RAS/98/G31 - UNDP/Global Environment Facility - Tumen River Strategic Action Program A sub-regional Initiative to protect Transboundary Biodiversity and International Water Resources in Northeast Asia and to attract Green Investment http://www.TumenNET.org TumenNET PROJECT EVALUATION OF THE SMALL GRANTS PROGRAMME (SGP) TRANCHE I INTERNAL EVALUATION REPORT Tumen River Strategic Action Programme (TumenNET) Prepared for: The Tumen River Strategic Action Programme (TumenNET) Prepared by: M. Badarch Director of Mongolian Nature and Environment Consortium Ying Zhou-Tala EIC manager of Project Coordination Unit, TumenNET project With contribution from: Li Li Jilin Provincial Publicity and Education Center of Environmental Protection Vladimir Karakin Russian Far East Branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature Park Eun-Kyung Director of Environment and Culture Institute, Republic of Korea Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, November 2001 Table of Contents Section Page ABBREVIATIONS 2 PREFACE 3 1. Introduction 4 1.1. Background of the SGP 4 2. Evaluation objectives and methodology 5 2.1 Objectives 5 2.2 Methodology 5 3. Small projects performance 6 4. Conclusions and recommendations 8 4.1 Conclusions 8 4.2 Recommendations 8 Annex 1 Annex 2 Annex 3 Annex 4 1 Abbreviations EIC Education, Information and Communication NGO Non Governmental Organisation PCU Project Coordination Unit PD Project Document PI Partner Institution ROK Republic of Korea SGP Small Grant Programme TOR Terms of Reference 2 PREFACE The evaluation was conducted by an independent team of two persons: M. Badarch, director of Mongolian Nature and Environment Consortium, Ying Zhou-Tala, EIC manager of Project Coordination Unit (PCU), TumenNET project. The evaluation started on 24 October 2001 and completed on 9 November 2001. The evaluation team would like to thank Mr. D. Druzhin, Deputy Governor of Hasanskii district of Primorsky Krai, Russia, Mr. A. Dashnyam, Aide-de-camp to the Governor of Kentii Province, Mongolia, Ms. Yang Shuhua, Deputy Director of Publicity and Education Centre of Environmental Protection of Jilin Province, Mr. Li Yuan Xie, Vice director of Environment Protection Bureau of Hunchun city and Mr. Chai Jingchun, Deputy director of Environment Agency of Yanji city, Ms. Park Eun- Kyung, director of Institute of Environment and Culture of Korea for their assistance to carry out this evaluation. Our special thanks and gratitude also goes Mr. Gunther Mau, Chief Technical Adviser of Project Coordination Unit, TumenNET project and Mr. Alexander Tkalin, Programme Officer, PCU for their substantial guidelines for preparation and arrangement of this evaluation. The evaluation team also thanks to Ms Dolgorsuren, Environment Agency of Khentii province, Mr. Vladimir Karakin, Russian Far East Branch of WWF, Ms. Li Li, Jilin Provincial Publicity and Education Centre of Environment Protection and their staff gave generously of their time to support the mission’s work. 3 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE SGP The SGP is implementing since August 2001 as part of the Tumen River Strategic Action Programme (TumenNET) which is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by the China, Russia, Mongolia and ROK. According to the Project Document (PD) the TumenNET development objective was stated as “to protect the transboundary biodiversity and international water protection in Northeast Asian countries and to ensure sustainable development through taking environmental considerations into account while exploiting the natural resource production base of the country”. The SGP was established as a grants program, targeted at local communities around project areas, with the following specific objectives: • Provide grants to support small-scale assistance for communities that are located in the immediate project areas; • Raise the awareness of transboundary biodiversity and water issues affecting those communities; • Showcase how environmental and community-based projects can improve the economic situation of communities through alternative income generation measures; • Act as a promoting agent for the activities of the Tumen River Strategic Action Program (TumenNET). The project’s of the Small Grants Programme (SGP) is targeted at the immediate grassroots in the project areas and aims to provide support for village-level initiatives that showcase examples of hands-on and practical village self-help projects – projects that reduce environmental pollution while at the same time contribute to raising living standards. Preference will be given to projects that can demonstrate positive impacts on biodiversity and water pollution and that involve cross-border partners. Each SGP grant does not exceed $5,000 and involve substantial in kind