UNDP Zimbabwe

Outcome Evaluation of the 2007-2011 Country Programme of Action

Final Report

M. J. M. Nyoni and B. Maboyi

June2010

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Table of Contents

Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................... iv

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... vii

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 1

1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 6

1.1 Terms of Reference ..................................................................................................................... 7

1.2 Description of Evaluation methodology: .................................................................................... 7

1.3 Scope ........................................................................................................................................... 7

2.0 Analysis of Outcome ................................................................................................................... 9

Social Development Issues ....................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Participation in International Environment Arena ............................................................................... 13

2.5 UNDP Support in the Environment Sector ................................................................................ 14

3.0 Factors Affecting Outcome ....................................................................................................... 15

3.1 Partnerships .............................................................................................................................. 15

3.2 Towards the outputs and partnership strategy ........................................................................ 17

3.2.1 Gender dimension of UNDP Programmes ............................................................................ 17

3.2.2 Disaster Risk Management ................................................................................................... 18

3.2.3 Coping with Drought and Climate Change ............................................................................ 18

3.2.4 Traditional Medicines ........................................................................................................... 19

3.2.5 UNV programme ................................................................................................................... 19

3.2.6 Analysis rating towards output and relevance to Partner Strategy ...................................... 19

3.3 Areas of Best Practice Emerging from CPAP ............................................................................. 20

3.3.1 Community participation ............................................................................................................. 20

3.3.2 Awareness raising ................................................................................................................. 20

3.3.3 Introduction of new methods ............................................................................................... 21

3.3.4 Harnessing traditional knowledge ........................................................................................ 21

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3.3.5 Publications and information dissemination ........................................................................ 21

4.0 Underlying factors beyond UNDP’s control that have influenced the Outcome...................... 21

4.1 Factors Influencing UNDP contribution .................................................................................... 22

5.0 Gaps and Areas needing attention to improve contribution of outputs to outcome .................. 23

5.2 Proposed Strategies for continuing UNDP programming ......................................................... 27

Annex I: Terms of Reference ................................................................................................................. 29

Annex II: Itinerary of Field Visits ........................................................................................................... 39

Annex III: People Interviewed ............................................................................................................... 40

Annex IV: Documents Reviewed ........................................................................................................... 43

Annex V: Assessment of EEP outcomes in summary ............................................................................ 45

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Acronyms

AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

ART Anti-Retroviral Treatment

BIPPA Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement

CAP Consolidated Appeal Process

CBO Community Based Organisation

CCF Country Cooperation Framework

CD-PA Country Document-Programme Agreement

CPAP Country Programme Action Plan

CPD Country Programme Document

CSO Civil Society Organisation

EEP Energy and Environment Programme

EIA Environmental Impact Assessment

EMA Environmental Management Agency

ESAP Economic Structural Adjustment Programme

FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GEF Global Environmental Facility

GIS Geographic Information Services

GPA Global Political Agreement

HIV Human Immune Deficiency Virus

ICRISAT International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics

IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development

IR Inception Report

IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

LEAP Local Environmental Action Plan

MDG Millennium Development Goal

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MIS Management Information Systems

MEA Multilateral Environment Agreement

MOAMID Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development

MENRM Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management

MEPD Ministry of Energy and Power Development

MOAMID Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development

MOF Ministry of Finance

MLRR Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement

MTP Medium Term Plan

MWRD Ministry of Water Resources development

MYYF Multi-Year Funding

NEAP National Environmental Action Plan

NGO Non Governmental Organisation

NEPAD New African Partnership for African Development

NEX National Execution

NPC National Population Council

OCHA Office of Humanitarian Assistance

OE Outcome Evaluation

PCU Programme Coordinating Unit

PESTLE Political, Economic, Social, Technical, Legal and Environmental Analysis

RDC Rural District Council

RELP Rural Livelihoods Enhancement Programme

RIDSP Regional Indicative Strategic Development Programme

SADC Southern African Development Community

SAFIRE Southern Alliance for Indigenous Resources

SAT Southern Agricultural Trust

SDI Social Dimension of Adjustment

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SGP Small Grants Programme

SOER State Of the Environment Report

STERP Short Term Economic Recovery Programme

UDI Unilateral Declaration of Independence

UNCT United Nations Country Team

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNHCR United Nations High Commission For Refugees

UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNV United Nations Volunteer

WASH Water, Sanitation and Health

WB World Bank

WFP World Food Programme

WSSD World Summit on Sustainable Development

ZEDS Zimbabwe Economic Development Strategy

ZIMNET Zimbabwe National Environment Trust

ZINATHA Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association

ZUNDAF Zimbabwe United Nations Development Assistance Framework

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Acknowledgements This report has been made possible by the professional contribution of many people within the government, NGOs, and research institutions. The authors of this report are particularly grateful for the inputs from UNDP and FAO staff who helped the authors navigate the complex workings of the UN system. We are also grateful to the many people at community level who so freely availed us of their time and were willing to share their experiences in the implementation of the UNDP funded projects.

The interpretation of data and there subsequent analysis and write up of this report is the sole responsibility of the evaluation team.

Executive Summary The Terms of Reference call for an Outcomes Evaluation as the preferred form of reviewing UNDP contribution to a stated outcome. Outcome Evaluation is a process of assessing how the project results contribute together with assistance of partners to a change in development conditions. The outcome to be evaluated under the current assignment is: Improved natural resources use and environmental management

The purpose of this evaluation is to assess, within the context of the MDGs and Country Priorities, UNDP’s critical role in the achievement of this key outcome in Zimbabwe. In particular this evaluation will assess how UNDP has contributed to the Environmental challenges in the country in the face of many other challenges. It is also understood that this evaluation will feed into the review of Zimbabwe United Nations Development Framework (ZUNDAF) 2007-2011 and input into the formulation of the next phase of ZUNDAF which will commence in 2012.

The Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP 2007-2011) is the main vehicle delivering on the development priorities of the plan period. It identifies five specific UNDP programme outcomes. It is designed to complement government development efforts which have been identified for the planning period as:

• Improving productivity of the agricultural sector • Improving food and nutrition security at national and household levels • Improvement of rural livelihoods • Increased environmental awareness and management • Sustainable use and management of natural resources1

The evaluation sought to establish the status of the outcome towards its full or progress towards, its attainment, taking into consideration factors that may have influenced its attainment or otherwise. In conducting the evaluation the level of UNDP contribution to the attainment of the outcome was assessed within the background of the partnership strategy adopted or that which evolved during programmes implementation. The evaluation covers a period when the Zimbabwe economy was experiencing unprecedented challenges.

During the period covered by the CPAP 2007-2011, the economy had an overall -6% rate of growth. This is compared to rates of growth of between 2% and 10% for the countries in the Southern Africa region during the same period. The period to 2008 was characterized by steadily rising inflation from 19% in 1997, 56% in 2000, 1000% in 2006 and a massive 12 563% by the end of 2006. By 2007 inflation was estimated at more than 11million percent year on year. By this time the economy was in freefall with all the attendant problems including massive job losses, non-existent foreign direct investment, food scarcity and increased poverty. The challenges had a negative impact on the achievement of the MDGs

1 ZUNDAF, 2007-2011

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targets that Zimbabwe had subscribed to and had put in place mechanisms to achieve them within the given time period. Human and financial constraints as well as political challenges have been the main retardants to MDG achievement and the achievement of outcomes under CPAP 2007-2011.

Despite several decades of intervention towards sustainable environmental management, the state of the environment continues to deteriorate in both the urban and rural areas. The increasing poverty means that there is growing pressure on natural resources as a means to alleviating poverty by both rural and urban dwellers. Environmental management institutions have, however, been weakened by the economic challenges in the country thus compromising their ability and capacity to carry out their mandate.

Zimbabwe’s participation in all global initiatives on the environment front shows its commitment to sustainable development. It has followed the Rio Conference recommendations of 1992 and subsequent World Summit on Sustainable Development (held in Johannesburg in 2002) resolutions. As part of the Johannesburg Plan of Action and with the realisation of the particular challenges the country faces as a developing nation the Government of Zimbabwe entered into an agreement with the UNDP to address some of these challenges that affect its management of the environment and natural resources. The resultant Energy and Environment Programme (EEP) was thus formulated in the light of the issues affecting the Zimbabwean environment but also considered in the framework of various strategic frameworks governing and guiding the UNDP response.

In the period under review the major Government of Zimbabwe GOZ-Macro-economic Framework Documents crafted include the Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme (STERP l) and Zero draft of the Medium Term Plan (MTP), as well as 2009-2010 Budget Statement. Both documents give prominence to amongst other things, fifty nine actionable items which include the “restoration, sustainable utilisation of natural resources, poverty eradication through an improvement in social protection programmes for vulnerable groups etc. (STERP)” and elaborates programme objectives that will lead to “sustainable utilisation and management of natural resources and the environment”

On the ground, considerable progress has been made towards attainment of the outcome, as in indicated by the outputs from the UNDP funded Energy and Environment Programme (-EEP 2006-2008) programme implementation, which include, inter alia: Surface Water Resources Assessment Handbook, Zimbabwe Energy Resources Assessment document and National Energy Policy document, National Environmental Policy and Strategy; and Waste Management strategy for local authorities. However, there are still some outstanding outputs to be completed in the programme. Progress was also noted in other UNDP sponsored activities in the area of Disaster Risk Management, Coping with Drought and Climate Change, incorporation of gender dimension in programme implementation.

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The UNDP has implemented CPAP 2007-2011 under difficult conditions, but has managed to make significant inroads towards achieving the outcome. The UNDP contribution to the attainment of the outcome has been noted on a number of fronts as follows:

Partnerships

The partnerships are assessed as having been satisfactorily managed although there were complaints of late payments of service providers. Partners faced challenges such as staff turnover and the lag in filling the positions created. The diverse range of partnerships that UNDP created shows the recognition by UNDP of the need for strong partnerships for successful outcomes. The UNDP was able to develop as well as benefit from partnerships with government, civil society and the private sector. The partners brought depth to UNDP’s programming. The partnerships were able to raise the level of awareness on a number of critical issues including gender mainstreaming.

Response to country needs

The UNDP support has been aligned to the country’s environmental and developmental needs and has in some of the programs such as climate change been visionary in terms of being able to identify and address issues that are likely to become a major challenge in the near future. UNDP has effectively launched pre-emptive measures on the environment. UNDP support for the environment has led to the incorporation of environmental issues in main stream economic frameworks such as STERP and MTP.

Publications

Nearly all the programs supported have produced a number of publications that will preserve the lessons learnt and provide a reference point for those wishing to continue the work in the environment arena.

Recommendations

Regular policy and legislative review

The various policy frameworks on sustainable environment and natural resource management need to be regularly reviewed and harmonised to ensure that they are all relevant for the issues at hand and all speak with a common and united voice. Hence it is recommended that the next CCF and CPAP as well as ZUNDAF should be aligned to the MTP processes.

Strengthen software side of programmes

UNDP should support dedicated programs on the soft aspects of projects such as information generation, collation, analysis, storage and dissemination, including the establishment of comprehensive, district level environmental information resource centres to enable access by communities to information on the environment- including legal instruments, policies, and MEAs. Funding should also be channelled to environmental lobby and advocacy spearheaded by both NGOs and CBOs.

