Final Evaluation of the - UNEP

138. In a reaction to the slow progress made in the development of training programmes for
staff and community members, the RCU asked the national project leaders (NPL) in 2005 to
propose a comprehensive capacity-building programme. In the original budgets few funds had
been set aside for this element of project implementation and IVP-Mali had no budget line at
all for training activities. The expected two-year training programme was to include both
capacity-building of communities and the training needs of staff and project partners who
were expected to support the communities after termination of IVP. As the funds needed to
execute the proposed plans greatly surpassed the sums set aside in the countries’ budgets, the
RCU decided to allocate some of its own funds to support the national projects in the
execution of these plans. It also asked UNEP/UNOPS and the RPSC to review the regional
budget in light of the established needs for much more community capacity-building.
Providing communities with the necessary tools to actively participate in planning processes
and to equip them with the skills to manage natural resources in a sustainable and
participatory manner was the main objective of these programmes. Unfortunately the
responses from the projects to these new funding opportunities were much delayed and full
implementation of the capacity-building plans has not taken place. Regional funds for
capacity-building have only partially been claimed and that, with the exception of the Kenyan
sites, only at the last minute.
Component 6 Targeted research and regional training
139. The expected output of the research and regional training component was the
development of rational, scientifically documented management tools for natural resource
management with general applicability in arid regions of Africa. A research framework,
requested from the institution responsible for implementing this component, the University of
Oslo, as early as December 2002 was produced in February 2005. By that time, project
partners had lost patience with this institution and demanded the immediate involvement of
national research institutes in the execution of site-specific research activities.
140. The FE also concluded that the research component was clearly the weakest of many
weak links in the project. One-third of the MTE covers the shortcomings of the research
component, which included language problems, the inadequate research plan, the relevance or
otherwise of indigenous knowledge (IK), lack of environmental assessment, ecological
monitoring data collection and collation etc. There is little point in repeating this. From the
start there was communication failure and mistrust between partners, especially between Oslo
on the one side and most of the other members of the RSC on the other. Relationships
deteriorated almost to the point of complete breakdown. This was compounded by significant
administrative delays (e.g. in signing the revised Oslo/UN contract), inadequate
administrative capacity and misunderstandings between partners. The worst communication
was between Oslo and Mali, which was made worse the infrequent visits by Oslo research
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