contributions by the applicant(s). The SGP is targeted at local villages and local communities in the immediate proximity to the project areas. Up to the present time, the Program has provided financial resources, on a grant basis, between US$2000 and US$5000 per project aimed at addressing social and economic issues such as increasing health and education, income generation, and development of basic infrastructure. Support has also been provided to projects more related to environmental conservation. According to the Project document, at the end of a two-year period (June 2002) at least 50 Small project proposals would have been funded in 5 countries. At this point, a total of 29 projects are being implemented in key Project Targeted areas of China, Russia, Mongolia and Republic of Korea. Annex 1 presents a summary of all the projects. 4 The management, control and monitoring of the projects are handed by Partner institutes in each participating country. 2. Evaluation objectives and methodology 2.1 Objectives This report represents an internal evaluation of the Small Projects implemented under the Tumen River Strategic Action Programme (TumenNET). According to the TOR (Annex 2) of evaluation which was developed by the Project Coordination Unit (PCU) the main objectives of the evaluation were: • To see how the objectives set by the current SGP have been met. • To learn from the success and failure experiences of the current small projects for better future management and implementation of small projects. 2.2 Methodology The evaluation methodology defined and provided by the PCU, emphasized special attention to the following review/analysis criteria: Project Suitability, Effectiveness and Sustainability. The evaluation involved two stages: the provision and revision of background information and the analysis of this information and preparation of the evaluation report. The evaluation was focused on 14 projects selected randomly. The evaluation team conducted questionnaires (annex 3), targeted at the organizations implementing the projects and the target group/beneficiaries, aimed at collecting information on the results and impacts of the small projects. The projects were visited and the questionnaires were carried out at the site of the projects where the SGP leaders were interviewed, as well as the project beneficiaries. The evaluation team had meeting with 35 individuals including project managers, representatives of local Government and local communities and project beneficiaries. Extensive project background references and individual project related documents were provided by the partner institutions. Consultations with project staff and members of the Project selection panel were also conducted. The evaluation team aims to provide both a critical analysis of past and on-going project activities and a basis for using this experience to improve the implementation of the on-going projects. The evaluation team prepared a draft work plan one month prior to the start of the mission. A TOR of evaluation together with an outline timetable mission was circulated to Partner institutes in mid-June 2001. 5 The Initial TOR of evaluation and timetable mission was amended in the light of comments received during second Awareness Meeting, which was held in Khentii town, Mongolia. 3. SMALL PROJECTS PERFORMANCE Twenty-nine small projects within the SGP were funded from August 2001 in project- targeted areas of Mongolia, China, Russia and Republic of Korea. The majority of the projects focused in environmental awareness, education, health and environment conservation in TumenNET areas. The evaluation team visited 14 project sites where had meeting with 45 individuals including project staff and the officials of the local Government. Consultations with some members of SAP PU (in Russia and China) and some members of the SGP selection panel (in Mongolia) were also conducted. In terms of the content, most of projects included well-detailed realistic and important information such as expected results, required resources and activities to carry out. During the project evaluation we had highlighted to estimate the current and future sustainability of the projects. Local communities are the target areas of the projects. Therefore, the sustainability of the projects is heavily dependent upon the local economic and social conditions characterized mainly by poverty, which is closely related to unsustainable practices of resource use. The long-term sustainability of these projects will also depend on the local communities or beneficiaries’ capacity to contribute to the maintenance and operation of projects. In addition, the good levels of sustainability are mainly associated with: (a) The adequate organizational structure, good capacity of the project managers to