Component 4: Project Management, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (US$40.03 million, including US$32.395 million IDA equivalent and US$7.635 million IFAD)
This component will finance (a) project management, (b) ME&L, and (c) knowledge management and policy support. Subcomponent 4.1: Project Management and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (US$37.03 million, including US$30 million IDA equivalent and US$7.03 million IFAD)
(a) Project management. This subcomponent will finance project management activities, including: (i) facilitating institutional coordination and partnerships among ministries and nongovernmental and international organizations; (ii) strengthening the capacity of PCUs at the federal, regional, and woreda levels; (iii) project planning, including by generating annual work plans; (iv) developing and overseeing project implementation procedures and processes including fiduciary oversight and the management of environmental and social risks; and (v) monitoring project implementation and outcomes. Detailed project rules and procedures are outlined in the PIM, which has been adapted from Phase I, incorporating lessons learned.
(b) Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (ME&L). The project’s ME&L activities will include: (i) tracking project inputs and outputs to ensure the project’s resource accountability; (ii) carrying out institutional mapping and performance monitoring; (iii) assessing project results and outcomes against the Results Framework; (iv) evaluating the project by carrying out baseline, midterm, and final assessments; and (v) facilitating learning events at the regional and federal levels, including through regular biannual project implementation review and annual work plan and budget (AWPB) planning workshops. The project will expand the functionality of LLRP I’s management information system (MIS) by linking it to the new early warning and early response system, CIS, RMS, Geo-Enabled initiative for Monitoring and Supervision (GEMS), grievance redress mechanism (GRM) including the SMS service, and other project-supported systems. LLRP II will also work with ILRI and AICCRA to increase data quality and adapt the ILRI’s Tracking Adaptation in Livestock Systems tool to track adaptation and resilience to climate change among targeted PAP households. Detailed ME&L guidelines are included in the PIM.
Subcomponent 4.2: Knowledge Management and Policy Support (US$3.0 million, including US$2.4 million IDA and US$0.6 million IFAD)
This subcomponent will support knowledge management and policy-related aspects of the project, leveraging project data and learnings under Subcomponent 4.1. In relation to knowledge management, the subcomponent will finance: (a) studies of direct relevance to project activities; (b) the establishment or strengthening of a national-level think tank and policy platform on PAP livelihood-resilience in the lowlands, which will sponsor academic policy research and create a space for national-level policy dialogue on pertinent issues48; and (c) the establishment and management of PAP centers for knowledge (PACKs) at the woreda level. Physically located in agriculture or pastoral and livestock offices and equipped with digital equipment, PACKs will offer venues for demonstrating early warning, climate information, and rangeland management systems and various technologies and innovations to PAP households and extension workers (in local languages). PACKs’ facilities will be managed by the project for at least six months before they are handed over to their permanent hosts at the woreda level (offices of agriculture, livestock, or pastoral development). In relation to policy support, activities will include a limited number of trainings for government officials along with help assessing policy gaps and formulating strategies. The subcomponent will support efforts such as the formulation of a national rangeland management policy and regulatory framework that guides the sustainable
management and governance of rangeland resources and legal frameworks relating to the ET-LITS. These activities will be carried out in coordination with the recently established Pastoral Advisory Council under MILLs. The project will also support the formulation and updating of communication strategies for the project and MILLs.
- Project Beneficiaries
The project will cover eight regions in Ethiopia. They include the seven regions covered under LLRP I (Afar, Benshangul-Gumuz, Gambella, Oromia, Somali, South Ethiopia, and Southwest Ethiopia People’s regions) and the newly added region of Diredawa. A total of 120 woredas, including 100 woredas covered under LLRP I and 20 newly added ones, will benefit from the project. With additional resources, the project may expand to 30 more woredas. A map of the project’s area of operation is provided in Annex 3.The project will directly benefit 3 million PAP people (about 600,000 households), about 16 percent of the total population in the lowlands of Ethiopia. Women and youth will account for 50 and 30 percent of LLRP II beneficiaries, respectively. In addition, 2 million PAP community members will benefit indirectly from the project investments. The project will also benefit a range of organizations including various ministries and institutions, delivering public goods and services.
- Results Chain
The project’s design, including the range of activities, is founded on a well-defined theory of change that aims to enhance the livelihoods and climate resilience of pastoral and agropastoral communities. Drawing on insights from phase one of the project and similar initiatives in the region, the theory of change outlines the causal links between activities, short term outputs, medium term results and their contribution to the Project Development Objective (PDO), as well as to longer-term outcomes. Additionally, it identifies the most significant challenges and assumptions that are critical to realizing these connections.
- Rationale for Bank Involvement and Role of Partners
The World Bank’s added value in implementing LLRP II comes from its capacity to: (a) curate global knowledge, experience, and financing to enhance the client’s climate change mitigation and adaptation capacities and the sustainability and drought resilience of PAP production systems and livelihoods in the targeted areas, (b) provide operational supervision and technical assistance to the client to implement the operation, and (c) leverage additional resources from development partners and climate finance mechanisms. Key partners such as IFAD will co-finance the project, while other international organizations such as CGIAR institutes will bring global knowledge through technical assistance and advisory services.
- Lessons Learned and Reflected in the project Design
Major lessons learned and reflected in the design of LLRP II include the need to: (a) bring DRM into the resilience framework elaborated under LLRP I, with a focus on building the capacities of PAP communities to better prepare for disaster and break the cycle of disaster and short-term response; (b) better coordinate capacity-building efforts across components to use project resources more efficiently (a dedicated capacity-building officer will be hired for this); (c) systematically design more targeted programs to address the disproportionate impacts of climate change on women and vulnerable groups; (d) carry out more focused and targeted research to facilitate policy reform; (e) seek more technical backstopping from international organizations; and (f) introduce more technologies and innovations, including in the preparation and automation of WDRPs and DPRSIPs (for example, interactive and satellite-based RMS, digital banking and fintech, private and digital extension services, collar-mounted tsetse fly control, adaptation and livelihood resilience tracking tool, and integration of the GEMS Kobo toolbox in the project MIS).