Tunisia
Ex-Post Monitoring of Japanese ODA Loan Project“Agricultural Sector Investment Project”
External Evaluator: Hiromi Suzuki S.
Ernst & Young SN Global Solution Co., Ltd.
Field Survey: June, September 2009
1. Outline of the ODA Loan Assistance

Project Area Map

Kseub Hill Dam

1.1 Objective
The objective of this project is to promote a policy reform by determining thedirections of the policy reform and public investment in the agricultural sector and bystrengthening the institutions of the Ministry of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources(hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of Agriculture) through the implementation of aseries of sub-projects in the agricultural sector, thereby contributing to sustainable
development of the sector in Tunisia.
1.2 Outline of the Loan Agreement
Approved Amount/
Disbursed Amount
Loan Agreement Signing Date/
Final Disbursement Date
Ex-post Evaluation Year
Executing Agency

4,421 million yen / 4,377 million yen
February 1996 / June 2001
Fiscal Year 2004
Ministry of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources
Commissariat Régional au Développement Agricole(CRDA)

Main Contractor(Over 1 billion yen)
Main Consultant(Over 100 million yen)――1

1.3 Background and reasons to conduct the ex-post monitoring of the projectIn the ex-post evaluation report significant gaps between the planned and the actual
irrigated areas of five out of 19 hill dams were identified. The report indicated that thiswas mainly caused by a drought that continued for four years until 2002 and forced the
postponement of improvement of the irrigation facilities. Due to the fact that the expecteddevelopment effects of part of the sub-projects could not be identified, this project
became a candidate for an ex-post monitoring. Conclusions were derived through thereview of the results obtained during the field surveys, which were conducted based on
the evaluation criteria of effectiveness, impact and sustainability.
2. Monitoring Results
2.1 Effectiveness (Impact)
2.1.1 Quantitative Effects
This project was co-financed by JICA and the “Agricultural Sector Investment
Program” which was implemented by the World Bank, and aimed to assist in thefollowing three areas: Policy Reform, Capacity Building in the Ministry of Agriculture
and Improvement of Public Investment. A series of sub-projects was conducted in each ofthese three areas. The following sub-projects were financed by the Japanese ODA loan:
Hill Dams (19 locations), Rural Water Supply (61 locations) and Exploratory Wells (96locations). This section presents the quantitative effects of the above-mentioned threeareas and sub-projects.
2.1.1.1 Policy Reform
In regard to the Policy Reform, the following objectives were identified at the time ofappraisal: revision and correction of irrigation water charges and promotion of water
users’ associations. For the former, a real-term increase of water charges per annum wasused as an indicator. There was a 9% increase at the time of the ex-post evaluation ascompared to the time of the project completion. Thus, it was concluded that irrigationwater charges were in fact in the process of revision and correction. As for the current
ex-post monitoring, since no specific information on the irrigation water charges wasavailable, an alternative indicator was used instead based on the information contained in
the Annual Report on the Associations for Agriculture Development (Groupement deDéveloppment Agricole, GDAs, which is currently the main form of the water users’
associations). According to the data on the status of water charges provided in the Annual
Report, the percentage of GDAs that use the metered water rates, i.e. where users are2

levied according to the amount of water actually consumed, increased from 56% in 2003
to 83% in 2007, while the percentage of GDAs that use the flat rates decreased from 25%
to 5% during the same period 1 . Therefore, from the view point of revision and correctionof water charges, it can be confirmed that efforts are being made in this area.
As for the promotion of water users’ associations 2 , the number of associations was used
as an indicator at the time of the ex-post evaluation. This number increased from 2002 to
2006. However, reorganization of associations from Associations of Collective Interest(Groupement d’Intéret Collectif, GIC) to GDAs took place afterwards and thus thenumber of associations decreased in 2007 (Table 1). It is worth mentioning that currently
the Ministry of Agriculture emphasizes operational effectiveness of these associations
rather than their number.
Table 1. Promotion of Water Users’ Associations（Unit：number of associations）

2002 (Ex-post evaluation)

