Our projects

The specific objectives of the contract were to:

The final evaluation of the West African Fruit Flies Control project (PLMF) will:

Review the implementation processes and analyse the project's strengths and weaknesses to suggest recommendations and areas for improvements for similar future projects

This assignment aimed to provide DEVCO's Communication Unit with professional video filming and editing, animation design and branding expertise.

The specific objectives of the contract included:

Many developing countries in Asia and Central Asia find themselves in the midst of a rapid industrial transformation, which is occurring at unprecedented scale and speed. The need for economic growth and human development often takes a short-term view that marginalizes environmental sustainability, which in turn will constrain future development opportunities over the medium and long term. While many countries in the region have successfully lifted people out of poverty, this has come at a cost of increased use of natural resources, growing emissions, and rising amounts of waste.

The region is the fastest growing source of new greenhouse gas emissions in the world, several countries are among the most vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters. More efficient resource use will thus become an increasingly important factor for competitiveness and growth, especially for the integration of developing countries’ Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in global value chains. Many countries in South and South-East Asia have introduced national initiatives for material and energy efficiency, climate mitigation and investment in green sectors such as low-carbon buildings, circular economy, eco-efficiency of heavy industry and public transport.

Central Asia countries have also expressed various degrees of responsiveness to the Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) agenda in different sectors, from renewable energy to the development of green tech-companies. Some of them, such as Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan, have also started developing national strategies for green economy engaging their local MSMEs and the private sector. Sustainable solutions are seen as key for changing production and consumption patterns. The increasingly attention paid in the last decade to SCP activities in these regions, especially on the production side, has resulted in a number of good examples of how to apply the SCP this approach effectively to the industrial sector. However, despite first achievements, this approach has not been replicated widely. MSMEs still lack access to finance and information and the capacity to change towards new models of consumption and production. Besides, a shift of consumers’ patterns is also needed.

The SWITCH-Asia and Central Asia II - Promoting Sustainable Consumption and Production call for proposals was published on 11th January 2019. The global objective of the programme is to promote inclusive sustainable growth, to contribute to the economic prosperity and poverty reduction in Asia and Central Asia and to support the development of a green economy and the transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient and circular economy in the 24 target countries.

The specific objectives of the programme are:

Specific Objective 1: promote sustainable production (development of less polluting and more resource efficient products, processes and services) and sustainable consumption patterns and behaviours in Asia and Central Asia, through an improved understanding and strengthened cooperation between Europe and Asia / Central Asia, notably by supporting SMEs and MSMEs in adopting SCP practices and getting access to finance, and by mobilizing the private sector.

o Output 1: Adoption of sustainable production and consumption practices, particular among MSMEs;

o Output 2: Move SCP practices from demonstration to replication and increase the access to finance of the MSMEs for SCP investments

Specific Objective 2: create an enabling environment to strengthen the implementation of national SCP policies in target countries and assist stakeholders (government, private sector, citizens, civil society) in harvesting the benefits of Sustainable Consumption and Production.

o Output 1: Formulation and implementation of national polices on SCP by Asian and Central Asian governments on demand basis;

o Output 2: Build capacity of implementing line ministries and sub-national agencies to promote SCP and to coordinate their portfolios related to SCP practices;

o Output 3: Support the overall effectiveness, sustainability and impact, the interactions among grant projects in the target countries and policy support activities at programme level.

o Output 4: Increase awareness on SCP and knowledge distilled from the projects for wider replication; and links with global SCP actions in other regions towards promoting inclusive green economy.

o Output 5: Increase interactions facilitated between MSMEs and financial intermediaries (access to finance); o Output 6: Enhance policy dialogue on SCP in Asia and Central Asia (support to existing fora).

