Evaluation of International Assistance Programming in Senegal, 2012-13 to 2017-18

Social and Economic Development

Senegal continued to be a politically stable country in West Africa during the period. Its 2014 Plan Sénégal Émergent [Emerging Senegal Plan] introduced a new direction and a partnership approach. Combined with its Priority Action Plan (2014-2018), this provided an important frame of reference for economic and social policy aimed at making Senegal an “emerging country” by 2035.

However, Senegal remains one of the least developed countries, ranking 164th of 189 countries according to the United Nations Human Development Index in 2017, with a national poverty rate estimated at 35.6%. Senegal has close to 16 million residents, with an annual population growth rate of 2.8% in 2017. Nearly 70% live in a rural setting, where two of three people are affected by poverty, which disproportionately affects women. Moreover, as more than 60% of the population is under the age of 25, young people are facing major issues, including high unemployment rates and few job opportunities in the formal sector.

Significant disparities and inequalities remain within the Senegalese society, especially in terms of income, gender and between regions. Some of the poorest and most vulnerable populations in Senegal live in the south and southeast, which has also resulted in some of the highest chronic malnutrition in the country and worrisome maternal and child health indicators. Despite a wealth of natural resources, including several large-scale gold mines, the region’s dominant agricultural sector is sensitive to climate change. It has also been affected by a long-running conflict in Casamance.

In order to be closer to the population and to devolve responsibilities on the level best suited to doing so, Senegal proceeded to decentralize and deconcentrate the government. Although it was a major priority for Senegal, several weaknesses were noted concerning the efficiency of this governance system. Local structures and actors often lacked the financial and human resources needed to effectively carry out their mandate, and the delegation of authority has not yet been fully implemented. This situation greatly complicated service delivery and impacted various Senegalese and Canadian programs and projects.

Bilateral Relations

Relations between Senegal and Canada date back to 1962, with aid investments of more than $1.3 billion. Trade relations between the countries offer interesting growth potential, particularly in the mining, agricultural, and oil and gas industries. In 2017, bilateral trade totalled $52.4 million. Both countries are founding members of La Francophonie.

Donor Coordination

There are a large number of bilateral and multilateral donors in Senegal. The main contributors in the country harmonize their development efforts and investments through the Groupe élargi de concertation des Partenaires techniques et financiers au Sénégal, also known as G50. The mission of this main coordination group is to implement the principles of the Paris Declaration for better harmonization and coordination among donors, to improve consultation and information sharing among partners, and to structure and deepen dialogue with the Government of Senegal on poverty reduction, sectoral policies and governance.

The partners have also organized themselves into 17 thematic groups to coordinate on sectoral issues; a group of 15 heads of cooperation (the G15) responsible for coordinating policy dialogue among donors; and a group of five heads of mission (COMEX-Executive Committee) representing the donors in dialogue with the President, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.

Canada has played an important role in the donor community. Between February 2017 and December 2018, Canada assumed the role of chair of the EXCOM and co-chair of the G50 group. Canada has also participated in many sub-groups of donors and coordination mechanisms, including in the areas of education and vocational and technical training, gender equality and food security. At the time of the evaluation, Canada held the chairmanship of the technical and vocational training group and was co-chair of the gender thematic group.

Program Disbursements

From 2012-13 to 2017-18, Canadian international assistance disbursements to Senegal totalled $410 million, corresponding to a yearly average of $68 million. During that period, departmental funds were disbursed across three international assistance branches. Less than $0.8 million was disbursed through the International Security and Political Affairs Branch (IFM) and the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI).

Sub-Saharan Africa Branch (WGM)

Disbursements by the Sub-Saharan Africa Branch in Senegal ($332 million, or 81% of total disbursements) were administered almost entirely by the Senegal Development Division (WWS). 71% of investments were made as part of program-based approaches ($235 million). Based on the disbursements, the programming focused particularly on children and youth (55%), with most investments allocated to education, followed by Food Security (28%), Sustainable Economic Growth (12%) and Other (3%).

