Strengthening Environmental Fiscal Reform for National and Global Environment Management in Moldova

Project details

Country Profile:

The Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country situated in south-eastern Europe, bordering Ukraine to the north, east and south; and Romania to the west. Proposed climate change adaptation measures include: the development and implementation of programs for repair and extension of forests; the reduction of water loss in irrigation and water consumption decrease in industry through the implementation of closed cycle water use; the implementation of agricultural systems adequate to the relief conditions that could reduce soil erosion; and the utilization of new plant species with higher resistance to elevated temperatures and insufficient humidity.

Due to its favorable climate and good farmland, Moldova’s economy depends heavily on agriculture, featuring fruits, vegetables, wine, and tobacco. Agriculture constitutes 22.3 percent of Moldova’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Consequently, changes in climate could adversely affect Moldova’s economy. Industry is another important component of Moldova’s economy, constituting 16.2 percent of GDP.

The Project:

This project was developed under the GEF's Strategic Approach to Enhance Capacity Building and priorities for targeted interventions under the GEF-5 Cross-Cutting Capacity Development Strategy.  To this end, the project targets Capacity Development Objective 4, which calls for the development of sustainable financial mechanisms to meet the shared objectives under the three Rio Conventions.  The project's objective of reforming the administration of fees, fines, charges, taxes, and subsidies as they affect environmental protection is a critical need to ensuring streamlined financing of national activities for Moldova to meet international environmental obligations.

This project will allow Moldova to meet other strategic focal area priorities under the GEF Operational Programmes.  This includes Objective 1 of the GEF Biodiversity focal area: Improve sustainability of protected area systems by improving the system of financial flows necessary to meet the recurrent costs of protected area management.  This project also responds to Objective 1 of the GEF Climate Change Mitigation focal area, which calls for demonstrating, deploying, and transferring innovative low-carbon technologies through policy reform that will be undertaken by the project at the level of the fiscal system in the energy sector.

By reducing or eliminate environmentally harmful subsidies and reforming existing environmental subsidies and developing innovative financing mechanisms and instruments, specifically in the agricultural sector, the project will contribute to reduced anthropogenic pressures on natural resources from competing land uses and improved sustainable flows of agro-ecosystem services to sustaining the livelihoods of local communities as envisaged under the GEF land degradation strategy.

The aim of the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) strategy is to assess how the project contributes to the reform of Moldova's current environmental fiscal management system in a way that institutionalizes improved financing of policy interventions that meet global and national environmental obligations and priorities.  The M&E strategy and plan will follow UNDP/GEF M&E procedures, and undertaken by the Project Management Unit (PMU), the Project Steering Committee, which will evolve into the Moldovan Environmental Fiscal Reform Commission (EFRC) during project implementation, and the UNDP Country Office, with support from UNDP/GEF Regional Coordination Unit (UNDP/GEF RCU) in Bratislava.  Monitoring and evaluation will also involve the different donor agencies involved in the co-financing and those who might be potentially mobilized in future. 

The M&E strategy and its accompanying plan will be fully developed during the inception phase, in accordance with the Project Results Framework (Annex A), with an emphasis on participatory evaluation.  The strategy will dictate an adaptive collaborative management approach to M&E in order to: a)  improve project implementation; b) strengthen project cost-effectiveness to deliver expected results; and c) institutionalize environmental fiscal reforms to ensure their institutional sustainability.  The M&E plan also includes: (i) an Inception Report (IR); (ii) Annual Progress Reports (APR); (iii) quarterly operational reports;  (iv) mid-term and final evaluations; and (v) the Capacity Development Scorecard.  The mid-term evaluation will be undertaken by a national consultant.  The project’s M&E Plan will be presented and finalized at the Project’s Inception Workshop following a collective identification and verification of project outputs and a fine-tuning of indicators, means of verification, and the full definition of project staff M&E responsibilities.

The baseline study for the monitoring and evaluation strategy will be established at the outset of the project with the support of the experts recruited by the project.  During the inception phase, an implementation manual will be developed, along with a communication strategy that will define a coordinated reporting strategy for all partners, and validated during the inception workshop.  The Project Management Unit will be tasked with preparing annual work plans and budgets, as well as consolidated semi-annual progress reports.  These reports will include narrative descriptions of the project and progress to date, as well as expenditures by component and categories of costs and recommendations.  An additional set of 11 indicators specific to EFR were formulated, and will be assessed during the project inception phase.  At this time, project stakeholder representatives (n>100) will be surveyed to re-assess the baseline of environmental fiscal reform through the Capacity Development Scorecard. 

The project will be subject to an independent final evaluation, taking place six months prior to the end of the project and when 90% of project deliverables have been satisfied.  The final evaluation will focus on contributions towards meeting and achieving: a) global environmental priorities; b) national and local impacts for environmental sustainability; and c) making recommendations to ensure the resilience of environmental fiscal reforms and institutional sustainability of project outcomes.  The Capacity Development Scorecard will be rated during the mid-point of project implementation as part of a mid-term evaluation undertaken by a national consultant, as well as part of the final evaluation to assess the extent to which the project is making a contribution to institutionalizing the sustainability of EFR and associated project outcomes.

Several project activities planned through the project focus on monitoring and reporting will also feed into the M&E plan.  For example, a series of case studies, lessons learned workshops reports and various technical papers resulting from the implementation of different project activities will strengthen the M&E plan of the project and ensure continuous reporting towards meeting the project’s objectives.