2006

2007

Rural water supply

1,581

1,610

1,284

Irrigation

1,022

1,064

980

Source：Ministry of Agriculture

2.1.1.2 Capacity Building in the Ministry of Agriculture
No indicators were set for Capacity Building in the Ministry of Agriculture. However,through the field surveys during the ex-post monitoring, it was confirmed that seminars
and training were being conducted in the Ministry of Agriculture for its personnel as well
as for the personnel working for CRDAs to build their capacities.
2.1.1.3 Improvement of Pubic Investment
The objective of the improvement of public investment was to enhance the operationand maintenance of irrigation as well as water supply from the financial point of view.
The indicator used in the ex-post evaluation was the cost recovery rate of water charges.
The ex-post evaluation report indicated that this rate increased from 73% prior to theproject to 97% following the implementation of the project and therefore the operationand maintenance strengthened financially. For the current ex-post monitoring, acomparable indicator was difficult to obtain. Therefore, the cost recovery rates of GDAs
were used as an alternative indictor. For both the irrigation and the water supply GDAs,
1

There are the so-called combined GDAs that use both the metered rates and the flat rates; in addition,some GDAs still do not collect water charges although these decreased from 18% in 2003 to 12% in 2007.
2
The term “water users’ association” includes all associations of beneficiaries of irrigation and watersupply projects as well as rural development water supply associations.

3the percentage of GDAs that reached the cost recovery rate 3 of more than 80% has beenon the rise since 2003, while the percentage of GDAs with the cost recovery rate of lessthan 50% has been decreasing. Therefore, it was verified that irrigation and water supply
operations continue to strengthen financially (Table 2).
Table 2. Distribution of GDAs by cost recovery rate
(Unit：number of GDAs)

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

57

60

62

―

70

76

69

69

25

42

19

9

―

9

8

11

18

21

38

35

42

60

62

54

34

28

19

22

18

17

14

16

Irrigation GDAs
More than 80%
cost recovery rate
Cost recovery rate
under 50%
Water supply GDAs
More than 80%
cost recovery rate
Cost recovery rate
under 50%

Source：Annual Report prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture on GDAs（Rapport de Synthèse de la
Situation des GDA/PPI）

2.1.1.4 Sub-projects
1) Hill Dams
The hill dams that were financed by the Japanese ODA loan were in 19 locations in
total and the effect indicator for these hill dams used in the ex-post evaluation was theirrigated area. Data on the irrigated area was provided by the Ministry of Agriculture andindicates only the area that is actually irrigated directly from the respective hill dam forthat particular year; therefore, the indicator fluctuates significantly from year to year 4 .
Although this indicator does not represent the actual benefited area from the installationof irrigation facilities and equipment, the same indicator was used in this ex-postmonitoring following the ex-post evaluation. In addition, the value of the benefited area

3

The cost recovery rate of the O&M costs is defined by the ratio of the revenues per liter and the estimatedcost per liter (taking into account the fuel and electricity costs, salaries, water charges, costs ofadministration and maintenance)
4 Data on the irrigated area of five sample hill dams, for which annual data from 2003 to 2009 was available
and was provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, is shown below.
(Unit: ha)Hill

Location

Dam(Governorate)

Planned

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

ZitounBizerte

170

―

92

102

127

126

132

102

KhouitraJendouba

275

84

106

90

44

91

67

125

M’sila

Beja

275

―

50

225

178

48

71

44

Kassar

Kef

285

―

16

48

34

44

0

0

SaadineZaghouan

140

―

8

20

31

28

29

40

Source: Ministry of Agriculture4was used as the planned irrigation area for comparison purposes.
The irrigated area of the hill dams at the time of ex-post evaluation totaled 2,012 ha,corresponding to 76% of the planned irrigated area. The estimated irrigated area in 2009,
according to the information obtained during the current ex-post monitoring, was 1,036
ha, even less than the ex-post evaluation value, representing only 39% of the planned
value (Table 3).
Table 3. 19 Hill Dams: Irrigated Area 5
Indicator
Irrigated area (ha)Planned
2,647

2002
2,012
(76% of planned)

2005
2,142
(81% of planned)

2009 estimation
1,036(39% of planned)

Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Ex-post Evaluation Report. The data of 2005 are based on thesurvey report of 19 Hill Dams as of November 2005 prepared by JBIC.

