Independent Evaluation of The Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility’s Sub-national Technical Assistance

The Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) is a multi-donor technical assistance facility, established in 1999 that is aimed at helping developing countries improve the quality of their infrastructure through the participation of the private sector. With an annual budget of around US$20 million, PPIAF provides technical assistance grants to governments in support of private participation in infrastructure, particularly in the water, energy and transport sectors. This evaluation aimed to assess the following: i) the extent to which the SNTA Program’s activities conform to the needs, priorities and policies of recipient governments, end users of infrastructure services and those of the current SNTA donors; ii) the extent to which the SNTA Program has attained its objectives, taking their relative importance into account; iii) the extent to which the cost of the SNTA Program can be justified by its results, taking the cost of alternative approaches into account; iv) to assess the total effect of the SNTA Program including intended and unintended results, as well as the positive and negative impact of external factors; and v)  the extent to which the benefits of the SNTA Program activities are sustained after the technical assistance is complete, and the extent to which SNTA program activities are replicable. The matrix guided data collection and analysis and the development of standardized interview protocols. Methods included interviews with over 100 individuals representing a cross-section of PPIAF SNTA stakeholders, a review of more than 200 key documents identified with PPIAF support, and country site visits to Kenya and South Africa to obtain the views of stakeholders on activities financed by SNTA in 17 selected projects. The evaluation team presented preliminary findings and conclusions to selected members of the PPIAF Program Council and the Program Management Unit, and subsequently produce a draft and final report with key actionable and strategic recommendations.