Project Identification Form (PIF)[1]
Project Type:
the GEF Trust Fund
SSubmission Date: 8 January 2007
Re-submission Date: n/a01/17/08
Indicative CalendarMilestones / Expected Dates
Work Program (for FSP) / June 2007 (SIP)
CEO Endorsement/Approval / Sept 2008
GEF Agency Approval / Jan 2009
Implementation Start / June 2009
Mid-term Review / June 2011
Implementation Completion / June 2013
part i: project IDentification
GEFSEC Project ID: 3382
gef agency Project ID: P107841
Country(ies):
Project Title: SIP: Community Driven SLM for Environmental and Food Security
GEF Agency(ies):
Other Executing partners:
GEF Focal Areas: ,
GEF-4 Strategic program(S): LD-SP1
Name of parent program/umbrella project: Strategic Investment Program for SLM in Sub-Saharan Africa (SIP)
Project framework Project Objective. This blended operation aims at strengthening local governance and decentralized financing mechanisms, enabling the communes to have access to basic social services and economic opportunities through sustainable management of natural resourcesProject Components
/Indicate whether Investment, TA, or STA**
/ Expected Outcomes /Expected Outputs
/Indicative GEF Financing*
/ Indicative Co-financing* / Total ($M)($M)
/%
/($M)
/%
A. Capacity Building / TA / · Ownership and responsibility of communes, communities and CSO are improved to implement their own development agenda.· Capacities of central and decentralized government, civil society, providers and institutions responsible for managing the RDS and ADPRS are reinforced
(delivers on SIP IRs 1, 2 and 4) / · Communication strategy is developed and implemented
· Government structures involved in the decentralized process, communities and commune councils, CSO and private/public partners are fully trained on several programs (participatory diagnostic, planning, micro project conception and management, literacy… )
· Common SLM Knowledge Information System for all stakeholder and levels implemented with input from IFAD and UNDP operations
· Niger CSIF elaborated with key partners and implemented at all levels
· % and regional coverage of communities successfully monitoring their own micro-projects as a basis for management and future planning of local development / 1 / 12.5% / 7 / 87.5% / 8
B. Decentralized Financing / Invest. / · Resources mobilization and management capacity of the communes enhanced
· the transfer system (for financial, human and technical resources etc.) from the central Government to the communes is improved
· National Local Development Fund established
(delivers on SIP IR1 and IR2) / · Several micro-projects that promote access by the populations to basic socio-economic services, economic opportunities, and sustainable natural resources management are implemented
· National and local SLM governance policies and frameworks developed to support administrative and fiscal decentralization
· / 3 / 17% / 15 / 83% / 18
C. Project Coordination, Management, Monitoring and Evaluation / · A cross-sectoral M&E system established and operational
· Efficient and capable staff in place to manage project in decentralized framework.
(delivers on SIP IR4) / · A common M&E system is developed jointly with and used by IFAD and UNDP operations
· All technical staff are trained by the regional project (….) on indicators elaboration and M&E system
· Number of national surveys financed and carried out
· Joint reporting to SDR environmental programs steering committee / 0,5 / 6% / 8 / 94% / 8,5
Total project costs / 4.5 / 13% / 30 / 87% / 34.5
* List the dollar amount by project components. The percentage is the share of GEF/co-financing amount to the total amount for the component.
** STA = Scientific & technical analysis.
B. Indicative Financing Plan Summary For The Project ($)
Project Preparation / Project / Agency Fee / TotalGEF Grant / 175 000 / 4 500 000 / 420 750 / 5 095 750
Co-financing / 250 000 / 30 000 000 / 30 250 000
Total / 425 000 / 34 500 000 / 420 750 / 35 345 750
C. Indicative Co-financing for the project by source ($), If Available
Co-financing Source / Cash / In-kind / TotalProject Government Contribution / 2 000 000 / 2 000 000
GEF Agency(WB) / 28 000 000 / 28 000 000
Bilateral Aid Agency(ies)
Multilateral Agency(ies)
Private Sector
NGO
Others
Total co-financing / 30 000 000 / 30 000 000
D. GEF Resources Requested by Focal Area(s), agency (ies) share and country(ies)*
* No need to provide information for this table if it is a single focal area, single country and single GEF Agency project.
