The main objective of the evaluation was “to assess to what extent General Budget Support (GBS) and Sector Budget Support (SBS) in Ghana contributed to achieve their expected results, notably by assisting the partner government to implement its national / sector strategies, and to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of its policies, strategies and spending actions.” The evaluation also analysed how GBS and SBS have contributed to improved transparency within national systems and stronger accountability. The evaluation took stock of what had been achieved to identify lessons learnt and propose recommendations to inform on:

• the conditions under which GBS/SBS has an effect (or not) and the possible intensity and nature (positive or negative) of such an effect in Ghana;
• the design and implementation of future operations, taking into account the added value from contributions of/interrelations between different elements of the BS package;
• the impact of withholding BS by several partners from 2013-2015;
• recommendations for the Government of Ghana and its partners to maximise BS impacts;
• constraints in government policies, institutional structures and administrative arrangements in Ghana, which might impede the effectiveness and impact of public policy, and therefore of BS.

The evaluation covered 11 years of BS to Ghana, from 2005 until 2015. It encompassed all BS operations financed during this period and considered other aid modalities (basket/common funds, projects) to assess the complementarity and synergy between them.
The evaluation included an in depth analysis of the contribution of BS to development outcomes in three sectors: Health, Environment and Agriculture. The evaluation also analysed the role of governance, especially decentralisation and justice, as well as Private Sector Development in the context of BS. In addition to that, it assessed how and to what extent gender was mainstreamed in both BS and the supported policies.
The evaluation was carried out by a joint EU-IEG team. The IEG evaluators focused on the analysis of PFM, macroeconomics and agriculture. The EU evaluators (Particip team) covered all other topics and assumed the overall coordinating role and leadership in drafting the reports.
The report is available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/joint-strategic-evaluation-budget-support-ghana-2005-2015_en