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Sustainable Development of the Protected Area System of Ethiopia (SDPASE)

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Sustainable Development of the Protected Area System of Ethiopia (SDPASE) Sustainable Development of the Protected Area System of Ethiopia (SDPASE) PIMS 494 Atlas Award 48561 Atlas Project No: 58768 Mid-term Evaluation, June 2012 Volume 1: Evaluation Report Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia GEF OP1: Biodiversity GEF Strategic Priority Biodiversity (SP-1): Catalyzing Sustainability of Protected Areas Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of Culture and Tourism United National Development Program (UNDP) Stuart Williams & Zelealem Tefera Acknowledgements We would like to thank everyone in Ethiopia who made the Mid-term Evaluation a success. In particular, the Project Management Unit (PMU) and the UNDP-CO gave unstintingly of their time and energy to respond to our demands and questions. Madher Zeleke deserves particular thanks for organizing so much of the mission. During the site visits, we were welcomed into six areas where, again, the protected area and partner staff freely gave of their time. The evaluation is intended to give a summary of what has been achieved in the project as well a glean some of the lessons that can be learned from it in what was a relatively short period. In addition, we look forward to the second stage of the project. In the report, we have tried to offer constructive criticism where we think it is warranted and we hope that those involved in the project take it as such. Finally, it is a pleasure to return to Ethiopia and to see many old friends and meet new people. We saw the results of their work of conserving important places in the world. We would like to offer them our thanks and wish them every success in their continuing endeavours. Stuart Williams Zelealem Tefera Kampala, Uganda Addis Ababa, Ethiopia June 2012 Table of Contents Volume 1: Evaluation Report Executive Summary ....................................................................................................... 5 Acronyms and Abbreviations ...................................................................................... 12 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 13 2 Approach and Methodology .................................................................................. 14 3 Project Description and Development Context ...................................................... 16 4 Analysis of project formulation ............................................................................. 16 5 Findings ................................................................................................................. 26 5.1.1 Role of UNDP-CO .................................................................................. 26 5.1.2 Stakeholder participation. ....................................................................... 27 5.2 Project Implementation .................................................................................. 28 5.2.1 Implementation modalities and project management ............................. 28 5.2.2 Project staff ............................................................................................. 30 5.2.3 Adherence to logframe ............................................................................ 31 5.2.4 Financial Planning .................................................................................. 31 5.2.5 Cost effectiveness ................................................................................... 33 5.2.6 Monitoring and evaluation ...................................................................... 34 5.3 Project Results ................................................................................................ 35 5.3.1 Remaining barriers to effective management of the protected area system of Ethiopia ............................................................................................................ 35 5.3.2 Attainment of objectives ......................................................................... 36 5.3.3 Replication .............................................................................................. 50 5.3.4 Country ownership .................................................................................. 50 5.3.5 Mainstreaming ........................................................................................ 51 5.3.6 Sustainability ........................................................................................... 51 5.3.7 Catalytic role ........................................................................................... 54 5.3.8 Impact ..................................................................................................... 55 6 Transition to Stage Two ......................................................................................... 56 6.1.1 Analysis of the Triggers to allow transition to Stage Two ..................... 57 6.1.2 Outcomes, Outputs for Stage Two .......................................................... 58 6.1.3 Transition to Stage Two .......................................................................... 59 6.1.4 Implementation arrangements, Stage Two .............................................. 60 7 Conclusions, Recommendations and Lessons ....................................................... 60 7.1.1 Lessons learned and recommendations ................................................... 61 Volume 2: Annexes Annex 1 Terms of Reference ……………………………………… Annex 3 Annex 2 Itinerary of Field Mission and Summary of Field Visit … Annex 9 Annex 3 List of People Consulted ………………………………… Annex 11 Annex 4 Summary of project achievements, by Outcome and Output Annex 13 Annex 5 Status of co-finance, May 2012 ………………………… Annex 38 Annex 6 List of major inputs provided by project ………………… Annex 40 Equipment ……………………………………………………………… Annex 40 Materials ……………………………………………………………….. Annex 40 MTE: UNDP-GEF SDPASE Workshops ……………………………………………………………… Annex 41 Assignments abroad …………………………………………………….. Annex 42 Different short term training & courses abroad ………………………… Annex 42 Annex 7 Tourist numbers by protected area ……………………….. Annex 45 Annex 8 Decisions taken at the PSC meetings …………………….. Annex 46 Annex 9 List of Documents Reviewed and Documents Produced by Project …………………………………………………………………..... Annex 48 Documents produced by the Project or in association with the project … Annex 48 Other documents reviewed by the Evaluation Team …………………… Annex 50 Maps prepared by SDPAS of Ethiopia ………………………………… Annex 51 Annex 10 Evaluation Consultant Agreement Form ………………… Annex 52 4 Executive Summary The Mid-term Evaluation was carried out by one International Consultant and one National Consultant with a mission to Ethiopia between 13 – 31 May 2012. The MTE took place four months before end of Stage One of the project. During the mission, the evaluation team met and interviewed a large number of stakeholders including i) members of staff of EWCA, ii) members of the Project Steering Committee (PSC), ii) the Project Management Unit (PMU), iii) representatives from a number of protected areas, iv) representatives of NGOs, and v) UNDP-CO. Key Findings The project had an extremely long gestation. It was first conceived in 1998 with the PDF-A stage being developed in 1999. The PDF-B stage was only implemented in 2004 and the project documents were initially completed in early 2006. Following a protracted negotiation, the agreements were signed in 2008 with amended project documents, contracts were developed and project implementation commenced in October 2008. It is remarkable – if not a little alarming – that many of the issues identified in the original PDF-A and PDF-B documents remained pertinent one decade later when the project implementation commenced in October 2008! By the time protected implementation commenced, various changes had occurred (although the barriers to effective protected area management remained the same, as noted above). For example, the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA) was established and moved from its position under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MOARD) to its current position in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MoCT), the Wildlife Development, Conservation and Management Policy and Proclamation was enacted, and one of the key partners, African Parks, withdrew from its partnership with the government over the management of Omo and Nechsar National Parks. These changes were partly reflected in the Inception Report, which was developed following an Inception Workshop in which the Outputs and Indicators for the project were modified. However, the basic structure and length of the project remained the same. The project was designed to be unique in its length and budget. It was designed as an eight-year project in two stages. Each stage was budgeted to receive USD 4 million from GEF and a further USD 1 million to capitalize a Trust Fund. As such, the total budget for the eight-year period was USD 9 million. An eight-year period was deemed necessary because it was recognized that to have impacts, the project would have to build trust within the sector before it could really be considered a partner in aiming to achieve conservation goals. Thus, it was recognized that influencing change in Ethiopia would take significant periods of time. The project document was designed such that at the first stage had not only to achieve the Outcomes and Outputs (as measured by indicators, as usual) but the project should also achieve a number of triggers (closely related to the indicators) which would allow
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