Support efforts for climate change and energy policies

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A national climate change policy and supporting legislation is required to strengthen initiatives in climate change. The same needs to be done for the energy policy which has been in limbo for many years.

Overhaul funding disbursement mechanism to partners and suppliers

The UNDP needs to overhaul its payment mechanism to ensure that partners are not affected by the delays. Improving the payment mechanism will enhance UNDP’s contribution to the achievement of not only the environmental outcomes but also other outcomes in the CPAP. Part of the review should include exploring the possibility of setting up a locally managed environmental fund along the lines of the SGP where partners would have more say on areas they feel need support based on comprehensive baselines. The establishment of such a fund would also improve the efficiency and effectiveness of programs as the turn-around time would be shorter. The UNDP should also facilitate the establishment of a platform that brings together the private sector and NGOs environmental issues so as to take advantage of the considerable technical and managerial capacity within the private sector to support environmental issues and promote creative, innovative, and profitable synergies.

Develop stronger partnerships for greater impact on the ground

The UNDP should continue to find ways to build stronger partnerships across the spectrum of stakeholders to ensure it derives the most from every unit of investment it makes in support of sustainable environment and natural resources management. Funding should also be given to environmental lobby and advocacy campaigns spearheaded by both NGOs and CBOs. For instance civil society‘s inputs on environment and natural resource management in the Constitution making process should be supported.

Support partner efforts at improving community participation

Participation of communities in UNDP funded projects is vital for the fulfilment of planned outcomes and as such greater efforts should be made by UNDP to ensure that all their partners adopt participatory programming. Funding should be for a longer duration to facilitate learning and participation.

It was observed that although environmental protocols have been signed on forestry, wildlife, mining and shared water resources –at the international level-there is a great need to improve the domestication of these instruments as a way of eradicating natural resource conflict at the local level. This is an area of possible future UNDP programming

Over and above the inclusion of environmental issues in the New National Constitution and Medium Term Plan making process it is recommended that other forward-looking policies that govern socio- economic life, in particular as it affects ordinary rural citizens should be reviewed in order to protect their economic rights. These areas of possible intervention should include e.g. key legal and administrative issues on access to information and public participation in the mining sector: focus on economic aspects protecting the environmental, economic, social and cultural rights of communities in mining areas

The grip that the land reform debate has had on the national development discourse in the last ten years has been immense. Although it has mentioned the negative consequences to the environment, such as increase in forest fires, rampant tree cutting and wildlife depletion-there has not been sufficient prognosis on how environmental concerns can be mainstreamed in the immediate future. In

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the amplification of the Terms of Reference for the Land Audit –environmental care of agricultural lands should be highlighted as a matter of principle.

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1.0 Introduction

The programme under review in this outcome evaluation is derived from the experiences during the implementation of the Country Cooperation Framework (CCF) (2000-2004), further extended to (2005-2006) and developed into the Country Programme (CP) from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2011(CPAP 2007-2011). The major areas of UNDP support are also articulated in the United National Development Assistance Framework (ZUNDAF) 2007-2011 document which is considered to be the key instrument of development framework for the UNCT.

The period preceding the current CPAP 2007-2011 programme, Zimbabwe experienced an overall negative rate of growth of -6% in the economy. This is in comparison to rates of growth of between 2% and 10% for countries in the Southern Africa region. This period was characterised by a steadily rising rate of inflation that was at 19% in 1997, and up to 56% in 200, and then 1000% in 2006 and a massive 12 563% at the end of 2006. By 2008 the rate of inflation was estimated to be at 11 million per cent year on year. By this time the economy was on free fall with attendant problems of high job losses, non-existent direct foreign investment, food scarcity and generally increased poverty. The signing of the Global Political Agreement between three contesting political parties in Zimbabwe in September 2008 and the setting up of an Inclusive Government in February 2009 led to adoption to a number of economic initiatives that include the introduction of a multi-currency system.

Other development challenges that confronted the country during this period included HIV/AIDS, whose prevalence rates, however, declined from a high of 25% to 15.3% in 2009. The average life expectancy at birth has fallen from 62 in 1990 to about 33 in 2009 and the number of orphans, (primarily due to HIV/AIDS deaths) is estimated at 1.63 million in 2005. Food insecurity resulted in 5 million households (45% of population) needing emergency food relief in 2008. The situation has improved considerably since the dollarization of the economy with households expected to require food handouts down to less than a million in 2009. On the environment front, several decades of intervention aimed at sustainable environmental management have not improved the state of the environment as it continues to deteriorate in both the urban and rural areas. In the rural areas congestion, over-population and poverty are leading causes of environmental degradation. Poverty has raised the number of people depending on environmental capital for their livelihood. As a result it is estimated that between 100,000 to 320,000 hectares of forest and woodland are lost due to deforestation per annum. The new economic dispensation has created space for various environmental actors to re-engage in the quest for sustainable environment and natural resource management.

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1.1 Terms of Reference Outcome Evaluation does an assessment of how the project results contribute together with the assistance of partners to a change in development conditions .The outcome to be evaluated is: Improved natural resources use and environmental management, as articulated in the CPAP 2007-2011 document

It is understood that this evaluation will feed into the review of ZUNDAF 2007-2011 and input into the formulation of the next phase of ZUNDAF which will commence in 2012.

1.2 Description of Evaluation methodology: This evaluation proceeded to work through the following methodology:

• Desk review of literature provided and referred to by the UNDP Country office. This literature comprised documentation from the UN Global system on the new thrust of Evaluation of UN programmes, areas of special need as well as UNDP Zimbabwe-generated documents, amongst others. We also reviewed literature from key partner stakeholders, which include outputs from funded activities, progress reports and annual reports and technical reports.

• After the preparation and submission of an Inception Report the team proceeded to carry out interviews of key informant stakeholder and partner organisations. A prepared guideline was used to generate data from the interviews. Most of the interviews were held in Harare and a number were held in the field during visits to project areas in Marondera, Nyanga, Chimanimani and Chiredzi. Experiences from recent visits to the field in December 2009 (Chipinge and Masvingo) were brought into play in our appreciation of the outcomes under review.

• Focus Group Discussion was held with a group of 12 NGOs/CSOs during a field visit in Nyanga.

• Interviews and discussions were also held with key UNDP staff in Harare at all critical stages of the evaluation from elaboration of TORS, review of the Inception Report and the Draft Evaluation report.

Challenges met during the execution of the evaluation:

It was evident that this evaluation- which requires lots of time as pointed out in the Guidelines for Outcome Evaluators- was going to be affected by the availability of key informants, and key reports on time, during the data collection stages. Due to other responsibilities some key informants were not available to provide inputs during the investigations of outcomes.

1.3 Scope The evaluation sought to establish the status of the outcome towards its full attainment or progress towards its attainment, taking into consideration factors that may have influenced its attainment or otherwise. In conducting the assessment the level of UNDP contribution to the

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attainment of the outcome was evaluated within the background of the partnership strategy adopted or that which panned out during programmes implementation.

In the course of the review of UNDP’s role in sustainable development in the country the following programmes were investigated: Energy and Environment Programme 2006-2009; Disaster Risk Management; Coping with drought and Climate Change; Support to Coordination of Parliamentary programme; UN Volunteers Programme; Traditional Medicines programme.

In reviewing the above programmes an assessment of their gender perspectives was highlighted in keeping with the importance that UNDP attaches to such analyses.

This Outcome Evaluation limited itself to experiences encountered between 2007 and 2010 for analysis.

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2.0 Analysis of Outcome Table 1 below shows the current outcome status overview against the planned and expected outcome in the CPAP 2007-2011 framework.

Programme Expected Outcome Outputs Targets Analysis of Outcome

Energy and Environment for sustainable development

Outcome4. Improved natural resources use and environmental management

Consensus

based sustainable land reform programme developed and implemented

Targets: sustainable land reform programme addressing issues of tenure security, compensation, and multiple ownership, gender, bilateral investment protection agreements agreed upon 2007.Resettled farmers are provided with tenure instruments and allowed access to financial services: issues of farmland under BIPPAs affected by land reform programme resolved.

Indicators: National sustainable land reform document in place; All affected BIPPA farmland properties resolved either through compensation or returned to owners

Outcome Status:

The land reform programme has not been resolved in terms of the identified issues in the targets. A non-partisan land audit called for by the GPA (and a number of donor partners) has yet to be undertaken. It is envisaged once done this will pave the way towards addressing a number of the targeted issues. Discussions are on-going on how to proceed on the land audit and related issues amongst UNDP, GOZ and other development partners.

In this respect there is no substantive land reform document in place as yet which addresses the above issues like tenure security, compensation although a number of position papers are available

Women’s participation in the land reform programme to date is deemed to be sub-optimal at below 20% of the beneficiaries in both A1 (only 18%)and A2(12%) models

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Baseline: land and agriculture policies inconsistent and not gender sensitive; lack of consensus on land reform programme: declining agricultural production: key sector strategies not adequately incorporating environmental issues;-EMA not fully implemented:-disaster risk reduction not adequately incorporated in development planning:-inadequate capacity to respond to disasters.

2. Agricultural extension and research staff in govt/non-govt. Institutions trained in agric service delivery by 2011:-strengthened capacity of farmers union and farmer based organisation:-capacity building in land use planning and increased awareness in ecological zoning:-capacity building of farmers for improved grain production.

Indicators: At least 300 000 research and 2500 extension staff trained by 2011 through strengthened land use planning institutions, soil chemistry institute and seed services section:-2 farmers unions and 30 farmer based organisations strengthened:-150 irrigation schemes rehabilitated:-maize yield

There is a depleted government extension service which has yet to be re-capacitated in terms of new extension packages, equipment and adequate remuneration. Farmers’ unions rely on both public and private sector extension agents including their own which are being assisted by a few development partner assistance programmes. The targeted number of extension agents (300 000) to be trained is not likely to be met in the period ending in 2011 due to a number of resource constraints

EMA has been implemented to some extent with the setting up of a functional agency which is autonomous in terms of raising of funds

The country has not developed a definitive and forward looking plan for Disaster Risk Reduction that gives strategic direction-as in Chile and Mozambique, for instance. It has, however, put in place some structures that indicate intent towards the realisation of Disaster Risk Reduction strategy. For instance, during field visits in drought- prone Chiredzi District the evaluation team met members of the Permanent Drought Relief Committee which operates under some sort of a Disaster Management Plan, which aims at lessening the impacts of drought on communities’

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increased from 0.84 to 3.0Mt/hectare on rehabilitated schemes and 70% of households are food secure

livelihoods.

Due to a combination of factors food security continues to burden the nation. Food insecurity has resulted in more than 5million people (45% of total population) needing emergency food relief in 2008 alone .The 2009-2010 season estimates from WFP put this figure down to 2.8million people in both urban and rural areas.

Energy and Environment for Sustainable development

Outcome Indicator: Consensus based sustainable land reform programme developed and implemented:-at least 30% of the land allocated to women.

