Independent Evaluation of the Water and Sanitation Hibah Program Indonesia

This evaluation assess the effectiveness of Indonesia's Water and Sanitation Hibah Program pilot and identifies lessons for applying this mechanism more broadly. The program, which operates by paying an agreed amount for verified household water or sanitation service connections installed by local water and sanitation utilities, takes advantage of excess capacity of water companies to bypass the need for infrastructure investment. It was evaluated through a document review, key informant interviews, a key stakeholder workshop, field work, and a beneficiary survey, along with quantitative data from existing sources

Biodiversity Conservation and Poverty Alleviation: Factors Influencing their Integration in Cambodia

Aligning conservation objectives with those of poverty alleviation in developing countries has been an elusive goal for the last two – three decades. An approach known as Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) became an extremely popular means to achieve this. Unfortunately, despite considerable enthusiasm, widespread implementation, and financial support the performance of these has been underwhelming. The laudable aspiration of achieving conservation and development together has been questioned. Reviews of ICDPs have identified flaws in previous applications of the concept. General advice on how practical elements of future ICDPs might be modified has been proffered, however there is an absence of substantive suggestions about how the approach should be modified to address the problems it has suffered from. An interdisciplinary divide between conservation and related disciplines also hinders the cross-fertilisation of ideas and insights. Using Cambodia as a case study, the conundrum of integrating conservation and development was re-examined using a research approach addressing deficiencies identified in the literature. A holistic perspective using a mixture of methods to maximise opportunities for new insights was adopted. The objective was to identify factors that influence conservation and development and their integration in Cambodia, to compare these with factors already identified in the literature, and draw conclusions that can be applied to integrated conservation and development (ICD) in general. A systems view, which acknowledges that real world problems are non-linear and complex, was adopted. Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) was used to structure the research, which followed two streams of inquiry. The first ‘cultural’ stream used grounded theory: a qualitative approach that identifies core issues via an emergent analytical process that avoids preconception and forcing of data. The second ‘logic’ stream used Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN) to quantitatively model the situation in Cambodia to explore its dynamics and reveal leverage points where positive changes could be made. A pluralist paradigm permitted this combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. The grounded theory analysis revealed a triad of central concepts; Engagement, Power and Control, with Engagement the most important. Engagement comprised four sub-categories; Capacity, Benefits, Time and Conceptual Buy-In, with Conceptual Buy-In emerging as the richest. The analysis confirmed many concepts such as building capacity and benefits that are typically discussed in relation to ICD. However a number of other critical issues, which receive much less attention, emerged during analysis, suggesting there are gaps in knowledge of ways to improve ICD. These primarily related to social and political processes (social capital), and highlighted the role trust and power dynamics play. Linkages were made to ‘resilience’ theory to suggest ways the socio-ecological systems that dictate ICD may be optimised to improve outcomes. BBN modelling suggested that in Cambodia, biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation are complementary and compatible goals. This contrasts more pessimistic conclusions sometimes found in the conservation literature. The presence or absence of non-governmental organisations was found to be an extremely influential factor determining the success of conservation and poverty alleviation initiatives, which has a number of practical implications. The model also suggested reducing dependence on natural resources by introducing medium and high value alternatives was one way in which conservation and development goals can be achieved simultaneously, as was reducing natural resource damage by minimising areas under concession. Building capacity, offering appropriate benefits and continuing to build awareness were reinforced as valuable objectives. Although the BBN model provided an adequate representation of the situation in Cambodia, the role political forces play and the social forces identified as critically important in the grounded theory analysis were conspicuously absent. Overall, BBNs are well suited to examining concrete and quantifiable factors but failed to capture other more abstract concepts that are not easily translated into quantifiable measures. This highlights the value of adopting a broad multimethodological approach in progressing ICD theory and practice. This research makes contributions to improving the integration of conservation and development in several ways. First, adopting a multimethodological approach in general, and including qualitative analysis in particular, to identify issues that influence the success of ICD is valuable. Second, the fundamental role social and political processes play were highlighted. If ICDPs are aware of, address, and support the effective functioning of these in their activities projects and programmes, sustainable and robust interventions are more likely. Third, practical recommendations can be derived from the analytical products of this work. This research suggests there is hope for achieving integrated conservation and development, but changes in perspective and approach are necessary. The disciplinary divide must be crossed if conservation is to effectively tackle the social and political forces that dictate the context in which it operates, and which play a central role in determining its success. Failure to do so will mean the conservation community may miss what is in front of them, due to artefacts of quantitative approaches that dominate its science-based tool box

Evaluating the relevance and effectiveness of AF8 since the project began in 2016

The work of AF8 is fundamentally about supporting good planning and coordination of all key agencies in the South Island to effectively respond (in the first seven days) to a significant future earthquake on the Alpine Fault. Work to date has focussed on bringing leading science research into the development of an Alpine Fault magnitude 8 scenario, which then informed the response planning phase, culminating in the SAFER Framework. Engaging in wider engagement and outreach activities has been on-going, aimed to increase the understanding and access to information by the wider community around how to plan and respond to a future Alpine Fault earthquake. A key feature of AF8 has been that is has represented a collaborative effort across a range of agencies, organisations, and locations. An additional aspect of AF8’s work has therefore been testing and demonstrating how to undertake a complex collaborative project, that requires the integration of knowledge, skills and expertise. Given the period of time that has elapsed since the AF8 was established, it is timely to conduct an evaluation of the project to identify: - the extent to which it is contributing to its intended outcomes - any other unintended outcomes (positive and negative) - lessons learned, that could be usefully applied to other similar types of projects. In essence, this evaluation research aims to understand the relevance, need and coherence of AF8’s efforts, as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of the work produced. Key informant interviews will be conducted over the next two months to ascertain the contribution AF8 has made to building resilience. This process is vital to continuing the co-creation approach taken by AF8, which requires reflection and listening to feedback from across the network of stakeholders who have helped to make AF8 a success