Terminal Evaluation of the Project “In Situ/On-Farm Conservation and Use of Agricultural Biodiversity (Horticultural Crops and Wild Fruit Species) in Central Asia”
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Evaluation Office of UN Environment Terminal Evaluation of the Project “In Situ/On-Farm Conservation and Use of Agricultural Biodiversity (Horticultural Crops and Wild Fruit Species) in Central Asia” FINAL REPORT Submitted by Patrick Mulvany May 2017 Disclaimer The views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of UN Environment, project implementing agencies, project partners or other project stakeholders, including beneficiaries, who were involved in developing and implementing the project, some of whom were also consulted in the preparation of this report. Evaluation Office of UN Environment Front cover photos credits: Patrick Mulvany and project partners @UN Environnent/ (Patrick Mulvany), UN Environnent Evaluation Mission (2016-2017) This report has been prepared by an independent consultant evaluator and is a product of the Evaluation Office of UN Environment. The findings and conclusions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of Member States or the UN Environment Senior Management. This terminal evaluation was undertaken prior to a new UN Environment Programme directive on the visual identity of the organisation, which replaces previous reference to the organisation as 'UNEP', with 'UN Environment'. This terminal evaluation report, having reached an advanced stage prior to the official directive, has retained the name 'UNEP' to refer to the organisation. For further information on this report, please contact: Evaluation Office of UN Environment P. O. Box 30552-00100 GPO Nairobi Kenya Tel: (254-20) 762 3389 Email: [email protected] Title: In Situ/On-Farm Conservation and Use of Agricultural Biodiversity (Horticultural Crops and Wild Fruit Species) in Central Asia GEF Id 01025 February 2017 All rights reserved. © (2017) Evaluation Office of UN Environment Acknowledgements This Terminal evaluation was prepared for the Evaluation Office of UN Environment by Patrick Mulvany (United Kingdom). The report benefits from a peer review conducted within Evaluation Office of UN Environment. The Evaluation Office of UN Environment would like to thank the project team and in particular Marieta Sakalian (Senior Programme Management/Liaison Officer (CGIAR/FAO), Biodiversity, UN Environment) for their contribution and collaboration throughout the Evaluation process. The Consultant would also like to thank, in addition to the staff of the Evaluation Office of UN Environment and Marieta Sakalian, the staff of Bioversity International in their Rome Headquarters and the Sub-Regional Office in Tashkent, as well as the project coordinators, their colleagues and steering committee members in each of the countries of the region, for their generous sharing of information and insights related to the project. Moreover, to the many farmers, forest users and members of local communities who contributed their knowledge and wisdom about the conservation, propagation and use of the endemic varieties of perennial fruit and nut species, many thanks are also due. Evaluation team Patrick Mulvany – Lead Consultant Evaluation Office of UN Environment Harriet Matsaert and Pauline Marima – Evaluation Managers Mela Shah – Evaluation Programme Assistant Terminal Evaluation of UNEP-GEF Project Final Report “In Situ/On-Farm Conservation and Use of Agricultural Biodiversity (Horticultural Crops and Wild Fruit Species) in Central Asia” Table of Contents List of acronyms & abbreviations....................................................................................................................................v Executive Summary .........................................................................................................................................................viii 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Subject and scope of the evaluation ................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Evaluation approach and methodology .......................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Limitations to the Evaluation ............................................................................................................................. 2 1.4 Main evaluation criteria and questions........................................................................................................... 3 2 PROJECT BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Context 5 2.1.1 Background to the project .............................................................................................................................5 2.1.2 Assessment of the Project Design.................................................................................................................7 2.1.3 Complexity of project implementation arrangements ..............................................................................8 2.1.4 Project implementation capacity..................................................................................................................9 2.1.5 Project’s external operating environment ..................................................................................................9 2.2 Project elements ..................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2.1 Component 1: Legislation and Policy........................................................................................................ 10 2.2.2 Component 2: Knowledge and Methodologies. ....................................................................................... 10 2.2.3 Component 3: Broad Participation and Strong Partnerships ............................................................... 10 2.2.4 Component 4: Capacity Building ............................................................................................................... 10 2.2.5 Component 5: Project Management.......................................................................................................... 11 2.2.6 Logical framework ....................................................................................................................................... 12 2.3 Target species by country..................................................................................................................................13 2.4 Key dates and milestones in project design and implementation ........................................................14 2.5 Implementation Arrangements .......................................................................................................................15 2.6 Project Financing..................................................................................................................................................16 2.7 Project partners ....................................................................................................................................................16 2.8 Reconstructed Theory of Change of the project .........................................................................................16 2.8.1 Impact pathways.......................................................................................................................................... 17 2.8.2 Intermediate State ....................................................................................................................................... 19 2.8.3 Expected impact ........................................................................................................................................... 19 3 EVALUATION FINDINGS................................................................................................................................... 22 i Terminal Evaluation of UNEP-GEF Project Final Report “In Situ/On-Farm Conservation and Use of Agricultural Biodiversity (Horticultural Crops and Wild Fruit Species) in Central Asia” 3.1 Strategic Relevance..............................................................................................................................................22 3.1.1 Alignment with UN Environment’s strategy, policies and mandate .................................................... 22 3.1.2 Alignment with GEF focal areas and strategic priorities ....................................................................... 25 3.1.3 Relevance to other international environmental and agricultural agreements................................. 25 3.1.4 Relevance to national and regional priorities ......................................................................................... 26 3.1.5 Relevance of the project interventions to key stakeholder groups...................................................... 26 3.2 Achievement of outputs .....................................................................................................................................27 3.2.1 Component 1: Legislation and Policy........................................................................................................ 27 3.2.2 Component 2: Knowledge and Methodologies........................................................................................ 31 3.2.3 Component 3: Broad Participation