UNDP and the Evolving UNDP and the Evolving GEFGEF

A Presentation to the Environment and Energy Practice

workshopAlmaty –Kazakhstan, October 6-9,

2004

 

GEF

2

The Global Environment Facility - GEF

The GEF was established in 1991 to forge international cooperation and finance actions to address critical threats to the global environment;

It was conceived as a partnership among three implementing agencies: World bank, UNDP and UNEP;

GEF funding is to meet the agreed incremental costs of measures to achieve agreed global environmental benefits.

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GEF Governance Structure

COUNCIL32 Members :18 Recipient

14 Donor

ASSEMBLY

All 173Participants

GEF Council meets every 6 months to review and approve all projects, Work Programmes, Business Plans, policies.

GEF Assembly meets every 4 years to review general policies,operations, and amendments to the GEF Instrument.

GEF Secretariat supports GEF Council and prepares work program.

CONVENTIONS

Provides Guidance on Policy &

Programme Issues

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History of the GEF – A Timeline

GEF Pilot Phase• 1991-1994 -- $1 Billion US Dollars

Replenishment:• 1995-1998 -- $2.2 Billion US Dollars• 1999-2001 -- $2.8 Billion US Dollars• 2002-2005 -- $2.95 Billion US Dollars

World Bank is the Trustee of the GEF Trust Fund

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UNDP-GEF Project Approval FY92-FY04

0

50,000,000

100,000,000

150,000,000

200,000,000

250,000,000

300,000,000

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

GEF Fiscal Years

BD CC IW SGP MFA LD OZ POP NAPA

6

FY03-FY04 Project Approval

UNDP-GEF Portfolio FY03-FY04 (by Region)

0

10,000,000

20,000,000

30,000,000

40,000,000

50,000,000

60,000,000

70,000,000

80,000,000

90,000,000

100,000,000

Asia & Pacific Europe & CIS Africa Global SGP Latin America& Caribbean

Arab States

Regions

US$

BD CC SGP IW SNC LD POP CB MFA NAPA OZ

7

UNDP/GEF Delivery Rates by Region2000, 2001, 2002, 2003

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

2000

2001

2002

2003

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Recent policy changesRecent policy changes● The GEF Council has developed a number of additional policies and

procedural requirements to access GEF resources over the past five years:

– 2 new focal areas – 5 new Operational programmes– 22 new Strategic Priorities– 7 new Executing Agencies (AfDB, AsDB, EBRD, IADB, FAO, IFAD, UNIDO)

– Pipeline entry (project concept approval)– New co-financing definitions and increased ratios, especially in Climate Change– Performance indicators– IA/EA Institutional Performance Assessment– SMPR– Resource Allocation Framework – a controversial concept still under discussion

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Adapting to the Evolving GEF

Enhancing quality of oversight and country level services; and demonstrating impact;

Increasing programming delivery. Reducing project cycle duration and streamlining

pipeline management efficient; Strengthening mainstreaming of global environment

concerns into UNDP national policy dialogue;

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Key UNDP/GEF Interventions

Objective 1: Leverage UNDP’s main comparative advantage for global environment management – the country office network

Objective 2: Complete Phase 2 of UNDP/GEF’s decentralization process

Objective 3: Improve implementation efficiency and performance of the UNDP/GEF portfolio

Objective 4: Improve mainstreaming of global environment management

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Objective 1: Leverage UNDP’s Country Office Network

Clarify work distribution between UNDP/GEF and COs: Capacity development of country offices through targeted

regional training and establishment of a conducive incentive framework

Harmonization and simplification of the UNDP/GEF project cycle

Knowledge products (resource kits, databases) and advanced information-sharing tools (Intranet)

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  Country Offices lead on: UNDP-GEF leads on:

Identification and Mainstreaming

         Programming (project identification, prioritization, initial filtering of project ideas before forwarding to RCU) based on country needs, priorities, action plans, and in line with CPAP.         Joint programming with TRAC and other funds         Ensuring GEF project findings are integrated in national policy

         Clearance on UNDP-GEF pipeline         Sharing mainstreaming experiences across regions         Guidance on thematic links between GEF strategic priorities and UNDP practice areas (Programming Kits)         Simplification and harmonization of UNDP-GEF documents

Formulation

          Early dialogue with in-country partners/donors         Cofinancing arrangements/ commitments         Managing the formulation process (briefing of consultants on country needs, priorities, institutional context and capacities, UNDP-GEF documentation requirements, admin/ operational aspects)         Stakeholder participation in formulation         Definition of optimal execution/ implementation arrangements, including assessment of institutional capacities         Verifying consistency with GEF eligibility requirements

         Translating GEF policy guidance and application of eligibility criteria         Managing the formulation process (sourcing and technical briefing and guidance of consultants as necessary)         Coordinating with other GEF IAs and ExAs (in countries where IA and ExA representatives are country-based, country offices are also responsible for maintaining such a dialogue).         Assessing technical soundness of the project formulator’s work         Clearance for submission to the GEF Secretariat

Implementation and evaluation

         Briefing at inception workshop          Work planning and budgeting         Day-to-day dialogue with stakeholders         Troubleshooting & early warning when corrective measures are needed as per project risk management system         M&E responsibilities, in addition to UNDP procedures, including PIR and project risk management system         Demonstrating the impacts of UNDP-GEF activities in furthering UNDP’s mandate through other practice areas such as poverty reduction, governance.

