The Country Support Program (CSP) is a GEF-funded corporate program with the objective to assist GEF stakeholders increase and maintain capacity necessary to navigate the GEF landscape and work more effectively with GEF financing in a way that increase country ownership. It is a GEF-executed, direct-access program offering funding to GEF recipient countries to develop events and capacity building activities with the aim to improve access to, and better leverage GEF resources as well as develop a stronger, coordinated and inclusive dialogue amongst GEF stakeholders to ensure strategic GEF planning that fits with national priorities. The CSP is the main tool for carrying out the GEF Country Relations Strategy and acts as the major outreach facility for the GEF to convey the strategies, policies and programs of the GEF to stakeholders at the country level and to strengthen capacity of national governments, particularly GEF focal points.
This evaluation is expected to provide insights and lessons for the CSP and GEF Secretariat regarding the CSP and its services moving forward into the GEF-8 replenishment discussions. It is understood that the evaluation will produce recommendations that serve both learning and accountability functions. The evaluation will be carried out in such a way that it is utilization-focused and useful to its intended users, in particular the GEF Council and the CSP team in the GEF Secretariat in their decision-making related to support given to GEF Constituencies for the remainder of the GEF-7 (slated to end in June 2022) and in GEF-8 (July 2022-June 2026).