NATIONAL TARGET PROGRAM
TO RESPOND TO CLIMATE CHANGE
REVIEW AND DOCUMENTATION OF
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION PILOTS IN
QUANG NAM AND BEN TRE PROVINCES
REVIEW AND DOCUMENTATION OF
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION PILOTS IN
QUANG NAM AND BEN TRE PROVINCES
FINAL REPORT
June 10, 2013
Consultants:
Bryn Tucknott Pham Quang Trung Dang Thi Thu Huong Alasdair Sim
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Over the last 50 years, Vietnam has recorded an average temperature rise between 0.5 and 0.7oC and an average sea level rise of 20cm1, whilst rainfall and severe storms have
fluctuated unpredictably. In December 2008, in order to adapt to these and other climate change (CC) phenomena, the Government of Vietnam launched the National Target Program to Respond to Climate Change (NTP-RCC), which will run until 2015. The objective of the program is to support greater sustainability in economic and social development and poverty alleviation in Vietnam by increasing the capacity of the country to adapt to CC and increase mitigation efforts.
As its first donor, the Government of Denmark pledged to support the NTP-RCC from 2009 to 2015. Danish assistance focuses on supporting climate change adaptation (CCA) policy, planning and piloting adaptation measures at community level, through working with two provinces that are highly vulnerable to climate change, namely Ben Tre and Quang Nam. Both provinces are coastal, low-lying and home to large flood plain and river delta systems. To date, DANIDA have funded 19 pilot adaptation projects in the two provinces to help deal with the effects of climate change and support the people most vulnerable to it.
In April this year (2013) DANIDA contracted a Pilot Review and Documentation (PRD) team to document each of these pilots and review the overall program. The purpose of the review was to study and analyze several aspects of the pilot projects, including:
The selection process and how pilot choices were made and justified, The effectiveness and the efficiency of the projects,
Replication potential and sustainability of the interventions,
The documentation that is being used to share and manage the project.
The review team was then tasked to provide recommendations to enhance and improve specific aspects of the program.
Key findings of the PRD mission concluded that:
On the whole, the projects used the right development approaches with the right target groups, at the right time, and were consistent and coherent with national government strategies and policies.
The selection, planning, implementation and monitoring processes were carried out with strong participation of beneficiaries.
The level of decentralization varied greatly between the two provinces, leading to differences in the capacity built and CC awareness achieved for local officers and people. Heavy reliance on outsourced consultancies in Ben Tre needs to be reviewed with care as it brings about both positive results (rapid and professional implementation), and negative (lower capacity building and awareness for local government officers).
Project documentation was quite weak overall, as was the verbal explanation of project choices and expected impact. However, the reality of the projects showed that they are, in fact, well targeted and in-line with expectations and guidelines. Further development of PR and sharing documentation is required.
Where projects fitted into larger climate change strategies, action plans or “visions” their impact, effectiveness and sustainability were greatly enhanced.
1 Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (2009), Climate change, sea level rise scenarios in
Vietnam, Ha Noi, June. URL:
TABLE OF CONTENT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ... 3 ABBREVIATIONS ... 5 INTRODUCTION ... 6 BACKGROUND ... 6 OBJECTIVES OF THE PRD ... 7PILOT PROJECTS AND LOCATIONS ... 8
Quang Nam Province ... 8
Ben Tre Province ... 9
KEY FINDINGS ...10
KEY FINDINGS IN BEN TRE PROVINCE ...11
Pilot Project Selection and Implementation Process ...11
Relevance ...12
Effectiveness and Efficiency ...13
Impact ...15
Sustainability and Replication ...16
KEY FINDINGS IN QUANG NAM PROVINCE ...18
Pilot Project Selection and Implementation Process ...18
Relevance ...19
Effectiveness and Efficiency ...20
Impact ...22
Sustainability and Replication ...23
CONCLUSIONS AND LESSONS LEARNT ...24
Planning ...24
Implementation ...24
Impact ...24
Documentation and Sharing ...25
RECOMMENDATIONS ...26
ANNEX ...28
Annex 1: Objectives and Scope of PRD ...28
Annex 2: Methodology ...29
ABBREVIATIONS
CC - Climate Change
CCA - Climate Change Adaptation
CCO - Provincial Office for Climate Change Adaptation
CRS - Catholic Relief Services
DANIDA - Danish International Development Agency
DMHCC - Department of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change
DONRE - Department of Natural Resources and Environment
DPC - District People’s Committee
FGD - Focus Group Discussion
MOF - Ministry of Finance
MONRE - Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
MPI - Ministry of Planning and Investment
NTP - National Target Program
NTP-RCC - National Target Program to Respond to Climate Change
O&M - Operation and Maintenance
OFID - OPEC Fund for International Development
P135 - National Target Program for Socio-economic Development of
Communes Facing Extreme Difficulties in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas
P30A - National Target Program for the Rapid and Sustainable Poverty
Reduction for 61 Poorest Districts
PCERWAS - Provincial Center for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation
PPC - Provincial People’s Committee
PRA - Participatory Rural Appraisal
PRD - Pilot Review and Documentation (mission)
PSC Provincial Steering Committee
SEDP - Socio-Economic Development Plan
SO - Standing Office
VND - Vietnam Dong (Vietnamese currency)
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND
Over the last 50 years, Vietnam has recorded an average temperature rise between 0.5 and 0.7oC and an average sea level rise of 20cm2, whilst rainfall and severe storms have
fluctuated unpredictably. In December 2008, in order to adapt to these and other climate change (CC) phenomena, the Government of Vietnam launched the National Target Program to Respond to Climate Change (NTP-RCC), which will run until 2015. The objective of the program is to support greater sustainability in economic and social development and poverty alleviation in Vietnam by increasing the capacity of the country to adapt to CC and increase mitigation efforts.
