Background

1. INTRODUCTION

In accordance with UNDP and GEF M&E policies and procedures, all full- and medium-sized UNDP-supported GEF-financed projects are required to undergo a Terminal Evaluation (TE) at the end of the project. This Terms of Reference (ToR) sets out the expectations for the TE of the medium-sized project titled “Strengthening national capacities for improved decision making and mainstreaming of global environmental obligations 5894” implemented through the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. The project started on the July 2018 and is in its 4 years of implementation. The TE process must follow the guidance outlined in the document ‘Guidance for Conducting Terminal Evaluations of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects’ .

http://web.undp.org/evaluation/guideline/documents/GEF/TE_GuidanceforUNDP-supportedGEF-financedProjects.pdf

1. PROJECT BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

This project strengthens targeted policy, institutional, and technical capacities within the existing baseline of current capacity development efforts.  This project is in line with the GEF-6 CCCD Strategic Objectives 1, 2, 3, and 4.  The goal of this project is that Djibouti will be better enabled to meet and sustain global environmental priorities within the framework of national socio-economic development priorities.  The immediate objective of this project is to strengthen targeted national capacities to deliver and sustain global environmental outcomes by mainstreaming, monitoring, and decentralizing global environmental governance.  This requires the country to have the capacity to coordinate efforts, as well as be able to adopt best practices for integrating global environmental priorities into decentralized planning, decision-making, and reporting processes.

The project began in 2018 and will end in December 2022. The total cost of the project is US$ 2,229,000.  This is financed through a GEF grant of US$ 1,000,000 in cash, with an additional cash co-financing of US$ 100,000 from UNDP and US$ 1,129,000 as in-kind co-financing from the Government of Djibouti.  UNDP, as the GEF Implementing Agency, is responsible for the execution of the GEF resources and the cash co-financing transferred to UNDP bank account only.

The project is carried out through 4 related components.

• Component 1 calls for enhancing capacities to mainstream, develop, and apply policies and legislative frameworks for the cost-effective implementation of the three Rio Conventions.
• Component 2 focuses on decentralization of global environment governance, specifically to strengthen targeted institutional arrangements for the cost-effective and streamlined application of better natural resource management practices that meet dual national socio-economic and global environmental objectives.
• Component 3 will focus on setting up and initiating the early implementation of an environmental management information system for improving the country’s monitoring and assessment of global environmental impacts and trends.
• Component 4 are a suite of knowledge management exercises that set out to improve environmental attitudes and values for the global environment.  The project takes an adaptive collaborative management (ACM) approach to implementation, which calls for stakeholders to take an early and proactive role in the mainstreaming exercises, as well as to help identify and solve unexpected implementation barriers and challenges.  By taking an ACM approach, project activities and outputs can be more legitimately modified and adapted to maintain timely and cost-effective project performance and delivery.

The CCCD project began in 2018 and will end in December 2022. It is implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development in partnership with UNDP. A request for a 6-month extension of the project has been accepted. The implementation of the project was affected to some extent by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the country was placed under lockdown. Indeed, the project includes activities primarily related to workshops and trainings: this was not possible because of Covid, and with limited internet access throughout the country, the digital option was not feasible

At the end of the project, activities will have resulted in a set of improved capacities to meet and sustain Rio Convention objectives.  This project will have strengthened and helped institutionalize commitments under the Rio Conventions by ensuring a flow of assistance and information between the local, national, and global level. The expected outcome of the project is that Djibouti will be able to achieve global environmental benefits at a lower transactional cost as well as being able to respond faster and more appropriately to conservation needs.  By the end of project implementation, it is expected that Djibouti will: a) improve access to best practices and best available knowledge, including innovative research; b) improve coordination, collaboration, and delegation of responsibilities among key agencies and other important organizations; c) enhance institutional and technical capacities; d) improve awareness of global environmental values; and e) improve decentralization.  While the expected outcomes of the project from a GEF perspective are improved capacities to meet and sustain global environmental priorities, the expected outcomes from a national socio-economic development perspective are improved capacities to plan and make decisions that will meet and sustain sustainable development priorities.  The project will achieve this by mainstreaming global environment into planning and decision-making process (i.e., integrating environmental-development best practice. Project activities will be carried out strategically so that they are both cost-effective and capture synergies.  Project activities are a mix of efforts to strengthen targeted systemic, institutional, and individual capacities, and will be largely undertaken through learning-by-doing workshops.  Representatives from numerous government agencies and departments will be invited to participate in all relevant project activities, paying close attention to ensure adequate gender representation and recognition of traditional and indigenous communities.  Assessments will benefit from independent peer reviews, to control for quality products, as well as validation workshops to further validate their legitimacy and relevance.  The Project Results Framework in Section F provides further details on the activities and target indicators.

