coopératives de Vivriers de Côte d Ivoire (FENASCOVICI) in Cote d'ivoire from June, The purpose of the exercise is to obtain a thorough understanding of the circumstances specific to the individual Grantee (FENASCOVICI) through "face-to-face interaction" and "audio-video documenting" so as to enhance the AFT database on the basis of field evidence. Apart from documenting of detailed report of the grantees' operations and use of AFT grant, a 9

16 video clip on the recipient was produced. Similar studies are expected to be carried out for other Batch I Grantees Meetings with AFT Donors Conference meetings. Series of audio/video conference meetings were held with USAID, Sida and DANIDA donors from January-December Summary of purposes and key outcomes of the meetings is presented in Table 3. Table 3: Purposes & outcomes of conference call meeting of AFT CU & Donors, 2016 Date Purpose Outcome 28-Jan-16 To review the programme of the proposed AFT Quarter 1, 2016 Ghana Workshop, and ttake update on the outstanding issues on the AFT Action Plan for 2016 Procurement Guidelines and proposed workshop programme and budget were conditionally approved after slight modifications suggested by the meeting 4-Feb Apr-16 7-Jul Aug Sep-16 To review the revised programme of the proposed AFT Quarter 1, 2016 Ghana Workshop and discuss some outstanding issues on the 2016 AFT Action Plan To provide update to donors on outcome of the evaluation of the Concept Notes (CNs) for First Call for 2016 and decide next steps. To provide update to donors on outcome of the evaluation of the Full Technical Proposals following the First Call for 2016 and decide on next steps of project. To brief donors on outcome of the Technical Review Committee's (TRC's) meeting and decisions on 18 Projects Considered Successful from the Technical Proposals arising from the 2016 First Call for Proposals and also provide Evaluation of the Full update on other project matters. To brief donors on the decisions of the Technical Review Committee (TRC) on six additional projects that underwent due diligence and provide necessary updates on other recent developments in AFT. Workshop work plan, programme and budget were approved. The donors ratified the result of the evaluation exercise that led to recommendation of 40 successful CNs; AFT CU to follow up to ensure submission of full technical proposals (FTPs) by applicants; individual Consultants should be engaged to evaluate the FTPs. Donors gave their support to the recommended 18 projects recommended for TRC's approval by the AFT CU, subject to observation of all due diligence and ensuring that grant requests align with the exact needs of the proposed projects. Donors notified that: (a) Ten (10) projects were approved by the TRC; (b) Six (6) projects were undergoing "Due diligence"; and (c) Two (2) projects were dropped because they had failed to meet up with certain criteria required for the grant award; Sponsors of the successful and dropped projects would be adequately notified; Grant Contract Agreements were being processed with the Bank's Legal Department. Donors were notified that: (a) One of the six projects was approved by TRC; (b) Two (2) recommended for further due diligence; and (c)and three projects were not approved In-person meeting. Only one in-person meeting was held during the year during the visit of USAID representative, Ms. Amy Beeler to the Bank and project locations in Cote d'ivoire from 6-7 December The purpose of the visit was to provide her an ample opportunity to meet and interact with the AFT Coordinating Team; evaluate the status of implementation of the action plans agreed on following the in-person meeting of the AFT Donors and the AFT CU in November, 2015; and visit some AFT-funded projects in Cote d Ivoire to observe and obtain direct information on their perception of AFT and its assistance to them, among others. Specifically, it accorded her the opportunity to: (a) Receive update on the existing AFT projects under implementation; (b) Receive update on the AFT CU's level of progress on the Action plan drawn during the in-person meeting of the AFT Donors in November 2015; 10

