To better align with MCC’s focus on results, threshold programs need to specify clear, credible, and measurable targeted results (and/or program logics) that are linked to evidence based timelines for when results can be expected.

To better align with MCC’s focus on results, threshold programs need to specify clear, credible, and measurable targeted results (and/or program logics) that are linked to evidence based timelines for when results can be expected. The interim evaluation report struggled to identify or detect concrete results that reflected progress toward the ultimate water and electricity project objectives. This was in part because the objectives were ambitious relative to the scope of the projects and the causal chain of outcomes leading to those ultimate objectives was not well-elaborated. This threshold program offered a relatively small amount of funding to implement reforms and pilot activities that would help to put the utilities and ministries in the electricity sector on a path to better planning operations and management. Some of the longer-term goals of the program were the financial viability of the utilities and the sector, which seem overly ambitious given the resources available under the threshold program. It also makes it challenging to track progress and empirically evaluate without a clear evidence-based theory of change and timeline, particularly in contexts where there is a lack of administrative data.