INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT II - LIFE-IWRMII ...

1. SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES
International Resource Group (IRG), under the USAID/Egypt Integrated Water Resources
Management II Project (IWRM II), Contract No. EPP-I-00-04-00024-00 Task Order No. 06, is
responsible for assisting the Government of Egypt (GOE) in promoting integrated water resources
management. The period of performance of the project is from January 25, 2009 to September 30,
2012.
The purpose of this report is to present the status and performance of IWRM II for Year 3 covering
the period from January to December 2011. This Annual Report summarizes the previous year’s
activities and accomplishments against the respective Annual Work Plan indicators, and serves as the
tool by which USAID/Egypt can monitor project performance. The report includes status of
personnel and project activities, and summarizes services delivered and progress towards achieving
results identified in the Project Monitoring Plan (PMP). It documents both successes and failures of
the project interventions, and discusses reasons for shortcomings and recommends actions to
overcome them. The Annual Report has the following content: summary; accomplishments during
the year; planned activities for the following quarter (January – March 2012); and a section on
problems, issues, and lessons learned.
The following items have been included as annexes: Annex A: Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
Plan Update, Annex B: Annual Financial Status Report, Annex C: List of Project Reports, Annex D:
Status of Technical Assistance, Annex E: Training Report, and Annex F: Procurement Status Report.
A summary of the activities and accomplishments for the Project Year 3 (January to December 2011)
follows:
Due to political unrest in Egypt, USAID declared an Ordered Departure for non-essential
USAID/Egypt Contractors on February 2, 2011. The IRG IWRM II Chief of Party (COP) was
considered essential and remained in Cairo. The IRG Cairo office remained open throughout with
the exceptions of January 30 & 31, when it was deemed risky for staff to travel within Cairo. The
Regional Offices in Zagazig and Mansoura remained open throughout. Although the offices
remained open, progress was diminished due to interruption of travel at times and due to changes in
government discussed below.
As a result of a cabinet reshuffle, H.E. Minister Dr. Mohamed Nasr Allam, resigned on January 31.
Dr. Hussein El-Atfy, Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) Senior Undersecretary, was
appointed as the new Minister. Eng. Fathy Abdel Maksoud El Gouielly, Head of Irrigation Sector,
was appointed the new Chairman of Irrigation Department. Dr. Hussam El-Din Safwat Fahmy,
Chairman of Drainage Authority (EPADP), was appointed the Head of the USAID/MWRI Steering
Committee on 22 February. Dr. Mohamed Abdel Motaleb, Head of Planning sector was appointed as
the IWRM II Coordinator.
USAID initiated a Mid-Term Evaluation of the project in early January and it was mutually agreed to
delay finalizing the Year 3 Work Plan until after the evaluation results were available. The evaluation
team’s initial findings were presented verbally in separate meetings to HE Minister MWRI and
MWRI Steering Committee Members and IRG staff on January 20. A draft report was issued on
February 23. IRG submitted a written response to the Mid-Term Evaluation on March10. IRG’s
Technical Assistance (TA) team held a meeting with USAID on March 20 to discuss the Mid-Term
Evaluation draft report. IRG received the final Mid-Term Evaluation report on May 18. The
Evaluation recommendations included de-scoping (no further activity) Tasks 1.2, 1.4, and 2.1. The
Evaluation also recommended freezing Task 2.4 and not considering any additional candidates.
MWRI and IRG accepted the recommendations and IRG adjusted the project implementation plan
accordingly. The de-scoping did not have a significant impact on the budget. Task 1.4 was already
ANNUAL REPORT YEAR 3 (JANUARY – DECEMBER 2011) 1