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Improving the Selection Criteria for Climate Resilience Projects. September 2013. Communes propose projects for financing under PBCR grants. Based on the range of projects selected, probably the Communes do not understand well which projects will have a strong chance of being selected.
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Improving the Selection Criteria for Climate Resilience Projects September 2013
Communes propose projects for financing under PBCR grants Based on the range of projects selected, probably the Communes do not understand well which projects will have a strong chance of being selected. Instead, it is a bit like a lottery where the Communes prepare and submit proposals: sometimes they are lucky and the proposal is accepted.
Preparation of the District Climate Resilience Strategy Priority Actions Strategy Problem VRA
Identification of Projects by Local Communities Proposal CIP Local Needs
Linking the Strategy to the Projects ? Priority Actions Proposal Strategy CIP Problem Local Needs VRA
Linking the Strategy to the Projects PROJECT SELECTION CRITERIA Priority Actions Proposal Strategy CIP Problem Local Needs VRA
Selection Criteria are used when: Communes choose proposal from CIP District selects projects for funding NCDDS evaluates project CIP Criteria Proposal Project Criteria Evaluation
Purpose of this Presentation The purpose of this presentation is to: Improve understanding of how to choose project selection criteria Improve understanding of how to use project selection criteria Agree a work plan to review the District Climate Resilience Strategy and in particular, the project selection criteria
What is the Climate Resilience Strategy? • The District Climate Resilience Strategy is based on Vulnerability Reduction Analysis in a sample of local communities The District Climate Resilience Strategy • Identifies the negative impacts of climate change on local communities • Identifies the most vulnerable people and the most vulnerable places • Identifies actions that can build resilience to climate change • Sets criteria for allocating funds to projects that build climate resilience
Purpose of the Selection Criteria The Project Selection Criteria should help the District Planning Committee and the Commune representatives to identify: Which proposals relate to priority actions in the Climate Resilience Strategy Which proposals assist beneficiaries identified as vulnerable in the Climate Resilience Strategy Which proposals are located in areas identified as vulnerable in the Climate Resilience Strategy
What is a good selection criterion? SIMPLE MEASURABLE APPROPRIATE RANGE TARGETED SIMPLE: the Communes should be able to understand easily MEASURABLE: Based on the project proposal, we should know whether a project fits the criterion APPROPRIATE: the criterion should help identify the best way to spend the Climate Resilience grants RANGE OF VALUES: the criterion should be chosen so some projects will score high and some projects will score low TARGETED: ensure that the Climate Resilience grants go to help the most vulnerable communities
What is NOT a SMART Criterion? Criteria that only say the same a the basic eligibility rules. Example: “Project in the CIP” is NOT a useful criterion because ALL project funded by PBCR grants must be in the CIP Criteria that are too general Example: “Project that fits the Climate Change Strategy” is NOT a very good criterion because it is very vague. Criteria should show HOW the project fits the Climate Change Strategy.
Examples of SMART Criteria Project activity is mentioned as a priority in the Climate Resilience strategy Project beneficiaries are identified as a vulnerable group in the Climate Resilience Strategy Project is located in an area identified as vulnerable in the Climate resilience strategy
Criteria can be very specific… For example, if the District and the Communes agree that the highest priority investments should be for irrigation and agriculture extension, the criteria could include Irrigation Project … 15% Agriculture Extension Project … 10% OR Irrigation or Agriculture Extension Project … 25%
… but some general criteria can be included Common examples of general criteria might be: Many beneficiaries High value for money High Sustainability High Commitment from the beneficiaries Provides highest benefits to women, poor families or other vulnerable groups
How Can We Measure Value For Money? We should try to select the projects that have the highest value for money. However it can be very difficult to say which project gives highest value for money. Consider the following examples:
Elements of Value for Money Value for Money can be considered to consist of: The COST of the project The NUMBER of beneficiaries The size of the benefit each household gets from the project SO, if we only think about the number of beneficiaries, but not the cost or the size of the benefit, our criterion is not very useful
Examples of Value for Money Criteria The simplest Value for Money criterion might be: Cost per beneficiary household The District Planning Committee can easily calculate the cost per beneficiary for each proposal and then group them as High / Medium / Low. We could try adding a second criterion: Size of benefits per household We cannot calculate this as a number so this would depend on the District Planning Committee using their judgement as to which project have high / medium / low benefits per household.
Remember that “low benefits per household” does NOT mean that the project is bad. A project with low benefits per household, and low costs per household, may be just as good as a project with high benefits and high costs for each household.
Next Steps The PBCR Grant Allocations for 2014 will be announced in November or December 2013 (at the same time as the C/S Fund and D/M Fund allocations). As soon as the PBCR Grant allocations are announced, the Districts should organise a workshop to review the Climate Resilience Strategy and instruct the Communes to identify proposals At this workshop, the District and Commune representatives should review whether any changes are needed to the Climate Resilience Strategy.
We expect that in most Districts there will be no need to make big changes to the strategy. However, each District should review the Project Selection Criteria and try to improve them based on the training today. Then, the Communes should understand clearly about the criteria and should choose projects from their CIP that match the selection criteria so they have the best chance of being selected.
Julian AbramsLoCAL Technical Coordinator / LGCC Implementation Adviserjulianabrams@gmail.com