MENARID: Achievements and M&E System

Achievements of ICARDA in supporting Results Based Monitoring and Evaluation systems and knowledge sharing activities

across the MENARID program

Hugo Remaury, Social, Economic and Policy Research Program, Project coordinator, ICARDA

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About the GEF MENARID program• 10 national investments projects in 6 countries: Algeria, Iran, Jordan,

Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen

• Global Environment Facility executing agencies: IFAD, UNDP, UNIDO, UNEP, World Bank

• Executing partners: Ministries of Agriculture, Water, Environment, Sahara and Sahel Observatory, ADA/ANDZOA

• Two objectives:1. To promote Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) in the

production landscapes of the MENA region;2. To improve the economic and social well-being of the targeted

communities through the restoration and maintenance of ecosystem functions and productivity.

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List of MENARID projects (1)

• IFAD: • Jordan: Mainstreaming Sustainable Land and Water Management• Morocco: Participatory Control of Desertification and Poverty Reduction in

the Arid and Semi Arid High Plateau Ecosystems of Eastern Morocco• Tunisia: Support to Sustainable Land Management in the Siliana Governorate• Regional: Cross-cutting Medium Size Project on Monitoring and Evaluation

and Knowledge Management for Integrated Natural Resources Management

• UNDP:• Algeria : Conservation of Globally Significant Biodiversity and Sustainable

Use of Ecosystem Services in Algeria’s Cultural Parks• Iran: Institutional Strengthening and Coherence for Sustainable Land

Management • Morocco : A circular Economy Approach to Agro-biodiversity Conservation in

the Souss Massa Draa region of Morocco

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List of MENARID projects (2)

• UNEP:• Algeria, Tunisia & Libya: Reducing risks to the sustainable

management of the North West Saharan Aquifer System

• World Bank:• Tunisia: Second Natural Resources Management Project - Land

and Water Optimization Project• Tunisia: Ecotourism and Conservation of Desert Biodiversity• Yemen: Adaptation to Climate Change Using Agro-biodiversity

Resources in the Rain-fed Highlands of Yemen

• For more information : http://menarid.icarda.org/ 4

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MENARID projects in numbersCountry Area Targeted communities

Algeria 850,670,000 ha 200,000 people

Iran 49,230 ha 10,000 people

Jordan 18,000 ha 9,000 people

Morocco E. Plateaus 120,000 ha 61,018 people

Morocco Circular Economy

3,000,000 ha (730,000 argan trees)

129,000 people

Regional (Algeria, Tunisia, Libya)

1,000,000,000 ha 4,000,000 people in the basin

Tunisia Siliana 28,000 ha 12,000 families

Tunisia PGRN2 70,000 ha 14,000 farmers

Tunisia Ecotourism 175,000 ha 40,000 people

Yemen Not available Not available 5

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A few Pictures from MENARID

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Role of ICARDA in MENARID• Implement an IFAD-funded MENARID project : « Cross-cutting

Medium Size Project on Monitoring and Evaluation and Knowledge Management for Integrated Natural Resource Management »

• Focus on Knowledge Management across MENARID and harmonization of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems

• Two objectives:1. to generate tools for systematic cross cutting and aligned M&E

functions throughout the MENARID framework;2. to develop a user-friendly knowledge management (KM)

platform promoting information dissemination, harmonization, and dissemination mechanisms of INRM best practices.

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ICARDA outputs in MENARID (M&E)

• Concepts of Results Based Management M&E systems:• Presentation during writeshop in March 2013• Discussion during field visits in Sep. 2013• Presentation & discussion during learning workshop in Dec. 2013

• Definition of “A la carte” cross-cutting indicators cross-cutting Results Based Management indicators through the program:

• Brainstorming sessions with representatives of MENARID projects during workshops (Rabat-June 2012, Amman-December 2012), “Writeshop in March 2013”.

• Discussed with projects during field visits in September 2013• Finalized by a short term consultancy in Dec. 2013 (see M&E

matrix)

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Example of cross-cutting indicators for SLM (1)

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Proportion of project participants who are living below the locally-accepted poverty line %

Total number of beneficiaries of the project Number

Natural Resources productivity in the project area t/ha/yr

Land coverage - Normalized Difference Vegetation Index %

Area on which INRM techniques are implemented Hectares

Allocation of financial investments leading to socio-economic improvement in local communities livelihoods USD

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Soil quality evolutionQuantitative data (time series data)

Number of farmers reporting production/yield increase Number

Land under Sustainable Land Management techniques Hectares

Number of farmers adopting Sustainable Land Management techniques Number

Number of relevant policies harmonized and/or national land use policies for SLM mainstreaming adopted Number

Percentage increase of national/local institutions that use SLM %

Number of staff, persons and institutions trained to sustainably promote SLM techniques Number

Example of cross-cutting indicators for SLM (2)

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ICARDA outputs in MENARID (M&E)

• Implementation of a cross-cutting online facility:• Created in December 2013• Presented to projects during learning workshop in Dec. 2013• Projects trained in March/April 2014• Data entry form: https

://menarid.icarda.org/MAE/_layouts/me/Manage-Project-Indicators.aspx • Search database feature: • https://menarid.icarda.org/MAE/SitePages/SearchDatabase.aspx?C=5||&P

=7||&I=18||&Y=2009||2010||2011||2012||2013||2014||

• Schedule automatic reports: https://menarid.icarda.org/MAE/_layouts/me/Manage-Scheduled-Reports.aspx

• IFAD Project Implementation Report feature recently added• https://menarid.icarda.org/MAE/_

layouts/me/Project-Implementation-Report.aspx?ProjectId=3&PIR_Year=2013

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ICARDA outputs in MENARID (M&E)(cont’d)

• Targeted support – bringing research expertise to development:

• Baseline in Morocco (Dr. Bendaoud - session VI on Wednesday);• Gender study in Jordan (Dr. Najjar – session II today);• Impact study in Iran (Dr. Mighasemi – session V on Tuesday);• Impact study in Jordan (Mr. Al Adaileh – session V on Tuesday).

