INDEPENDENT ENDLINE EVALUATION of the COMMONSENSING PROJECT Provisional Report
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INDEPENDENT ENDLINE EVALUATION OF THE COMMONSENSING PROJECT Provisional Report June 2021 Planning, Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Unit This page is intentionally left blank. i This report is a product of the Planning, Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Unit of UNITAR. The findings, conclusions and recommendations expressed therein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the partners and countries of the CommonSensing project or its donor. The evaluation was conducted by Ms. Gemma Piñol Puig, Independent Evaluator with support from in country evaluators Linda Bui Kin Yuen (Fiji), Jennifer Louise Bowtell (Vanuatu) and Sammy Dan Warihiru Airahui (Solomon Islands). The report is issued without formal copy editing. The designation employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNITAR concerning the legal status of any country, city or area or its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. ii Table of Contents ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................................................. IV FOREWORD ............................................................................................................................................. V INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND................................................................................................ 1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE ......................................................................................................................... 3 METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................................... 4 LIMITATIONS OF THE METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................ 6 PART A. PROCESS EVALUATION ....................................................................................................... 7 EFFECTIVENESS ................................................................................................................................................. 7 EFFICIENCY ...................................................................................................................................................... 13 PART B: IMPACT EVALUATION ......................................................................................................... 17 ASSESSMENT OF GENDER EQUALITY AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN ............................................... 17 EFFECTIVENESS ............................................................................................................................................... 19 IMPACT ............................................................................................................................................................. 23 SUSTAINABILITY .............................................................................................................................................. 27 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................ 28 RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 29 LESSONS LEARNED ............................................................................................................................ 31 APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................................... 32 1. TERMS OF REFERENCE .......................................................................................................................... 33 2. SURVEY/QUESTIONNAIRES DEPLOYED .................................................................................................. 44 3. LIST OF PERSONS INTERVIEWED ............................................................................................................ 57 4. LIST OF DOCUMENTS REVIEWED ............................................................................................................ 65 5. EVALUATION QUESTION MATRIX ............................................................................................................. 66 6. EVALUATION CONSULTANT AGREEMENT FORM AND ETHICAL PLEDGE ................................................ 104 7. OUTPUT TABLE ..................................................................................................................................... 106 8. OUTCOME HARVESTING RESULTS ....................................................................................................... 112 9. LOGFRAME ........................................................................................................................................... 116 iii Acronyms CCA Climate Change Adaptation CCR Climate Change Resilience CEA Cost-Effectiveness Analysis COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease 2019 CS CommonSensing DRR Disaster Risk Reduction EO Earth Observation IPP International Partnership Programme GIS Geospatial Information System GIT Geospatial Information Technology M&E Monitoring and Evaluation PPME Planning, Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Unit SDG Sustainable Development Goal SPC South Pacific Community TA Technical Assistance UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle UKSA United Kingdom Space Agency UN United Nations UNITAR United Nations Institute for Training and Research UNOSAT UNITAR Operational Satellite Applications Programme Unit WP Work Package iv Foreword The CommonSensing project aims to strengthen the capacities of Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in reaching important sustainable development objectives and particularly Goals 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure) and 13 (Climate action) under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Commencing in 2018, the project is implemented by a consortium of partners specialising in satellite applications, geospatial and remote sensing, and is funded by the United Kingdom Space Agency through its International Partnership Programme. The project is one of UNITAR’s largest projects with focus on Small Island Developing States. While the project was scheduled to end in March 2021, a no-cost extension was granted in March (at the time the present evaluation was being finalized), extending the project through May 2021. As it is likely be further granted for another year, the present report is issued provisionally. Should the further extension be granted and funding made available, a new endline evaluation will be undertaken (or the present report revised) during the fourth quarter of 2021. The Cost Effectiveness Analysis report is planned to be updated in the fourth quarter of 2021 and is hence not issued in conjunction with this provisional endline evaluation report. Without prejudice to the provisional status of the present report, the evaluation found the project to be efficient and effective and found some signals of likelihood of impact and commitment of the consortium members to sustainability. The evaluation identified areas for improvement with a set of four recommendations to strengthen the project’s sustainability and impact, with the assumption that the additional no-cost extension through March 2022 will be granted. The evaluation was managed by the UNITAR Planning, Performance Monitoring, and Evaluation (PPME) Unit and was undertaken by Ms. Gemma Piñol Puig, consultant and independent evaluator with support from three local experts, with one based in each of the three target countries. The PPME Unit further provided guidance, oversight and quality assurance. The Consortium leads’ response to the evaluation and its conclusions and recommendations are outlined in the Management Response. The PPME Unit is grateful to the evaluator, the UNITAR-UNOSAT, Catapult and the other consortium members, the donor (UK Space Agency), Caribou Digital, the partner countries and the other stakeholders for providing important input into this evaluation. Brook Boyer Director, Division for Strategic Planning and Performance Manager, Planning, Performance Monitoring, and Evaluation Unit v Executive Summary This report presents the findings, recommendations and lessons from the endline evaluation of the CommonSensing (CS) project. Funded by the United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA) under the International Partnership Programme with financing from the Global Challenges Research Fund, the project aims to strengthen disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change resilience by the end of 2020 in Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu by 1) increasing national resource capacities to use of Earth Observation (EO) solutions to address DRR and CCR and 2) enhancing evidence-based decision making by using CS solutions for DRR and CCA. The project was delivered initially from February 2018 until March 2021, with a total forecasted budget of £24,269,759. In early April 2021 and prior to the issuance of this evaluation report, UKSA granted the project a no-cost extension until 31 May 2021, and a further extension is expected to be granted through March 2022. Consequently, the report is being issued provisionally and may be updated or replaced by a new endline evaluation at the end of 2021 to account for the no cost extension period. The report should be read with this caveat in mind. The project was designed and implemented by a consortium of partners led by the United Nations Institute for