Report Are Those of the Consultants and Do Not Necessarily Reflect the Position of the Committee of Environmental Protection and Its Agencies, GEF Or UNDP
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Tajikistan Terminal Evaluation Atlas Project ID: 00048392; PIMS: 1768 Demonstrating New Approaches to Protected Areas and Biodiversity Management in the Gissar Mountains as a Model for Strengthening the National Tajikistan Protected Areas System Michael J.B. Green & Gulbahor Jumabaeva January 2012 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. ii ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS .......................................................................................... iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................... iv 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Purpose of the evaluation ............................................................................................ 1 1.2 Methodology and structure of the evaluation ............................................................... 1 2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT ............................................. 6 2.1 Project start and duration ............................................................................................. 6 2.2 Problems that the project seeks to address ................................................................. 6 2.3 Immediate and development objectives of the project ............................................... 10 2.4 Main stakeholders ...................................................................................................... 11 3. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................... 13 3.1 Project formulation ..................................................................................................... 13 3.2 Project implementation .............................................................................................. 18 3.3 Project results ............................................................................................................ 25 4. CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND LESSONS................................................ 38 4.1 Corrective actions for the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Project ........................................................................................................................ 38 4.2 Actions to follow up or reinforce initial benefits from the Project ................................ 38 4.3 Proposals for future directions underlining main objectives ....................................... 40 4.4 Best and worst practices in addressing issues relating to relevance, performance and success ...................................................................................................................... 40 Annex 1: Terms of Reference for Terminal Evaluation Annex 2: Itinerary, with field visits and Project stakeholders interviewed Annex 3: Documents reviewed Annex 4: Initial evaluation findings: proceedings of meeting with PMU and partners Annex 5: List of Project Steering Committee members Annex 6: Management response to Mid-Term Evaluation Annex 7: Logical Framework Matrix: evaluation of objective, outcomes and outputs Annex 8: Status of delivery of objective and outcomes rating of performance indicators, based on Logical Framework Matrix i DRAFT Demonstrating New Approaches to Protected Areas and Biodiversity Management in the Gissar Mountains as a Model for Strengthening the National Tajikistan PAs System: Terminal Evaluation ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Appreciation and thanks are due to the many people who willingly and enthusiastically spared their time to meet with the Evaluators, often at short notice, and share their experiences and observations, all of which helped to inform this evaluation. Details of those officially met and interviewed are given in the Annex 2 but there were may others, particularly among the local communities, who not only gave their time but also were overwhelming with their hospitality. The mission was hosted by the UNDP Tajikistan Country Office. Particular thanks and gratitude are owed to the Project Management Team (Mirzohaydar Isoev, Firuz Ibragimov, Shodibek Kurbonov and Madina Kurbonova) and Chief Technical Adviser (Mark Anstey) for arranging this evaluation mission and for their full support and good company in the field. Sukhrob Khoshmukhamedov (Assistant Resident Representative) and his colleagues within UNDP’s Energy and Environment Programme (Ahad Mahmoudov and Nargizakhon Usmanova) also welcomed and assisted us. The opinions and recommendations in this report are those of the consultants and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Committee of Environmental Protection and its agencies, GEF or UNDP. The consultants are responsible for any errors or omissions. ii DRAFT Demonstrating New Approaches to Protected Areas and Biodiversity Management in the Gissar Mountains as a Model for Strengthening the National Tajikistan PAs System: Terminal Evaluation ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS APR Annual Progress Report BD1 GEF Strategic Priority Biodiversity 1 – Protected Areas CAREC Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation CEP Committee for Environment Protection CIS Commonwealth of Independent States CO Country Office CTA Chief Technical Advisor GAAO German Agro Action Organisation GEF Global Environment Facility GIS Geographic Information System GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GoT Government of Tajikistan GPC Government Project Coordinator ha Hectare(s) IPD International Project Director IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources JRC Jamoat Resource Centre (originally called Jamoat Resource and Advocacy Centre) LFM Logical Framework Matrix M&E Monitoring and Evaluation METT Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool for PAs (World Bank/WWF) MLF Micro Loan Fund MTE Mid-term Evaluation MTET Mid-term Evaluation Team NEX Nationally Executed Project NGO Non-governmental Organisation NPM National Project Manager PA(s) Protected Area(s) PDF-A Project Development Facility – Block A PIR Project Implementation Report PMU Project Management Unit PSC Project Steering Committee STAP Scientific Technical and Advisory Panel (GEF) ToR Terms of Reference TRAC Target for Resource Assignments from the Core UNDP United Nations Development Programme US$ United States Dollar USA United States of America iii DRAFT Demonstrating New Approaches to Protected Areas and Biodiversity Management in the Gissar Mountains as a Model for Strengthening the National Tajikistan PAs System: Terminal Evaluation EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Brief description of Project Demonstrating new approaches to Protected Areas and Biodiversity Management in the Gissar Mountains as a model for strengthening the national Tajikistan Protected Areas System is a medium-sized UNDP-GEF project that was implemented over a 5-year period, beginning in January 2006, and subsequently extended for 1 year until December 2011. The goal of the Project, as defined in the Project Document, was “. to catalyze the improved conservation of globally significant biodiversity in Tajikistan through the demonstration of new mechanisms and approaches to effective management of protected areas and natural resources adjacent to them.” This would be achieved by strengthening management effectiveness and sustainability of 3 different types of protected area in the Gissar Mountains, thereby to provide models and best practices replicable throughout the national protected area system. The 3 main components to the Project concerned: (i) policy reform to provide an appropriate enabling environment; (ii) effective management of protected areas, including provisions for their financial viability; and (iii) the development of sustainable and/or alternative livelihoods for communities living in close proximity to protected areas. The Project area falls within the Middle Asian Montane Steppe and Woodlands (Ecoregion No. 111), one of the Global 200 ecoregions identified by WWF as a priority for conservation of all of the world’s ecosystems, as well as those areas that contain exceptional concentrations of species and endemics. It also lies within the Mountains of Central Asia, an area defined by Conservation International as one of 34 global biodiversity hotspots. More recently, since the onset of the Project, an analysis of the distribution and conservation status of 1,486 species of endemic and sub-endemic vascular plants in Tajikistan has shown that endemics are the most numerous in the Gissar-Darvasian geo-botanical region, corresponding to the Gissar Mountains, and the Zeravshan region immediately to the north. Context and purpose of the evaluation Terminal Evaluation is an integral part of the UNDP GEF project cycle. Its purpose is to provide a comprehensive, systematic and evidence-based account of the performance of the completed Project by assessing its design, process of implementation, achievements (outputs, outcomes, impacts and their sustainability) against project objectives endorsed by the GEF (including any agreed changes in the objectives during project implementation) and any other results. It is intended to enhance organizational and development learning; enable informed decision-making; and create the basis of replication of successful project outcomes. This Terminal Evaluation was carried out by external international and national consultants in November – January 2011. It included