17 (c) Receive update on the new projects recently approved for AFT by the TRC; (d) Discuss the future plans and upcoming events that the AFT CU will like to bring to the donors' attention; and (e) Visit some of the existing AFT-supported projects in Abidjan and its environ. Among other things, updates were provided on key activities and events that had taken place after the previous in-person meeting of November These include successful upgrading of the AFT website; review of the procurement guideline, procedures and processes; organizing of workshop to pre-test revised grant application materials and processes, including the new AFT website at Accra, Ghana; calls for and evaluation of CNs and the FTPs; recommendation of 18 projects for the approval of the Technical Review Committee (TRC); meeting of TRC and consequent approval 12 projects; working with the PGCL to prepare the grant contract agreements for the prospective grant recipients; and 2016 project launch workshop. Update was also presented on the feedbacks being received from existing grantees on their prospects of leveraging financing. Some of the grantees reported some levels of progress but others still have difficulties leveraging financing. The need for the Bank to identify potential financiers and create database of available options for sharing with the grantees was stressed Visit to Grantees in Cote d'ivoire. The USAID representative in company of the AFT team visited the Société Ivoirienne de Production Animales (SIPRA) and the FENASCOVICI. Photographs taken during visits are shown in Figures 5a-5d. The grantees narrated their experiences using the AFT grant and the effort they were putting in place to secure financing for their parent project. 11

18 (A) Interactive session during the working mission to SIPRA, Cote d'iviore (B) USAID's Amy Beeler (centre) and Rebecca Levy (3 rd from right) in a group photograph with Jonas Chianu, AFT Coordinator (4 th from left), SIPRA officials and other Tteam members during the working visit to SIPRA. (C) USAID's Amy Beeler (2nd from left front row), AFT Coordinator (2nd from right), FENASCOVICI Director General (middle) in a group photograph other AFT and FENASCOVICI staff members. (D) Interaction among participants at the end of the meeting at FENASCOVICI during the working visit Figure 5: Field Visits to SPIRA and FENASCOVICI 4. Human Resources Management 4.1. Bank's contribution to personnel costs. The Bank maintains its contribution to the fund in terms of personnel costs, including expenses on salaries, benefits and other costs. Several division of the Bank like Legal, Fiduciary, Risk Mobilization and External Finance, Private Sector, and Financial Control Departments have continued to be involved in the Fund's activities. Also, the Sector and Operations experts in Field Offices assisted with Portfolio Management AFT Coordination. The AFT CU is a member of the AHAI of AfDB. The AFT Coordinator is seconded from AHAI Directorate and works also within the front office of the AHAI Director. The AFT CU carried out its mandate under the supervision of an Oversight Coordinator, a Lead Expert within the front office of the AHAI Director. In doing this, the CU operated within the confines of the 2016 AWP&B, approved at the beginning of the year by the Oversight Committee (OC). Presently, the AFT CU comprises the AFT Coordinator, an Operations Expert, a Procurement Expert, a Monitoring and Evaluation and Data Analysis Expert, and a Team Assistant. 12

19 4.3. Moving forward in 2017, there will be need to engage more hands due to the expansion in the activities of AFT. The donors approval will be required to fill the vacant positions of: (a) an Agribusiness Development Consultant; and (b) Communications Consultant. The ideal Communication Consultant should be a person with competencies in both English and French Languages since both languages are relevant to the AFT operations and reporting, even on the website. In addition, the possibility of engaging a staff with capacity in web management will also be explored. 5. Key lessons learned 5.1. There is ever-increasing interest in the AFT grant as evidenced by the responses and applications received during the last calls, enquiries received by the AFT CU on daily basis, the successful applicants' level of participation in the Tanzania Project Launch Workshop, among others Disbursement has increased tremendously in the past one year. This development can be linked to recent efforts of the AFT CU aimed at boosting the Grantees' procurement capacity and ensuring constant follow up with relevant units and stakeholders in the Bank Strict adherence to use of competition in the grant bidding and evaluation process could result to rejection of projects with prospects for impacts on smallholders, women and the youth (persons from years) Strict emphasis on competition has also continued to make it increasingly difficult for all countries and zones to benefit from the AFT grant. 6. Challenges 6.1. Time and resource constraints have made the country-by-country project launching unfeasible, thereby limiting the publicity of the grant The attitude and erroneous assumption by some grantees who misconstrue the approved grant amount as an entitlement that must be collected at all cost have impacted negatively on the realization of the grant goal. 7. Highlight of Next Steps and Future Activities The following are highlights of the next steps and some future planned activities for Calls for CNs and FTPs. The AFT CU will work towards realizing two Calls in The first calls is planned for the first quarter while the second will be in the third quarter of The calls should be directed at ensuring that every eligible country has at least one approved project. It should be acknowledged that in the midst of the rising 13