Partnerships for Development Innovation Branch (KFM)

KFM disbursements ($46 million, or 11% or total disbursements) focused on multi-country programs that were operating in the health, education and food security sectors. These programs were implemented by Canadian partners, including Colleges and Institutes Canada, Plan International Canada, World Vision and WUSC/CECI.

Global Issue and Development Branch (MFM)

MFM investments ($31 million, or 8% of total disbursements) focused largely on food security programs, particularly food assistance, nutrition and agriculture. There was also significant emphasis on maternal, newborn and child health.

With the exception of the mining sector, the willingness and efforts to systematically increase departmental coherence remained relatively limited and hinged on individuals and relationships.

Despite the department’s amalgamation, coherence between its various branches and divisions seems to have been limited, not systematic. Collaboration and coordination efforts seemed to be based on relationships (formal and informal) and individuals’ willingness to engage rather than being integrated into programming development and implementation. During the evaluation period, there was no formal requirement or common tools for integrated planning or for sharing information or knowledge to improve departmental coherence. These issues were also identified by the 2017 Audit of the Harmonization of the Grant and Contribution Program Administration at Global Affairs Canada, which made several concrete recommendations to improve departmental harmonization.

Identifying areas in which joint programming would have been possible remained difficult because of distinct mandates, priorities and processes despite a decentralized bilateral program model and increased efforts to bring departmental branches and divisions together by organizing weekly joint meetings at the mission level. Only one area saw close cooperation between development, political and trade staff: the mining sector. That was the case in Kédougou, a region in the southeast with the highest poverty rates in the country, where many Canadian businesses had specific interests in the gold-mining sector. There were several joint activities related to improving governance in the mining sector, in which government actors and members of civil society also participated.

Women and girls occupied a central place in Canadian programming in areas that were important for reducing poverty.

Canada played a key role in promoting gender equality issues, even before the introduction of Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy. Although gender issues were included in programming throughout the period, this new policy offered an additional tool for communicating Canada’s position even more clearly on these key issues.

By ensuring that gender equality was included as a condition for the support provided through program-based approaches, Canada was also able to actively support the inclusion of a gender perspective in several national reforms and in the development of public policy documents.

Budget support conditions and policy dialogue were important tools for reaching the most vulnerable.

Vulnerable populations were defined as the poorest, with a particular focus on women and girls. Much of the Canadian programming focused on areas that were important in the fight against poverty, particularly education, vocational and technical training, nutrition, food security and local development. This support, provided largely through budget support, primarily involved the appropriate ministries at the national level, but with the intent of a gradual effect at the decentralized and deconcentrated levels. The choice of conditions and policy dialogue were thus key to ensuring that the goals set out in sectoral policies target vulnerable groups and address gender issues.

Although the intention was to ensure that budget support had an impact on the most vulnerable, it was difficult for the evaluation to determine the extent to which these groups were reached as expected and in an equitable manner at the regional and local levels. Many decentralized and deconcentrated public structures in Senegal continued to lack the resources to develop and deliver government programs in an effective and fair manner in a regional context. This has also had an impact on the ability to put in place the necessary mechanisms to monitor results. The use of traditional projects to complement budget support, while on a much more limited scale, seems to have been a means by which to better target Canada’s international assistance to vulnerable groups and specific geographic areas.

A supportive partnership approach made Canada a trusted partner of the Government of Senegal, enabling it to make a significant contribution to policy dialogues.

Canada was considered to be a trusted partner of the Government of Senegal and other Senegalese partners, with a lot of credibility and expertise that were considered compatible with Senegal’s needs and priorities. Its supportive partnership approach and culture of collaboration resulted in a commitment to provide quality technical assistance and targeted institutional strengthening over the long term. Appreciation was also noted at all levels for the openness to new approaches in order to achieve results in a participative and inclusive manner, using tools and solutions adapted to the country’s specific context. There are also several examples of close cooperation between Canada and other donors with similar objectives to ensure a coordinated and harmonized approach that facilitated international assistance in Senegal, particularly through the technical and financial partner network.

Several organizational changes within the department have had a relatively limited impact on the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the programming.

