OPEC Fund Development Forum 2023
A development project that helps farmers in a certain region of a developing country uses more e ff ective farming techniques ultimately aims to have a positive impact on farmers’ household incomes – this is what the project is in large part about. However, farmers’ household incomes are not only determined by farming techniques, but also, for example, by weather events a ff ecting the harvest, the prices that farmers can sell their harvest for (which are often influenced by swings in global commodity prices, the market structure, etc.), changes in government subsidies and taxes, the employment status of other household members, and many other factors. To assess the impact of a single project on a measure such as household incomes, the e ff ects of the project
have to be separated out from all other factors that have a bearing on this variable. Many impacts also take a very long time to materialize - such as increased incomes due to a project that improves access to education. Assessing project impacts is therefore di ffi cult (and often methodologically impossible) and usually costly. Di ff erent impact evaluation methods of varying rigor exist, all of which strive to isolate the e ff ect of a specific intervention, or group of interventions, from other influences on the target variable. While some
Akinwumi Adesina President of the African Development Bank (AfDB)
consider impact evaluations the gold standard for truly assessing
“We’ll literally be able to ‘green’ the Sahel” OFQ : The Sahara o ff ers huge opportunities for solar energy generation, but is it economically feasible to harness that potential? Is that on the AfDB’s agenda? Akinwumi Adesina: The Sahel region of Africa has the highest solar irradiation in the world — but also the lowest rate for access to electricity. That’s why the AfDB launched the “Desert to Power Initiative”, which aims to harness the power of the sun and develop a total of 11,000 MW of solar power systems across 11 countries. It will provide electricity for 250 million people. It will also reduce carbon emissions for people relying on firewood and charcoal, which is the primary source of cooking energy in many of those countries. The initiative is really a game changer. The Sahel is dry, but if we have solar power and solar-driven irrigation systems, we’ll literally be able to “green” the Sahel.
To assess the impact of a single project on a measure such as farmers' household
incomes, the e ff ects of the project have to be separated out from all other factors.
Ulrike Haarsager, OPEC Fund, Head of Development E ff ectiveness
PHOTO: Hryshchyshen Serhii /Shutterstock.com
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