Djibouti - Towards Zero Stunting and Responding to COVID-19 and Other Emergencies Project (English)

Ratings for the Towards Zero Stunting and Responding to COVID-19 and Other Emergencies Project for Djibouti were as follows: outcome and Bank performance was moderately satisfactory and monitoring and evaluation (M and E) quality was modest. Some lessons learned included: the organization of weekly meetings and frequent in-country missions have strengthened the skills of the entire Organe de coordination nationale de nutrition et alimentation (OCNNA) and Direction de Gestion de Projets (DGP) team and significantly improved project implementation. To have a strong M and E framework in future projects, efforts should be made to either ensure that the project has a component to strengthen the data collection, analysis and reporting process, or use existing information systems where feasible. One lesson from the mid-term review (MTR) (which was implemented by the end of the project) is that all equipment should include preventive and curative maintenance contracts as well as training and installation. Donor operations will need to account for the emergency-prone nature of the country, by factoring in health infrastructure construction standards, focus on water-borne and vector-borne diseases exacerbated by climate change, as well as making the appropriate arrangements to quickly respond to emergencies (as was the case with this project). Coordination between the various Development Partners (DPs) will be paramount to reinforce each other's efforts.