During the evaluation period, several new policies, administrative procedures and accountability levels were introduced to eliminate silos and improve programming coherence. However, as it was already aligned with Senegal’s priorities, the Senegal Program seems to have been able to adapt well to those changes. The bilateral program strategy developed in 2014 provided a clear direction, although it was never officially approved. However, it seems to have been more difficult for programming to adapt quickly to unexpected changes, often owing to the complexity of institutional processes at Global Affairs Canada. For instance, a request for proposals process that was to be directly linked to a general budget support was delayed for several years.

According to several interlocutors, the lack of clarity concerning roles and responsibilities between Headquarters and the mission was the source of some of the problems encountered. However, efforts to reorganize working groups in 2017 aimed to overcome them. Frequent employee turnover was also a contributing factor, which was largely overcome by competent locally engaged staff, supported by thematic experts from the field support services unit (BACDI). However, the lack of common information management tools and the closure of the BACDI in 2016, with a long interval before a new support unit could be set up, had an impact on the capacity to gather and share information. This also posed an increased risk of loss of institutional memory.

A strong focus on program-based approaches was appropriate to advance Senegalese priorities.

Several international studies suggest that the effectiveness of program-based approaches varies from one country and one instrument to another, based on political stability and willingness, the rigour and accountability of governance systems, and the capacity of public institutions, among other things. In the case of Senegal, this tool presented many benefits during the evaluation period owing to a stable political environment, relatively strong governance and financial and administrative structures, and a political willingness and committed leadership to carry out the Plan Sénégal Émergent.

A majority of Canada’s total international assistance programming (57% or $234.7 million of the $410.4 million) was delivered using program-based approaches, primarily using a mix of general, sectoral and project-type budget support. Budget support represented less than 10% of Senegal’s overall budget, but was considered to be an important instrument and lever for advancing processes and reforms in accordance with the desired orientation.

Canadian budget support has focused on strengthening public finance systems and results-based management, including monitoring, control and accountability mechanisms. The conditions played an important role in ensuring that the relevant ministries received the necessary support to implement reforms and also helped to reduce fiscal and administrative risks. However, as many donors often provide support in the same area, it was often hard to directly link Canadian investments to the results achieved on the ground.

Budget support has been an important instrument for achieving sustainable and transformative results enabling a systemic impact in the areas of intervention.

Canada was able to position itself as a strategic partner in implementing public reforms in several areas (education, agriculture, food security, nutrition, natural resources) because its budget support was closely tied to quality technical assistance, targeted capacity building and continuous high-level and technical policy dialogue. Canadian support was also able to integrate a gender dimension to all of these processes while promoting good governance and good management practices. This type of support required a lot of time and resources, as well as a strong ability to effectively and coherently contribute to policy dialogue. This was often a challenge for mission staff, who were also focused on project implementation.

The capacity for effective financial management differed from one partner ministry to another, which also seems to have had an impact on the effectiveness of achieving of results. When capacity building and technical assistance in this regard were not included, as was the case for project-type budget support, which was implemented by a separate management unit, it was harder to ensure large-scale sustainable results. Significant challenges also remain in translating progress made at national level to the decentralized and deconcentrated levels with the same level of quality, accountability and transparency, while still being able to adapt to specific regional and local contexts and needs.

Canada identified a specific niche in the areas of basic education and vocational and technical training.

Canada has been engaged in the education sector in Senegal for decades. The programming, which initially focused on increased access and gender parity, evolved over the period to focus more on improving the quality of education, in close alignment with Senegalese government programs and priorities, particularly the Programme for Improving Quality, Equity and Transparency in the Education and Training Sector (PAQUET-EF).

Canadian support in the vocational and technical training sector also became increasingly important during the evaluation period because of the high priority placed on that area by the Senegalese government. To meet market needs and to achieve the overall objective of becoming an emerging economy by 2035, Senegal must have a skilled workforce that is able to meet labour market needs. Vocational and technical training was therefore considered to be one of the key drivers of economic growth.

To achieve sustainability and local ownership of results, Canada also supported the Ministries of National Education and Vocational Training, Learning and Craftsmanship with technical assistance and capacity building in results-based management, as well as human and financial resources, among other things. Canada also provided support in developing gender strategies and actions plans for the Ministries of National Education and Vocational Training, Learning and Craftsmanship, which included the creation of networks of women teachers and gender offices in each regional academic inspectorate.

