Development of a project on climate change resilience in Uganda

Objectives

The Least Developed Countries Fund of the Global Environment Facility (GEF-LDCF) in partnership with African Development Bank (AfDB) intended to fund implementation of Uganda’s National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA). The support aimed to increase resilience to climate change of the on-going AfDB funded Water Supply and Sanitation Programme. The assignment supported the Government of Uganda and the AfDB to prepare a full-sized project document for GEF and Bank Board that reflected local priorities and was designed to lead to sustainable outcomes.

Scope of work

In close consultation with local stakeholders, E Co. and UDP supported the proposal development process, ensuring that it was aligned to the National Climate Change Policy and Uganda’s NAPA and appropriately aligned to the Bank’s strategies. E Co. and UDP’s tasks included:

Stakeholder consultation and project inception, with key inputs including an in-depth desk review and conversations with selected stakeholders by our Ugandan-based and international team. Site-level tasks included the inception meeting, bi-lateral meetings and a multi-stakeholder inception workshop.
National level validation with stakeholder workshops and other consultation activities
Development of project baseline and adaptation alternatives for each of the project outcomes based on district-level institutional surveys, literature review and stakeholder consultations:
Establishing indicators to be used within the logical framework for the project
Developing criteria for choosing beneficiary sites and project activities
Information gathering regarding existing initiatives and possible interventions
Developing detailed proposed adaptation measures, activities for capacity building / awareness.
Development of a partnerships strategy with the Government and other national-level organizations:
Assessing the capacities and potential for partnership of the involved national stakeholders
Assessing planning and implementation capacities of local institutions
Proposing overall implementation arrangements for the projects – national and local partners
Developing a communication plan for project results, lessons learned and best practices
Developing a budget.
Preparation of an Environment and Social Management Plan (ESMP), with a budget, to mitigate environmental issues arising from the project intervention, based on a SESA.
Finalize the project documents: coordination and collaboration mechanisms for the project; detailed M&E work plan; validation workshop at the national level; Project Appraisal Document.
Preparation of full-sized Project Documents for submission to the Bank for its Board of Directors’ approval and GEF CEO’s endorsement.

Approach and process

The work was carried out by our team of 10 international and national experts. Our approach to this assignment involved both bottom-up and top-down work, which allowed for local actions to be informed by national considerations and vice-versa. In particular, the approach involved on-the-ground analysis, thorough desk reviews and stakeholder input combined with support from international experts. The international experts were fully involved in stakeholder interaction and provided input and direction to the national experts for gathering information and input from the local level.

The work flow began with stakeholder collaboration and scoping at the regional and national level (including ministries and input from international organizations and bi-lateral donors), then at the local level (municipal and regional level – including NGOs) to gauge what measures would be beneficial to boost climate resilience, assess their cost, assess the best implementation mechanisms, and assess their consequences. This was followed by drafting of the GEF Request for CEO endorsement and the Bank Appraisal Report.

Results

The full funding proposal and AfDB document were completed by the contractual deadline, and approved by the GEF in October 2014. The GEF Request for CEO Endorsement is available here.