Evaluation of three lines of credit allocated to the National Bank for Agricultural Development (BNDA) by AFD Mali

Context of the service

The evaluation focused on the three lines of credit allocated by AFD between 2009 and 2017 to the BNDA of Mali: (i) CML1237 - line of credit of €3 million over 10 years, for loans to private post-primary schools; (ii) CML1350 - €5 million line of credit over 10 years to finance the agricultural sector and SMEs; (iii) CML1422 - €30 million credit line over 10 years, to consolidate BNDA's balance sheet.

The evaluation also covered other support provided by AFD over the same period: Participation in BNDA's capital, presence on its Board of Directors and its Audit and Credit Committees; Refinancing of its business in support of all its medium-term plans; ARIZ portfolio guarantee of €4.5 million in 2009; Individual guarantees allowing the financing of more than 150 SMEs, for a total outstanding amount of €1.7 million; Secondment of AFD agents to the BNDA management; Strategic dialogue on the orientations of the BNDA.

Services provided

The final evaluation met two objectives: accountability and learning for future projects.

It included an in-depth analysis of the effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the actions implemented, as well as the identification of strengths and areas for improvement.

The work combined field data collection, stakeholder interviews, and analysis of financial and operational performance.

The final report provides strategic recommendations to optimize AFD's future interventions with the BNDA. It also highlights the fact that the collaboration has been beneficial for both institutions:

- For the BNDA, the AFD has offered precious resources because they are scarce, allowing it to respect its mission as a development bank in the agricultural sector, which is too neglected by the traditional banking sector.

- For AFD, this partnership has enabled it to be present in northern Mali, where the security context prevented it from intervening directly, and to broaden its scope of action to beneficiaries that are too small for it to reach through its traditional intervention tools.

Summary of the service

Evaluation of three lines of credit allocated to the National Bank for Agricultural Development (BNDA) by AFD: Field data collection, interviews with stakeholders and analysis of financial and operational performance; In-depth analysis of the effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the actions implemented, as well as the identification of strengths and areas for improvement; Strategic recommendations to optimize AFD's future interventions with the BNDA.