Through a continued support and a comprehensive approach, Canada was able to contribute to a systemic and transformative change in the basic education sector in Senegal.

Representing nearly 65% of Canada’s overall programming, education was the main area of intervention during the evaluation period. With investments of more than $300 million since 2008, Canada has positioned itself as one of Senegal’s largest donors in this area. Canada also played a key role in supporting Senegal in reforming its education system, leading it to adopt a skills-based approach. Due to the well-defined interventions related to the implementation of the education sector reform, it was possible to attribute certain key results in this area to Canada’s support.

Basic Education Reform

1. Capacity building at the Ministry of National Education:
   • Adoption of the skills-based approach by the Government of Senegal
   • Appointment of 139 women to management positions, exceeding the initial objective of 121 women
2. Technical support - Curriculum development:
   • A curriculum based on the skills-based approach was developed and implemented in all primary schools in public education
3. Support in the acquisition of textbooks:
   • Procurement of six million textbooks and teaching guides based on the skills-based approach for 8,100 public elementary schools in Senegal
4. Training in skills-based approach:
   • Training for 53,000 teachers and 8,000 school administrators/directors in the skills-based approach
5. Textbook repair project:
   • Training for 40 young textbook repairers (including 26 women). This measure aims to double the life of textbooks, thus contributing to the sustainability of investments.
6. Programming focused on protecting children at school:
   • A new comprehensive program to protect children at school, using a multidimensional approach with three complementary partners (Ministry of National Education, UNICEF, Plan International)

Canadian support has helped make vocational and technical training a real option for entering the labour market.

Vocational and technical training was still seen by many as a “second-chance education” that has been less coveted than a university diploma. However, as the quality and usefulness of training improves and the available options for direct entry to the workplace increase, vocational and technical training has been increasingly accepted and sought-after.

Canadian programming featured a combined emphasis on improving the quality of and access to the training provided. It also supported the reform process to incorporate the skills-based approach and strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of Vocational Training, Apprenticeship and Craftsmanship.

One component of the programming focused on developing new training programs and building the capacity of partner institutions. Those Senegalese institutes of professional and technical training that were supported had a larger enrollment capacity and more diverse programming that better meet labour market needs thanks to the ongoing involvement of Canadian colleges, institutes and CÉGEPs as well as strategic private-sector partnerships. However, this programming was based on the assumption that the market will eventually be able to offer all graduates jobs in their respective fields.

Another component specifically targeted young men and women without any education who were unemployed or forced to turn to the informal or artisanal sector. With few other options to continue their education, these learning or training programs in entrepreneurship offered the young people the opportunity to obtain certifications and better job opportunities beyond the informal sector.

There was still work to do for vocational and technical training to become a real and equitable option for young women, particularly in rural areas.

Despite an increase in the number of Senegalese institutes of professional and technical training offering several new training programs, demand remained higher than enrollment capacity. There were often with several hundred candidates for each training enrollment. Training sites were located primarily in urban areas, with very few options available in rural settings. It was particularly difficult for young women to have to pursue their education far away from their families. They were often under pressure to marry and start a family at a young age and to assume day-to-day family duties. The vocational and apprenticeship training options offered through Canadian programming still focused in fields traditionally practised by men. Because of these persistent social perceptions, the available options did not facilitate the integration and participation of young girls without considerable support to change these perceptions. As well, the length of the training, the location and the time of the class were other factors that impacted young women’s ability to participate.

Job creation and industrial development were lagging behind, leaving many new graduates without a job in their field.

To increase the chances of entering the labour market, technical training and apprenticeship programs created direct ties to private sector businesses. However, many Senegalese institutes of professional and technical training still suffered from a lack of suitable space and equipment, which often made it hard to adequately prepare young technicians for the job market.

At the same time, it was estimated that 100,000 young people join the labour force each year (during the evaluation period), but only 10,000 formal jobs were created annually, as industry growth was still not progressing at the expected rate. Many young people trained through Canadian programs still could not find work. This was particularly the case in rural communities, where large-scale industries are rare.