NDPRS/land and water policies formulated/reviewed to incorporate environmental issues: All structures for implementation of EMA, land, energy and water capacitated and fully functional:-DRR policy in place:-communities capacitated to respond to disasters

3. Policy Frameworks and capacity of key disaster institutions strengthened and DRR mainstreamed in development planning

Targets: New Act and policy frameworks on disaster risk management in place by 2008:-Institutions involved in disaster risk management strengthened: Vulnerability assessment and early warning systems in place for most vulnerable districts

Indicators: Policy and New Act on DRR in place:-Department of Civil Protection and 8 provinces,30 districts are strengthened and disaster risk management plans updated:-70% of communities in 30 districts are trained in disaster risk management

The implementation of the targeted activities in Disaster Risk Management are lagging behind with no New Act in place as yet

Although some training sessions of Rural District Development Committees have exposed participants to training in disaster risk management the roll out of the training has been slow and limited to a few districts only, due to resource constraints. Awareness, material for reference enable better response to issues on the ground

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4. Capacity for water and energy and environmental policy planning and management strengthened

Targets

National Energy and environmental policies and fire strategy formulated and implemented by 2011.NEAP and Leap formulated and implemented by 2011: Capacity for decentralised water governance strengthened: Energy, water and land resource assessment undertaken for informed policy decision: Capacity for implementation of MEAs strengthened.

Indicators: Institutions under EMA:-Environmental council, standards committee fully equipped and functional: Environmental fund operational and self –financing: comprehensive energy and environment policy and fire strategy documents in place

The National Environmental Policy and Strategies Document was published in June 2009 and launched in 23rd September 2009 by the Vice-President Joyce Mujuru, in her capacity as Acting President of Zimbabwe on that date.

The LEAP processes have been successfully launched with workshops held in all provinces including cities of Bulawayo,Gweru, Mutare and Harare as well as the towns of Beitbridge and Marondera. The NEAP process is scheduled to be implemented in 2010.The Zimbabwe Energy Sector Resource Assessment Report was completed in 2008 and has yet to be launched and distributed. Assessment of Surface Water Resources of Zimbabwe and Guidelines for Planning has been revised and the document since published in 2009. The Water Act is still to be revised whilst an Energy Policy is in the process of being completed in 2010.EMA is now able to impose fines and collect revenue from those that have broken environmental management laws and regulations. It still has to work out modalities on how to improve environmental management using the resources from the revenues derived fines on behalf of the Nation

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An elaboration of the outcome status in the context of the economic, development, social and environmental situation is given below. The elaboration also includes participation in international environment initiatives and UNDP’s contribution to environmental issues in the country. It also recognises the input of many other initiatives in shaping the outcome.

Broader Outcomes

As part of UNDP efforts at stabilising and supporting the growth and development of the economy, two planning national frameworks have been put in place, namely the Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme (STERP) and the Medium Term Plan (MTP). While the planning frameworks were necessary it was also clear that they were inadequate for the task at hand. By the end of STERP 1 period in the latter half of 2009 it was evident that there was a “massive unfinished agenda than what has so far been accomplished in the implementation of STERP” (Minister of Finance Budget Statement December 2009) With this realisation government directed that Macro-economic Framework be developed. Two programmes were formulated in the wake of this development, namely -Three Year Macro-Economic Policy and Budget Framework: 2010-2012(STERP II) - as successor to STERP. This document was developed by the Ministry of Finance. The second programme document-Zero Draft-Medium Term Plan (MTP) January 2010-Decemebr 2015 was produced by the Ministry of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion. Both these documents give some insights on how far government has gone in adopting approaches to sustainable management of environment and natural resources. Whilst STERP II continues to set the budgetary requirements of economic recovery the Zero Draft of the MTP lays the foundation of the longer term and restoration and transformation of capacities for sustainable economic growth and development. Of the ten areas of major focus in the articulation of the National Vision, MTP categorically envisages “Sustainable utilisation and management of natural resources and the environment.” It furthers elaborates its objectives through a number of programmes in the document that include Rural Livelihood Enhancement Programme(RELP), establishment of a National Population Council(NPC) to implement the provisions of a Population Policy recommended in 2009, Social Protection, facilitation of a Forest-based Land Reform Policy inter alia. As stated in the title “Zero Draft”-this is a “work- in- progress” and further refinements are still to be done. The UNDP is playing a positive role in this development.

The 2009-2010 Budget Statement put considerable significance on the assistance of agricultural recovery through, inter alia, provision of finance for crop input packs to more than 600 000 households; called for speedier resolution of the security of tenure through issuance of 99-year leases “which are register able and transferable....to make them bankable”; as well as “guaranteeing the protection and honouring of foreign investments covered by Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements(BIPPAs)”.

Participation in International Environment Arena Zimbabwe is an active participant in global efforts to address environmental issues and as such is a signatory to a number of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). The main MEAs include:

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• UN Convention on Climate Change • UN Convention to Combat Desertification • UN Convention on Biological Diversity • Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species • Basel/Bamako Convention • Persistent Organic Pollutants • Ramsar Convention

Other environmental protocols have been signed on forestry, wildlife, and mining and on shared water courses. Zimbabwe is also part of the Trans-frontier Parks initiative involving a number of neighbouring countries (South Africa, Mozambique etc)

2.5 UNDP Support in the Environment Sector Zimbabwe has been participating in all global initiatives on the environment front. It has followed the Rio Conference recommendations of 1992 and subsequent World Summit on Sustainable Development (held in Johannesburg in 2002) resolutions. As part of the Johannesburg Plan of Action and with the realisation of the particular challenges the country faces as a developing nation the Government of Zimbabwe entered into an agreement with the UNDP to address some of these challenges that affect its management of the environment and natural resources. The resultant Energy and Environment Programme (EEP) was thus formulated in the light of the issues affecting the Zimbabwean environment but also considered in the framework of various strategic frameworks governing and guide the UNDP responses. The areas of focus are currently: capacity building, environment, governance, gender and human rights, include the Millennium Development Goals and the Outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002, the Zimbabwe United Nations Development Assistance Framework (ZUNDAF 2007-2011), UNDP’s Policies and Strategies as outlined in the Multi-Year Funding Framework(MYFF), amongst others. The core components of the EEP that were eventually planned and signed into an agreement between GOZ and UNDP in 2006 consist of: i. Water resources ii. Land resources iii. Energy resources iv. Environmental coordination The main thrust of the programme was assistance to the “development and strengthening of policies, strategies, legislation and institutions dealing with the administration and management of environmental resources” as highlighted in the four components above. The economic meltdown that afflicted Zimbabwe in the last four years coincided with the period of implementation of the EEP. The hyper-inflation that gripped the country made procurement and budgeting an incredible challenge, due to the instability of the local the currency. Towards the end of 2008 the UN system for disbursement was temporary

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suspended as it could not cope with the multiple numbers of zeroes in the Zimbabwe dollar currency then in use. The programme was designed to be nationally executed and implemented (NEX modality) by Government of Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management. The financial management arrangements were through the Ministry of Finance which has overall responsibility of all UNDP supported activities. The NEX guidelines spell out the roles and responsibilities of UNDP, Ministry of Finance (MoF) and Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management (MENRM) respectfully. With the deterioration of the economy in the period 2007 through 2008 the NEX modality of implementation was under severe strain particularly due to personnel capacity limitations and the hyperinflationary state of the currency fluctuations. As a result some of the implementation was done actively by the UNDP office as opposed to the planned NEX mode. The achievements of the EEP are summarised in the next section.3.0 Factors Affecting Outcome 3.1 Partnerships Developing and systematically following a partnership strategy is an essential requirement for the successful achievement of outcomes. Effective partnerships, where there is a clear understanding of the contribution of each partner to agreed outcomes, are central to achieving results. TThhee ZZUUNNDDAAFF 22000077--22001111 wwaass ccrraafftteedd wwiitthh ccoollllaabboorraattiioonn ooff GGOOZZ,, ppaarrttiiccuullaarrllyy tthhee MMiinniissttrryy ooff EEccoonnoommiicc PPllaannnniinngg aanndd OOffffiiccee ooff tthhee PPrreessiiddeenntt.. TThheerree iiss,, hhoowweevveerr,, aa ffeeeelliinngg tthhaatt tthhee ddoonnoorr wwaass iinn tthhee ddrriivviinngg sseeaatt aanndd tthhee bbeenneeffiicciiaarryy oonn ttooww.. HHoowweevveerr,, tthhiiss iiss rreeppoorrtteedd ttoo hhaavvee iimmpprroovveedd aass tthhee CCAAPP 22000077--22001111 tthhee GGOOZZ hhaadd ccoonnssiiddeerraabbllee iinnppuutt iinn tthhee pprroocceessss aanndd ffoorr tthhee ffiirrsstt ttiimmee aass ooppppoosseedd ttoo tthhee ppaasstt wwhheerree ppaarraalllleell--ttrraacckk pprroocceesssseess wweerree oobbsseerrvvaabbllee As stated before the EEP 2006-2008 Programme was a major project on addressing energy and environment activities. This partnership consisted of the key Ministries of Environment and Natural Resources Management(MENRM) , Energy and Power Development(MOEPD), Water Resources Development and Management(MWRDM), as well Lands and Rural Resettlement. In the execution of some of the projects the private sector was involved through provision of consulting services (i.e. Water Resources Assessment, Energy Resources Assessment, Waste management land fill design) and paid for by resources under the EEP funds. The partnerships are assessed as having been satisfactorily managed although there were complaints of late payments of service providers. Programme coordination by the PCU at MENRM faced challenges of staff turnover without ample time for handover-takeover as one initial incumbent passed on during his term office and his replacement was appointed after a while. At the same time there were changes in staff responsible for the EEP at UNDP which were a factor contributed to the not so smooth flow of the programme. The greatest challenge, during this period came from the rampant currency fluctuation as hyperinflation took a grip on the economy leading to untenable predictability of price quotations.

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Table 2: Summary of EEP results

Sector Achievements

1.Water Assessment of Surface Water Resources of Zimbabwe and Guidelines of Planning Report, revised and completed in 2009 as well as the Water Act reviewed

2.Land Reviews of the land policy were done through several workshops, but a number of issues are still outstanding(Land Audit, Land Information Management Systems) and are the subject of current annual programme

3.Energy The Zimbabwe Energy Sector Resource Assessment: quantity, distribution, quality and policy options” document was completed and published in 2009.

Development of National Energy Policy, is in progress as well as efforts to address the promotion of renewable energy technologies

4.Environment National Environment Policy and Strategies Document revised , published and launched

LEAPs(local environment action plans) provincial training completed

Wildlife-Based Land Reform Policy formulated and promulgated. It has yet to be aligned and integrated into the Land Policy Review at Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement

The Project on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Traditional Medicinal Plants in Zimbabwe saw a partnership between GEF, the NGO- SAFIRE, the School of Pharmacy at

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the College of Health Science, University of Zimbabwe, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resource Management and the UNDP. The production of various reports by the partners in the execution of this project i.e. “Threatened Traditional Medicinal Plant Species From Chipinge, Chimanimani, Matobo, Bulilima and Mangwe Districts” and “traditional Medicinal Plants Species Used By Communities in Bulilima, Chimanimani, Chipinge, Mangwe and Matobo Districts”(UNDP,MENRM,SAFIRE and GEF) as well as “Results of Laboratory Studies on Traditional Medicinal Plants from Five Districts of Manicaland and Matebeleland Regions of Zimbabwe”(University of Zimbabwe) is a testimony of effective partnerships that were forged by UNDP and others.