         Briefing at inception workshop (in support to COs)         Reformulation of project outputs and outcomes in collaboration with country offices and project teams when deemed necessary          Developing knowledge products and services based on lessons from the portfolio and sharing across regions         Demonstrating the impact of UNDP-GEF activities in advancing towards agreed GEF and global environmental convention objectives

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Past Efforts to Develop Country Office Past Efforts to Develop Country Office CapacitiesCapacities

Mix of standardized and tailor-made initiatives.

Standardized initiatives included:• Training of environment focal points and government counterparts

at UNDP-GEF headquarters (late 1990s).(Almost 90 people trained through a series of 3 workshops on GEF mandate, objectives, eligibility criteria, and potential for complementarity with national development objectives).

• Logical framework workshops (Mexico and Berlin, late 1990s).

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Past Efforts to Develop Country Office Past Efforts to Develop Country Office CapacitiesCapacities

Tailor-made approaches included:• Visits by RCs to country offices in their regions.

• Assistance to country offices in hiring of focal points.

• RBA: survey of country office staff dedicated to GEF matters (can now serve as a baseline to monitor change).

• Attachment of key UNDP/GEF CO Focal Points to UNDP/GEF Unit for 1 to 3 months

Mixed approaches included:• Country dialogue workshops (ongoing).

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Deepening Past ApproachesDeepening Past Approaches

Create a GEF section in UNDP intranet enabling quick access to GEF secretariat website, UNDP-GEF programming manual, PIMS, UNDP-GEF knowledge management efforts, and UNDP-GEF contacts.

Simplification and harmonization (AWP, PA rather than PDF A, etc.)

Phase approach providing customized services to COs

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Objective 2: Decentralization

Effective decentralization must be accompanied by: New Organizational Structure

• Six RCUs

New Policies• Financial delegation

• Strategic planning by region

New Skills• Partnerships

• New hires to reduce fragmentation

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UNDP/GEF Organigramme

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Objective 3: Improve implementation efficiency

and performance of the UNDP/GEF portfolio

Need to improve the implementation efficiency and performance of the UNDP/GEF portfolio by:

Reducing project formulation delays Demonstrating Impact

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Reasons for Project Formulation Delays

Discussion on delays at key stages in project cycle:

From pipeline to GEF Council approval (WP)

From GEF Council approval for project initiation

From initiation to completion

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Elapsed time (days) from approval to project initiation

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

UNDP UNEP World Bank

Elapsed time (days)

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Average Delay Between GEF Approval and Project Signature for All Regions

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

Africa

Asia & the Pacific

Arab States

Europe & CIS

Latin America & theCaribbean

Global

Days

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Key interventions to reduce project management cycle delays

Streamlined project formulation (simplified PDF A); Upstream co-financing mobilization; Strengthen cost-recovery; Enhance pipeline management.

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Pipeline Management and GEF Financial Resources

There is a pattern of high project approval levels during the first two years of a GEF funding phase and then of a steady decline as funding is exhausted.

According to the latest GEF financial projections, $1.556 billion in GEF resources are available for the remaining 2 years of GEF-3.

This financial situation could drastically change arrears occur. For instance, arrears of approximately 10% of total GEF-3 commitments would wipe-out 40% of resources earmarked for FY 06.

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Pipeline Management Guidance

Avoid slippage of projects that are slated for approval in FY 05

Focus on high-quality pipeline Conduct a forceful pipeline clean up in FY05 Adjust pipeline of new EU countries

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Demonstrating Impact

Leverage Atlas and PIMS III to monitor delivery and strengthen result reporting and analysis;

Leverage Atlas for project risk management system

Project performance indicators Partnership with BOM to include program

management indicators in country office score cards.

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Objective 5: Mainstreaming Global Environment

“UNDP leverages its core competences in integrated policy design and

implementation to mainstream environment into national policies.”

MMB, CSD-12

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Mainstreaming levers

Rationalization of Enabling Activities (NCSA, NAPA, etc) Incorporation of GEF objectives into CP and CPAP Cross-sectoral and cross-unit cooperation (Energy Unit

and GEF on national energy strategies, BCPR and adaptation, etc.)