Canadian support was key to the certification of apprentices. However, fewer certified apprentices than expected started their own business or have not yet been able to find employment. Many of them have chosen to stay with their mentor. The length of the program, the limited business opportunities outside the informal sector and the need for a cultural change were all contributing factors.

Canada promoted an integrated approach to agriculture, health, nutrition and education, with emphasis on women and girls.

Canadian support in Senegal in relation to food security was closely linked to Senegalese priorities, centred on three complementary areas of intervention: sustainably increasing agricultural production, enhancing agricultural products, and improving nutrition. Much of the Canadian programming placed particular emphasis on the role of women and girls, including specific interventions aimed at empowering women and improving equal access to financing and land. An integrated approach that linked education, health, nutrition and agriculture was promoted. Initiatives to improve maternal and newborn health and those that facilitate the registration of births in conflict areas complemented other projects. Sustainable land and water management and other sustainable and innovative practices for adapting to climate change were also programming priorities.

The programming made an important contribution to policy development.

Canada played a key role in Senegal’s joining the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (NASAN) in November 2013 and in the development of its country cooperation framework. This G7 initiative proposed a partnership between the Government of Senegal, technical and financial partners and the private sector to mobilize the investments and reforms needed to stimulate growth in the agricultural sector and improve food security and nutrition. Canada’s financial commitments of $80 million to the NASAN in Senegal, completed in 2018, were carried out primarily through existing agriculture and nutrition projects.

By supporting the Plan Sénégal Émergent through budgetary and technical support, Canada was also able to support Senegal in developing the Plan stratégique multisectoriel de la nutrition [multisectoral strategic plan for nutrition] and the Stratégie nationale de sécurité alimentaire et de résilience [national strategy for food security and resilience], while integrating a gender perspective. Furthermore, the 2018-22 Programme national d’appui à la sécurité alimentaire [national food security support program] aimed at improving food and nutrition security for the most vulnerable households, along with their capacity for resilience, was developed in a participatory manner.

Canadian support helped strengthen and modernize the agricultural sector to help create economic opportunities, particularly in rural areas.

Closely linked to Senegal’s objectives of making agriculture a lever for economic growth, long-term programming was concentrated in two geographical regions in particular, namely Niayes (North-West region) and Casamance (South region). It evolved over time, building on the results of previous phases, with women assuming an increasingly important role. The projects were mainly delivered through project-type budget support implemented by management units set up by the ministries concerned, namely the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Equipment and the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. Although technical assistance and capacity building was provided to the Project Coordination Units, this support was not provided at the ministerial level.

The introduction of new agricultural technology and techniques contributed to increasing small-scale productivity.

The programming that directly targeted small producers by building their capacity to increase and diversify their agricultural productivity in a sustainable manner had significant results. Canada supported the introduction of improved seeds and new production techniques and equipment, including the installation of 136 modern irrigation systems, 13 of them solar-powered. The use of new technology to improve processing and easier access to microcredit, combined with financial literacy and management training for producers, were also key factors in improving small-scale productivity. This helped producers increase their annual incomes, on average, by more than 20% since 2010 and, in some cases, particularly for certain women producers, by more than 80%, thus helping to improve the socio-economic life of men and women in the areas of intervention. However, farmers remained tied to local markets and were unable to develop beyond them.

Support to value chain links in several promising industries had mixed results.

Support for promising industries helped create nearly 3,000 jobs in the Casamance region, 60% of them for women, and many Unités de transformation et conditionnement [processing and packaging units] (UTCs). Although results were noted in individual industries and UTCs, systemic changes were not observed in terms of sustainability and profitability to achieve real economic growth. Programming related to supporting the marketing of products on a larger scale through cooperatives (the last phase of the value chain) did not achieve its intended objectives due to organizational development challenges and a lack of larger-scale agricultural industries.

Nutrition programming went beyond improving access to nutritious food by emphasizing community engagement in the fight against harmful social and cultural practices towards women and girls.

Nutrition was a new emphasis for Canada in Senegal during the period. To date, it has been limited to regions with a high prevalence of food insecurity and severe chronic or acute malnutrition. This was to reach the most vulnerable populations, particularly in the Kolda and Kédougou regions.

