United Nations Development Programme Global Environment Facility Lebanon Sustainable Land Management in the Qaraoun Catchment, Lebanon GEF Full-size Project (PIMS 4642) TERMINAL EVALUATION REPORT Date: 10/06/2020 i. Opening page Title of the UNDP supported GEF financed project Sustainable Land Management in the Qaraoun Catchment, Lebanon Project ID#S UNDP Atlas Project ID: 00081592 UNDP PIMS ID : 4642 GEF Project ID: 5229 Project start date January 2016 Project end date Planned: December 2019 Actual: July 2021 Project duration Planned 4 years (48 months), revised 67 months Region Middle East Country Lebanon GEF Operational Focal Area/Strategic Program Land Degradation Executing Agency/Implementing Partner Ministry of the Environment Evaluation timeframe April/June 2021 Date of the Evaluation Report 10 June 2021 International Evaluator Giacomo Morelli Terminal Evaluation – Project “Sustainable Land Management in the Qaraoun Catchment, Lebanon” - p. i ii. Acknowledgement A deep thanks to all the people who have taken the time to provide the author with information utilized for the formulation of this evaluation report. A special thanks to the PMU for their support in organizing the entire process of remote meetings and interviews that made the evaluation exercise possible. Terminal Evaluation – Project “Sustainable Land Management in the Qaraoun Catchment, Lebanon” - p. ii iii. Table of contents i. Opening page ........................................................................................................................................ i ii. Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................................... ii iii. Table of contents ............................................................................................................................... iii iv. Acronyms and abbreviations .............................................................................................................. v 1. Executive summary ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Project Information Table ............................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Brief project description ............................................................................................................... 1 1.3. Evaluation Ratings Table ............................................................................................................... 2 1.4. Summary of findings and conclusions .......................................................................................... 3 1.5. Synthesis of the key lessons learned ............................................................................................ 4 1.6. Recommendations Summary Table .............................................................................................. 4 2. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1. Evaluation purpose ....................................................................................................................... 5 2.2. Scope of the evaluation ................................................................................................................ 5 2.3. Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 6 2.4. Data collection and analysis ......................................................................................................... 6 2.5. Ethics ............................................................................................................................................ 7 2.6. Limitations .................................................................................................................................... 7 2.7. Structure of the TE report ............................................................................................................ 8 3. Project description .............................................................................................................................. 8 3.1. Project start and duration ............................................................................................................ 8 3.2. Development context ................................................................................................................... 8 3.3. Problems that the project sought to address ............................................................................... 9 3.4. Immediate and development objectives ...................................................................................... 9 3.5. Expected results ......................................................................................................................... 10 3.6. Total resources ........................................................................................................................... 11 3.7. Main stakeholders ...................................................................................................................... 11 3.8. Description of the project’s Theory of Change ........................................................................... 13 4. Findings ............................................................................................................................................. 14 4.1. Project Design/Formulation ....................................................................................................... 14 4.1.a. Analysis of Results Framework: project logic and strategy, indicators ................................ 14 4.1.b. Assumptions and Risks ........................................................................................................ 15 4.1.c. Lessons from other relevant projects incorporated into project design.............................. 16 4.1.d. Planned stakeholder participation ...................................................................................... 17 4.1.e. Linkages between project and other interventions within the sector ................................. 17 4.1.f. Gender responsiveness of project design ............................................................................ 17 4.1.g. Social and Environmental Safeguards .................................................................................. 17 Terminal Evaluation – Project “Sustainable Land Management in the Qaraoun Catchment, Lebanon” - p. iii 4.2. Project Implementation ............................................................................................................. 17 4.2.a. Adaptive Management ........................................................................................................ 17 4.2.b. Actual stakeholder participation and partnership arrangements ........................................ 18 4.2.c. Project Finance and Co-finance ........................................................................................... 18 4.2.d. Monitoring & Evaluation: design at entry, implementation, overall assessment of M&E ... 19 4.2.e. UNDP implementation/oversight, Implementing Partner execution and overall assessment of implementation/oversight and execution ................................................................................. 19 4.2.f. Risk Management ................................................................................................................. 20 4.3. Project Results and Impacts ....................................................................................................... 21 4.3.a. Progress towards objective and expected outcomes .......................................................... 21 4.3.b. Relevance ............................................................................................................................ 28 4.3.c. Effectiveness ........................................................................................................................ 29 4.3.d. Efficiency ............................................................................................................................. 33 4.3.e. Sustainability: financial, socio-political, institutional framework and governance, environmental, overall likelihood of sustainability ........................................................................ 34 4.3.f. Country ownership ............................................................................................................... 36 4.3.g. Gender equality and women’s empowerment .................................................................... 37 4.3.h. Cross-cutting Issues ............................................................................................................. 37 4.3.i. GEF additionality ................................................................................................................... 37 4.3.j. Catalytic/Replication Effect .................................................................................................. 38 4.3.k. Progress to Impact ............................................................................................................... 39 5. Main findings, conclusions, recommendations, lessons learned ....................................................... 39 5.1. Main findings .............................................................................................................................