Project design and MCC’s learning agenda: The evaluators were unable to construct a counterfactual because there had been many cocoa interventions in the project areas and many of the participating cocoa farmers had already received training in cocoa farming practices. Thus, the evaluators conducted a performance evaluation, which made precisely quantifying and attributing results difficult. MCC should consider whether project design should be guided by a learning agenda and M&E perspectives and requirements, thus creating opportunities for more rigorous evaluations to accurately measure results. This consideration is particularly important when awarding projects through a grant facility, where the ability to prospectively design an independent evaluation can be limited.
Lesson Learned