The priorities of the call for proposals are:

Priority 1: Actions addressing sustainable supply chains management with a focus on green trade and on facilitating the integration of MSMEs into supply chains. ·

Priority 2: Actions focused on consumers and governments' policies to support sustainable consumption - consumer awareness

Priority 3: Actions focused on either large industrial parks and large economic zones or clusters of SMEs in order to produce bankable projects. In combination with the selected activities identified above, projects in priority 1 and priority 3 - should provide:

a clear analysis of the types of constraints in terms of access to finance encountered by firms and other productive actors involved in SCP-related activities: the distinction between: (a) constraints that are to be dealt with at systemic level, and for which broader interventions of financial sector development would be needed (e.g. legalregulatory and supervisory issues; financial infrastructure gaps); (b) constraints that can be dealt with by working with stakeholders at the meso and micro levels of the financial sector (e.g. banking training institutes/associations, technical providers in the financial sector, individual financial institutions such as banks, leasing companies, in some cases also microfinance institutions)

concrete solutions and activities to facilitate the access to finance to support SCP, e.g. in terms of awareness raising on opportunities and challenges of green finance and capacity building of relevant stakeholders (e.g. at policy and industry levels). For this reason the target groups of the proposed projects are:

Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) and eco-entrepreneurs. Large companies are not identified as beneficiaries of the programme, but engagement with them (e.g. retailers committed to sustainable sourcing) and synergies with their SCP related initiatives are encouraged; ·

Business intermediaries and service providers (e.g. industry associations, chambers of commerce, clusters and MSMEs organisations, retailers, financial institutions, research centres, etc.);

Trade federations and workers associations;

Consumer organisations and consumer groups who will benefit from better-quality and environmentally friendly products; · Not-for-profit organisations aiming at pursuing sustainable development; · Governmental institutions, local authorities and government-sponsored entities providing support services to MSMEs and/or that are responsible for policy and regulatory frameworks on SCP, industry and/or enterprises. The projects should envisage development and actual application of replication mechanisms (e.g. product and service standards, public-private partnerships, sustainable supply-chain management, reinforcement of SCP service providers, engagement of financial institutions, etc.) for effective outreach towards a large number of SMEs and/or consumer groups. In order to build upon existing capacity and best practices developed over the past decade (especially with regard to sustainable production), projects can include but should at the same time go explicitly beyond preparatory activities, such as needs assessments, market surveys, awareness raising, tool and manual development and/or research.

Finally, the outcomes of each project proposal should aim at improving the policy framework and implementation at national and/or regional level

Global objective The global objective of this assignment is to support the European Commission to identify the project proposals that contribute best to achieving the objectives of the grant component of the SWITCH-Asia II Programme.

Specific objective(s) The specific objective is to provide services to the European Commission linked to the administrative (data processing, ranking, and statistical follow-up) and the qualitative parts (technical and financial assessment of Concept Notes and Full Applications) of the evaluation procedure. ​

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This evaluation aims at attaining a comprehensive understanding of how regional, thematic and bilateral projects and programmes implemented under the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) and other instruments have contributed to the achievement of the strategic objectives of EU Cooperation with Serbia, between 2012 and 2018.

The evaluation takes into consideration agreements, commitments and policy dialogue, in order to provide an assessment of what EU-Serbia cooperation brought about. It is structured around the following thematic areas:

• Democracy, governance, rule of law and fundamental rights;

• Economic growth and sustainable regional development;

• Employment and social policies, including education, promotion of gender equality and human resources development;

• Agriculture and rural development.

The assignment will build on and complement other regional and country-level evaluations, as well as global, thematic evaluations undertaken by DG NEAR (EC). The evaluation has an accountability purpose but also embraces a learning approach and aims to improve future planning and implementation with recommendation on how to improve cooperation with Serbia as it moves along a pathway towards EU accession. ​

The purpose of this contract is to provide an external, impartial and independent evaluation of the first tranche of the 'EU Facility for Refugees in Turkey' (FRIT). The FRIT is a mechanism to coordinate the mobilisation of EU resources – both from the EU budget and from Member States – to assist Turkey in addressing the needs of refugees and host communities. The first tranche of FRIT contracted EUR 3 billion, in humanitarian and non-humanitarian assistance, between 2016 and 2017.