1. TE PURPOSE

The TE report will assess the achievement of project results against what was expected to be achieved and draw lessons that can both improve the sustainability of benefits from this project, and aid in the overall enhancement of UNDP programming. The TE report promotes accountability and transparency and assesses the extent of project accomplishments. The final evaluation report will assess the progress and achievement of the project’s objectives and outcomes as specified in the project document. The TE will also examine the project strategy and its risks to sustainability.

This evaluation is the first one, in this regard, the results and recommendations of the final review will be essential to know the achievements and main accomplishments of the project. The TE report will assess the achievement of the project results against what was planned and draw lessons that can both improve the sustainability and benefits of this project. This evaluation will also contribute to improving overall UNDP programming.

Completion of the final evaluation process is scheduled for September 2022.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. TE APPROACH & METHODOLOGY

The TE report must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable, and useful.

The TE team will review all relevant sources of information including documents prepared during the preparation phase (i.e. PIF, UNDP Initiation Plan, UNDP Social and Environmental Screening Procedure/SESP) the Project Document, project reports including annual PIRs, project budget revisions, lesson learned reports, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the team considers useful for this evidence-based evaluation. The TE team will review the baseline and midterm GEF focal area Core Indicators/Tracking Tools submitted to the GEF at the CEO endorsement and midterm stages and the terminal Core Indicators/Tracking Tools that must be completed before the TE field mission begins.

The TE team is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with the Project Team, government counterparts (the GEF Operational Focal Point), Implementing Partners, the UNDP Country Office(s), the Regional Technical Advisor, direct beneficiaries and other stakeholders.

Engagement of stakeholders is vital to a successful TE. Stakeholder involvement should include interviews with stakeholders who have project responsibilities, including but not limited to the following list of executing agencies, senior officials and task team/component leaders, key experts and consultants in the subject area, Project Board, project beneficiaries, academia, local government and CSOs, etc. Additionally, the TE team is expected to conduct field missions to 5 regions in Djibouti, including the following project sites (Djibouti ville, Tadjourah, Dikhil, Ali-Sabieh, Arta).

List 1: Stakeholders to be consulted/interviewed:

1. Directorate of Environment and Sustainable Development (DEDD) / MEDD.
2. Directorate of Fisheries / Ministry of Agriculture, Water, Fisheries, Livestock and Marine Resources (MAWFLMR);
3. Minister of Decentralization
4. Risk and Disaster Management Secretariat.
5. Expertise France.
6. National Scientific Research Institution: CERD / Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
7. Prefecture councils of Djibouti, Arta, Tadjourah, Ali-Sabieh, Dikhil ;
8. Cooperation international.
9. Minister of energy.

The specific design and methodology for the TE should emerge from consultations between the TE team and the above-mentioned parties regarding what is appropriate and feasible for meeting the TE purpose and objectives and answering the evaluation questions, given limitations of budget, time and data. The TE team must use gender-responsive methodologies and tools and ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as other cross-cutting issues and SDGs are incorporated into the TE report.

Suggested methodological tools and approaches may include:

• Document review. (see annex B Project Information Package to be reviewed by TE team)
• Interviews and meetings with key stakeholders (men and women) such as key government counterparts, donor community members, representatives of key civil society organizations, United Nations country team (UNCT) members and implementing partners:
  • Semi-structured interviews, based on questions designed for different stakeholders based on evaluation questions around relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability.
  • Key informant and focus group discussions with men and women, beneficiaries and stakeholders.
  • All interviews with men and women should be undertaken in full confidence and anonymity. The final evaluation report should not assign specific comments to individuals.
• Surveys and questionnaires including male and female participants in development programmes, UNCT members and/or surveys and questionnaires to other stakeholders at strategic and programmatic levels.
• Field visits and on-site validation of key tangible outputs and interventions as mentioned above.
• Other methods such as outcome mapping, observational visits, group discussions, etc.
• Data review and analysis of monitoring; financial and funding data, and other data sources and methods. To ensure maximum validity, reliability of data (quality) and promote use, the evaluator will ensure triangulation of the various data sources.

