Terminal Evaluation of the UN Environment Project Promoting Peace over Natural Resources in Darfur and Kordofan Evaluation Office of UN Environment June 2019 i Evaluation Office of UN Environment Photos Credits: Front cover: Amr Abdalla @UN Environment/ (Amr Abdalla), UN Environment Evaluation Mission (2019) This report has been prepared by independent consultant evaluators and is a product of the Evaluation Office of UN Environment. The findings and conclusions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of Member States or the UN Environment Senior Management. For further information on this report, please contact: Evaluation Office of UN Environment P. O. Box 30552-00100 GPO Nairobi Kenya Tel: (254-20) 762 3389 Email: [email protected] Promoting Peace over Natural Resources in Darfur and Kordofan UN Environment PIMS ID: 223.4 May 2019 All rights reserved. © (2019) Evaluation Office of UN Environment ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Terminal evaluation was prepared for the Evaluation Office of UN Environment by Dr. Amr Abdalla, Professor and Consultant of Peace and Conflict Studies, as the Lead Consultant. The report benefits from a peer review conducted within Evaluation Office of UN Environment. The Evaluation Office of UN Environment would like to thank the Promoting Peace over Natural Resources Project in Darfur and Kordofan project teams and in particular Robbert Bekker, Mouna Zein, Atila Uras, and Ashan Abeywardena for their contribution and collaboration throughout the Evaluation process. The Evaluation Office of UN Environment would also like to thank SOS Sahel Sudan and Darfur Development and Reconstruction Agency (DDRA) who openly collaborated and facilitated our fact-finding efforts. We would like to express appreciation to members of the project support committees and many others whom we met during the work in Sudan for their hospitality and the efforts they made to discuss the results of the project in the field. The evaluation consultant extends his deep gratitude to Mr. Ibrahim Al-Amin, Ms. Iman Dawood Mohammed, Mr. Abdalla Babakr and Ms. Amna Belal Eid Al-Zein for conducting evaluation activities in the project locations in Central and West Darfur and in West Kordofan. Their commitment, dedication and efficiency contributed directly to the success of this evaluation mission. The evaluation consultant also extends his sincere gratitude to Ms. Fadoua Amer and Ms. Hoda Eissa for their professional and timely translation, categorization of themes and summarization of interview and focus group information collected from the field. This report benefitted greatly from their systemic and careful work. Last, but certainly not least, the evaluation team thanks all the other stakeholders who shared their time and knowledge with us, providing a solid basis for the findings included in this report. Without exception, the evaluation team felt that all stakeholders reached out to, supported our work. Evaluation team Amr Abdalla – Evaluation Consultant Evaluation Office of UN Environment Martina Bennett – Evaluation Manager Mela Shah – Evaluation Programme Assistant iii ABOUT THE EVALUATION1 Joint Evaluation: No Report Language(s): English Evaluation Type: Terminal Project Evaluation Brief Description: This report is a terminal evaluation of a UN Environment project implemented between 2015 and 2018 in Darfur and Kordofan, Sudan. The project's overall development goal was to reduce the incidence of local conflict over natural resources through improved natural resource management (NRM) and strengthened institutions for dispute resolution. It worked towards strengthening inter-communal relationships and relations between communities and authorities over natural resources in the three targeted areas. The evaluation was undertaken at completion of the project to assess project performance (in terms of relevance, effectiveness and efficiency), and determine outcomes and impacts (actual and potential) stemming from the project, including their sustainability. The evaluation has two primary purposes: (i) to provide evidence of results to meet accountability requirements, and (ii) to promote operational improvement, learning and knowledge sharing through results and lessons learned among UN Environment, SOS Sahel and the Darfur Development and Reconstruction Agency (DDRA). Therefore, the evaluation will identify lessons of operational relevance for potential future project formulation and implementation. Key words: Natural Resources; Environment; Climate Change; Water Resources Conflict; Natural Resources Management; Conflict Resolution; Peacebuilding; Women Empowerment; Sudan; Darfur; Kordofan; Sustainability; UN Environment; Pastoralists; Farmers. 1 This data is used to aid the internet search of this report on the Evaluation Office of UN Environment Website iv Table of Contents 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................................................................... 1 2. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 6 3. EVALUATION METHODS ................................................................................................................................ 8 4. THE PROJECT ............................................................................................................................................... 12 4.1. CONTEXT ................................................................................................................................................ 12 4.2. OBJECTIVES AND COMPONENTS .................................................................................................................... 13 4.3. STAKEHOLDERS ........................................................................................................................................ 14 4.4. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION STRUCTURE AND PARTNERS...................................................................................... 15 4.5. CHANGES IN DESIGN DURING IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................................................... 18 4.6. PROJECT FINANCING .................................................................................................................................. 19 5. THEORY OF CHANGE .................................................................................................................................... 19 6. EVALUATION FINDINGS ............................................................................................................................... 23 6.1. STRATEGIC RELEVANCE .............................................................................................................................. 23 6.2. QUALITY OF PROJECT DESIGN ...................................................................................................................... 25 6.3. NATURE OF THE EXTERNAL CONTEXT ............................................................................................................. 25 6.4. EFFECTIVENESS ........................................................................................................................................ 27 6.4.1. Delivery of Outputs ...................................................................................................................... 28 6.4.2. Achievement of Outcomes ........................................................................................................... 43 6.4.3. Likelihood of Impact .................................................................................................................... 54 6.5. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT .......................................................................................................................... 57 6.5.1. Completeness of Financial Information ........................................................................................ 60 6.5.2. Communication Between Finance and Project Management Staff ................................................ 63 6.6. EFFICIENCY ............................................................................................................................................. 65 6.7. MONITORING AND REPORTING .................................................................................................................... 69 6.8. SUSTAINABILITY ....................................................................................................................................... 77 6.8.1. Socio-political Sustainability ........................................................................................................ 78 6.8.2. Financial Sustainability ................................................................................................................ 79 6.8.3. Institutional Sustainability (including issues of partnerships) ........................................................ 81 6.9. STRATEGIC EVALUATION QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................. 82 6.9.1. To what extent, and in what ways, did the project build on the lessons learned on NR and peacebuilding collected by UN Environment’s Environmental Cooperation for Peacebuilding (ECP) programme? What are the reasons for successful/unsuccessful uptake of these lessons by the project? ........ 82 6.9.2. In what ways have communities been brought