At its November 2004 meeting the GEF Council requested the GEF Evaluation Office to initiate an evaluation of the biosafety activities financed under the GEF's Initial Strategy. This report presents the results of this evaluation.
The evaluation contains many valuable findings that will allow the GEF to improve and adapt its support. For example, it was found that countries that already had considerable experience with biosafety issues were better able to utilize the support.
The needs of countries with little prior biosafety experience were not as well addressed. The GEF has contributed to building scientific and management capacities in biosafety in all countries evaluated, although the effectiveness of the work varied. A majority of countries had achieved notable stakeholder involvement. The progress regarding regional collaboration had fallen short of the initial planned level of achievement. Nevertheless, the GEF's support has on the whole had a considerable effect toward preparing countries for ratification and implementation of the Protocol.
The draft evaluation report was discussed in the November 2005 GEF Council meeting, as well as the elements for a new GEF biosafety strategy provided by the GEF Secretariat.