Mangroves for the Future (MFF) - Partnerships for the Future Mid-Term Review MAIN REPORT 31 December 2009 MFF MTR Main Report TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................... 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................... 1 LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................... 2 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 3 1.1. Terms of Reference for the mid-term review ...................................................................................................... 3 1.2. The team .............................................................................................................................................................................. 4 1.3. The approach used .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.4. Limitations .......................................................................................................................................................................... 5 2. MANGROVES FOR THE FUTURE (MFF) INITIATIVE ...................................................... 7 2.1. Background ........................................................................................................................................................................ 7 2.2. Vision, objectives and stakeholders ......................................................................................................................... 7 2.3. Governance and Decision-making mechanisms ................................................................................................. 9 2.4. MFF Project facilities ................................................................................................................................................... 10 2.5. Administration, management and reporting .................................................................................................... 10 2.6. MFF donors ..................................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.7. Communication, Knowledge Management and Monitoring, Learning & Evaluation (MLE) ......... 11 2.8. Activities and key outputs in Phase 1 ................................................................................................................... 12 3. FINDINGS OF MFF PHASE 1 ..................................................................................... 13 3.1. Programme Coordination and Management ..................................................................................................... 14 3.2. Partnerships .................................................................................................................................................................... 16 3.3. Achievements of the Program of Work (PoW) ................................................................................................. 18 3.4. Cross Cutting Themes ................................................................................................................................................. 23 3.5. Medium term Results .................................................................................................................................................. 25 3.6. Conclusion: Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact, Sustainability .............................................. 25 4. LESSONS LEARNED .................................................................................................. 27 4.1. Organisational issue .................................................................................................................................................... 27 4.2. Capacity issues ............................................................................................................................................................... 28 4.3. Approach .......................................................................................................................................................................... 28 5. COMMENTS TO THE MFF DRAFT PROPOSAL FOR PHASE II ....................................... 30 6. CONCLUSIONS FROM MFF PHASE 1 ......................................................................... 34 7. RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................. 38 8. APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... 43 i | Page MFF MTR Main Report Appendix 1: Terms of reference .................................................................................... 44 Appendix 2: List of persons met & Program of MTR ....................................................... 52 Appendix 3: List of key documents consulted ................................................................ 58 Appendix 4: MFF activities and outputs for 2007–2009 .................................................. 64 Appendix 5: Country Reports ........................................................................................ 66 COUNTRY REPORT: THAILAND ............................................................................................................................................ 66 COUNTRY REPORT: SRI LANKA ............................................................................................................................................ 75 COUNTRY REPORT: INDIA ...................................................................................................................................................... 83 COUNTRY REPORT: THE MALDIVES................................................................................................................................... 92 COUNTRY REPORT: INDONESIA ........................................................................................................................................... 98 Appendix 6: MFF Capacity Development activities ...................................................... 106 Appendix 7: MFF Knowledge products ........................................................................ 108 Appendix 8: Summary of Preparatory Actions for MFF Program of Work (POW) .......... 111 Appendix 9: MFF SGF Summary ................................................................................... 121 ii | Page MFF MTR Main Report EXECUTIVE SUMMARY During its 12 days field visits, in addition to widely held discussions with partners and stakeholders in Bangkok, the Mid Term Review (MTR) team has had a unique opportunity to assess outcomes of the MFF programme during its first phase. During the relatively brief period of three years (2007 – 2009) the MFF initiative has moved from an inception to a full implementation phase and is now ready to enter its second phase. Although impact of the MFF initiative has been uneven within the six member countries - Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, the Seychelles and Indonesia - it is the firm view of the MTR team that the MFF programme has achieved a considerable part of its listed intended outcomes, has established the organizational structure needed at country levels, as well as serving and assisting the member countries well from the Regional Secretariat in Bangkok. This may allow for prolonging activities into a second phase, demonstrating even more impressive results, outcome and longer-lasting impact of activities supported. In the opinion of the MRT team, the primary objective of a second phase should be to consolidate achievements, ensuring that what has been achieved may be more solidly anchored while further broadened, yet focused in approach and in its partnership programme modality. A major challenge will be to identify MFF’s niche regionally in relation to other regional programmes and to use Phase 2 to focus more on regional issues where MFF can play a value-added role. A small number of partnership-based regional projects could be considered as a means to achieve this, including projects led by other regional organisations in which MFF plays a supporting role. At the same time, the team recommends that a cautious approach be taken to a geographical expansion of the programme by allowing one or two now dialogue countries to become full member countries during Phase II, provided certain conditions are met. Among such conditions – as listed in the recommendations to this report – is a demonstrated capacity and commitment within the selected applying dialogue countries, the need to ensure additional funding, as well as insuring that the Regional Secretariat in Bangkok be provided with more staff resources. 1 | Page MFF MTR Main Report LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS (I)NGOs (International) Non-Governmental Organizations BMZ Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (Germany) CBOs Community based organizations CC Climate Change COBSEA Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia FAO United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization FAO-BoBLME FAO Bay of Bengal Laerge Marine Ecosystems Programme ICM Integrated Coastal Management IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources LPF Large