part ii: project JustiFication
In line with the principles of the Rural Development Strategy (RDS) and its programs addressing SLM, the government of Niger has requested the TerrAfrica/SIP support to contribute to improving conditions of poor populations and the terrestrial ecosystem services upon which they depend. Under the leadership of UNDP and in close cooperation with WB and IFAD, this support will begin with the development of a SLM Country Investment Strategic Framework (CSIF) at national level which will be translated and adapted to sub-national and local levels in the Maradi, Zinger and Diffa. Terrafrica tools and processes (such as the CSIF and national interministerial committee) will be aligned and integrated with existing ones created through the SDR. The three SIP operations in Niger (PLECO, ARRDI and PAC) have therefore been designed and are being implemented in line with the SDR’s priority programs 10 (environmental sustainability) and 13 (land restoration and reforestation). The World Bank IDA/GEF blended operation will deliver targeted investments at local level throughout the country; the UNDP and IFAD operations are geographically focused respectively in the Zinger/Diffa and Maradi regions. The three PIFs were prepared in close coordination among the three agencies and the government to ensure complementarities among the interventions; specifically for site selection special caution has been given to avoid overlays of GEF and other donors funded interventions (refer to Map sent by UNDP).
A. State the issue, how the project seeks to solve it, and the expected global environmental benefits to be delivered:
Issue: The Republic of Niger covers an area of 1,267,000 Km2, with Two-thirds of the territory located in the Sahara. The rainfall is very irregular in space and time and there are recurrent periods of drought. Agro-ecological resources are characterized by fragile arable lands, scarcity of woody species and high sensitivity of soils to wind and water erosion. These ecosystems are highly vulnerable to climate change and land use impacts. Climate change predictions for Niger, in terms of reduced rainfall intensity and high temperatures, will impose constraints on development activities, especially in land use, agriculture and food security. This is likely to contribute to increasing vulnerability to climate change. The anticipated increased frequency of droughts, floods and other extreme phenomena due to climate change is likely to constrain the development of primary sectors such as agriculture and jeopardise countries’ food security and pursuit of MDGs. As a result, farmers have reacted by overexploiting natural resources and increasingly shifting from rainfed farming to high-value off-season crops through a crop diversification strategy based on small-scale irrigated farming. Most farmers, however, have tried to maintain or increase their level of production by cultivating marginal lands or reducing fallow periods without changing their traditional method of cultivation. This has resulted in soil depletion, loss of fertility, lower yield, and environmental degradation. This degradation has generated an environment-poverty nexus that has contributed to increasing poverty and food insecurity, as evidenced by the recent famine, which threatened more than 3 million people with starvation. Caught in this dangerous spiral, rural populations seek better management of their land and natural resources to achieve a more sustainable agricultural production and growth.
Despite the existence of a number of best practices, past efforts have failed to comprehensively address the problem. Some of the key barriers that may explain past failures include: (a) lack of coordination and cooperation among development partners and among different sectors in the country, and (b) a narrow, project-specific or ad-hoc approach to the problem, which does not capture the cross-sectoral nature of land degradation and cannot systematically address its root causes, (c) insufficient consideration of land tenure and (d) bio-physical limitation of the resource base.
Efforts are needed at all levels to ensure that landscapes and their constituent ecosystems are well managed to allow production on a sustainable basis that results in intertwined global environmental and local development benefits. There is cause for optimism given some successful land management experiences in Niger. However, these successes need to be made known and up-scaled via a well coordinated multi stakeholder and multi partner process which is currently absent. In this context, key development partners have agreed to increase and align investment and coordination to upscale SLM based on shared analytical underpinnings and gap analysis. Aligned with the principles of the governments’ Rural Development Strategy (RDS) and its programs addressing SLM, the objective of this effort is to adopt a programmatic approach that will contribute to improved conditions of poor populations and the terrestrial ecosystem services upon which they depend.