• Guidelines/Handbook for RBM, RBB and M&E systems (currently being finalized)

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Lessons learned – M&E (1)

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• Insufficient capacities for M&E systems:

• Projects strive for implementing cheap, effective and efficient M&E systems. MENARID decided to emphasize its efforts not only on programmatic level, but at projects’ level.

• Quite often, there are too many indicators to monitor. Importance of using “SMART” RBM indicators (no more than 15) that can be tracked.

• Difficulties in creating cross-cutting indicators that are widely accepted but necessary if program-level assessment is needed.

• External support:

• Existing opportunity: support projects in their M&E-related tasks (baseline study in MENARID Tunisia ecotourism), but also mid-term evaluations.

• Running impact studies to identify and document activities (positive as important as negative) is crucial.

• An opportunity would be gather all reporting requirements in a unique online system (GEF executing agencies + GEF + ministries).

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Lessons learned – M&E (2)

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• Rigor of M&E methods:

• Challenge to evaluate the socioeconomic benefits of activities of natural resources management. However tools are available (example of the impact study in Iran).

• A tool that could precisely evaluate the NRM technologies that are applied would be very useful for increasing the activities’ impacts.

• M&E has to start from the very beginning (example of baselines).

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ICARDA outputs in MENARID (KM)• Organization of a knowledge exchange workshop “writeshop”

• 19 knowledge fact sheets analyzing INRM activities across the MENARID program are available online

• ICARDA working paper #18 “Capturing and disseminating lessons learned from INRM project in the MENA”

• Stories of success brochure

• 4 learning workshops in collaboration with UNESCO IHP and GEF IW:Learn:

1. Applying traditional knowledge in water resources management, February 2012, Yazd, Iran;2. Opportunities for Managed Aquifer Recharge, December 2012, Amman, Jordan;3. Groundwater economics, December 2013, Agadir, Morocco.4. Closing workshop, June 2014, Beirut, Lebanon.

• Dissemination of best practices through an online platform• Possibility for MENARID projects to create their own knowledge fact sheet https://

menarid.icarda.org/FR/Pages/Promote-activities.aspx

• Communication of results through the website (https://menarid.icarda.org/ ) and Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/menarid)

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ICARDA outputs in MENARID (KM) (cont’d)

• Organization of a knowledge exchange workshop “writeshop”• 19 knowledge fact sheets analyzing INRM activities across the MENARID program are available

online• ICARDA working paper #18 “Capturing and disseminating lessons learned from INRM project in

the MENA”• Stories of success brochure

• 4 learning workshops in collaboration with UNESCO IHP and GEF IW:Learn:

1. Applying traditional knowledge in water resources management, February 2012, Yazd, Iran;2. Opportunities for Managed Aquifer Recharge, December 2012, Amman, Jordan;3. Groundwater economics, December 2013, Agadir, Morocco.4. Closing workshop, June 2014, Beirut, Lebanon.

• Dissemination of best practices through an online platform• Possibility for MENARID projects to create their own knowledge fact sheet https://

menarid.icarda.org/FR/Pages/Promote-activities.aspx

• Communication of results through the website (https://menarid.icarda.org/ ) and Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/menarid)

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Lessons learned – KM (1)

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• Rooms for improvements:• Gaps between PMUs and field level activities. Importance of including

civil society and field actors in the discussion and knowledge sharing process.

• Insufficient capacities of KM systems (not mandatory for MENARID projects).

• External support:• Opportunities in linking with research for development - Experience of

ICARDA in performing research in rangelands rehabilitation (including Vallerani) and socioeconomic analysis.

• To support MENARID projects in creating knowledge products.

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Lessons learned – KM (2)

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• Effective KM processes:• « Dynamic » workshops are more effective and produce more results

than « passive » workshops. Example the “Knowledge exchange writeshop” (outputs: 19 knowledge products produced, one working paper, one success story booklet).

• Confirmed usefulness of a single platform gathering events, news, contacts, database, document repository related to projects’ activities.

• Create ownership, involve partners in the conception, the design of the platform.

• IT infrastructures:• The online system should cope with weak IT infrastructures.

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MENARID impacts• Promoting knowledge sharing:• Water harvesting activity (Vallerani plough) replicated from

Morocco to Jordan (1,000 ha of rangelands and 600 of cereals by June 2015).

• Collaboration between the Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands (FAO) approach with the PGRN2 project in Tunisia.

• 18,000 pageviews and 3,500 visitors for the MENARID website.

• Strengthening M&E systems:• Support in establishing a M&E baseline in Morocco, impact

studies in Iran and Jordan, and a gender analysis in Jordan.• Reporting facilities available online.

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Thanks for your attention !

Your ideas and suggestions are more than welcome !

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