The specific objectives of the evaluation are:

1. To provide an overall assessment of the performance of the FRIT to date, focusing on intermediate results measured against its objectives;

2. To provide lessons learnt and actionable recommendations to improve current and future actions and strategy.

The evaluation will provide an evidence-based judgment of the extent to which the FRIT has been effective and efficient; relevant to its objectives and refugee needs; coherent both internally and with other EU instruments, donors and regional interventions; and has achieved EU added-value. The evaluation will also examine the sustainability and coherence/complementarity of the FRIT. It covers all interventions funded through the FRIT's first tranche, in the sectors of education, health, socio-economic support and migration management, and it will examine cross-sector linkages and areas, such as human rights, environment, gender, child-protection and disability. The evaluation focuses on both Syrian and non-Syrian refugees, of various protection statuses, living both in and outside of refugee camps. However, due to their size and proportion the greatest focus is on Syrian refugees living in urban areas (particularly in Istanbul and the southern provinces). The evaluation will also focus on the host-communities, local authorities and the Government of Turkey (GoT).

​The evaluation is consulting a wide range of stakeholders including ECHO, NEAR, FPI and EUD in Ankara, Member States, FRIT Steering Committee members, implementing partners, international and local NGOs, IFIs, various levels of the GoT, think-tanks and other international donors. These stakeholders will also be key users of the final evaluation report. The evaluation is due for completion in September/October 2020. Its results will inform the implementation of future phases of the FRIT and address strategic questions relating to transition from humanitarian to development assistance, integration of refugees into Turkish systems and sustainability.

The proposed project will enhance food security and rural economic growth in Punjab Province through increasing agricultural production by developing a new irrigation system. The Greater Thal Canal (GTC) irrigation scheme comprises of the following command areas: Main Canal, Mankera Branch Canal, Chaubara Branch Canal, Dhingana Branch Canal, Mehmoud sub-Branch Canal and Nurpur Branch Canal. The GTC irrigation scheme will convert about 704,000 hectares (ha) of unproductive rainfed lands to irrigated lands through delivering surplus river water during the monsoon season when flows are at their highest (i.e. it will be a seasonal, or non-perennial, irrigation scheme), in accordance with the Water Apportionment Accord 1991 that determines the agreed share of waters in the Indus Basin among the country’s four provinces.

The Main Canal (MC) and Mankera Branch Canal (MBC) have already been constructed using government’s funds in 2019. These canals aim to provide irrigated water to approximately 40,000 ha and 104,000 ha respectively. The proposed project will support the construction of an additional part of the scheme (the Chaubara Branch Canal (CBC) system) providing irrigation water to 119,000 ha of cultivable lands, providing support to farmers for command area development in the MC, MBC and CBC command areas covering 263,000 ha, traversing Khushab District (Nurpur Tehsil), Bhakkar District (Mankera Tehsil), and Layyah District (Chaubara Tehsil), and capacity development of government entities and water users for efficient water use and management, improved agricultural practices and sustainability of infrastructure. The proposed project is designed as the first project of potential phased support for sequentially completing the development of the entire GTC scheme.

The purpose of the Transactional Technical Assistance (TRTA) is to support the Government of the Punjab in the design and due diligence (feasibility) of the proposed project, in order to inform the decisions (through a number of reports) of the board of the ADB (and Government) on the approval of the ADB loan project consisting of the following project outputs:

The Punjab Irrigation Department (PID) will be the executing agency for the project and will be the implementing agency for Outputs 1 and 3. The Punjab Agriculture Department (PAD) will be the implementing agency for Output 2.

There is no complete census of the population of the project area (Main Canal, Mankera Branch Canal and Chaubara Branch Canal command areas) although it is estimated as approximately 246,000 in 40,000 households, of which approximately 35,000 are farming households (or 217,000 persons) which will directly benefit from the project. It is likely that with command area development this will likely rise, with potentially up to 84,500 farms (or 524,000 persons).

It is estimated that the increasing population in Pakistan will require 40%–50% additional food by 2025. However, agricultural productivity in Pakistan is well below global and even regional standards, due in large part to poor management of water resources. Punjab is the country’s demographic and economic hub, containing around 112 million people and over 50% of national gross domestic product. Punjab’s overall contribution towards the agriculture sector of the country is estimated at more than 80%, and therefore improved agriculture productivity and production in Punjab significantly contributes to enhancing the country’s food security.