As part of a pilot phase, the Kolda Kédogou Integrated Nutrition Project, or so called PINKK project, has already achieved a number of results through a multisectoral approach that included health, nutritional, water and hygiene aspects. To ensure that interventions were self-sufficient and sustainable, activities to produce foods rich in micronutrients through small scale herding, backyard gardens and local product processing were complemented by capacity building of entrepreneurial skills and access to financial services. More than 3,000 women received financial literacy training, resulting in 218 new village savings and loan associations (AVEC). This credit, which the women manage themselves, was set up to offer access to financing for women in rural areas who would otherwise have difficulty obtaining any financial support. It tended to benefit the entire community, not just the women and their families.

With a particular emphasis on maternal and child health and nutrition security, the project also targeted the most vulnerable households with communication activities to encourage change in behaviours of practices that can be especially harmful for women and girls. Food consumption has been closely linked to socio-cultural practices. Several community awareness activities on the main measures related to hygiene, water and sanitation were conducted by more than 1,400 community members (70% women), trained as part of the project.

Additional efforts would be needed to create synergies and ensure larger-scale impacts, sustainability and ownership of food security programs.

Interventions using program-based approaches in partnership with the agriculture and environment ministries were carried out through traditional projects in the food security sector. Although some individual projects favoured an integrated, multisectoral approach, this did not result in programming coherence in the sector. Few synergies or multiplier effects were observed among project results, like those that had been achieved in the education sector, as they were implemented primarily in silos.

Long-term support for certain multi-phase agricultural projects was not able to create the same large-scale systemic change as those implemented through general or sectoral budget support. The lack of ongoing technical support and capacity building within the ministries seems to have had an impact on reporting capacities and on the sustainable ownership of results. It will therefore be harder to ensure sustainable results and maintain services at the decentralized level beyond funding.

When there was an insufficient understanding of social norms and the local context, it had an impact on results.

The integrated and multisectoral partnership model, such as the one used in the the Kolda Kédogou Integrated Nutrition Project (PINKK) project, was very complex and required a great understanding of the local socio-cultural context and the ability to identify and involve all appropriate stakeholders. It also required a lot of resources and time to ensure local capacity building for local ownership and sustainable results.

There are several gender-related factors that made it more difficult to ensure food security programs had an impact on women, such as the prevalence of illiteracy, certain harmful socio-cultural practices or beliefs, and early marriages and pregnancies. Women’s family obligations, which is often a combination of household chores and agricultural work in the fields, which reinforce the phenomenon of unaccounted and unpaid domestic work. In addition to making support to these women more challenging, they are also more affected by the lack of access to resources and the failure to enforce laws. There are also many regional contexts and cultural specifics to be considered, such as in conflict-affected areas like Casamance.

Programming in the area of sustainable economic growth helped build ties to other thematic areas, thus creating synergies and a more coherent approach.

Sustainable economic growth was added as a thematic area during the period, representing approximately 12% of disbursements. While seeking to improve alignment with the Plan Sénégal Émergent, the programming also continued to emphasize strengthening processes related to good governance in public institutions.

One program component focused on building public institutions’ capacity to implement decentralization reforms and manage public finances more transparently and responsibly. This included support for creating the National Office for the Fight Against Fraud and Corruption and building the Court of Auditors’ capacity to do its work of examining government accounts. Posting the main budget documents online improved transparency and helped improve Senegal’s score from 10 to 51 out of 100 on the Open Budget Index between 2012 and 2017. Progress was also made introduce a results based program budget, which will allow for greater alignment between ministerial budgets and sectoral policies. As well, a “gender budget document” was developed in 2017 and is used to allocate resources to the various ministries to meet the needs of women and girls.

A second component supported the Senegalese government in sectors seen as drivers of sustainable economic development, particularly agriculture, education, training and nutrition, and in improving the transparency of natural resources management. Given its close ties to other Canadian programs in these areas, this strategic support for reforms and institution-building helped improve programming coherence as a whole.

