Semuliki Catchment and Water Resources Management Project – Inception Phase Evaluation Report, November 2009

BACKGROUND: 
This five year Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) project was originally due to start in January 2008 with an 18 month Inception phase, but effectively started in November 2008, mainly due to delays in recruiting a project manager. The overall project purpose is to establish "Mechanism for integrated water resources management established for at least three sub-catchments feeding the Semuliki River by the end of 2012'', with the purpose of the Inception Phase being "At least three sub catchments feeding the Semuliki River are identified, key stakeholders consulted and strategies for integrated water resources management developed by 2009.The project builds on the experiences developed during WWF-Norway’s recent Lake Albert Eastern Catchment Management Initiative Project and forms part of the Government of Uganda’s plan for a national IWRM roll out. The principal stakeholders include the communities of all the Districts and their governments, within the selected sub-catchments of the River Semuliki catchment, Ministry of Water and Environment through the Directorate of Water Resources Management (DWRM, set up in 2007) and local government institutions.

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the evaluation was to assess the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of the project to date in order to assess if the project should continue into the main implementation phase, and if so, review the project design and amend if necessary.

METHODOLOGY:
The evaluation fieldwork took place from 16-23 October, with write up taking place during November 2009. It was carried out by a two person evaluation team, consisting of an independent consultant and a WWF-Norway staff member, with close support from WWF-Uganda Office in Kampala and the Semuliki Project Team based in Kasese. The evaluation methodology included interviews with project staff and a wide range of government, civil society and private sector project stakeholders, examination of project activities/proposed activities in the field and examination of project reports and data in the project office. A debriefing stakeholder workshop was held in Fort Portal on Friday October 23th with plenary feedback on related project issues. On returning to Kampala further interviews were carried out with WWF-Uganda and ESARPO staff supporting the project. A final presentation was made to the WWF-UCO and with WWF –ESARPO staff present.

KEY FINDINGS:
The project’s relevance remains very high based on contributions both to WWF and national IWRM and development objectives.

To date the effectiveness of the project has been limited as a result of a series of project start-up issues with only limited achievement of the project inception purpose. However, through stakeholder consultation a foundation has been put in place for IWRM implementation. The main delays relate to the technical baseline studies.

Efficiency of the project during the Inception phase has been low.

The main reasons for the mediocre performance during the inception phase are the late start, weak project management (recruited because of his strength in IWRM) and some flaws in the project design.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Despite the limited efficiency and effectiveness to date, the relevance and national importance of the project is such that the review team is recommending that the project should continue into implementation phase, as it is believed that some of the initial weaknesses and delays can be mitigated.

2. This is however conditional on adoption and implementation of specific project management performance recommendations and that the remaining inception activities in particular sub-catchment planning processes must be built into the remaining project life cycle.

3. The logframe review, initiated by the review team, needs to be completed, and presented to project stakeholders for adoption. This should be followed by detailed revision of the budget and activity schedule.

4. A Project Steering Committee needs to be established urgently.

5. WWF-UCO should continue efforts towards establishing a national WWF Water Policy / Resource Post in its Kampala office, for technical support of freshwater projects but also for advocacy at central government level.

6. WWF-UCO needs to increase oversight and support to the Project Team in Kasese to ensure that the project gets fully back on track according to the review recommendations.

7. Sub-catchment IWRM planning selection process to reconsider geographic limits of the 3 selected sub-catchments. It is also recommended that sub catchment planning is staggered.

8. Trans-boundary activities should be confined to developing IWRM platforms with the DRC and only limited trans-boundary catchment management activities in the lower Semuliki sub-catchment.

9. Capacity building and stakeholder processes should build on existing structures where possible but there may be a need to look for national development partners.

10. DWRM needs to be encouraged to make their partnership more effective at the grassroots level and not just at national government level.C

COMMENTS FROM THE ORGANISATION, IF ANY:

Based on the recommendations of the evaluation report a decision has been taken by WWF-Norway to let the project continue into full implementation as from 2010. After some deliberation, the importance of the project concept and the potentially long-term and wide reaching negative effects on future development projects due to stakeholder disappointment outweigh the performance problems experienced during the implementation phase. This decision was however conditional on project management improvements. As a result, the original team-leader’s contract has been terminated with immediate effect, and a more experienced manager has been recruited to replace him. In early 2010 the reviewed logframe was approved by stakeholders and the budget and activity schedule has been revised accordingly. Baseline data studies are now also on the way. The main changes to the project design include a more basic approach to the transboundary activities as the original logframe has proven overambitious in this regard given the situation on the ground in the DRC, as well as to limit sub catchment IWRM planning to three key sub catchments, and not the whole catchment. At the same time WWF-UCO has been strengthened through the appointment of a Conservation Manager with long experience from the Rwenzori area, which will help improve WWF-UCO project support.
It is believed that the project now is on track to deliver its important purpose as planned, and thus contributing to Government of Uganda’s planned national roll out of Integrated Water Resource Management in Uganda,