TThhee rraannggee ooff ppaarrttnneerrss iinnddiiccaatteess tthhaatt UUNNDDPP rreeccooggnniisseedd tthhaatt ttoo aacchhiieevvee tthhee ddeessiirreedd oouuttccoommee tthheerree wwaass nneeeedd ffoorr aa mmuullttii--aaggeennccyy aapppprrooaacchh.. TThhee iimmppoorrttaannccee ooff ppaarrttnneerrsshhiippss iiss rreeccooggnniisseedd iinn tthhee SSRRFF,, wwhhiicchh rreeqquuiirreess tthhaatt CCoouunnttrryy OOffffiicceess sseett oouutt aa ppaarrttnneerrsshhiipp ssttrraatteeggyy ssttaatteemmeenntt ffoorr eeaacchh oouuttccoommee..

3.2 Towards the outputs and partnership strategy The specific programme that UNDP and its major partner the Government of Zimbabwe entered to stride towards the objective of sustainable environment and natural resources utilisation was the Energy and Environment Programme 2006-2008. There were four key core components of the programme as elaborated in table 1 below. These programme components were aimed at “development and strengthening of policies, strategies, legislation and institutions dealing with the administration and management of environmental resources”. (UNDP/GOZ PSD 2006). The programme which was implemented with an extension to 2009 was recently assessed as having been able to achieve considerable progress towards its objective as indicated in Annex V.

The overall coordination of the EEP was undertaken by a Programme Coordination Unit located in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management, funded by the UNDP. Over and above the EEP, the UNDP has been cooperating with GOZ on a number of other programmes that have a bearing on the well being of people and the environment.

During the course of this Outcomes Evaluation the team investigated progress made in the following complimentary programmes towards achievement of set goals and objectives:

3.2.1 Gender dimension of UNDP Programmes The UNDP assisted the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development to come up with a National Gender Policy which seeks to foster mainstreaming of gender perspectives in all development policies. Although it does mention environment in its discourse it was felt that this could be strengthened –an issue, alongside elements of Gender violence, HIV/AIDS-which will indeed take place in the proposed revision of the Gender Policy. Other projects that were supported by UNDP in this sector included supporting Women In Politics, Support to Women in the current Constitution –making process; Family Law Handbook and Cassava- (a drought tolerant crop) processing in Mashonaland East and Masvingo provinces. The subject matter of women and the environment is indeed a crucial one when one looks at the link between poverty and the degradation of natural resources: for instance women, in the quest for food security at the household level will cut down trees and

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sell the firewood on the road side or elsewhere, they will engage in stream bank cultivation as witnessed in urban environments to the detriment of the environment over all etc.

Due to the dearth of expertise in the subject area of Gender-mainstreaming there have been recommendations for technical assistance and use of UNDP-developed tools for training in the subject. There is also awareness-raising towards Affirmative Action-to ensure that communities benefit from natural resource exploitation in their localities.

Considerable progress was witnessed in the election of women Members of Parliament and Local Authority Councillors although the 50-50 representation has yet to be attained in all these institutions. Similarly, women’s participation access to the Land Reform Programme has been assessed as sub-optimal at below 20% of the beneficiaries both A1 (only 18%) and A2 (12%) models. (Utete Report 2003).

3.2.2 Disaster Risk Management Zimbabwe is risk prone country especially in terms of occurrence of drought and the subsequent inability to produce crops for their staple food provision. It also has some areas that are prone to flooding. Efforts by the UNDP at “Strengthening Capacity for Disaster Management in Zimbabwe project 2005-2009” through cooperation with the Department of Civil Protection, in the Ministry of Local Government were assessed to have been satisfactory. The assessment sought to revisit and validate that the “country experiences a number of hazards, primarily droughts, floods, traffic accidents, veldt fires, land mines, epidemics, lightning and heat waves, with devastating consequences” One of the outcomes of this programme is enhanced sustainable livelihoods, recovery and disaster risk reduction integrated into development planning. This is in line with the commitments under ZUNDAF and CPAP, although more could have been achieved in this direction had project activities been fully implemented. (Manikai 2009)

Although the country has not developed a definitive forward looking plan for Disaster Risk Reduction, that gives strategic directions (say as in Chile or Mozambique)-beyond the training it has made some strides at putting in place some structures that indicate intent towards that realisation. For instance, during field visit to drought-prone Chiredzi District the evaluation team met members of the Permanent Drought Relief Committee which operates under a loose Disaster Management Plan. The plan has project activities designed to lessen the impact of droughts on communities’ livelihoods through encouraging diversification in crop production towards drought tolerant crops, Conservation Farming, crocodile farming, and game farming extension in the mode of CAMPFIRE. The district is a permanent recipient of food aid every year and in the year 2008 to 2009 leading into 2010 there were high dependency ratios for Food Aid through NGOs like World Vision , Plan International other donor support.

3.2.3 Coping with Drought and Climate Change The government of Zimbabwe recognises climate change as an important issue warranting serious consideration. The project is being implemented over five years and seeks to infuse climate change concerns into livelihood strategies of small-holder farmers and policy making processes to strengthen rural communities’ resilience towards adverse impacts of climate

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variability and change. The goal of the project is to enhance the capacity of agricultural and pastoral livelihood systems in Zimbabwe to adapt to climate variability and change. The project is carrying out demonstration activities in Chiredzi District on maize, small grains, livestock feed. It is also looking at alternative livelihood options such as irrigation and the use of wildlife and wildlife products to enhance the lives of the people.

3.2.4 Traditional Medicines GOZ enacted the “Environmental Management(Access to Genetic Resources and Indigenous Resource-based Knowledge) Regulations,2009” a Statutory Instrument, as an outcome of support rendered by the UNDP to the Project on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Traditional Medicinal Plants in Zimbabwe. The regulations seek to achieve the following, inter alia:” protect the rights of local authorities and communities to their genetic materials and indigenous resource-based knowledge”. During field visits to a project site in Chimanimani an area fenced off for the purpose of demonstrating the value of conserving traditional medicinal plants in their pristine environment was observed. The weir constructed in the stream to irrigate the newly planted medicines was also benefitting the community at large in not only raising their awareness to woodland conservation but also providing water for their livestock as well. The project also developed a “Medicinal Plant Products Commercialisation Strategy”

3.2.5 UNV programme The UN Volunteer programme which currently has 19 volunteers in the country is also focussing on environment related interventions in 5 rural districts of Binga, Hwange, Bulilima, Mangwe and Zvishavane through their “Early Recovery livelihoods and HIV/Aids programme. There are five project officers assisting local communities take up local natural resource management. It is currently running the Rushinga Environmental Management Education Project: Training manual for Youth Volunteers has been developed. The manual involves training in the design of Local Environment Action Plans (LEAP), gully reclamation; dam conservation, soap making, baobab oil extraction, vegetable gardens and orchards have been promoted. It has met with the challenge of dealing in rural areas where youths were highly politicised during the run up to elections of 2008 as well as limited funds for expanding project activities.(UNV only provides start up grants of between $3000 to $6000.)

3.2.6 Analysis rating towards output and relevance to Partner Strategy Under each of the country programme outcomes, a number of outputs have been defined and key stakeholders identified for the achievement of the output. Some of the key stakeholders include FAO, UNDP, WB, UNEP, and UNICEF. Each of the key stakeholders has then worked with a number of partners on specific projects implemented on the ground by the partners, as part of the CPAP 2007-2011. In this evaluation a few of the projects undertaken by partners and the UNDP per se, have been identified and reviewed to assess their contribution to the outcomes achievement. Of course, these issues have a strong bearing on the Partner Strategy that has been used by the UNDP in the last CPAP period. Many of the initiatives undertaken address critical areas that are important to the achievement of the

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outcome, but have not run long enough in order to contribute meaningfully to the outcome. Statistics were not available to verify the extent of contribution to the outcome. Much of the work programme carried out e.g. capacity building for Management Information Systems(MIS), policy review, and land reform issues has been affected by staff attrition and political factors. The challenges highlighted show that a much more coordinated and resourced action is required to effectively address the outcome. There is also need for political will to engage with all stakeholders to resolve issues around land reform. The system of release of funds would need review now that dollarization has introduced a stable planning environment.

3.3 Areas of Best Practice Emerging from CPAP In general the projects undertaken have achieved the intended outputs to varying degrees. For those projects that have achieved the planned outputs there are a number of best practices that that can be synthesized and hopefully applied to future projects. The following have been identified as areas of best practice in relation to the overall outcome.

3.3.1 Community participation The most effective projects in sustainable management of the environment and natural resources have a very strong community participation element. This aspect has been demonstrated by the Community participation started with the where the ideas for the project stemmed from. Communities that were able to articulate their needs clearly and were able to mobilize financial and other material support with little amendment from the funding partner were able to implement their projects better than those where the project was not aligned to community needs. Successful projects were also those that had a greater degree of community cohesion as shown by the governance structures in place. In the water harvesting project in Nyanga supported by GEF SGP the different age groups in the community were represented in the governance structures. This allowed all the members of the community to understand all the components of the project and be able to buy into the project.

3.3.2 Awareness raising Each of the environment related projects has a strong awareness raising element on issues pertaining to environmental and natural resources management. Participants have been able to articulate why it is they are undertaking the various projects from an environmental point of view. There is a strong awareness of the link between environment and sustainable livelihoods. As a result of the awareness active steps have been taken by the groups to implement interventions designed to contribute to sustainable management of environment and natural resources. In Nyanga community and individual woodlots have been established to provide the community with fuel wood, timber for construction and fencing, protection of soils, and windbreaks. In Marondera there is growing awareness that the refuse in the town is unacceptable and various sections of the community have become involved in sorting of waste as a way of ensuring the various forms of solid waste are treated accordingly. In Chimanimani, the project has given a platform to various groups to raise awareness on the importance of the environment and the benefits that derive from it and how it can be best management. The project has also brought awareness to people about traditional medicinal plants, their importance, their propagation and preservation, and their potential for commercialization. Some 500 brochures and 200

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posters were produced under the coping with drought project in English and the languages spoken in the project area explaining in simple terms what the project was about.

3.3.3 Introduction of new methods The projects have introduced new methods of addressing challenges brought about by the natural environment. This is most visible in the Coping with Drought project which has pilot demonstration components focusing on optimizing rain-fed agriculture, optimizing livestock production and natural resources management. The new techniques are taught through farmer field schools and at demonstration sites located in each participating village. While the farmers have not yet tried and seen the benefits of the new techniques due to the infancy of the project, initial trials in the demonstration plots.

3.3.4 Harnessing traditional knowledge In the Nyanga and Chimanimani projects local knowledge has been incorporated into the interventions in a bid to strengthen the delivery of the projects. The people in Nyanga have a history of water harvesting using terracing and both natural and man-made water channels. The indigenous knowledge of the people can be used to design and maintain a water harvesting system that is environmentally friendly and socially acceptable. In the Traditional Medicines project, extensive use is made of the local knowledge about traditional tree species and their curative properties.

