Southern African Development Community :: Principal Criteria and Indicators

Eligibility links

Minimum Principal Criteria

Projects seeking financing from the Fund should be implementation-ready and meet the following minimum principal criteria:

Pro-poor impact – at least 50% of beneficiaries are living below national poverty line;

Contribute to regional impact by delivering transboundary benefits;

Sponsor must have capacity to implement the project; and

Sponsor must contribute at least 10% of the project cost.

The Fund does not pay taxes and duties

The applications must be based on completed feasibility studies and must include up-to-date cost estimations and financing proposals that guarantee full cost recovery of the investment project and enable a sustainable operation. Nevertheless, projects with uncompleted feasibility studies and having a good chance to fulfil meet the principal criteria maybe considered. In these cases, the Fund may consider financing small complimentary studies required to completed feasibility studies.

Procurement

The procurement of services, goods and works will be by open tender processes in line with DBSA’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) policies modified to meet international standards as required by the participating ICPs. The governing law will be the law of the country where the project is being implemented.

Principal Criteria

The table presents the description of the principal criteria and list of indicators for the assessment of projects that will apply for financing from the Fund.

Principal Criteria	Indicators
1. Pro-poor impacts	At least 50% of beneficiaries are poor (living below the national poverty line) At least 50% employment creation for poor population segment Reduce cost of water supply for the poor, hence increase affordability and improve willingness to pay for the poor
2. Regional impacts	Regional justification, e.g. benefits on both sides of national borders Positive transboundary impacts on water quality Likelihood of strengthening coordination mechanisms for the management of transboundary water resources Contribution to the maintenance of transboundary ecosystem integrity and biodiversity including marine and estuary life Increase of disaster preparedness of the region by improving ability to prevent and predict drought and flooding
3. Financial aspects	Investment cost per capita and operational costs At least contribution of 10 % of total project cost: 5% cash contributions and 5% in-kind contributions in investment phase Financial sustainability - sources of funds and cost-recovery
4. Project sponsor and implementing agent capacity	Managerial, technical and financial competencies Quality of business processes Quality of technical and non-technical standards Dedicated institutional arrangements/structures and resources for the project
5. Demonstration value	Replicability – potential projects similar to the project Representativeness of project – existing projects similar to the project
6. Social and Economic impacts	Employment creation by the project Contribution to gender equality Contribution to reduction of water-borne diseases Project contribution to production of goods and services, and the buying or selling of these goods and services
7. Impact on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)	Project part of an integrated national or regional Water Master Plan Integrated nature of project concept in respect to water supply, sanitation, water resource protection and productive utilisation of water resource Environmental benefits including climate change mitigation and adaptation Sustainability of technical operations and refinancing system Community acceptance, public understanding and awareness Strategy for communication with stakeholders
8. Project concept	Technical quality of project design Organisational quality of project set-up Dynamic cost (e.g. per m3) as compared with similar projects

The Principal Criteria 1 to 4 are the minimum criteria. However, all projects will be assessed on all the criteria and indicators.

The following emphases should be taken in to account during the assessment of projects:

The assessment for the Principal Criterion # 2 (Regional Impact) shall also entail assessing the relevance of the project in the regional and national context. This will be indicated by whether or not a project aligns with regional and national infrastructure development plans and has positive impacts on the poor population, and applies IWRM principles.

The assessment for the technical quality of the project design in Principal Criterion # 8 (Project Concept) shall firstly confirm whether project is based on feasibility studies and then specifically look at, but will not be limited to, the following aspects:

Consistency of the proposed activities with the results to be achieved;

Appropriateness of the time schedule;

Inclusion of realistic assumptions in the proposal;

Presence of an adequate team in charge of project implementation; and

Adequate monitoring and reporting of project implementation.

The assessment of Principal Criterion # 4 (Project Sponsor Capacity ) shall confirm the following:

alignment of the project in relation to the core business of the applicant;

Provision for, and availability of dedicated structures, skills and resources for the implementation of the project;

Previous experience of the applicant and their partners in similar projects; and

Mandate of the applicant to apply for the Grant from the Fund.