The GEF Sixth Annual Performance Report (APR) 2009, presented and prepared by the GEF Evaluation Office, focuses on completed projects for which terminal evaluations were submitted during fiscal year 2009 (FY 2009). The full report provides an assessment of project outcomes, project sustainability, project completion delays, materialization of cofinancing, and the quality of monitoring in completed projects. The report's main focus is on terminal evaluations from 55 projects submitted in FY2009, accounting for $208 million in GEF funding.
Evaluation Report:
The report contains the following recommendations and issues for the future:
- The GEF Evaluation Office, GEF Secretariat, and GEF Agencies should collaborate to improve the quality of information on the PMIS on project status.
- The GEF Evaluation Office to assess the effectiveness of the APR tools and instruments currently used.
- The Evaluation Office to devolve responsibility to the independent evaluation offices of the GEF Agencies to try to improve its reporting on completed projects and the review process.
The following conclusions were reached by the evaluation:
- Outcome achievements of 91 per cent of projects reviewed were in the satisfactory range.
- Although the GEF does gain from cofinancing, its importance is sometimes overstated.
- UNEP's performance supervising GEF projects has improved significantly while the quality of supervision provided by the World Bank and UNDP remains in the satisfactory range.
- The present GEF approach to agency fees can be disadvantageous to Agencies with a high proportion of medium-sized projects.
- The quality of 72 per cent of terminal evaluations was rated satisfactory or above.
- Uncertainty regarding project status and lengthy time lags between the completion and submission of terminal evaluation reports continues to be an issue.