3.3.5 Publications and information dissemination Information dissemination is a strong component in all the projects with most of the projects having produced a number of publications of both a technical and a socio-economic nature. The publications have been made available to parent organization, but it could not be established how widely they had been circulated within the project communities and with other people and institutions interested in similar issues. A full list of the publications so far produced by the projects is contained in the Annex.

In addition to the points raised above that have made a positive contribution to the implementation of the projects and therefore to the attainment of the outcome, there are a number of other factors that have inhibited the performance of the projects and the attainment of the outcome.

4.0 Underlying factors beyond UNDP’s control that have influenced the Outcome Given the multiplicity of project activities financially supported by the UNDP system, encompassing the spheres of agriculture, energy land, water, capacity building for consensus building, provision of humanitarian assistance at a time when both economic food security conditions were harsh it has to be applauded that the relevance of all these to the outcome is not questionable. It is difficult to have an objective estimate of magnitude without a detailed survey being conducted to compare pre-CPAP with post-CPAP intervention. Any estimate of magnitude of relevance would be fairly subjective, suffice it to say it is deemed “High”.

As has been mentioned earlier the inclusion in both STERP, Zero Draft of the MTP of issues of sustainable natural resource use in achieving economic growth and desire to achieve livelihoods improvements for the poor is a testimony of the relevance of the outcome.

However, it is recognised that the programmes have been implemented in an environment that was characterised by hyper-inflation in the economy, political crisis that polarised society within the country and strained relations with the international donor community

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4.1 Factors Influencing UNDP contribution The UNDP programme sources its fund from its Global Funding at its headquarters for identified programmes under particular development frameworks. The main source of these funds is various donor countries. At the country level donors have a choice as to where their funds can be spent. This affects the size of the cake that UNDP can afford to distribute in-country.

Due to sensitivity relating to political developments funding for Zimbabwean development imperatives has been somewhat limited largely towards humanitarian assistance. For instance FAO is not doing its core business due to the nature of funding in this plan period. There is very little money (US$1.5million) going towards livelihood related programmes, with the bulk of resources (US$40million) going to humanitarian assistance. The donors’ preference for this bias at the moment leads to lopsided attention to development issues. The state of affairs is detrimental to the developmental process

Within the UNDP, the Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance(OCHA) has the mandate to mobilise resources for the various clusters, viz: Water(WASH sector coordinated by UNICEF):Agricultural(FAO):Early Recovery(UNDP);Protection including Gender and HIV/AIDS(UNHCR):Nutrition(UNICEF):Health(WHO) and Food Security(WFP). These are supported to develop their priorities along well coordinated cluster concept and supported to mobilise resources through the Consolidated Appeal Process.(CAP) It has been noted that within ZUNDAF there is perception that “humanitarian assistance” is not as “developmental” and yet the reality on the ground shows that “disasters are a miscarriage of development policy and action” (OCHA). Hence despite the presence of OCHA at the meetings on design of STERP and indeed the Zero Draft MTP the discussion on the significance of “humanitarian assistance” has been down played. It is also paramount that environmental considerations which are cross-cutting should be included in all interventions

There has been misunderstanding between MOAMID and FAO caused by the UN system of funds disbursement relating to payment of suppliers. The current system pays suppliers directly but there are severe delays leading to suppliers breaking off relations with MOAMID and MOAMID accusing FAO of withholding approved funds.

In the various partnerships for delivery of assistance there have been occasional misunderstandings on how and what form financial assistance should take. Whilst certain beneficiary institutions (i.e. EMA, Civil Protection) feel the UN system should pay for both brick and mortar projects directly and where possible provide building materials like wheel barrows, protective clothing for the community builders, and pay for the paper and pens used during training workshops, and yet certain rules UN preclude such funding arrangements. The reality of these misunderstandings needs to be clarified at the signing of MOUs for the good of all.

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5.0 Gaps and Areas needing attention to improve contribution of outputs to outcome

By way of conclusions and recommendations this section lays out some identified gaps and issues that would need attention in preparation for the next CPAP and ZUNDAF programmes.

Scale of projects

It is the evaluators’ view that the majority of projects funded by the UNDP have been too small and too few to make any significant contribution to sustainable environmental and natural resources management. The learning value from single projects is also limited unless there is a well planned roll-out of similar projects or replication within a very short interval of each other. Projects should also be focused in one geographical area at a time in order to make the greatest impact. This point was raised in relation to the Traditional Medicines project where it was felt that implementing several small projects across the country was not beneficial in that resources became too thinly spread for any real success to be made. The amounts of money disbursed by UNDP for the majority of projects were too small. The limited size of funding meant that activities were not completed in the allocated time. No plans had been put in place by the implementing partners to raise other funding to ensure that all activities were completed.

Project duration

For projects that have a significant component requiring community participation, community mobilization and community demonstration, the timeframe under which they were implemented was too short. The existence of multiple partners in each project also exacerbated the problem. The problem was particularly felt in the Traditional Medicines project where the performance of partners determined the progress of the project.

Private Sector and NGOs/CSOs

The private sector has often taken a back seat when it comes to environmental and natural resources management issues, but given that the Zimbabwean economy is based largely on the exploitation of natural resources and that the private sector is at the forefront of such activities in the form of mining, timber production, agriculture and a whole host of other activities, it is important that the private sector becomes involved. The private sector has invested significantly in human and technical capacity which could be used contribute to local environmental and natural resources management initiatives such as tree planting. A forum through which the private sector and the NGOs can bring together their considerable skills and resources could be formed. Such a forum could also be used engage policy makers on environmental issues.

Facilitate Research and Development

Following the decline in capacity of universities and other research institutions in Zimbabwe, the private sector is in the best position to become a vehicle through which research and development funding can be channelled. There are opportunities for development of appropriate energy solutions such as improved wood stoves, biogas digesters and the attendant equipment, wind energy, solar energy for both heating and lighting, and power generation from waste. Partnerships could be developed with municipalities to harness the energy from landfills. Creative funding arrangements spearheaded by the private sector could also be piloted and could help solve the country’s energy problems. In this regard Clean Development Mechanisms could be explored as funding vehicles for

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some of the less economically straightforward initiatives. The current global interest in bio-fuels could also be exploited through the development super estates where sugar cane can be grown for bio-fuel, sugar, and energy generation using baggasse. Numerous other spin offs with both economic and social benefits could be developed from such a scheme.

Creation of strategic partnerships

The environment needs to be looked at as whole system capable of producing both economic and social goods and services for if the right kinds of interventions are made. Looking at the environment as part of a system enables the role of different players to be assessed and factored into the big picture. The issue of sustainable environment and natural resources management requires the combined efforts of all the stakeholders in the economy. The private sector, NGOs and research institutions would contribute through establishing baselines for various environment challenges, which can then be channelled to policies makers to create an enabling environment through policy and legislation to facilitate the entry of local communities, the private sector, parastatals and NGOs in implementing given projects. All these interventions would then require the involvement of both local and international funders to support the projects on the ground. A formalised tripartite forum on natural resource management could be formed as a self governing, fully funded body tasked with making the best use of the natural resources available in a sustainable manner.

Regular policy and legislative review

The various policy frameworks on sustainable environment and natural resources management need to be regularly reviewed and harmonised to ensure that they are all relevant for the issues at hand and all speak with a common, united voice.

It was observed that although environmental protocols have been signed on forestry, wildlife, mining and shared water resources –at the international level-there is a great need to improve the domestication of these instruments as a way of eradicating natural resource conflict at the local level. This is an area of possible future UNDP programming

Over and above the inclusion of environmental issues in the New National Constitution and Medium Term Plan making process it is recommended that other forward-looking policies that govern socio- economic life, in particular as it affects ordinary rural citizens should be reviewed in order to protect their economic rights. These areas of possible intervention should include. key legal and administrative issues on access to information and public participation in the mining sector: focus on economic aspects protecting the environmental, economic, social and cultural rights of communities in mining areas

The grip that the land reform debate has had on the national development discourse in the last ten years has been immense. Although it has mentioned the negative consequences to the environment, such as increase in forest fires, rampant tree cutting and wildlife depletion-there has not been sufficient prognosis on how environmental concerns can be mainstreamed in the immediate future. In the amplification of the Terms of Reference for the Land Audit –environmental care of agricultural lands should be highlighted and supported.

More latitude should be given to NGOs/CSOs

NGOs are often driven by a passion to see a particular cause develop and mature to bring relief to local communities who are often unable to speak or act for themselves due to a number of constraints.

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The NGOs often have a very good knowledge and working relationship with the local communities and are in a better position to be able to guide development in the various areas. They are, however, frequently under-funded and driven by agenda that are external to their operating environment. The drivers of programming often do not fully appreciate the complexity and time required to empower a community to be able to stand on its own. As a result when funding is given it is for a very short time and before the interventions or projects have begun to bear fruit more attractive funding areas open leaving projects unfinished. NGOs and CBOs should be given more latitude to determine what is funded and how long it is funded for. Stricter monitoring guidelines and systems can be put in place to ensure funds are properly utilised.

UNDP should support more SGP- like mechanisms rather than be involved in direct funding of projects

The GEF-SGP presents one of the more successful funding models in local level partnerships for implementation of global conventions. The model is more grassroots oriented with the NSC comprising members from CBOs. Its close proximity to the people needing assistance allows it to better identify and facilitate the implementation of projects. Its capacity to disburse funds directly to applicants it has worked with prior to funding improves the chances of success as communities have greater control over funds. The UNDP could identify NGOs with good on-ground coverage and potential to reach the widest number of CBOs and fully capacitate the NGO to take the role of a disbursement agent for UNDP funds. The request by various people interviewed during the evaluation was that funds take too long to come out of UNDP even if the annual work plan has been approved. Where UNDP pays the vendors directly there is often great dissatisfaction from the vendors and in a number of instances services have been withdrawn because of delays in payment.

Environmental Monitoring and Assessments

The last progress report on the Zimbabwe Millennium Development Goals was published in 2004.It is one of the definitive documents that report on Goal 1, and 7 pertaining to Social Development, and a Agriculture; and Environment, respectively. The State Of the Environment Report (SOER) is a very vital tool in the monitoring of impacts on the environment. It was supposed to be published in 2007 but its production has been plagued by a series of hurdles to date.

