Evaluation of the Strategic Priority for Adaptation (SPA)
The Evaluation Office is during the month of February starting up the thematic Evaluation of the Strategic Priority for Adaptation (SPA). The overall purpose of the evaluation is to provide the GEF Council with evaluative evidence to take further decisions on Adaptation in the GEF based on lessons learned from the SPA. The GEF Evaluation Office was requested to conduct an independent evaluation of the $50 million SPA pilot by the GEF Council in November 2008. The conclusions and recommendations of this evaluation will be considered in discussions by the GEF Council for future activities on adaptation.
The objectives of the SPA are to reduce vulnerability and to increase adaptive capacity to the adverse effects of climate change in any of the GEF focal areas, or in a combination of focal areas: biological diversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, ozone layer depletion, and persistent organic pollutants. It supports pilot and demonstration projects that address local adaptation needs and generate global environmental benefits. As requested by the Council, all projects under the SPA are funded based on the incremental cost principle. These projects reflect GEF’s multidisciplinary and multi-focal area approach to support adaptation activities.
Given the early stages of the implementation of the SPA projects the evaluation will focus on an assessment of the strategy itself and the design/implementation of the projects, including adaptation measures, rather than on actual achievement of expected outcomes. The evaluation team is currently being finalized and the approach paper has been drafted for circulation. The evaluation work will take place between February and October 2010 and the evaluation report will be finalized and presented to the GEF Council in November 2010.
For more information, please visit the GEF Evaluation Office website: www.gefeo.org under “Thematic Evaluations”, or contact Sandra Romboli at sromboli@thegef.org / Claudio Volonte at cvolonte@thegef.org
New Publications
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CREDITS
Editor: Patrizia Cocca, GEF Communication Officer, pcocca@thegef.org