Improved agricultural productivity and production can also have a direct positive impact on the people in Punjab who live in poverty and women working in the sector. The agriculture sector absorbs 40% of Punjab’s total labor force and is a predominant source of employment for female workers. About 25% of people in the province still live below the poverty line, though this has declined from 58% in 1998. The incidence of poverty is higher in rural areas (30% in rural areas against 16% in urban areas in 2013–2014) where agriculture remains the major source of income and livelihoods.

Pakistan is mostly semi-arid and arid and thus over 90% of agriculture output comes from irrigated agriculture. Out of 22.04 million ha of cultivated land in Pakistan, approximately 18.80 million ha are irrigated, with the remainder being rain-fed agricultural areas. One of the fundamental strengths of Pakistan’s agricultural sector is the availability of water from the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS), drawing from the Indus River and its tributaries. The IBIS covers over 14.9 million ha of farmland, consisting of three major multipurpose reservoirs, 23 barrages, headworks, and siphons, 12 inter-river link canals, and 45 major irrigation canal commands. Over 70% of the cropped area of the IBIS is in Punjab. Farming in areas outside of the IBIS relies on rainfall or groundwater. Intensive pumping is lowering water tables in some areas by about one meter annually. This increases pumping costs and results in saltwater intrusion into aquifers. As a result, these areas suffer from frequent crop failures, low agricultural productivity, and land salinization, contributing to low farm incomes and slow agricultural growth.

The EU's engagement in Somalia has intensified over the years, with the EU remaining the largest donor both in terms of political engagement as well as financial and technical support and expertise. Since 2008, the EU has provided more than €1.2 billion to the country through various financial sources, including the European Development Fund (focused on three sector including state building and peace building, food security and resilience, and education). The government has incorporated this within the National Development Plan. Three EU major projects (implemented by BRCiS, SomReP and STREAM consortia[1]) are contributing to reducing vulnerability and enhancing livelihoods among rural and internally-displaced people communities and households in south and central states of Somalia. DFID, Sida, Danida, USAID/Food for Peace, OCHA, Australian Aid and private funds are also supporting BRICS and SomRep consortia.

Despite a more and more erratic climate regime, the EU's efforts to combat continued environmental degradation through an improvement of the sustainable use of natural resources have included the implementation of "Reducing Hunger and Food Insecurity in Puntland Region through Improved and Sustainable Use of Rangeland Resources - MDG Initiative for Somalia" (the Action hereafter). The aim of this Action is to improve rangeland conditions and to promote a sustainable use of rangeland resources by empowering communities and by enabling the institutional and legal framework for rangeland protection. The result areas include: i) improved state of natural resources management; ii) improved community capacity for resources management and conflict prevention; iii) alternative energy and income-generating activities expanded; and iv) strengthened institutional and policy framework.

Our expert team will provide an overall independent assessment of the past performance of the Action, focusing on results (as measured against expected objectives), and reasons behind the findings. The team will provide key lessons and recommendations to improve current and future Actions in the field. In developing these lessons learned and recommendations, and establishing the level of sustainability, this evaluation will serve to maximise the impact of natural resource and rangeland management in Somalia and identify potential for harmonisation and systemisation for future programming. The main users of this evaluation will be the Federal Government of Somalia, the government of Puntland, MoEWT, the relevant services of the European Union, and implementing partners (African Development Solutions, CARE Nederland and FAO SWALIM), and relevant stakeholders involved in the natural resource management, resilience, inclusive economic development and local governance sectors in Somalia and in the Horn of Africa.​

[1] Building Resilient Communities in Somalia, Somalia Resilience Programme, and Somalia Resilience Action Consortium

Flooding within Asia and the Pacific remains a significant source of risk not only to the safety and well-being of people and their livelihoods but also to continued economic development. Increasingly frequent and severe floods, combined with rapid economic growth and urbanization along rivers and in coastal areas, have caused significant loss of life and damage. Asia and the Pacific experienced over 5,000 deaths from floods and storms in 2017.

