Client: AusAID
Country: Asia/Pacific: East Timor, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea
Year: 2008-2013
The Australian funded Enterprise Challenge Fund (ECF) for the Asia-Pacific is a six-year (2007-2013) A$20.5 million pilot program which aims to promote economic opportunities and services for the poor by supporting innovative private sector projects. Grants ranging from A$100,000 to A$1.5 million are awarded on a cost-sharing, competitive basis to support projects which are:
- Commercially sustainable;
- Can demonstrate that they will have a positive impact on the local business operating environment and/or help to transform key sectors, and
- Directly benefit the poor.
At least 50 per cent of the project costs must be met by the partner business. Businesses must also demonstrate they can be commercially sustainable within three years of receiving ECF funding.
Services provided
Triple Line is providing four services to AusAID:
- Support to the Fund Manager on the measurement of impact of the grants including support to establishing monitoring frameworks;
- Annual country visits to validate the impacts and monitoring processes of the Fund Manager;
- Assessment of the performance of the Fund Manger and advisory support to AusAID, and
- Undertaking Cost Benefit Analysis on 10 case studies.
Triple Line has supported the Fund Manager in defining monitoring frameworks for each of the grantees including clarifying the indicators, the means of verification and establishing the baselines. This has included defining the logic and attribution of the ECF funding to the anticipated outcomes. Triple Line has reviewed the Fund Manager’s private sector development engagement strategy and assessed how the Fund Manager should target the marketing and selection of projects and support the scaling up and replication of project activities.
Triple Line has also supported the Fund Manager in developing results chains for each project and the programme in moving towards adopting the Donor Committee in Enterprise Development (DCED) approach to result chain measurement.
Achievements
- Triple Line has contributed to improvements in the process and selection criteria for projects.
- The measurement systems for projects has been improved and in particular the analysis in understanding the attribution of the ECF project towards the measurable development impact. This has been achieved by improving the understanding of baselines and the “without project” scenarios.
- The Cost–Benefit analysis has contributed to estimating the development impact and public gain that accrues from the ECF and has also provided estimates of the economic rate of return from the projects. These results will be updated in 2013.
- Triple Line has contributed the learning from the ECF and has prepared a key lesson learning document for AusAID.