During the ex-post monitoring, it was verified that water supply systems from the hilldams to the agricultural fields were installed with finance from the government of Tunisia
as planned; however, data on

the irrigated area by means of installation of irrigation

facilities by the farmers themselves, as well as the cropping rate could not be verified.
Therefore, it is difficult to analyze the reasons for the fluctuation of the area that was
irrigated directly from the hill dams for each year, and further research may be necessary
to analyze in detail.
Although judging from the fact that the irrigated area reached 76% of planned area
(2,647 ha) in 2002, and 81% in 2005, it could be estimated that more than 80% of plannedarea can be regarded as the area where irrigation facilities had been installed, however,
the estimated irrigated area in 2009 was only 39%. According to interviews to the
Ministry of Agriculture, one of the factors that caused this situation is the lack ofdiffusion and understanding of irrigation technology among farmers. However, it wasdifficult to identify the factors behind this situation could be conducted during the ex-postmonitoring.
In addition to the above, a close monitoring of the five hill dams (Kseub, H’mila,
Saadine, El Khil, and Khouitra) was conducted during this ex-post monitoring, as the
ex-post evaluation report identified that the gap between planned and actual irrigated area
was considerably wide.
The benefited area of these hill dams were small in number of beneficiary farmers fromthe beginning, and both the benefited area as well as the irrigated area of these fill dams
are limited. However, the irrigation facilities and ditches installed by the Tunisian side5

The “irrigated area” as an indicator provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, is used in the same way as in
the ex-post evaluation. The indicator is collected by the Ministry and includes only the area that is actually
irrigated directly from the respective hill dam for that year

5

were confirmed to be fully operational during the ex-post monitoring.
Data on the area improved with irrigation facilities by the farmers themselves in these
five hill dams were not obtained in the ex-post monitoring. According to the Ministry ofAgriculture, the factors that prevent installation and improvement of irrigation facilities
are drought -which the country suffered from 1999 to 2002-, followed by unstable amountof rainfall, which increased concerns on climate change inducing to retrench investments
in irrigation by the farmers. However, it was not able to determine the effect of each of
the specific causes of the gap between the planned and actual irrigated area.
Nevertheless, according to the information obtained through the ex-post monitoring,
the following issues could be considered as some of the main factors that caused theabove-mentioned gap.
[Factors that prevent farmers from introducing irrigation](1) A beneficiary farmer who finances its own irrigation facility within the agricultural
field could have concerned about the cost recovery including loans, from theagricultural revenues (i.e. the profitability) within hard accessibility of the market,
by increasing in transportation costs of agricultural products, equipment andmaterials due to the escalation of fuel prices. Therefore, farmers retrench theirinvestments on irrigation.
(2) A beneficiary farmer might not have sufficient assets for collateral to obtain a loan
from the bank in order to install irrigation facilities.
(3) A beneficiary farmer might not have sufficient skills and knowledge of irrigation.
In order to promote irrigation agriculture and investment on irrigation facilities,
providing training on agricultural management that would help improving the
profitability of farmers would be necessary. In addition, assistance to improve theunderstanding and technical skills among farmers by emphasizing the role of irrigation
as a way to be prepared against climate change could also be considered.
At the time of appraisal, the main objective of the five hill dams was to promote
irrigation. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the role of the hill dams was revisedin 2005, from being not just for irrigation purposes, but also as an important water source
for recharging ground water, protecting other dams against sedimentation and so on byconsidering the various environmental problems including the drought that the country isconstantly facing nowadays. Based on this revised roles, the five hill dams do contributein their respective locations (Table 4).

6

Table 4. Current Status of the Five Hill Dams
Name of the Hill
Dam
Location(Governorate)

Main role

Reservoir capacity(thousand m３ )Pondage(thousand m３ )Irrigated area (ha)PlannedActualNumber of
beneficiary farmhouseholds 6

Method offinancing of theirrigation facilities

Other

Kseub

H’milaSaadineEl KhilKhouitra

Ben Arous

NabeulZaghouan

KairouanJendouba

Water supply toother damsProtect otherdams against
sedimentation
Livestock
drinking water