This knowledge and support technical assistance (KSTA) assignment will strengthen the design and implementation of Integrated Flood Risk Management (IFRM) solutions, enhancing knowledge and application of IFRM strategies across Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines and Vietnam. The project will provide targeted technical support for program and project preparation and promote more holistic IFRM solutions, including basin-scale and nature-based solutions (NBS) thereby strengthening flood resilience and adaptive capacity to climate change, land-use change, and other human interventions.

The TA will identify locations in target Developing Member Countries (DMCs) where innovative IFRM investments (including NBS) can be made, through integration into ADB loan project designs and mainstreaming into government strategies, policies and plans to scale-up interventions successfully undertaken elsewhere. The project outputs are as follows:

Detailed project outputs:

Output 1: Efficient and climate-resilient irrigation infrastructure and management systems installed. This output will focus on (i) upgrading, modernizing, and climate proofing irrigation and drainage infrastructure; (ii) strengthening coordination and management of irrigation services, irrigated land, irrigation infrastructure, including storage ponds to build resilience against prolonged droughts and canals in irrigation systems, ensuring efficient, reliable, and equitable irrigation supplies for agricultural land; and (iii) tree planting for shelter belts around the modernized irrigated areas. The project will upgrade, modernize and climate proof 12 selected schemes along with directly associated infrastructure providing irrigation services for 7,000 ha. The project will finance remodeling and improvement of main, secondary, and tertiary canals or pipes, drainage facilities, field application systems such as high efficiency center pivot sprinkler systems and drip irrigation for 240 ha, and associated structures, and where needed construction of new, access roads and windbreaks. Soum governments will be strengthened to conduct O&M of irrigation system and will pilot a modern asset management system. A total of 240 jobs will be created during construction, including 40% women and 10% from female headed households; and all contracts for 3,094 households to be engaged in new vegetable farming plots will be co-signed by women.

Output 2: Environmentally sustainable agriculture production systems improved. This output aims to improve food safety, environment sustainability and climate resilience of agriculture production systems, focusing specifically on agrochemical residue testing and supporting the implementation of a new law on plant seeds by promoting the introduction of new high yielding and climate resilient vegetable seeds varieties. The project will support the National Institute for Plant Protection (IPP) with testing equipment and reagents for additional testing capacity of 4,000 tests to ensure the safety of imported pesticides and residues in food products. This is expected to reduce use of harmful agrochemicals and to build consumer trust in domestically produced vegetables. The project will support, through the coordination of the national extension center, four regional crop research institutes (CRI) with: (i) provision of equipment and facilities such as climate controlled growth chambers, storage cool rooms, sheds, fencing, mechanization packages, seed cleaning and packaging equipment, conservation farming equipment, and teaching facilities; (ii) small-scale irrigation rehabilitation and modernization; and (iii) greenhouses including low-carbon options for extending cropping seasons, high value vegetable cultivation and quality seedling production. This is expected to increase production capacity for vegetable seeds by 0.65 tons and for seed potatoes by 10 tons. A total of 20 women researchers and 192 women from CGGs will be provided technical support and training on best practices.

Output 3: Technical, institutional, and management capacity and coordination strengthened. The project will set up 48 CGGs in the 12 irrigation schemes, including 40% women as members and 25% in leadership positions; and provide training on improved vegetable production for 480 CGG participating farmers, including 40% women, in collaboration with CRIs. The two main providers of extension services to vegetable farmers will be crop research centers such as the Institute of Plant and Agriculture Science, and a facilitation partner such as a local non-government organization. Project supported CRIs will provide capacity building in good agricultural practice and integrated pest management for farmers’ improved management of natural resources with minimized use of agrochemicals, use of climate smart agriculture practices and the introduction of enhanced vegetable production and processing techniques. To further strengthen CGGs, Output 3 will provide mechanization technology packages, all weather greenhouses with solar powered heating and long-life films, and small cool rooms for product storage. The equipment will be provided through a combination of ADB loan and the proposed Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) grant to the soum government which can then provide to CGGs based on eligibility criteria.