Ecorys commissioned by the World Bank to evaluate Middle East and North Africa Transition Fund

Ecorys commissioned by the World Bank to evaluate Middle East and North Africa Transition Fund

The World Bank requested Ecorys to undertake an independent Full-Scale Evaluation of the Middle East and North Africa Transition fund (MENATF). The transition countries that are covered by the evaluation are Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia and Yemen. This evaluation follows a mixed-method approach, which includes desk research, a survey and country visits to Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Tunisia. In addition, Ecorys will undertake face-to-face interviews with multiple donors and International Financial Institutions such as the World Bank, EIB,  EBRD and the OECD . Two weeks ago, the project started with a kick-off meeting with the World Bank in Washington DC.

The roots of the MENATF can be found in the Arab Spring of 2011. The Fund was established in 2012 by the G7 (then G8) in the context of the Deauville Partnership to support countries in the MENA region in their transformation processes. One of its main purposes is to strengthen governance for transparent and accountable governments and to provide an economic framework for sustainable and inclusive growth. The MENATF is a mechanism to provide grants for technical cooperation to support transition countries to undertake reforms over a period of multiple years. Because of the broad scope of transition challenges, the objective of the MENATF has been kept broad: 
 
“The objective of the Transition Fund is to improve the lives of citizens in transition countries and to support the transformation currently underway in several countries in the region (the ‘Transition Countries’). This is done by providing grants for technical cooperation to strengthen governance and public institutions and foster sustainable and inclusive economic growth by advancing country-led policy and institutional reforms.”
 
This evaluation shall assess to what extent the overall objective has been achieved, especially whether funded projects have led to reforms in the MENATF countries. In addition, the evaluation is intended to assess the quality of implementation of the funded projects. In sum, the evaluation looks at relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability and additional topics like finances and the organisation of the Fund. 
 
Finally, the evaluation includes an expectation: to identify lessons learned and to formulate recommendations for the future of the Fund. The project will be finalised in October 2018.