Livestock
drinking water
Irrigation

Ground water
recharge
Irrigation

Ground water
recharge
Livestock
drinking water

Irrigation
Livestock
drinking water

665

930

4,556

850

1,240

640

489

1,250

644

744

88
20
1

73
6
5

140
40
22

50
20
5

275
125
52

One pump
installed byprivate investor

Six pumps
installed byprivateinvestors

One pump
installed by
CRDA

Main role iswater supply to
El Hama Dam( irrigated area:
1,100ha）

Difficulties insecuring
profitability
due toaccessibility
problems.
A pipeline isplanned to beinstalled by
CRDA in 2010

Main role isground water
recharge.
GDA alreadyestablished.
Collection ofwater charges
as well as
informationexchange are
already
conducted

One pump
installed by
CRDA, 3pumps and
respective
pipelines
installed byprivateinvestors
Difficulties insecuring
profitability
due toaccessibility
GDA alreadyestablished but
currently not
active.

Pipeline
installed by
CRDA

Constant
problems ofwater leakage
due to aging ofexisting
irrigation
facilities

Source：Ministry of Agriculture, and site surveys (as of August 2009)

A major case where a hill dam’s main role is to supply water to another dam is theKseub Hill Dam. Although the irrigated area of this hill dam is only 20 ha (22% of theoriginally planned irrigated area) belonging to one beneficiary farm, Kseub Hill Dam
6

The number of beneficiary farm households decreased from the time of the ex-post evaluation. The main
factor was that farmers abandoned farming due to the difficulty for them to recover the cost of initialinvestment on irrigation facilities and the escalating fuel expenses from the agriculture revenue.

7

supplies water to El Hama Dam located downstream. The total irrigated area, including
taking water from El Hama Dam become 1,120 ha.
An example of a hill dam as a source of ground water recharge is Saadine Hill Dam.
According to the most recent data available, this hill dam accounted for 48% of theground water recharge of Zaghouan Governorate in 2006 and thus its indirectcontribution is significant (Table 5).
Table 5. Ground Water Recharge in Zaghouan Governorate by Hill Dam
Hill dams in Zaghouan Governorate
El OglaEssahelSaadine

Year

1995
1996
1999
2003
2004
2005
2006

Amountof groundwater
recharge
(Mm3)
1.025
2.340
0.860
0.879
1.682

% of
total

Amount ofgroundwater
recharge
(Mm3)

% of
total

74%
94%
84%
58%
45%

0.368
0.159
0.161
0.184
0.460

26%
6%
16%
12%
12%

―

―

―

―

1.415

41%

0.399

11%

Amount ofgroundwater
recharge
(Mm3)

% of
total

―
―
―

―
―
―

0.440
1.615
2.540
1.675

29%
43%
100%
48%

Total Zaghouan
Governorate
Totalamount ofgroundTotal %
water
recharge
(Mm3)
1.393
100%
2.499
100%
1.021
100%
1.503
100%
3.757
100%
2.540
100%
3.489
100%

Source：Based on data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture

As can be seen, when a hill dam is constructed and to properly supply water to a dam
located downstream and recharge ground water, the farmers who irrigate by taking waterfrom the downstream dam or the recharged ground water could also be considered as
beneficiaries. When this fact is taken into account, the benefited area (i.e. the area of the
farmland that is benefited from the project) should have been considered as an alternative
effect indicator of small-scale hill dams. In addition, because the main role of each hill
dam is different, it is fair to say that it would have been proper to consider other possible
indicators (such as the annual total volume of water release through intake facilities) inassessing the effect of the hill dams instead of using only one indicator.
2) Rural Water Supply
Since both the volume of drinking water supplied and the number of beneficiaries
surpassed the planned level, there were no problems in this area at the time of the ex-post
evaluation. Based on the most recent data, both indicators continue to increase. Thus, thevolume of drinking water supplied in 2007 was 130% compared to the planned level,
while the number of beneficiaries reached 126%, verifying the fact that no particular8

problems existed in this area at the time of the ex-post monitoring (Table 6).
Table 6. Construction of Rural Water Supply Facilities
Indicators
Volume ofdrinking watersupplied(m3/year)
Number of
beneficiaries(persons)

Planned

2002

2007

909,494

936,779(103% of planned level)

1,186,882(130% of planned level)

64,796(114% of planned level)

71,790(126% of planned level)

56,839Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Ex-Post Evaluation Report.

