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VIII.
Evaluation Office
Results and Observations from the Evaluation Office
Monitoring and Evaluation in the GEF
During GEF-3, one of the major changes was the Council’s approval of
a monitoring and evaluation policy, focusing on strengthened minimum requirements
for monitoring and evaluation on the project level. Monitoring and tracking
results is the responsibility of the GEF Secretariat and the Implementing and
Executing Agencies of the GEF. Evaluation and oversight of monitoring and evaluation
is the responsibility of the Evaluation Office, which reports directly to the
GEF Council.
What Do Evaluations Tell Us About Results in the GEF?
The Third Overall Performance Study and independent evaluations of GEF
illustrate the significant achievements in the focal areas of biodiver-sity,
climate
change, international waters, and ozone depletion. The GEF is well
placed to deliver
important results in the newer focal areas of land degradation and
persistent organic pollutants. Overall, the GEF has been responsive to
guidance
from the conventions it serves as a financial mechanism.
Some of the most important results of the GEF since its inception include:
• Having
a notable impact on slowing or reducing the loss of biodiversity
• Helping
to achieve the global goal of 10 percent of the world’s
land area under protection
• Reducing
greenhouse gas emissions
• Playing
an important catalytic role in developing and transforming energy markets,
particularly
through its energy efficiency
portfolio
• Promoting
international collaboration to reduce environmental
stress in several international bodies
of water, in particular
the Black Sea–Danube
and Lake Victoria
• Eliminating
the consumption and emissions of ozone-depleting
substances in countries with economies
in transition
• Providing
considerable support towards preparing countries
for ratification and implementation
of
the Cartagena
Protocol on Biosafety
• Making
available through many of its projects, local
incentives to ensure sustainability of environmental
gains
Strategic Choices that the GEF is Facing in Reaching (and Maintaining)
These Results
Evaluations highlight that the GEF will need to further strengthen
its strategic programming for results in the focal areas. Indicators
for
tracking results,
although improved during GEF-3, need to be further developed
to aggregate what is happening throughout the GEF portfolio.
Furthermore,
the strategic
coherence
of GEF programming at the country level will pose a major challenge
in the years ahead. As pointed out by the Third Overall Performance
Study,
GEF projects
were often developed in an ad hoc manner, rather than systematically
to contribute to an overall country strategy and to maximize
the achievement of global
environmental benefits.
A special challenge will be how local benefits and global benefits
are actually achieved through such programming, since evaluations
show that
many of the
projected “win-win” situations for global and local benefits
did not materialize. The new Resource Allocation Framework, which
will be implemented
in GEF-4, will provide incentives and opportunities for a more coherent
national approach to global environmental benefits.
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