Final PBS-ESAP2 Midterm Review Report sent to GoE July17
4. Budget execution is still low but improving steadily. As of end of June 2014, the Bank had
disbursed to the project US$ 13.3 million equivalent to 56.82% of the total MDTF proceeds (US$
23.4 million). A review of the Interim Financial Report (IFR) for the quarter ended March 31 2014
shows that the utilization of the whole grant as of March 2014 is 30%. In addition, US $6,638,432.85
(49%) out of the budget for Grants to SAIPs which is the biggest component (US$13,538,193 or
57.8% of the total project) has been disbursed by the MA but the utilization rate is low at US$
2,540,387 (18.7%). This reflects a low level of budget execution at midterm. However, with the
understanding that there were delays in implementation at the start of the project, there is optimism
that this rate will be improved more significantly in the coming year given that all SAIPs are now
focused on implementation on the ground. 5. Two of the three indicators that measure ESAP2 contribution to PBS2/3 monitoring and evaluation have been surpassed: As of end of March 2014, (i) Woredas where PBS Social
Accountability Implementing Partners (SAIPs) facilitate the use of Social Accountability tools 223
against a target of 100 in 2013 from a baseline of zero; (ii) SAIP Woredas that have developed joint
action plans for service quality improvement based on the interface meetings between service users
and providers are 80 against a target of 70. Progress on the third indicator that measures “percentage
of citizens who report that Woreda officials have actively sought the views of people in their Kebele
on improving quality of basic services” which was measured at 36% in an operational baseline survey
conducted by the MA in mid 2013 will be tracked again within the end-line survey currently
scheduled for November – December 2015 when the project will be ending. In addition, the MA
tracks a lot more information at the program level that will feed into the final evaluation of the project
to allow credible assessment of project results on the ground.