3) Exploratory Wells
Among the 96 locations that were financed by the Japanese ODA loan, 69 actually had
hit water vein by 2002. The number has increased to 71 by 2009. The statuses of waterlevels in the developed locations were continuously monitored by the Directorate of
Water Resources in the Ministry of Agriculture, and two locations that had not been hit by2002 were ensured to be usable in 2009 as a result of the measurement of the water level(Table 7).
Table 7. Development of Exploratory Wells
Indicator
Number of wells(those that actually hit awater vein)

2002

2009

69 wells out of 96 locations

71 wells out of 96 locations

Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Ex-Post Evaluation Report.

2.1.1.5 Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
Due to the fact that the internal rate of return (IRR) was not calculated at the time ofthe ex-post evaluation and thus no comparable IRR exists, IRR was not calculated in the
ex-post monitoring either.
2.1.2 Qualitative Effects
Qualitative effects in the three above-mentioned areas, namely the Policy Reform,
Capacity Building in the Ministry of Agriculture and Improvement of Public Investment,
were already present. No particular problems were identified during the ex-postmonitoring either (Table 8).
Table 8. Qualitative Effects

9

Ex-post
Evaluation

Ex-post Monitoring Results

Results
Policy Reform
Revision of the Code forApproval ofConservation of Soils and Water

public works
carried out byprivatecompanies

Conservation of soils and water, and promotion of
investment by the private sector continues to be part ofthe 10th and 11th Development Plans. According toanalysis of the status of the 10th Development Plan,although the public and private investment in the
agricultural sector as a whole was 89% and 82% of theplanned level, respectively, the private sector investmentin irrigation surpassed the planned level (105%). In
reference to conservation of soils and water, watershedmanagement also surpassed the planned level (120%,
299,000 ha), with most of which being financed by theprivate companies.

Improvement of Public Investment
Improvement in the capacity

Improvedbuilding of Water Users’
Associations

Strengthen the operation andStrengthened

management system of irrigation

Capacity building of GDAs is conducted by bothCRDAs and the unit in charge of GDA assistance within
the Ministry of Agriculture. As can be seen,
improvement and enhancement of operational andmanagement capacity of GDAs is being implemented
continuously.
The system of operation and management is being
reinforced by the assistance to GDAs.

water as well as water supply fordomestic use
Capacity Building in the Ministry of Agriculture
Promotion of decentralization

Promoted

Since 1993, the country’s policy for promotion ofdecentralization has continued and responsibilities ofCRDA have been increasing. On the other hand,increasing private sector involvement is also beingemphasized.

Improved

No major problem identified. With promotion ofdecentralization, CRDAs propose specific projects thatreflect the local needs. Necessary budget is requested aswell. CRDAs plan projects utilizing private companies
as needed.
At the time of the preliminary study of the project, abasic socio-economic as well as an environmental
assessment study is conducted.

from the Ministry of Agriculture
to CRDAs by drawing up
mid-term plans involving
personnel, budget andinvestment.
Improvement of the capacity of
the Ministry of Agriculture inplanning, preparing andimplementing investments
Improvement of the skills

Improved

required for socio-economic
impact assessments andEnvironmental Impact
Assessments (EIA)
Source: Ex-post Evaluation Report and field survey

2.1.3 Impact
1) Increase of Total Agricultural Production and Improvement of Agricultural
10

Productivity
The ex-post evaluation used the countrywide agricultural production and agricultural
productivity as indicators to assess the impact of the project. Both indicators were on an
upward trend compared to the levels seen before the project was conducted. Sincecomparable statistics at the country level could not be obtained during the ex-postmonitoring, the same indicators were collected from the CRDAs that were the executing
agencies of the Japanese ODA loan portion, and their total values were used as alternative
indicators. As indicated in Table 9, even when data is limited to the Japanese ODA loan
portion (excluding the World Bank portion), an increase can be seen in each of theindicators.
Table 9. Impact of the Japanese ODA Loan on the Agricultural Sector
2002

Indicator

Ex-post Evaluation

2009*

Farmers benefited (number of persons)

808

877

Total agricultural production (million US dollars)

2.66

3.17

Agricultural productivity (US dollars per farmer)

