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AFD in Latin America and the Caribbean
AFD has a mandate to preserve “Global Public Goods” (fight against climate change and against communicable and emerging diseases, biodiversity preservation) in Brazil, and to support countercyclical operations in order to promote “green and inclusive growth” in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.
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AFD-EUDN 2012 Conference: Evaluation and its discontents, do we learn from experience in development? March 26th 2012, Paris
Our societies’ demand for the evaluation of economic policies has been evolving alongside a growing desire for transparency and accountability of decision-makers . This is within a context where persistent doubts exist regarding the efficiency of public spending. In the development sector, this is particularly apparent as development assistance has been heavily criticized due to its limited efficiency. The increasing budget constraints faced by many donors have also exacerbated the complexity of the task.
Nevertheless, the issue of evaluating public policies is neither a new idea, nor a novel practice. It becomes increasingly essential, however, to determine whether the evaluation task is properly conducted. We need to discuss whether the way evaluations are undertaken produces an accumulation of knowledge that is accessible to decision makers, or whether the context in which development policies are implemented severely reduces the usefulness of past experiences for designing future projects.
Can we learn from our own and others’ experiences in the field of development? If so, how can evaluation contribute and how is it that we seem unable to translate these experiences into practice? If not, what are the factors hampering the learning process?
Conference Center Pierre Mendès-France Ministère de l’Economie, des Finances et de l’Industrie , Paris
“What public policies to face the current development challenges in Latin America?”
Carlos Quenan (IdA) reviewed the main economic, demographic, social and environmental trends, as well as the main characteristics of the political systems of a region which, in recent years, has been marked by its dynamism and its resistance to the global economic crisis.His conclusions confirm that despite the political, economic and social progress achieved by Latin American countries, a number of challenges still need to be addressed.
Alicia Barcena, Secretary General for the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and Didier Mercier, AFD Deputy Chief Executive Officer © Inter-American Development Bank, Rafael Hernández
Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, and Pablo Sanguinetti, Director of Socioeconomic Research, Corporacion Andina de Fomento (CAF), suggested ways of addressing them: More effective social policies, particularly for education and vocational training, in order to promote job creation, conduct the tax reforms required to finance social cohesion policies, etc.
Fernando Lorenzo, Uruguay Minister of Economy and Finance and President of the IDB Governors’ Assembly, concluded by saying that economic growth in the region will only be sustainable if it is more evenly distributed.
This event demonstrates AFD’s aim to contribute to a better understanding of the main socioeconomic challenges in Latin America through renewed reflection on both governance arrangements and on the content and implementation of public policies.
The Guyana Shield – positive results for the project on sustainable natural resource management with the WWF
The project steering committee met for the last time in Surinam to review four years of activities to preserve the ecosystems of the Guyana Shield. Results for this flagship project for biodiversity protection are extremely positive.
En 2008, the WWF launched a project for sustainable natural resource management on the Guyana Shield (French Guyana, Surinam, Guyana and Brazil), with 19% co-financing from the FGEF.
The aim of the project was to establish lasting protection for marine and forest ecosystems and to preserve their environmental services to local populations.
The final steering committee meeting, held on 6 and 7 March at Paramaribo in Surinam and attended by AFD and FGEF representatives, highlighted the project’s achievements and successes.
The project activities focused mainly on protected area management, reducing gold-panning impacts, sustainable forest management and the management and conservation of aquatic ecosystems and species.
All these activities, conducted for governments (developing regulations, capacity-building), businesses and national agencies (improved practice and eco-certification, pilot sites, training in ecotourism) and local communities (more sustainable use of the resources they depend on) were backed up by wide-ranging communication, awareness-raising and educational campaigns.
The project brought significant advances towards mercury-free extraction of gold and the introduction of REDD+ processes.
New protected areas were created and the scientific studies produced brought new knowledge on the environment.
The project also organised numerous workshops for exchanges between different territories. All in all, awareness of environmental conservation issues has clearly emerged throughout the region.
The FGEF will be pursuing its activities for the Guyana Shield, in particular by contributing to the project for a regional REDD+ development platform.
Inauguration ceremony for geothermal boreholes in Dominica
Following the prefeasibility studies conducted in recent years, a ceremony was organized for the launch of the first boreholes on 5 December 2011, in the presence of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Public Works. The event was an opportunity for the Dominican authorities to underscore the importance of AFD’s technical and financial support.
Dominica is an island with a surface area of less than 1,000 km² and 72,000 inhabitants. It is located between Guadeloupe and Martinique. Unlike most Caribbean islands, where the economy is largely based on tourism, Dominica’s economy continues to be heavily dependent on agricultural production and public expenditure, which is itself supported by donors.
Power generation in Dominica has until now, like on neighbouring islands, mainly been based on hydrocarbons.
However, Dominica benefits from sizeable geothermal potential estimated at 100 MW. This may allow it to cover its energy needs and eventually export the bulk of its power generation to Guadeloupe and Martinique. The exploitation of this potential would completely change the island’s growth model.
This is a flagship project for AFD in the West Indies, since it combines an economic interest (energy independence and export), an environmental aspect (fossil-based energy replaced by a clean and renewable energy) and a regional integration dimension (prospect of selling energy to Guadeloupe and Martinique).
For several years now, AFD has, alongside the EDF, been a key player in financing and supporting preparatory works for this large-scale project via its own resources and through the French GEF (€4.5m mobilized).
If the results of the exploratory drilling are conclusive, it should be followed by investments in power generation and exports. In the most ambitious hypothesis, they are estimated at roughly €300m, which corresponds to almost a year of Dominica’s GDP.
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