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Figure 1: Promotion of conservation agriculture as a strategy used to counter climate change and a means of coping with drought: Source Guruve SAT site

Environmental linkages with poverty, governance and climate change, mitigation and adaptation

Despite countless projects over the years, local governance structures in the rural areas continue to be a major challenge in the successful implementation of projects. Governance structures are weak and fragmented making it difficult to operate effectively in these areas. The Rural District Councils need to strengthen their ability to engage with NGOs operating in the districts so as to harmonise project implementation and build synergies from the NGO interventions. Funding needs to be sought from both government and the donor community for capacity building of councils. The councils also need to work closely with EMA and the MENRM to ensure protection of the environment. EMA’s ability to police environmental issues, including the issuing and collection of fines for environment related offences needs to be strengthened. Resources generated through the fines need to be ploughed back into environmental protection at district level and should not be incorporated into the national fiscus. Strong environmental protection is required in the face of rising rural poverty. It has been proved that there is a strong link between poverty and increased environmental damage as people exploit natural resources such as firewood, alluvial mining, wood for crafts, and land for more agriculture in a bid to make ends meet. To deal with the linkages described above, additional measures can be put in place as follows:

• Simplified, non technical information must be produced and distributed at various community centres to ensure that people are kept informed about environment issues and the best ways to respond to the challenges being raised. This particularly important with issues of climate change as these are fairly new to people

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• A national climate change mitigation and adaptation strategic framework supported by a legal framework and financial resources is required

• A national energy policy needs to be put in place as a matter of urgency • Continued food handouts in many rural areas needs to be reviewed and measures put in place

to end it through a concerted and coordinated support of agriculture and natural resources management

• A platform for environmental lobbying and advocacy is required to keep the critical issues alive in the plans of policy makers and funding agencies

5.2 Proposed Strategies for continuing UNDP programming Alignment of planning frameworks

The ZUNDAF and CPAP are good starting blocks for further programming in the country. In order to improve the planning frameworks, greater participation in the planning process by all stakeholders is required. This will ensure that all stakeholders have a sense of ownership of the processes and the outputs resulting from the plans drawn up.

Whilst it is clear that the frameworks only give indicative areas of intervention there should be greater alignment to the Government identified priorities as enunciated in the MTP and STERP II.

The divide between Humanitarian and Developmental assistance as far as on the ground is concerned, seems, often, non-existent, especially when one considers the view that the two are flipsides of the same coin. For instance if the response from OCHA to a drought issue is promotion of conservation farming and that from UNDP is promoting the same under Coping With Drought and Climate change-then there is no difference to the beneficiary community as to who or how it is being funded. It therefore, behoves of UNDP, s programming system to be more synchronised at the national level to take advantage of synergies and avoidance of gaps especially in geographic coverage and intensity.

Establish a local environment and natural resources management fund

The evaluation has established that the process of funding local environment related initiatives through the UNDP is long and cumbersome. There are often delays in the release of funds even when annual work plans have been approved. The amounts of funding allocated to some of the initiatives are often too small to complete all agreed activities leading to semi completed projects. In future programming UNDP should consider localising funding decisions by setting up a mechanism that receives and assesses applications for funding from registered NGOs. Alternatively, the UNDP could work for the independence of the SGP so that it becomes the vehicle for channelling funds on environment.

Adopt an annual sector funding approach

UNDP should consider focussing its resources in a given year to a specific sector of the environment for greater impact. The current method of funding of several, small, dispersed initiatives does not make for much impact in the long run. By concentrating resources in one

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sector each year or over a three year period greater impact may be achieved. Sectors would be chosen on the basis of need or importance to overall national development. A committee of local NGOs, government, and representatives from the UN agencies working in environment could be used to select sectors for funding.

Support various soft initiatives on environment

. In the future UNDP needs to consider funding dedicated programmes on information generation, collation, analysis, storage and dissemination to support the physical projects on the ground. Such information needs to have a long shelf life so that it can be continuously available to the public. Dedicated information resource centres on environment need to be set up in all the districts with ease of access by the general public. Funding should also be given to environmental lobby and advocacy campaigns spearheaded by both NGOs and CBOs.

Support for definitive policies and legislation on climate change and energy

A national climate change policy and supporting legislation will ensure that climate change issues are discussed and planned for as part of national development planning. Elevating climate change issues will ensure that they are considered for allocation of national resources through the national annual budget. Climate specific legislation would also help strengthen initiatives in climate change. The same needs to be done for the energy policy that has been in limbo for many years.

The bottom line in all these recommendations is the need for a holistic, well resourced, nationally supported, long term and sustainable programme by UNDP.

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Annex I: Terms of Reference UNDP ZIMBABWE

Terms of Reference (TOR) for Outcome Evaluation

“Sustainable management of environment and natural resources incorporated into poverty reduction strategies/key national development frameworks and sector

strategies”

1. INTRODUCTION

In line with the evaluation plan for the Country Programme Outline (CP) in Zimbabwe, the Country Office (CO) is preparing to carry out this Outcome Evaluation, which is scheduled for 2010. The evaluation exercise will cover several related projects and initiatives that contribute to the attainment of the outcome. The results framework for the outcome is summarized below:

Intended Outcome: Sustainable management of environment and natural resources incorporated into poverty reduction strategies/key national development frameworks and sector strategies.

Outcome Indicators:

Indicator 1: The Number of key national frameworks/sector strategies formulated and or revised to incorporate environmental concerns.

Indicator 2: Number of environmental conflicts managed and or resolved amicably. Baselines:

Baseline 1: Key national development frameworks and sector strategies not adequately incorporating environmental issues.

Baseline 2: Explicit conflicts arising from use and sharing of natural resources. Baseline 3: Increasing poverty levels over-rides environmental considerations..

Outcome evaluations move away from the old approach of assessing project results against project objectives, towards an assessment of how these results contribute, together with the assistance of partners, to a change in development conditions. Outcome evaluations work backwards from the outcome; they take the outcome as their starting point and then assess a number of variables.

Given that there was no official evaluation of this component in the course of the implantation of the CCF 2001-2003, the focus will be on the combined impact achieved as a result of implementation of this outcome during this period as well as during its extension up to 2006.

Four pillars provide UNDP’s involvement in this Outcome. These are: (i) the Millennium Declaration and the MDGs, which represent the overarching basis for all UNDP activities;

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(ii) the country-level demand for UNDP support, as negotiated in the CCA and ZUNDAF; (iii) the Secretary General’s reform programme, which places UNDP in a compelling position to coordinate and provide coherence to all UN activities at country level; and (iv) the transformation of UNDP in terms of operational effectiveness.

This outcome is now being evaluated because …….

Environmental Profile in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has been going through a transformation over the past few years. This transformation has centered on the need to change the land ownership structure and introduce land reforms that will see a more equitable distribution of the land resources.

The lack of a consensus on the approaches used in implementing land reforms in the country has seen a polarization of positions between the Government and other domestic stakeholders as well as between the Government and the international donor community.

The macro-economic difficulties that the country is facing, coupled with challenge associated with the country’s land reform programme has seen the suspension of bilateral and multilateral aid programmes for the country. In turn, this has led to a decline in economic performance and a scarcity of foreign exchange.

Provision of social services and the importation of liquid fuels that are a major energy source have been severely curtailed. This development has exacerbated the poverty situation in the country and put a lot of strain on environmental resources on which a majority of poor population depends for livelihood.

Although a comprehensive State of the Environment Report was produced in 1998, developments since then have impacted on environmental resources of the country. The current situation in the country requires that a comprehensive outcome evaluation of the environment situation be carried out, and reviews the sector policies and their impacts on the environment, the environmental challenges posed by the country’s land reform programme, as well as environmental planning and implementation capacity at both national and local level.

Programme overview

UNDP through special funds under the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), United Nations Office to Combat Desertification (UNSO) and the Montreal Protocol has supported the building of national institutional and technical capacity for the implementation of various multilateral agreements to which Zimbabwe is a party.

UNDP has always spearheaded the implementation of international conventions at national level. The strategy of UNDP is to maintain this position and to intensify the cooperation with key donors in the field of environment, in order to facilitate the incorporation of global environmental concerns and commitments into national development planning, taking into

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consideration the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio in 1992 and the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg in 2002.

UNDP Zimbabwe seeks to contribute to this Outcome through the following key strategic directions and project portfolio:

a. Emergency Support to Land Reform and Agriculture Development project, in its two components: 1) Institutional Strengthening of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and 2) Rehabilitation and Development of Irrigation.

b. GEF Small Grants Programme c. BASAP d. Traditional Medicines e. MDG and PASS II – aimed at improving national capacity to monitor poverty. f. Conflict Transformation g. NPRS/Strengthening National Capacities for Macro-Economic Management –

includes support to sector policy formulation and the Environment will be an integral part of this.

h. Coping with Drought & Climate Change i. Rule of Law, Dialogue Project and Conflict project PoZ (regarding legislation of

policies – land portfolio committee) j. Africa 2000 k. UNV/UNCCD (Youth Project) l. UNV/UNCCD (Youth Project)

UN System Coordination

For the period 2005-2009, the UN Country Team has identified 5 priority areas of support. The selection of the priority areas for UN intervention was based on criteria that included the comparative advantage of the UN system, the persistence and scope of particular socio-economic trends and the extent to which interventions address vulnerability and disparities within groups.

“Agriculture, Land and Environment” was identified as one of the key programming areas requiring development assistance in the 2005-2009 ZUNDAF. Even though ZUNDAF has not yet been adopted formally, it is considered to be the key instrument of development framework for the UNCT.

In 2002, the Government of Zimbabwe and the UN Country Team established a framework to ensure effective coordination between the two, and created five thematic groups that operate at the technical level. The Agriculture, Land and Environment?????? is one of these Thematic Groups.

The Thematic Groups provide a basis for regular joint reviews by the Government of Zimbabwe and the UNCT, and seek to maximize synergies both between GoZ and the UN system, and between UN agencies internally.

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At the core of the effort to streamline the activities of the various Un Agencies in Zimbabwe is the Resident Coordinator mechanism that plays a critical role in maintaining dialogue with GoZ and in mobilizing resources for the agencies.

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE EVALUATION

In an environment in which UNDP is seeking to position itself as a broker of ideas, a catalyst for innovations and a guardian of the principles of country-owned development, there is an urgent need to develop instruments for learning and knowledge management. This shift from traditional evaluation for effectiveness and efficiency to one of accountability and learning is therefore an important one.

The purpose of the evaluation is to assess, within the context of the MDGs /Country Priorities, UNDP’s critical role in the achievement of this key outcome in Zimbabwe

More specifically the evaluation will assess UNDP Zimbabwe’s role in the context of the challenges described above and the extent to which it brought to bear its resources to respond to the Environmental Preservation challenge in the country.

The evaluation will assess the outcomes of UNDP’s strategy, programmes and projects in addressing environmental issues in Zimbabwe, including policy advice, knowledge management and coordination issues. It will also assess UNDP Zimbabwe’s partnership and funding strategies and role as a co-sponsor (of other UN Agencies/Donors ???). The evaluation will identify gaps, if any lessons learned and propose future directions,

It will also assess to what extent UNDP, and its role as the RC has been successful in coordinating and implementing joint actions to address Environmental issues and the contribution to MDG 7: the role it played as a partner and how effectively it carried out, will also need to be evaluated. It will finally look at the extent to which UNDP with other partners is assisting in developing realistic and achievable targets. How did UNDP influence to contribute to the sustainable management of the environment.

The evaluation shall proceed through three levels of engagement: i) Policy level engagements with implementing partners in Government, civil society and other service delivery agencies, and iii) citizen’s engagements, primarily through focus-group discussions.

3. SCOPE OF THE EVALUATION

Key Evaluation Questions

Is the UNDP’s approach to sustainable environment and natural resources management an appropriate intervention in Zimbabwe

To what extent has the outcome been achieved How efficient has the implementation of the strategy approach been? To what extent are the benefits of this intervention likely to be sustained beyond

UNDP Support?