The proposed GEF-SIP intervention is blended with the Community Action Program (CAP) co-financed by IDA which specific objectives are (i) to develop the capacity of the communes to plan, manage and monitor their own development through the conception and implementation of local development plans taking into account the concerns of men youth and women; (ii) to promote access by the populations to basic socio-economic services, economic opportunities and sustainable management of natural resources.
Consistent with the SIP Framework, this operation will address enabling environments to scale up community-based SLM successes (in a cross-section of communities throughout Niger), emphasizing land management activities that produce revenue streams or increase productivity of subsistence systems while helping secure ecosystem functions. The approach centers on micro-projects that advance the harmonized management of cultivated areas, rangelands, and water resources in order to maintain or recover ecosystem services necessary to sustain productivity, avoid degradation of scarce woodland in Niger, and introduce coping strategies for adapting crops to on-going micro-climatic change. The community centered approach is strengthened by institutional development to support implementation of on-going harmonization of different initiatives existing across the four line ministries for rural development, and also strengthened by developing a mechanism for knowledge dissemination within the country and reinforced by the regional TerrAfrica knowledge base. This will i) ensure the improvement of SLM capacity within the national and local institutions, ii) strengthen their ability to deliver and apply SLM knowledge, and iii) upscale communities SLM demand-driven micro-projects. Along with complementary activities financed under SIP by IFAD and UNDP, this operation will provide experience and replicable models to extend SLM practices in the country by leveraging the SLM platform being set up by the government with the support of international TerrAfrica partners led by UNDP. This Project iimplementation will help also overcome the difficulties that Niger has encountered so far in terms of integrating early warning information and monitoring of climate change to support adaptation strategies to climate change. It will achieve this by:
§ Strengthening the gathering and rapid dispatch of information from producers to users,
§ Ensuring that appropriate communication means and material are used in relaying climate change projections,
§ Ensuring requisite human and financial potential is available to maintain early warning and monitoring mechanisms beyond the availability of SIP/GEF funds,
§ Identifying demonstration sites based on vulnerability to climate change and other priorities,
§ Implementing adaptation strategies that can be replicated in others areas in the region
These objectives will be accomplished though 3 components:
Component A: Capacity Building
Sub component A-1. Capacity building for the communes and the communities: This component aims at supporting capacity building for local communities, strengthening civil society organizations and empowering the newly created communes to ensure ownership and take responsibility of the conception and the implementation of their own development agenda.
This sub component will therefore: i) develop a communication strategy to help beneficiaries understand project objectives and intervention mechanisms and share good practices, ii) finance a training programs and study tours for communities and commune councils on participatory diagnostic and planning, micro project conception and management, literacy,
Sub component A- 2. Institutional Capacity Building: This component aims at building the capacities of central and decentralized government services, civil society, service providers and institutions responsible for managing the Rural Development Strategy (RDS) and the Accelerated Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (ADPRS). It will therefore finance studies and training programs for Government structures involved in the decentralized process. This sub-component will support the elaboration of the SLM Country Strategic Investment Framework and its implementation at all levels, in particular at Zinger/Diffa regions by the UNDP project, and Maradi area by the IFAD operation.
Sub component A-3. Capacity building for sustainable natural resource management: The project will: i) support training activities to consolidate and scale up the carbon fund program achievements, ii) promote sustainable land management practices, train the communities on SLM techniques and their achievement iii) support the elaboration and implementation of a Common Knowledge Information System and a cross-sectoral Monitoring and Evaluation system for all stakeholder and levels; this information system will be informed by experiences, best practices and other knowledge generated by both the UNDP and IFAD led operations while also benefiting the regions/stakeholders covered through their operations. Through the SDR environment program committee, the 3 SIP projects will harmonize their approaches, exchange lessons and transfer knowledge. The national observatory to be established with the support of PLECO will serve as a repository of information, expertise and best practices for all SIP and SDR interventions. This observatory will help to better inform domestic audiences (local decision makers, youth, mayors and local communities) on the climate changes impacts and to improve access of local communities to weather and climate related information and to the knowledge of best coping strategies.