2009:01 Sida's Trade-Related Assistance: Results and Management

Description:
The purpose of this evaluation is to assess the outcome of Sida's Trade Related Assistance (TRA) as well as to assess the appropriateness of Sida's results information system as a management tool for TRA. The evaluation is based on already existing information in project and programme documents and on interviews with program managers.
In general, the projects appear to be well implemented in terms of delivering inputs and producing planned outputs. Beyond this, the outcomes and impacts of the TRA projects in terms of reaching their development objectives, such as influence on trade policy, providing services to the trade sector, reducing poverty, etc, are largely unclear. This is not necessarily because projects have failed or were wrongly designed, but rather because of the methodological difficulties of attributing change to what the Sida projects are delivering. However, on outputs and the more immediate outcomes there already exist quite a lot of information and the problem is not so much the lack of information as the management of this information. Existing information can be used much more effectively as elaborated in the report.