The final methodological approach including interview schedule, field visits and data to be used in the evaluation must be clearly outlined in the TE Inception Report and be fully discussed and agreed between UNDP, stakeholders and the TE team.

The final report must describe the full TE approach taken and the rationale for the approach making explicit the underlying assumptions, challenges, strengths and weaknesses about the methods and approach of the evaluation.

1. DETAILED SCOPE OF THE TE

The TE will assess project performance against expectations set out in the project’s Logical Framework/Results Framework (see ToR Annex A). The TE will assess results according to the criteria outlined in the Guidance for TEs of UNDP-supported GEF-financed Projects.

http://web.undp.org/evaluation/guideline/documents/GEF/TE_GuidanceforUNDP-supportedGEF-financedProjects.pdf.

The Findings section of the TE report will cover the topics listed below.

A full outline of the TE report’s content is provided in ToR Annex C.

The asterisk “(*)” indicates criteria for which a rating is required.

Findings

1. Project Design/Formulation

• National priorities and country driven-ness
• Theory of Change
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Social and Environmental Standards (Safeguards)
• Analysis of Results Framework: project logic and strategy, indicators
• Assumptions and Risks
• Lessons from other relevant projects (e.g. same focal area) incorporated into project design
• Planned stakeholder participation
• Linkages between project and other interventions within the sector
• Management arrangements

1. Project Implementation

• Adaptive management (changes to the project design and project outputs during implementation)
• Actual stakeholder participation and partnership arrangements
• Project Finance and Co-finance
• Monitoring & Evaluation: design at entry (*), implementation (*), and overall assessment of M&E (*)
• Implementing Agency (UNDP) (*) and Executing Agency (*), overall project oversight/implementation and execution (*)
• Risk Management, including Social and Environmental Standards (Safeguards)

1. Project Results

• Assess the achievement of outcomes against indicators by reporting on the level of progress for each objective and outcome indicator at the time of the TE and noting final achievements
• Relevance (*), Effectiveness (*), Efficiency (*) and overall project outcome (*)
• Sustainability: financial (*)     , socio-political (*), institutional framework and governance (*), environmental (*), overall likelihood of sustainability (*)
• Country ownership
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Cross-cutting issues (poverty alleviation, improved governance, climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster prevention and recovery, human rights, capacity development, South-South cooperation, knowledge management, volunteerism, etc., as relevant)
• GEF Additionality
• Catalytic Role / Replication Effect
• Progress to impact

Main Findings, Conclusions, Recommendations and Lessons Learned

• The TE team will include a summary of the main findings of the TE report. Findings should be presented as statements of fact that are based on analysis of the data.
•  The section on conclusions will be written in light of the findings. Conclusions should be comprehensive and balanced statements that are well substantiated by evidence and logically connected to the TE findings. They should highlight the strengths, weaknesses and results of the project, respond to key evaluation questions and provide insights into the identification of and/or solutions to important problems or issues pertinent to project beneficiaries, UNDP and the GEF, including issues in relation to gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Recommendations should provide concrete, practical, feasible and targeted recommendations directed to the intended users of the evaluation about what actions to take and decisions to make. The recommendations should be specifically supported by the evidence and linked to the findings and conclusions around key questions addressed by the evaluation.
• The TE report should also include lessons that can be taken from the evaluation, including best practices in addressing issues relating to relevance, performance and success that can provide knowledge gained from the particular circumstance (programmatic and evaluation methods used, partnerships, financial leveraging, etc.) that are applicable to other GEF and UNDP interventions. When possible, the TE team should include examples of good practices in project design and implementation.
• It is important for the conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned of the TE report to incorporate gender equality and empowerment of women.

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