PRESIDENCY REPUBLIC OF BENIN USE OF EVIDENCE FOR

PRESIDENCY REPUBLIC OF BENIN USE OF EVIDENCE FOR POLICY MAKING : BENIN STORY Abdoulaye Gounou Director General of Evaluation

CONTENT I II IV 2 • CONTEXT • OVERVIEW OF BENIN EVALUATION SYSTEM • USE OF EVIDENCE • LESSONS FORWARD

CONTEXTE 1/3 Benin is a francophone country in West Africa Covers a land area of 114. 763 km²: § Population 10 M people § Belongs to LMIC group § Benin GDP Annual averaged Growth Rate app 5% (6. 5% in 2014) § The preponderant sectors of the economy are services and agriculture. Each accounts for around 35% of GDP § Mo Ibrahim Index of Governance (IIAG) Rank (4 over 15 West Africa 3 countries). 3

CONTEXTE 2/3 Ø Government Two level of Government § National (21 Ministries) § 77 Municipalities (local governments) Embarked upon Result based management in 2000 with pilot ministries which involve new management practices and need for assessment In 2013 vote of LOLF bill which improve the need for assessment and accountability 4

CONTEXTE 3/3 Ø General Directorate of Evaluation (DGE) § Established in June 2007 to formalize the evaluation of public action § Mandate o Elaborate and implement the National Evaluation Policy; o Monitors the performance of departments and municipalities to improve service delivery. § Currently this office is located in the Presidency To date, the General Directorate of Evaluation has commissioned more the 12 national public policies evaluation in various sectors (health, finance, agriculture, reforms, education, energy, water, etc. ). 5

OVERVIEW OF BENIN NATIONAL EVALUATION SYSTEM (1/2) PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC Advisory or control bodies GENERAL AUDITOR NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SUPREME COURT MIN OF DEV SECTORAL MINISTRIES Project managment units Development agencies DPP/CSE/CE PS DGPD DGSPP DGIFD OCS INSAE CAPOD DDPD MIN. OF ECON (MEF) IGF CONTROLE FINANCIER CSPEF DPP/CSE/CE PS DONORS DGE National Evaluation Board ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL Civil Society Beneficiary associations, Universities and NGOs Private Sector Benin Evaluation Network Deconcentrated and local stakeholders PREFECTURES Functional links: Dissemination and capitalization of information on inter-structure evaluation Participation links: Implementation evaluation and use of results LOCAL COMMUNITIES on Représentation links: stakeholders in the Naitonal Evalauton Board, dissemination of results 6

OVERVIEW OF BENIN NATIONAL EVALUATION SYSTEM (2/2) • In the presidency (DGE, secretary of National Evaluation Board): plays a central role in the system with collaboration of other Directorate in the Ministry of Development (DGPD, DGPSIP, OCS, INSAE) • Ministry of Finance (CSPEF, CF, IGF etc) and other departments : have participation links with DGE. They help in implementation evaluations and in use of evaluation results • Local governments (municipalities): participation • Donors: participation links • Advisory or control bodies (National assembly, supreme court): participation links • Civil society: participation and representation links 7

USE OF EVIDENCE 1/6 In order to analyze the processes and dynamic of use of the results and recommendations of nine public policy evaluations conducted between 2010 and 2013 , the DGE undertook in 2015 a study on the monitoring of the use of the results of these evaluations. The general objective is to ascertain the steps taken by line ministries for the implementation of evaluation recommendations to ensure the efficiency of public services. Specially this paper present: • How well the recommendations of evaluation reports are understood ; • How results and recommendations of evaluation are transformed into action. 8

DEMANDE AND USE OF EVIDENCE 2/6 § The methodology used is structured as follow: ü technical preparation: Design of data collection tools ü Data collection ü Discussion with ministries on information sent ; ü Data processing and Analysis ; ü Discussion with ministries on the first draft of the report ; ü Finalization of the report ; ü Submission of the final version to the board of ministers ; ü Currently, the first draf of the report exists and we are planning the concertation workshop with ministries to moderate the findings. 9

DEMANDE AND USE OF EVIDENCE 3/6 § Ownsership of recommendations Significant efforts are being made since 2010 by the departments for the use of evaluation results in the improvement of public service. Eighty (90) recommendations are counted for all new public policy evaluations conducted between 2010 and 2013. Of these, seventy (70) were the subject of measures or actions planned by the ministries concerned. This allows to say that the level of ownership of the recommendations is 78%.

DEMANDE AND USE OF EVIDENCE 4/6 § Ownsership of recommendations ü Of the 70 recommendations supported, 39 or 56% were fully implemented at the time of the monitoring mission. At least one recommendation is fully implemented in every area except for the public service regarding the RHET ü In addition, thirty-one (31) recommendations, 44% were partially implemented at the time of the monitoring mission. Some are planned short (PTA 2016) and medium term. The sectors affected by these measures are the civil service, water, technical education, agriculture, energy, decentralization, trade and tourism ü As for the twenty recommendations that are not supported, the reasons given are lack of financial resources (application of RHET), the lack of institutional framework (fiscal decentralization policy)

DEMANDE AND USE OF EVIDENCE 5/6 § Changes induced by recommendations

DEMANDE AND USE OF EVIDENCE 6/6 § Changes induced by recommendations ü 40% of the recmmendations have led to the revision and / or formulation of new public policies. These policies relate to technical education and vocational training, agriculture and handicrafts. In the energy sector, it is expected for 2016 the development of the new rural electrification policy. ü 10% of the recommendations have led to new institutional frameworks at two line ministries ü 8% of the recommendations have led to the formulation of new projects and programs in the agricultural, water, technical education and vocational training.

LESSONS FORWARD § The main lesson learned from this study relates to the quality of evaluation: this is critical in the use of evaluation results. It can be measured in terms of the relevance of the recommendations of the evaluations. § Our study revealed that some of the evaluation recommendations are very inclusive and require multiple steps or reforms. § In addition, the quality of the evaluation of public policy and its appropriation by the actors responsible for implementing highly dependent on the level of their involvement. § Some evaluations did not obey this principle. Thus, stakeholder involvement and participation at all stages of the evaluation process of public policy is to guarantee the use of evaluation results. But this involvement call the sense of responsibility of such actors / decision makers to participate or to be well represented at all stages of the evaluation process.

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