Support for microfinancing mechanisms, to ensure the financial inclusion of a larger share of the population, was an important measure for economic independence, particularly for women. Aimed at automating and computerization the operations of microfinance institutions, this programming helped increase transaction security and the quality and reliability of financial information. This also helped improve client confidence while allowing for better governance of the institutions themselves. In addition, the project was able to ensure sustainability beyond funding by working directly with local credit cooperatives, building their capacities and directly transferring solutions adapted to local needs.

The delivery of basic services at the decentralized and deconcentrated levels, and its associated capacity shortfall and unequal allocation of resources, must be addressed to strengthen the gains achieved in key sectors for sustainable economic growth.

Despite significant progress in strengthening public institutions, particularly in terms of the management of public finances, challenges remained in bringing this progress to the decentralized and deconcentrated levels. Management procedures did not always ensure that resources are available at public service delivery points. Introducing a program budget is an opportunity for more involvement and greater control for sectoral ministries but will require additional capacity building to ensure that sufficient resources are effectively and equitably allocated to key sectors. Oversight bodies, including the Court of Auditors and the National Assembly, were still not able to entirely fulfill their roles. This situation, combined with the weakness of the court system and the frequent non-enforcement of laws, hindered the creation of an environment conducive to sustainable development.

Canadian support for the implementation of the Plan Sénégal Émergent was important in fostering sustainable economic growth. However, the support was not as targeted as it could have been, as the technical assistance that was supposed to go with the general budget support was not in sync. Contracting-related institutional processes under a call for proposals resulted in several delays. The programming also experienced some delays in the disbursement of funds when the Senegalese government was unable to meet the agreed deadlines for reporting on progress in terms of how conditions had been met. The weakness of the existing processes and systems for tracking and reporting was considered to be a contributing factor.

Access to funding remains a major obstacle to empowering women. This was still a priority for Canadian programming, but on a much smaller scale and integrated instead into other project activities, particularly toward the end of the evaluation period. A national study (2015) showed that fewer than 10% of women had access to funding in the formal banking sector, while 33% rely on information systems, such as “tontines,” savings and credit associations or groups. Nearly 60% of women, particularly in rural settings, did not have access to either formal or informal financial systems. Accordingly, there must be more systematic financial inclusion of this particularly vulnerable group.

Canadian programming in the basic education sector is leaving a legacy for the future.

Overall support for the skills-based approach reform process in education, provided through several complementary projects, not only helped achieve sustainable investments, but also helped change in a systematic and transformative way how children in Senegal are taught. The adoption of this new way of teaching was seen in all regions visited during the evaluation. Although the Ministry of National Education had appropriated the procurement processes for textbooks, it was still hard to ensure that there the number of textbooks correspond to the expected number of students. Canada complemented this investment by helping develop the skills needed to repair textbooks, thus extending the life of each textbook. This also contributed to better management of costs for the Ministry of National Education. However, because of strong demographic growth in Senegal (an average of 2.75% per year since 2000), caution must be exercised as this context will continue to place significant demands on the education sector.

The involvement of local partners fosters ownership of results and sustainable solutions.

Partnerships with well-established local organizations or institutions that have been involved throughout the project cycle were better able to increase local ownership. An integrated approach that included knowledge transfer, including a training of trainers and peer-to-peer exchanges, also helped create sustainable capacities beyond funding. These partners often had an excellent understanding of beneficiaries’ needs that helped in finding solutions that were anchored in the socio-cultural context, as well as simple and affordable enough to be maintained by the beneficiaries themselves. In addition, leadership and entrepreneurial capacity building, combined with easier access to funding and financial literacy training, helped improve the ongoing use of acquired knowledge and the self-sufficiency of beneficiaries.

Numerous project results were related to changes in behaviour and socio-cultural practices. However, the time and resources needed to achieve these changes were often underestimated and were not sufficiently considered in the duration of the projects. This seems to have led to the use of several project phases, which can be beneficial when trying out new concepts and tools before deploying them on a wider scale. However, continuous multiple phases could also lead to involuntary dependence and can diminish ownership and preparation for the end of funding. Numerous projects could therefore benefit from a well-defined exit strategy that included risk-mitigation measures from the outset of the project.