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The evaluation will be strategic in nature and forward-looking. It will cover the period beginning from 2000 with the introduction of Zimbabwe CO SRFs and will include an outlook into budgeted activities that are either on-going or have not yet begun.

Specifically this evaluation will determine the following.

Outcome status: whether or not the outcome has been achieved and, if not, whether there has been progress made towards its achievement. Innovative approaches and capacities developed through UNDP assistance will need to be listed, and the relevance of UNDP outputs to the outcome will need to be assessed. The progress made in relation to the outputs will have to be ascertained, with the factors (positive and negative) that affected the accomplishment of outputs listed. Good practices and what works or does not work will be highlighted, drawing lessons and promoting their application to policy and practice relating to future UNDP initiatives.

Underlying factors: analysis of the underlying factors beyond UNDP’s control that influenced the outcome. Substantive design issues will be distinguished from key implementation and/or management capacities and issues including the timeliness of outputs, the degree of stakeholders and partners; involvement in the completion of outputs, and how processes were managed/carried out will be reviewed.

UNDP contribution: the relevance of the outcome and the constituent components specifically for UNDP assistance. It will determine whether or not UNDP funded outputs and other interventions – including outputs, soft and hard assistance – can be credibly linked to the achievement of the outcome. It will assess the likelihood of the achievement of the outcome within the set timeframe and inputs, and will ascertain the perspective of sustainability of UNDP interventions related to the outcome – it will answered if it can be ensured that the outcome is reached and maintained even after UNDP inventions.

Partnership strategy: whether UNDP’s partnership strategy has been appropriate and effective; what were the partnerships formed; what was the role of UNDP; how did the partnership contribute to the achievement of the outcome; what was the level of stakeholders; participation; and examine the partnership among UN Agencies and other donor organizations in the relevant field.

UNDP Zimbabwe’s role and contributions in advocacy, in promoting a multi-sect oral response and in capacity development will be assessed, including the extent to which its support has helped to make progress towards the Millennium Development Goal 7 – Ensure Environmental Sustainability – to know if UNDP is targeting the right things and doing things right. Further, UNDP Zimbabwe’s potential role to increase synergies between activities to scale-up environmental sustainability and monitor the MDGs for society-wide impact will be identified and assessed.

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4. PRODUCTS EXPECTED FROM THE EVALUATION

(a) The key product expected from this outcome evaluation is a comprehensive analytical report in English of not more than 40 (excluding annexes) pages that should include the following contents:

• Executive summary; (maximum 5 pages) • Introduction; • Description of the evaluation methodology; • Analysis of the situation with regard to the outcome, the outputs and the

partnership strategy; a rating on progress towards outcomes and progress towards outputs, and a rating on the relevance of the outcome;

• Key findings (including best practices and lessons learned concerning best and worst practices in producing outputs, linking them to outcomes and using partnerships strategically);

• Strategies for continuing UNDP assistance towards the outcome; • Conclusions and recommendations for formulating future assistance in the

outcome if warranted; • Annexes: ToRs, field visits, people interviewed, documents reviewed, etc. • Methodology (to be approved by UNDP before evaluation proceeds) • Evaluation plan.

(b) An Inception Report (c) An outline for the future UNDP intervention in the area based on the

recommendations.

5. PROCESS AND METHODOLOGY

The evaluation team has certain flexibility to adapt the evaluation methodology to better suit the purposes of the evaluation exercise. They are expected to apply the following approaches for data collection and analysis:

i. Desk review of existing documents and materials; (to be provided by UNDP) ii. Interviews with partners and stakeholders (including gathering the information on

what the partners have achieved with regard to the outcome and what strategies they have used);

iii. Field visits to selected sites; and iv. Briefing and debriefing sessions with UNDP and the Government, as well as with

other donors and partners. The evaluation team leader will produce a fully fledged methodology and have this accepted before the evaluation starts.

6. DOCUMENTS TO BE REVIEWED

The following documents should be reviewed by the evaluators:

Zimbabwe Country Office Strategic Results Frameworks 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Result Oriented Annual Report for 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

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Multi-Year Funding Framework 2000-2003 and 2004-2007. CCF 2000 -2003 Common Country Assessment 2004 Draft UNDAF for the period 2005 – 2009 UNDAF matrices 2003 – 2004 UNDP Handbook on Monitoring and Evaluation for Results and the Results

Management section of the UNDP User Guide UNDP Guidelines for Outcome Evaluators Results-Based M & E Framework for Outcome 4 UNDP Results-Based Management: Technical Note Country Programme Project Documents and relevant reports Other relevant documents and materials related to the outcome from the government,

donors, etc. Outcome Evaluation Guidelines.

7. COMPOSITION OF THE EVALUATION TEAM

The evaluation team will comprise of two independent members who were at no point directly associated with the design and implementation of any of the activities associated with the Outcome.

These will be an international development sustainable livelihood strategies, integrated planning outcome evaluation expert, a development consultant with knowledge and experience in RBM, Evaluation, Environment and natural resources management and a national management development consultant (Environmentalist) with strategic and programme and poverty reduction skills/experience.

Although a high level of commitment is being exhibited to shift away from traditional project evaluation to outcome evaluation, the methodology is not yet firmed anchored at the corporate level in UNDP. There is the need to build familiarity among the Evaluation team members on the use of outcome evaluation approaches and the application of diverse tools for data collection. Therefore, the international consultant will have experience in Results-Based M & E and will initially train the national consultants on the outcome evaluation methodology. This is a crucial form of building capacity for ensuring that the skills for evaluation are utilized locally and shared globally.

The international consultant will be designated at Team Leader and will have the responsibility for:

The overall co-ordination of the evaluation,

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Building familiarity among the Evaluation team members on the use of outcome evaluation approaches and the application of diverse tools for data collection, and

Ensuring final coherence of the report, both in terms of content and presentation.

Each of the consultants should have not less than ten years of professional development experience and be competent and experienced in some of the following areas;

- Results-Based Management - Project design, management and implementation - Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation - Experience with development management/organizational capacity building

programming - Qualifications in economic development, development planning, sustainable natural

resources management, sciences or related fields. - Knowledge and competencies/experience in development, policy analysis - Experience in development assistance and technical cooperation - Knowledge of UNDP procedures and programme implementation strategies will be an

asset. - Good report writing skills - Advanced computer literacy.

The Team Leader will be allocated 26 working days and the other consultants ……. Working days each for the evaluation assignment.

8. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGMENTS

UNDP Zimbabwe through the M & E Task Force and ELSU will be responsible for coordinating, organizing and managing the evaluation.

The Regional Evaluation Adviser will provide guidance and quality assure the independence of the evaluation process and product. The Programme staff members will be responsible for liaising with partners, logistical backstopping and providing relevant documentation and feedback to the evaluation team. Project partners will be duly informed of the upcoming outcome evaluation in order to provide substantive information and subsequent recommendations.

A plenary meeting with partners and stakeholders, including Government representatives to validate findings, lessons learned and recommendations will be held 1 working day prior to the scheduled completion date of the evaluation mission.

9. TIMETABLE

The evaluation will be undertaken over a period of 52 person days commencing in … in accordance with the following time frame:

Activity Days Date Responsibility

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UNDP internal meeting to review zero draft of the TORs.

2 M & E Task Force and Heads of Units

Submission of draft TORs to UNDP EO with request for comments and suggestions of CVs for the international consultant.

5 ELSU

Meeting to discuss and sign off on draft outcome evaluation TORs & clearance

1 M & E Task Force, ELSU & DRR

TORs revised to incorporate amendments. 2 ELSU/M&E Task Force

Letter informing projects and partners about outcome evaluation with TORs.

DRR

Preparation and signature of contracts by consultants/travel arrangements etc

8 ELSU/ESFU/AHRU/ SSA Committee

Fielding of outcome evaluation Team briefing discussions, outcome evaluation training, literature review of secondary data/information, questionnaires design field visits.

7 M & E Task Force/Heads of Units/RR/DRR/ Evaluation Team

Consultations/interviews with selected partners and stakeholders

6 Evaluation Team

Visits to the field 6 Evaluation Team

Preparation of draft report 5 Evaluation Team

Presentation of preliminary draft report and findings to ELSU, M&E Task Force and RR/DRR

1 Evaluation Team

Stakeholder meeting to review draft outcome evaluation report, Stakeholder meeting to be recorded (letters of invitation accompanied by draft report).

1 M & E Team/ELSU/ ORR signs invitation letter, organizes venue etc.

Finalization of outcome evaluation report to incorporate the recommendations of the stakeholder meeting

3 Team Leader/ Evaluation Team

Discussion of draft final outcome evaluation report to M & E Task Force UNDP C).

1 Team Leader

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Dissemination of review report DRR

10 COST AND FINANCING

The following anticipated costs of the review mission will be financed by UNDP in terms of Project ……..

Breakdown of the resources required for:

National/regional consultants – professional fees International Consultant – professional fees, international travel costs and DSA costs Local travel costs and DSA Workshop costs

Evaluation Plan

1. Review documents = 4 days 2. Meeting with UNDP to review TORs, Workplan deliverables and key evaluation

questions = 1 day 3. Field Work/Interviews with key informants = 8 days 4. Travel time to provinces if necessary = 2 days 5. Preliminary findings presentations = 1 day 6. Analysis = 5 days 7. Writing first draft = 3 days 8. Review of first draft by stakeholders (1 week) no payment for this period 9. Finalization of Evaluation Report = 2 days 10. Total number of paid days = 26 days x 2

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Annex II: Itinerary of Field Visits Field Visits

Date Venue Projects Organisations Involved

23 February 2010 Marondera Marondera Waste Management

23 February 2010 Nyanga Water catchment/chingwa stoves

Chida Trust( and met with CSO on the field visit)

24 February Chimanimani Traditional Medicines Garden

Mr Gwenzi of Dziyashumba Traditional Medicines Association

25 February Chiredzi Disaster Mitigation and Coping with Drought

Chiredzi Local Committee for Disaster Management/EMA

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Annex III: People Interviewed People seen or interviewed

Name Designation Institution Location 1.Mr A Made ELSU Officer UNDP Harare 2.M Shoko Programme Coordinator MET Harare 3.M Viriri Environment Stats Officer CSO Harare 4.Mrs Mungate Dep Director CSO Harare 5.J H Mupamhanga Permanent Secretary MoEPD Harare 6.B. Munyaradzi Director(Policy) MoEPD Harare 7.R.Tirivanhu Acting Director–Renewables MoEPD Harare 8.Mrs M Chasi Director General EMA Harare 9 M Maturure Env Officer EMA Harare 10. Z Manyangadze Acting Chief Hydrologist MWRDM Harare 11. Mr Mujeki Villager with bio-gas digester Beneficiary Musani,

Chipinge 12.Mrs W.Magava Programme Assistant UNDP Harare 13. Ms Makhuyana Env Officer EMA Bikita 14. Mrs Hungwe Farmer Beneficiary Zizhou-

