Terminal Evaluation Report 2019 Version: 20190610 Payment for Watershed Services in the Chishui River Basin for the Conservation of Globally Significant Biodiversity UNDP Project ID: 4822 GEF Project ID: 5096 Country: Peoples’ Republic of China Region: Asia & the Pacific Focal Area: Biodiversity (GEF-5) GEF Agency: United Nations Development Programme Implementing Agency: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Executing Agencies: Foreign Economic Cooperation Office, MEE Other Implementing Partners: Ecology and Environment Department of Guizhou Province Prepared by: Dr. Madhav Karki, International Consultant / Team Leader Dr. Rong DAI, National Consultant Co-consultants - TE Team Madhav Karki and Rong Dai; Terminal Evaluation Report, 2019; Payment for Watershed Services in the Chishui River Basin for the Conservation of Globally Significant Biodiversity; UNDP Project ID: 4822; GEF Project ID: 5096 TERMINAL EVALUATION INFORMATIOM TE Timeframe: 31 March 2019 - 5 May 2019 Reporting Language English Madhav Karki, Ph.D. - International Expert/Team Leader Evaluators Rong Dai, Ph.D. – National Expert/Deputy Team Leader Signatures ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The terminal evaluation (TE) team would like to sincerely thank the UNDP-CO, China for providing us the opportunity to undertake this work. The team sincerely acknowledges the valuable support and feedback provided by the entire PWS staff. The team acknowledges the receiving of valuable project related data, information, knowledge and insights from the PMO, and the SPMO colleagues. The information and experiences shared by the stakeholders with the team during the field mission and time given for the interviews are deeply appreciated. The team gratefully thanks the members of the Project Steering Committee, the chief technical advisor, UNDP staff, as well as officials from the provincial departments and environmental bureaus, local government officials, experts contracted by the project, and local people of the Sanyuan village during the field visit. The TE team also expresses its sincere thanks and gratitude to the farmers and village committee officials and the representatives of the NGO Renhuai Environment Protection Promotion Association, Mao-tai and other liquor companies as well as the contractors of the various project assigned work. The TE team expresses its sincere thanks and gratitude to the excellent co-operation and support provided by the following key authorities in the PWS project: Dr. Ma Chaode, Programme Director, UNDP-CO, China; National Project Director Ms. Fang Li; Project Manager Ms. Wang Ye, PMO staff Ms. Nan Xi, SMPO staff in Guizhou, sub-contractors and interpreters. Madhav Karki Rong Dai June, 2019 2 Madhav Karki and Rong Dai; Terminal Evaluation Report, 2019; Payment for Watershed Services in the Chishui River Basin for the Conservation of Globally Significant Biodiversity; UNDP Project ID: 4822; GEF Project ID: 5096 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATION and ACRONYMS ...................................................................................................................25 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................29 1.1. Purpose of Evaluation ........................................................................................................................29 1.2. Evaluation Scope and Methodology ..................................................................................................29 1.3. Structure of the Evaluation Report ....................................................................................................32 1.4. Ethics .................................................................................................................................................34 1.5. Audit Trail ..........................................................................................................................................35 1.6. Limitations .........................................................................................................................................35 1.7. Evaluation Ratings .............................................................................................................................35 2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION ...........................................................................................................................37 2.1. Project Start and Duration .................................................................................................................37 2.2. Problems that the Project Sought to Address ...................................................................................37 2.3. Immediate and Development Objectives of the Project ...................................................................39 2.4. Baseline Indicators Established .........................................................................................................41 2.5. Main Stakeholders .............................................................................................................................42 2.6. Expected Results ................................................................................................................................47 3. FINDINGS................................................................................................................................................48 3.1. Project Design / Formulation ............................................................................................................48 3.2. Project Implementation ....................................................................................................................59 3.3. Project Results ...................................................................................................................................73 4.1. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................95 4.2 Recommendations ..............................................................................................................................97 4.3. Good practices and lessons learned ................................................................................................101 3 Madhav Karki and Rong Dai; Terminal Evaluation Report, 2019; Payment for Watershed Services in the Chishui River Basin for the Conservation of Globally Significant Biodiversity; UNDP Project ID: 4822; GEF Project ID: 5096 Annex 1: TE mission itinerary ......................................................................................................................105 Annex 2: Evaluation Matrix .........................................................................................................................107 Annex 3: List of persons interviewed and/or met during the field mission ................................................113 Annex 4: List of Project Information and Documents Reviewed ................................................................116 Annex 5: Summary of Field Visit Discussions and Interview Questions......................................................118 Annex 6. Project staff and key project stakeholders ...................................................................................125 Annex 7: Matrix for Rating Achievement of Project Objective and Outcomes ...........................................126 Annex 8: Project Financing Table ................................................................................................................135 Annex 9: TE Consultant Code of Conduct Agreement Form………………………………………………………………… .137 Annex 10: TE Audit Trail ..............................................................................................................................142 Annex 11: Terms of Reference for the Terminal Evaluation ........................................................................143 Annex 12: Chishui GEF BD2 Tracking Tool ........................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Annex 13: Evaluation Report Clearance Form ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. Figure 1 Map showing Chishui River Watershed and Wuma River Sub-Watershed .....................................40 Figure 2 Cumulative Disbursements of GEF Funds (USD) .............................................................................62 Table 1 Project Summary ................................................................................................................................ 6 Table 2 Evaluation ratings score for the PWS project, Chishui River Basin (CRB) .........................................11 Table 3 List of Key Recommendations along with the responsible organizations for follow-up ...................18 Table 4 Brief gender analysis tool used .........................................................................................................31 Table 5 SMART Criteria used in assessing indicators and targets .................................................................32 Table 6 The rating scales used in the evaluation ...........................................................................................36 Table 7 List of project stakeholders and their envisaged roles and responsibilities .....................................42 Table 8 Assessment of objective level indicators, targets and progress achieved ........................................50