20 interest in AFT grant, some eligible countries have not been able to benefit from it due largely to the high-level of competitiveness. As a result, the AFT CU has seen the need to carry out some promotional activities in the disadvantaged countries, including the Francophone countries, to boast their capacity to compete. In addition, the possibility of using "stratified" and "cluster" calls in the disadvantaged countries are being weighed. Also being considered is the best ways of accommodating agribusiness enterprises owned and/or managed by women and/or which involves the youth, which are common performance indicators for USAID, Sida and DANIDA Review of Evaluation Criteria for CNs and FTPs. The evaluation criteria for CNs should be reviewed to reflect the comments received from evaluators during the last evaluation exercise. Also, some aspects of the evaluation criteria for FTP should be reviewed to include some key indicators, such ownerships by women or involvement of the youth (persons from years). The concerns on the likely negative environmental and social impact of projects will continue to be addressed by inclusion of related indicators in the evaluation criteria Reporting. Appropriate and timely reporting of the Fund's activities will continue. The 2016 Annual Report should be ready by the first week of February 2017 while the Bi-annual Report for 2017 should be ready before the end of July Second Updating the AFT Website. The AFT website will be updated to reflect the new developments in the grant implementation processes and procedures. Among other things, the grant procurement plan template will be uploaded to the AFT website as soon as possible. It is expected that by 31 January 2017 all procurement plans would have been prepared and reviewed for new grantees. Further, the AFT list of pre-qualified consultants will be updated on regular basis. All consultants retained by the AFT grantees will be encouraged to register on DACON to avoid delays during disbursements Providing technical support for the new Grantees. Technical support aimed at building the grantees' procurement capacity will continue on regular basis through telephone discussions, exchange of s, conference/skype calls, etc Monitoring and evaluation. M&E and other project supervision activities will be conducted during the year. These activities may involve field visits to project locations, baseline surveys and case studies of both old and new grantees Lessons learned workshop. The lessons learned workshop slated for the third quarter of 2016 did not hold because during that period the process of approvals for the new projects was at its climax. Consequently, the lessons learned workshop will be organized during the third quarter 2017 when the implementation of most of the new projects will be at advanced stage Tracking Grantees' ability to leverage funding. The AFT CU will continue to monitor and present updates based on the feedbacks received on ability of the Grantees that have successfully implemented their grants to leverage financing. The Bank will work towards identifying potential financiers and create database of available financing options for sharing with the Grantees. 14

21 8. Conclusion 8.1. Following successful restructuring of AFT CU and review of the Fund's procurement processes, procedures and guidelines with AFT Donors in late 2015, the donors lifted the sanction it placed on further calls for AFT grant proposals. Consequently, the CU was able to place and process Calls for CNs and FTAs between March-June This culminated with the TRC's approval of 12 new grants valued at US$2,312, and eventual project launching in Tanzania from November Several lessons were learned: including the demonstrated increasing interest in the AFT Grant evidenced by the responses and applications received during the calls, enquiries got by the CU on daily basis, the applicants' level of participation in the Tanzania Workshop, among others. Included among the key challenges is the inability of the CU to achieve the intended country-by-country project lunching due to time and resource constraints. Suffices to say that holding the launching in the beneficiary countries would have created additional publicity for the AFT. Another challenge is the unwholesome attitude and erroneous assumption by some grantees who misconstrue the approved grant to be their entitlement that must be collected for use at all cost with its negative effect on the realization of the Fund's mission. The future activities outlined in the AFT 2017 AWP&B include sustaining efforts at supporting the new grantees to boost their procurement capacity, scaling up the grant disbursement rate, working towards achieving the 6-month grant implementation period, and realizing the two calls-per-year target. The AFT CU will also put modalities in place to track and report on the efforts of old Grantees to leverage financing for their parent projects. 15