3,292

3,614

Source: Ministry of Agriculture (*=estimation)

In addition to the above, a survey was conducted to the beneficiary farmers of the hilldams. According to the results, approximately 50% of the farmers have begun to cultivate
horticultural crops that have a higher market value, in addition to traditional crops.
Approximately 90% of the farmers have begun some form of livestock breeding as well.
About 80% of the beneficiaries responded that their income was higher compared to theincome they had earned before the hill dams were constructed, thus indicating that tosome extent, there was an improvement in the income level of the beneficiaries 7 .
2) Improvement in the Living Standards
During the ex-post evaluation, a beneficiary survey was conducted at two rural watersupply sub-project sites (Oued Damous and Ain El Beidha). The total number of
respondents was 103. During the ex-post monitoring a similar survey was conducted in
the same areas in order to follow-up their living standards after the ex-post evaluation(Table 10). Although several comments in regard to the quality of water were heard (e.g.
drinking water needs chlorination), as a whole, it was verified that the positive impacts
that were identified in the ex-post evaluation still exist. However, 57% of the respondents
in Ain el Beidha replied that the price of water was still high, although the current price7

Beneficiary studies of hill dams were conducted for three out of five hill dams mentioned in 2.1.1.3 (1).
The hill dams were H’mila, Saadine and Khouitra. The total number of respondents was 56.

11was only a half of that when the ex-post evaluation was conducted.
Table 10. Improvement in the Living Standards: Rural Water Supply
Item

Prior to project

2002

2009

Ex-post evaluation

Ex-post monitoring

Water drawing

Respondents had to- Almost 100% of theWater drawing labor used tolabortravel approximately

respondents have access to

be a household chore

8km from thedrinking water in or near

specific to women. With thehousehold to the welltheir houses.

project, women were

- Water drawing labor has

released from this tasksignificantly decreased.

enabling them to start new

With the saved time, some

economic activities which

respondents have started

have helped them toother economic activities

improve their living
standards.

Quality of water,

All respondents said

Almost 100% of the

Almost 100% of thewater supply“water quality is bad”

respondents said “water

respondents said “water

quality is very good”

quality is good”. However,conditions,operation andin regard to operation andmaintenance of

maintenance, many of themfacilities

consider that currently,
drinking water needs
chlorination; that water
pipes need repair and/or
replacement and the tanks
need to be cleaned more
often.

Health andsanitation―

Infectious diseases that

Water continues to be usedoriginate from consuming

mainly as drinking water, as

non-treated water, such aswell as for bathing, washingdiarrhea and cholera haveand cleaning. Health anddecreased.

sanitation status of the
respondents continues to be
good.

2.2 Sustainability
2.2.1 Entity in Charge of Operation and Maintenance2.2.1.1 Structural Aspects of Operation and MaintenanceOperation and Maintenance (O&M) of hill dams is under responsibility of CRDAs,
while O&M of small irrigation facilities is being shifted to GDAs. Secondary pipelines
connected to the main pipeline should be operated and maintained privately by farms attheir own expense.
As for the O&M of drinking water facilities, in principle, it should be conducted by
GDAs; however, actually 80% of GDAs outsource O&M activities to CRDAs or to12

