“Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pamir Alay and Tien Shan Ecosystems for Snow Leopard Protection and Sustainable Community Livelihoods” - Tajikistan Mid-Term Review FINAL Report GEF Agency: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Implementing Partner: National Biodiversity and Biosafety Centre (NBBC) Funding: GEF GEF Project ID: 6949 UNDP PIMS: 5437 UNDP Atlas Project ID: 00092973 Project Timeline: August 2016 – August 2021 Submitted by: Jean-Joseph Bellamy & Tahmina Akhmedova Submitted on February 13, 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................................................................. II LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ........................................................................................................... III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................................... IV EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................. 1 1. CONTEXT AND OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT ............................................................................................... 7 2. REVIEW FRAMEWORK ........................................................................................................................................ 9 2.1. OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2. SCOPE ............................................................................................................................................................. 9 2.3. METHODOLOGY.............................................................................................................................................. 9 2.3.1. Overall Approach ......................................................................................................................... 9 2.3.2. Review Instruments ................................................................................................................... 10 2.4. MTR USERS ................................................................................................................................................. 11 2.5. LIMITATIONS AND CONSTRAINTS ................................................................................................................. 11 3. EVALUATION FINDINGS ................................................................................................................................... 12 3.1. PROJECT STRATEGY ..................................................................................................................................... 12 3.1.1. Project Design ............................................................................................................................ 12 3.1.2. Results Framework / Log-frame .............................................................................................. 16 3.2. PROGRESS TOWARDS RESULTS .................................................................................................................... 19 3.2.1. Progress Towards Outcomes Analysis................................................................................... 19 3.2.2. Remaining Barriers to Achieve the Project Objective .......................................................... 30 3.3. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT ........................................................................ 31 3.3.1. Management Arrangements ..................................................................................................... 31 3.3.2. Stakeholder Engagement ......................................................................................................... 33 3.3.3. Work Planning ............................................................................................................................ 35 3.3.4. Finance and Co-finance ............................................................................................................ 35 3.3.5. Project-level Monitoring and Evaluation Systems................................................................. 38 3.3.6. Reporting ..................................................................................................................................... 42 3.3.7. Communications / Knowledge Management ......................................................................... 42 3.4. SUSTAINABILITY .......................................................................................................................................... 44 3.4.1. Financial risk to Sustainability .................................................................................................. 45 3.4.2. Socio-economic risk to Sustainability ..................................................................................... 45 3.4.3. Institutional framework and governance risk to Sustainability ............................................ 45 3.4.4. Environmental risk to Sustainability ........................................................................................ 45 4. CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED .......................................................... 46 4.1. CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................................................. 46 4.2. RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................................... 50 4.3. LESSONS LEARNT ......................................................................................................................................... 53 ANNEX 1: MAP OF SNOW LEOPARD LANDSCAPES .............................................................................................. 54 ANNEX 2: PROJECT EXPECTED RESULTS AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES ........................................................... 55 ANNEX 3: MTR TERMS OF REFERENCE ................................................................................................................... 62 ANNEX 4: UNEG CODE OF CONDUCT FOR REVIEWERS AND AGREEMENT FORM ...................................... 68 ANNEX 5: MID-TERM REVIEW MATRIX .................................................................................................................. 69 ANNEX 6: LIST OF DOCUMENTS REVIEWED ......................................................................................................... 76 ANNEX 7: INTERVIEW GUIDE .................................................................................................................................... 79 ANNEX 8: FACT-FINDING MISSION AGENDA ........................................................................................................ 81 ANNEX 9: LIST OF PEOPLE INTERVIEWED ............................................................................................................. 87 ANNEX 10: INITIAL LIST OF STAKEHOLDERS ....................................................................................................... 90 ANNEX 11: MTR RATING SCALES ............................................................................................................................. 92 ANNEX 12: AUDIT TRAIL.............................................................................................................................................. 93 ANNEX 13: EVALUATION REPORT CLEARANCE FORM ....................................................................................... 94 Mid-term Review of the UNDP-GEF-Government of Tajikistan Project “Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pamir Alay and Tien Shan Ecosystems for Snow Leopard Protection and Sustainable Community Livelihoods” Tajikistan (PIMS 5437) i List of Tables Table 1: Project Information Table .................................................................................................................... 2 Table 2: MTR Ratings and Achievement Summary Table ................................................................................ 6 Table 3: Steps Used to Conduct the Evaluation ............................................................................................. 10 Table 4: Project Logic Model ........................................................................................................................... 17 Table 5: List of Delivered Results.................................................................................................................... 20 Table 6: METT Scores..................................................................................................................................... 28 Table 7: List of Stakeholders Engaged in the Implementation of the Project ................................................. 33 Table 8: Annual Work Plans versus Actual Expenditures (GEF grant)........................................................... 35 Table 9: UNDP-GEF Project Funds Disbursement Status (GEF Grant in USD) ............................................ 36 Table 10: Co-financing Status ......................................................................................................................... 37 Table 11: List of Performance Indicators .......................................................................................................