Source: Moldova Request for CEO Approval Document (July, 2011)

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Key results & output

• Outcome 1: Reform of environmentally harmful subsidies, as well as environmental charges with a focus on the agriculture and energy sectors
  • Output 1.1: Introduce policy reform in the area of environmentally harmful subsidies
    • Output 1.1.1: Assessment of reform of energy and  agricultural subsidies and adoption of  appropriate legal amendments
  • Output 1.2: Reform of environmental charges and facilitation of eco-technology investments
    • Output 1.2.1: Assessment of reform of environmental charges and facilitation of eco-technology investments and adoption of  appropriate legal amendments
  • Output 1.3: Improved regulations and operational management of the National and Local Ecological Funds (NEF/LEFs)
    • Output 1.3.1:  Implementation of good international practice in NEF/LEF management
• Outcome 2: Capacity development to engage and build consensus among all stakeholders
  • Output 2.1: Capacity building for EFR
    • Output 2.1.1:  EFR training needs assessed
    • Output 2.1.2: Training for NEF/LEF staff on new operational procedures is provided
  • Output 2.2: Communication and awareness
    • Output 2.2.1: A comprehensive information campaign is designed and implemented, including a dedicated EFR website
    • Output 2.2.2: Lessons Learned and Case Studies on EFR for national and global environmental goals
  • Output 2.3: A political dialogue is established
    • Output 2.3.1: Moldovan EFR Commission established and active
    • Output 2.3.2: Conferences and workshops implemented
• Outcome 3: Integration of EFR in local and central planning processes
  • Output 3.1: EFR instruments integrated in the decentralization process
    • Output 3.1.1: EFR is integrated in the activities of the Working Group Financial Decentralization of the Joint Integrated Local Development Programme (JILDP)
    • Output 3.1.2:  Identification of environmental management priorities and potential local eco-taxes in pilot towns
  • Output 3.2: EFR instruments integrated into governmental budgeting and MTEF process
    • Output 3.2.1: Training on green budgeting and planning in line with OECD guidelines and good practices to  integrate global environmental priorities in Moldova's Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF)
    • Output 3.2.2: Building upon capacities developed, support the MoE in elaborating their budgets and MTEF submissions and evaluate the extent to which the MoE's budgeting process uses EFRs to better meet targeted environmental objectives, with particular emphasis on meeting Rio Convention objectives
    • Output 3.2.3: Building upon EFR best practices, update existing assessments and financing strategies within the framework of the MTEF  to implement the Rio Conventions, including the identification of realistic sources of funds through EFRs

Reports & publications

Videos & multimedia

Monitoring & evaluation

Project Start:

Project Inception Workshop: will be held within the first 2 months of project start with those with assigned roles in the project organization structure, UNDP country office and where appropriate/feasible regional technical policy and programme advisors as well as other stakeholders.  The Inception Workshop is crucial to building ownership for the project results and to plan the first year annual work plan. 

Daily:

Day to day monitoring of implementation progress: will be the responsibility of the Project Manager, based on the project's Annual Work Plan and its indicators, with overall guidance from the Project Director. The Project Team will inform the UNDP-CO of any delays or difficulties faced during implementation so that the appropriate support or corrective measures can be adopted in a timely and remedial fashion.

Quarterly:

Project Progress Reports (PPR): quarterly reports will be assembled based on the information recorded and monitored in the UNDP Enhanced Results Based Management Platform. Risk analysis will be logged and regularly updated in ATLAS.

Annually:

Annual Project Review/Project Implementation Reports (APR/PIR): This key report is prepared to monitor progress made since project start and in particular for the previous reporting period (30 June to 1 July).  The APR/PIR combines both UNDP and GEF reporting requirements.  

Periodic Monitoring through Site Visits:

UNDP CO and the UNDP RCU will conduct visits to project sites based on the agreed schedule in the project's Inception Report/Annual Work Plan to assess first hand project progress.  Other members of the Project Board may also join these visits.  A Field Visit Report/BTOR will be prepared by the CO and UNDP RCU and will be circulated no less than one month after the visit to the project team and Project Board members.

Mid-Term of Project Cycle:

Mid-Term Evaluation: will determine progress being made toward the achievement of outcomes and will identify course correction if needed.  It will focus on the effectiveness, efficiency and timeliness of project implementation; will highlight issues requiring decisions and actions; and will present initial lessons learned about project design, implementation and management.  Findings of this review will be incorporated as recommendations for enhanced implementation during the final half of the project’s term.  

End of Project:

Final Evaluation: will take place three months prior to the final Project Board meeting and will be undertaken in accordance with UNDP and GEF guidance.  The final evaluation will focus on the delivery of the project’s results as initially planned (and as corrected after the mid-term evaluation, if any such correction took place).  The final evaluation will look at impact and sustainability of results, including the contribution to capacity development and the achievement of global environmental benefits/goals.  The Terminal Evaluation should also provide recommendations for follow-up activities.

Project Terminal Report: This comprehensive report will summarize the results achieved (objectives, outcomes, outputs), lessons learned, problems met and areas where results may not have been achieved.  It will also lie out recommendations for any further steps that may need to be taken to ensure sustainability and replicability of the project’s results.

Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

Results from the project will be disseminated within and beyond the project intervention zone through existing information sharing networks and forums. 

The project will identify and participate, as relevant and appropriate, in scientific, policy-based and/or any other networks, which may be of benefit to project implementation though lessons learned. The project will identify, analyze, and share lessons learned that might be beneficial in the design and implementation of similar future projects.

Finally, there will be a two-way flow of information between this project and other projects of a similar focus.

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