UN Capital Development FundImproving 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

Problem

VRA

Strategy

Priority Actions

Identification of Projects by Local Communities

CIP

Local Needs

Proposal

Linking the Strategy to the Projects

Problem

VRA

Strategy

Priority Actions

CIP

Local Needs

Proposal?

Linking the Strategy to the Projects

Problem

VRA

Strategy

Priority Actions

CIP

Local Needs

Proposal

Criteria

Proposal Project

Evaluation

CIP Criteria

Selection Criteria are used when:Communes choose proposal from CIP District selects projects for funding

NCDDS evaluates project

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: 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

SIMPLE

MEASURABLE

APPROPRIATE

RANGE

TARGETED

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.

Analysis of the Climate Resilience Strategies

Activity In Strategy In Proposals

# % # %

Roads 15 5% 28 18%Irrigation 33 10% 28 18%Water Supplies 37 12% 8 5%Drainage 8 3% 10 6%Flood Refuge 10 3% 2 1%Agriculture 77 24% 18 11%Other Infrastructure 31 10% 2 1%

Water and Hygiene 16 5% 29 18%

CC Awareness 30 9% 19 12%Other Services 60 19% 16 10%

Analysis of Selection CriteriaCriterion Average

Weight

Highly vulnerable area 27%In CIP 26%Responds to District CCA Strategy 14%Many beneficiaries 13%Benefits vulnerable groups 4%Can be implemented before end of year 4%Uses budget effectively 4%Strengthens climate resilience 4%Has co-financing 3%Multi-sector benefits 1%Inter-Commune benefits 1%

Are the Criteria SMART?

Criterion Simple?

Meas-urable?

Appro-priate?

Highly vulnerable area

()

In CIP Responds to District CCA Strategy

() ()

Many beneficiaries Benefits vulnerable groups

()

Are the Criteria SMART?

Criterion Range? Targ-eted?

Comment

Highly vulnerable area

SMART

In CIP Not usefulResponds to District CCA Strategy

Too general

Many beneficiaries

Need to compare cost and size of benefit as well as number of beneficiaries

Benefits vulnerable groups

SMART

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:Project Type Cost Benefits # HH

benefit

Irrigation $15,000 Farmers can grow two rice crops instead of one

50

Road $10,000 Can travel to and from village even in the flood season

250

Water Education

$ 2,000 Women understand better how to prevent children from getting sick

1,000

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 CriteriaThe simplest Value for Money criterion might be: Cost per beneficiary householdThe 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 householdWe 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

1. 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).

2. 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

3. 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.

UN Capital Development FundTHANK YOU

Julian AbramsLoCAL Technical Coordinator / LGCC Implementation Adviser

julianabrams@gmail.com