Maturure Bikita

15. Mr. Maturure Farmer Beneficiary Zizhou-Maturure

16.Mrs K Mhlanga Coordinator GEF Harare 17. Mr O.Mugweni Coordinator Africa 2000 Harare 18. Mr Matimba Dep. Director MLRR Harare 19. Mr I D Kunene Director MENRM Harare 20. Mr Kuona Energy Technical Officer MoEPD Harare 21. Mr G.Mharadze Environment Officer ZERO Nyanga 22.Mt T Mundoga Officer MENRM Nyanga 23. Mr M Dhliwayo Law Officer ZELA Nyanga

24. Ms M Pega Planning Officer SIRDC Nyanga

25. Ms B. Madziwa Staff Member GEF/SGP Nyanga

26 Mr J Tasosa Director ZIMNET Nyanga

27.Mrs Whindizi Director Mwenezi D.T.C Nyanga

28.Ms D Mbedzi Officer Painted Dog Conservation Society

Nyanga

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29. Mr M Tamanikwa Env Scientist IES Nyanga

30.Mr G.Chibhememe Chairman Chibhememe E.H.Association

Nyanga

31.Ms N Makoho Officer Action Aid Nyanga

32. Mr. Gwenzi (plus two sons)

Chairman Dziyashumba T.H. Assoc

Chimanimani

33.Mr Mugodi Env. Officer EMA Chiredzi

34.Insp. Nyabadza District Police Inspector ZRP Chiredzi

35.Mr. Nyede Asst District Administrator Local Govt. Chiredzi

36. Mr. Poshai District Agric Extension Officer

AGRITEX Chiredzi

37. Mr. J Mattern UNV Coordinator UNVC Harare

38. Ms N. Drysdale Programme Officer UNICEF Harare

39.Ms D. Nyamukapa Gender Officer UNDP Harare

40.Mr N Samu Parliamentary Programme Coordinator

Parliament of Zimbabwe

Harare

41. Mr K M Chokuda Dep Clerk Parliament of Zimbabwe

Harare

42 Mr A Mabwe Publicity Officer EMA Marondera

43. Mr Makarichi Env Scientist EMA Marondera

44. Ms M Murwa Provincial Secretary EMA Marondera

45.Mr Mudyariwa D E Officer EMA Marondera

46.Mr P. Sharara Student EMA Marondera

47. Mr Chaponda Municipal Health Officer Marondera T.C Marondera

48. Mr T. Muyanduki Town Planning Technician Marondera T.C Marondera

49.Mr. D Mfote Programme Officer FAO Harare

50. Mr. Pawadyira Director; Civil Protection Local Govt. Harare

51. Dr. L. Unganayi Coordinator CwDCC/EMA Harare

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52. Mr. P. Ncube Officer OCHA/UNDP Harare

53..Ms D. Mukarakate ELSU Programme Officer ELSU/UNDP Harare

54. Mr M Moyo Programme Officer ELSU/UNDP Harare

55.Dr A. Zinanga Programme Officer UNDP Harare

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Annex IV: Documents Reviewed Documents reviewed

Marondera Municipality: Proposed Land Fill: Environment Impact Assessment. Draft Report. ARUP. Zimbabwe March 2009 Marondera: Municipality: Preliminary Design Report ARUP Zimbabwe.2009 September 2009 National Environmental Policy and Strategies. MENRM.GOZ. June 2009 Manual for Environmental Officers’ Environmental Management Agency July 2007 Zimbabwe Energy Sector Resource Assessment; quantity, distribution, quality and policy option. MoEPD/UNDP 2008 Zimbabwe Energy Sector Resource Assessment: A Summary. MoEPD/UNDP 2008 National Climate Change Awareness and Dialogue workshop .MENRM and UNDP Feb 2009 Zimbabwe Review Report for the seventeenth Session of United Nation’s Commission on Sustainable Development –CSD 17. MENRM May 2008 Report on the wildlife Crime Awareness Workshop held at Hwange Safari Lodge from 14-18 Sept.2009. National Parks and Wildlife Agency Report on the Dissemination of the Wildlife-Based Land reform Policy Workshops (5 reports as dated) Masvingo 30 Oct 2007;Gweru 6th Dec 2007; Gwanda 7th Dec 2007;Chinhoyi 18th Oct 2008; Marondera 25th Oct 2008. By P Gondo, Facilitator Support Document for Energy and Environment Programme 2006-2008: UNDP-GOZ 2006? Zimbabwe United Nations Development Assistance Framework 2007-2011. GOZ-UNDP 2007. Assessment of Surface Water Resources of Zimbabwe and Guidelines for Planning: UNDP and MWRDM 2009 Final Report on Stakeholder Inputs into Capacity Building Strengthening of Catchment Councils and Decentralisation; Eng. M Chidziva. UNDP and Department of Water Resources; September 2008 Proceedings of the Workshop on Strengthening Land Policy Framework. Kadoma. GOZ (MLRR) June 2006 Proceedings of the Workshop on strengthening Land Policy Framework. Kadoma 14-16 June 2006.MLRR. 2006

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Energy Audits in Small and Medium Enterprises in Zimbabwe: Mid Term Reports; scientific and Industrial Research and development (SIRDC) and MoEPD October 2007 Biogas Technology in Botswana: A Sociological Evaluation. Teedzani Woto jnr.for the Rural Industries Promotions and Rural Industries Innovation Centre (Kanye) Botswana. April 1998 Small Biogas Plants: Design, Management and Use: Technical Systems For Agriculture series: S Valerian and CK Silayo. UNDP’OPS October 1992. Socio-Economic Aspects of Biogas Technology in Zimbabwe. D. U.Matirekwe. ZERO Regional Environment Organisation. December 1997

Other documents reviewed which give invaluable background information on the UNDP Global programmes and adopted evaluation practices and techniques in recent periods included the following:

• UNDP strategic plan 2008,2011: accelerating global progress on human development

• RBM in UNDP: Technical Note; Knowing the What and the How

• Strategy and Management Review; Regional Bureau for Africa. New York ,May 2006

• Evaluation of Results-Based Management at UNDP: Achieving Results. Evaluation Office. UNDP. December 2007

• Guidelines for Outcome Evaluators: Monitoring and Evaluation Companion Series #1. UNDP Evaluation Office

• Evaluation of UNDP Outcome in Moldovia of Capacities and Partnerships of Local Governance Actors developed in Urban/Rural Areas For Transparent and Accountable Policy Formulation, Service Delivery and Resource Management. A Muravschi and E. Whist. Chisanau and Oslo. December 2005

• Outcome Evaluation Report: Sustainable Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration of Ex-Combatants and Conversion of Military Assets to Civilian Use”.A.Kannangara, N Solijonov and S Khoshmukhamedov. Tajikistan. December 2003/January 2004

• Evaluation Report: Strengthening Capacity For Disaster Management in Zimbabwe Project 2005-2009. G.I Manikai. Best Practices Pvt.Ltd. for UNDP 2010

• . Evaluation of the Energy and Environment Programme 2006-2009. M.J.M Nyoni UNDP December 2009

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Annex V: Assessment of EEP outcomes in summary Assessment of EEP outcomes in summary

Component Indicator Observation and Assessment Component 1: Water resources

Indicator 1: Water policy and legal frameworks strengthened Indicator 2: Water Information systems strengthened Indicator 3: Capacity for effective governance strengthened

The project funded the revision of the Assessment of Surface Water Resources of Zimbabwe and Guidelines for Planning. This had been initially written in 1984.The final consultants report was completed in 2009 Water Act reviewed The Assessment of Water Resources Book has been produced but is still to be launched and shared with all stakeholders, including those that contributed to its up- dating. This activity was not carried out. Seven workshops were held with all Catchment Councils as part of “Stakeholder Inputs into Capacity Building Strengthening of Catchment Councils”mostly in 2008

Component 2: Land resources

Indicator 1: Land Policy reviewed Indicator 2: Land Information Management Systems developed

Several workshops have been held as part of the process of the review of land policy: Kadoma in June 2006, Kariba, and June 2009. The process is still on-going as the land audit called for in the GPA has still to be commissioned and undertaken The project to strengthen Land Information Management systems in the MLRR is slowly taking shape. Terms of reference for restructuring the Department and Information systems have just been agreed in the second week of December 2009 and consultants to undertake the work are still to be identified. The proposal is being reviewed by the UNDP office However, the equipment for GIS ordered in 2006 has still to be delivered

Component 3: Indicator 1: Energy The Zimbabwe Energy: Sector resource

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Energy Resources

Resource assessment report Indicator 2: Energy policy and strategies developed Indicator 3: Increased adoption of clean fuels

Assessment: quantity, distribution, quality and policy options”report sent to publishers in 2008 being the outcome of a consultancy paid for by the EEP funds has since been published. (2009). It still has to be launched and distributed Development of an Energy Policy was started with assistance from the INGO Practical Action in 2007. The draft policy was circulated amongst the provinces and has now reached national consensus with a workshop held in Nyanga in June 2009 to accommodate changes that have been ushered in by the Inclusive Government. The document is at Cabinet presently; thereafter it will be published, launched and distributed. The strategies components are still to be developed. The Ministry of Energy and Power Development is keen to promote renewable energy technologies, including introduction of bio-gas digesters for lighting and cooking as well as improved woodstoves at community level. This work has been poorly executed to date for a number of reasons as only a few of the fuel-saving stoves and bio-gas digesters have been successfully installed in the communities.

Component 4: Environment Coordination

Indicator 1; National Environmental Policy and Strategy Document finalised and launched Indicator 2:

The National Environmental Policy and Strategies Document was published in June 2009. This was completion of a Draft National Environmental Policy and Strategies Document from 2005. The policy was launched on the 23rd September 2009 by Vice President Mujuru in her capacity as Acting President of Zimbabwe on that date. The LEAPs process (training manual and

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Capacity for formulation of NEAP and LEAPs strengthened Indicator 3: Capacity for key institutions to report on MDG 7 strengthened Indicator 4: Environmental Databases functional Indicator 5: Community programmes identified and implemented Indicator 6: Forest and Wildlife based land reform policies in place

guidelines development) has been launched with workshops undertaken in all provinces including Cities of Bulawayo Gweru, Mutare, Harare and towns of Marondera and Beit Bridge. The NEAP process is scheduled to be implemented in 2010. There has also been the development of Waste Management Strategy RDCs that are in forefront of conservation issues in the rural areas have set up Environment Committees, whose capacity, however, still has to be build through a “learning-by-doing” approach on the ground. The State of the Environment Report which is one input into the process of reporting on MDG 7 has been delayed by up to two years, due to gaps in some of the chapters. GIS server has been purchased and delivered to EMA and personnel trained. However, still awaiting other equipment to start utilising the GIS server. EMA, MENRM and UNDP are still to resolve minor modalities for how to plan, implement community-based projects. Some of the projects that have been identified in the Annual Work Planning phase have been dropped later without adequate consultation, such as the Marondera waste management project referred to later in this report. Some of those under implementation include wetland protection, food security and livelihood gardens as well as fuel saving stoves and bio-gas digesters.

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Through the Parks and Wildlife Management Agency in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management the Wildlife-Based Land Reform Policy was promulgated and disseminated through a series of provincial workshops from October 2007 through October 2008. This policy still has to be integrated and aligned into the Land Policy Review process at Ministry of Lands, and Rural Resettlement.(MLRR)

Source: UNDP-EEP Evaluation Report 2006-2009 by M J M Nyoni 2009