private companies. CRDAs provide direct assistance only to the GDAs with financial
problems.
Regarding the exploratory wells, in case of the wells that actually hit a water vein,depending on its use, O&M is passed on from the Directorate General of Water
Resources to each CRDA’s Water Resource Department, Irrigation Department and so on,
as well as to the Société Nationale d'Exploitation et de Distribution des Eaux:(SONEDE).
The structure of the O&M team varies considerably among CRDAs: some CRDAs
have teams consisting of an engineer, a technician and four to five workers, while other
CRDAs have only one technician or no O&M personnel at all.
2.2.1.2 Technical Aspects of Operation and MaintenanceNo major problems exist in the O&M technical skills at the CRDA level. However,the same cannot be said for GDAs, as their technical skills significantly vary from one
GDA to the other. Basically, GDAs should conduct O&M, but when a major technicalproblem occurs, the Department of Maintenance of the CRDA takes over and offers
assistance.
The Ministry of Agriculture recognizes the importance of improving the O&M
capacity of GDAs through CRDA, and that in order to attain such an objective it isnecessary to enhance GDAs organizational structure. However, due to the lack of funds,
training of the O&M teams of CRDAs, which are the entities in charge of providing
capacity building to GDAS, is insufficient (for example, training in respect of irrigation
is non-existent; there are two general training programs for personnel related to the areaof drinking water). From the survey conducted in CRDAs, it became clear that there is a
shortage of capacity building in this area. It became clear that all CRDAs face common
problems: lack of personnel with high O&M knowledge, skills and know-how. Thus,
although there is a pressing need to upgrade the skills of the O&M personnel, theconducted training is insufficient.
2.2.1.3 Financial Aspects of Operation and Maintenance
Each CRDA submits to the Ministry of Agriculture an annual budget requirement that
includes the O&M expenses for the following year. In case a major repair or replacement
is necessary, the estimated expense is submitted separately. According to a survey
conducted in CRDAs, there are no particular concerns in relation to budget
implementation since no problems had been reported such as the obstacles in theprocedure or the delay in the procedure during the process of budget approval andexecution, but there is a shortage of tools, equipment and replacement parts necessary

13

for proper O&M due to the budget shortfall.
In relation to GDAs, in principle, their operation expenses are covered by water
charges. On the other hand, administration of water quality is under responsibility ofeach CRDA. When GDA is unable to cover all O&M expenses, CRDA provides
assistance.
Every year GDAs submit a report, which includes their financial statements, to theGeneral Directorate of Regional Civil Engineering and Water Supply Regional of the
Ministry of Agriculture, via CRDA. The said General Directorate aggregates the dataand prepares the Annual Report. CRDAs also use the report to check several financial
indicators, especially concerning the income, such as the ratio of income to operation
and administration expenses. CRDAs also keep a close relation with GDAs to avoid any
possible problems such as interruptions in the supply of drinking water due to GDAs
delinquency in regard to the payment of electricity bills.
2.2.2 Current Status of Operation and MaintenanceAccording to the survey as well as interviews conducted in several CRDAs, it became
clear that there is a significant difference in the current status of O&M among CRDAs.
Even for the five hill dams that were visited during the field survey, differences wereapparent: while in some of the sites, respective GDAs were implementing O&M
procedures, in some others GDAs did not have any O&M procedures, or simply there
were no GDAs established at all, resulting in significant lack of maintenance.
2.3 Others
After the ex-post evaluation, the executing agency was requested to maintaincontinuous records on the operation and effect indicators, as well as to follow up thelessons learned and recommendations derived from the evaluation. In this respect a“Monitoring Sheet” was provided and its active use was recommended. However, due tothe fact that the said sheet was provided only in English and not in French, or that there
was no proper handover of files during personnel rotations, a thorough follow-up of theabove-mentioned indicators, lessons learned and recommendations was not conducted.
The recommendation of the ex-post evaluation was that, in order to securesustainability of this project, it was necessary to continuously educate farmers throughsensitization activities on water conservation, and providing training on irrigation. The
Ministry of Agriculture has been making some efforts in these areas. For example, for the
80% of new projects on installing drinking water facilities, external consultants have been
hired in order to conduct sensitization activities on water conservation to the beneficiaries
even from the project appraisal phase. As for the remaining 20%, CRDAs conduct these14

