Additional studies to confirm project impacts are important when ADB is delivering first-time projects. This project was ADB’s first private sector agriculture project since 1985 and at the time of appraisal very few recent private sector approvals had been made in Bangladesh. The gender and poverty impact studies were undertaken at ADB’s request to identify the importance of the project for women, factory workers, and contract farmers. These were high-quality assessments and provided recommendations, some of which were incorporated into the second ADB loan to SAL. The recognition by ADB of the need for these assessments and the coordination within ADB to identify and appropriate external resources through regional TA is a good practice. Such assessments help to deepen ADB’s understanding of the project’s context and to confirm that projects are producing the benefits identified at appraisal and provide an opportunity for ADB and the borrower to make changes during implementation if they are not. Such impact studies should be considered for a range of projects, sectors, or developing member countries where staff experience with specific situations may be limited.
Sylvan Agriculture Limited PRAN Agribusiness Project