Clearly define key objectives of grant programs, and align these with strategies and guidance for implementation that is conveyed to program stakeholders. The rollout of the IGP was explicitly conveyed to potential applicants and beneficiaries as an initiative that intended to be “pro-poor” in its focus, including objectives aimed at increasing access among the poor to water and sanitation services, expanding incomegenerating opportunities for participants, and incorporating women and vulnerable groups into its programs. While these objectives were incorporated as part of the scoring of grant applications, the evaluation found that prospective grantees expressed confusion over how these features should be specifically demonstrated in their projects, with some having difficulty showing that their interventions effectively target the poor. MCA stakeholders also noted that the relative weighting of the pro-poor criteria changed over time during the selection process, and may have had tradeoffs with other scoring criteria that were used to rate proposals. In addition, the pro-poor emphasis during much of the outreach and selection process raised expectations among some stakeholders that the program would award grants primarily to smaller, local organizations or to the poor specifically, leading to disillusionment among some groups with the announcement of final grantees. Therefore, it is important that objectives such as focusing benefits on the poor or vulnerable groups be coherently defined, agreed between MCC and MCA, and communicated, and that key details for selecting and implementing projects are designed to reflect and reinforce the stated objectives.
Lesson Learned