activities instead, and special events at the national level are organized each year on the“World Day for Water”. Thus, it was possible to verify that conservation of water has
already taken root in the country.
On the other hand, activities related to promotion and training on irrigation have juststarted. Since 2004, the Ministry of Agriculture has started to recognize the importance of
securing the understanding and participation of the beneficiaries of the hill dams from the
project planning phase, and started to conduct sensitization activities in regard to thebeneficiaries through providing training to GDAs. However, in addition to the fact thatthe level of understanding of irrigation techniques differs enormously among farmers,
they also face several difficulties in capital procurement (especially for the initialinvestment). From now on, it is necessary to tackle all the above issues at the same timein order to promote irrigation.
3. Conclusion, Lessons Learned and Recommendations
3.1 Conclusion
The Rural Water Supply as well as Exploratory Wells are operated and administeredsatisfactorily in general terms. No major problems were observed during the ex-postmonitoring.
However, in relation to the five hill dams that were identified as the “development
effects non-present” in the ex-post evaluation report based on the only indicator of their
irrigated area, even today their planned irrigated area has not been accomplished. During
the ex-post monitoring, it was difficult to specify the causes behind this situation, sincedata of the actual irrigated area where the irrigation facilities had been installed was notbeen verified. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, one of the factors that caused thissituation is the lack of diffusion and understanding of irrigation technology among
farmers.
In fact,the Ministry of Agriculture revised in 2005 the role of hill dams from one
centered on irrigation, to one that include various other roles such as water source forrecharging ground water, protecting other dams against sedimentation, supply water for
livestock and so on, by considering the particular situation existing in each. Based on thisrevised roles, it can be said that each of hill dams played an important role in thedevelopment of the respective locality, by re-evaluating from this new perspective..
The condition of the irrigation facilities that were installed by the Tunisian side, whichtake the water from the five hill dams, was confirmed to be fully operational through the
ex-post monitoring. The introduction of agricultural irrigation and installment ofirrigation facilities can be expected to be improved by assisting the promotion of15

irrigation through the improvement of skills and knowledge among farmers and byenhancing financial assistance that would relieve concerns on profitability.
3.2 Lessons Learned
Assessment of the operational efficiency of the hill dams based on a single indicator,
namely the irrigated area, resulted in a partial evaluation which led them to be considered
as “not presenting the expected development effect”. By considering other possible
operational and effect indicators (such as the total benefited area, the annual total volume
of inflow to the hill dams, the annual total volume of water release through intake
facilities, etc) during the mid-term monitoring and ex-post evaluation, it would have beenpossible to assess the effect of each hill dam with the appropriate indicator
be in accordance with its respective

which would

purpose. In future similar projects it is necessary toconsider thoroughly the proper operational and effect indicators that should be used tomeasure the effect of the projects.
3.3 Recommendations to the Executing Agency
No common organizational structure of CRDAs exists at the national level. Since the
O&M task belongs to different departments of CRDAs, differences in securing sufficientbudget and personnel are arising among CRDAs, resulting in disparities in the level of
O&M. In order to close the gap, it is necessary to provide O&M training to all CRDAs
equally, as well as to take firm steps to secure distribution of the budget sufficient toprocure tools, equipment and parts for proper maintenance.
In relation to promotion of irrigation, it is necessary for the Executing Agency tostrengthen the irrigation training of farmers. As was observed during the field survey,
farmers tend to base their decision on whether to invest in irrigation or not only after
seeing other successful experiences. Therefore, it can be said that promotion activities
based on real cases are effective. On the other hand, even if farmers understand and areinterested in investing in irrigation, if the obstacles to capital procurement continue to beserious, it will be difficult to promote irrigation. Thus, improvements in measures offinancial assistance to farmers should be implemented in parallel with the promotional
activities on irrigation.

16

Comparison of the Original and the Actual Scope
Item

Original

ActualWorld Bank

6 locations

15 locations

JICA

14 locations

19 locations

World Bank

130 locations

185 locations

JICA

90 locations

61 locations

World Bank

150 locations

318 locations

JICA

90 locations

96 locations

30 locations

47 locations

4,809 ha newly established

2,750 ha newly established,

1) Output(Sub-projects only)
Hill dams

Regional waterworks
facilities

Exploratory wells

Irrigation facilities
World Bank
(Irrigated Area)

4,809 ha improved
Other (pastureland
improvement, etc.)
15,500 ha

15,500 ha

December 1995

December 1996

Hill dams

September 1996 - June 1999

September 1996 - December 2000

Regional waterworks

September 1997 – June 1998

June 1997 – November 2000

Exploratory wells

Sept. 1997 – December 1997

February 1997 – December 1998

Irrigation facilities

N/A

N/A

Other (pastureland

N/A

N/A

World Bank
2) Project period
L/A Exchange of Notes

facilities

improvement, etc.)
3) Project cost
World Bank

211 million dollars

177 million dollars

JBIC

38 million dollars

37 million dollars

Total

249 million dollars

214 million dollars

Exchange rate

1 dinar = 85.758 yen

1 dinar = 99.071 yen(1995)(average from January 1996 to
January 2002: IFS)

17