As its first donor, the Government of Denmark pledged to support the NTP-RCC from 2009 to 2015. Danish assistance focuses on supporting CCA policy, planning and piloting adaptation measures at community level, through working with two provinces that are highly vulnerable to climate change, namely Ben Tre and Quang Nam. Both provinces are coastal, low-lying and home to large flood plain and river delta systems.
Quang Nam has 125km of shoreline and 6 coastal districts that are highly vulnerable to climate change. The most notable change is an increase in the frequency and intensity of storms and floods3 that the province experiences with regularity in the wet-season; from 1997
to 2009, 589 people were killed, 33 people were reported missing and 9436.45 billion VND was lost due to severe storms, flooding, and erosion4. Meanwhile, the dry-season gets longer
and hotter with lower rainfall that has caused longer drought periods. From 1950 to 2010, out of eight years that witnessed the most devastating droughts in the summer-autumn rice crop, six have occurred since 19805. In addition, lower rainfall in combination with sea-level rise
has led to saline intrusion, which now can reach as far as the non-coastal district of Que Son. Both drought and saline intrusion deprive many paddy fields and orchards in all districts of this agricultural province of their much-needed irrigation water and the local inhabitants of fresh water for daily use. For example, in 2010, during the summer-autumn rice crop, more than 10,000ha of arable land did not have enough irrigation water and 5,000 people lacked sufficient freshwater for daily use6. In addition, as the province is home to one of Vietnam’s
largest fishing fleets with an estimated 10,000 fishermen employed in this industry, increasing unpredictability, frequency and severity of storms are making the industry, and those who work in it, increasingly vulnerable to CC impacts.
Meanwhile, in Ben Tre, the provincial hydro-met station has monitored a significant rise of 25cm in sea level and drops in fresh river outflows7. At the time of this PRD, salinity of 4%
was recorded in the Co Chien river 45–52km in-land in all the four weeks8 of April 2013. This
2 Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (2009), Climate change, sea level rise scenarios in
Vietnam, Ha Noi, June. URL:
http://www.preventionweb.net/files/11348_ClimateChangeSeaLevelScenariosforVi.pdf (accessed 16 May, 2013)
3 Institute of Geography (2011), Proposal of solutions to prevent and minimize the damage caused by
flooding, inundation and droughts in Quang Nam (in Vietnamese). URL:
ftp://ecoenvi.org/domains/ecoenvi.org/public_html/Data/Sub-project%20reports/Chuyen_de_15.pdf
(accessed 23 May, 2013)
4 Ibid. page 72. 5 Ibid. page 23. 6 Ibid. page 28.
7 Information presented by Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh, head of Ben Tre hydro-met station at the debriefing
meeting on 26 April, 2013.
is already significantly higher levels of saline intrusion than the province CC scenarios had predicted; an expectation for salinity of 4% up-river to have reached 40km in-land9 in 2040. It
can be said that climate change has put Ben Tre in a paradox. It is a province surrounded by water yet its inhabitants do not have enough freshwater to sustain agriculture and human consumption. The river delta can, in fact, be considered a battle front; where freshwater from the river pushes back the saltwater from the sea, when there are high volumes of outflow, but is itself pushed back up river by rising sea levels and tides when freshwater volumes are low. Taken over the course of a year, the line between freshwater and saline will move inland in the dry-season and retreat back out towards the river mouth and sea in the wet-season. However, taken as a trend, measured over several years, the inland encroachment is increasing at a rapid rate. In addition, the sea level rise is reducing the integrity of river banks and saline intrusion over these banks is now critical. The impact on local inhabitants is significant; there is less fresh water for drinking and daily use, traditional agriculture practices are becoming un-viable, there is a lack of freshwater for livestock and fish. In short, lives and livelihoods of residents are suffering from this losing battle with saline intrusion.
As a response to these CC vulnerabilities, the two provinces developed five-year frameworks for CCA with a list of associated priority activities. It covers a wide range of sectors and includes pilot projects which target the most important CC issues such as water resource management, livelihood diversification and disaster risk management. Activities to strengthen water resources include irrigation improvements, construction of pump stations and anti-salinity dams. Activities for livelihood diversification include adaptive agriculture practices and support for development of non-agriculture based livelihood alternatives. Activities for disaster risk management consist of multi-function shelters, protective dykes, stabilization of river embankments, road improvements and protective coastal afforestation.
In Quang Nam and Ben Tre, the provincial Steering Committees (PSC) of the NTP-RCC, chaired by the Vice Chairmen of the Provincial People Committee (PPC), has the responsibility for directing and supervising program activities. At the executive level, the provincial office for climate change adaptation (CCO) is located in the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DONRE) and responsible for the implementation of the overall CC program.
Since 2009, through this provincial management system, DANIDA has funded 19 CCA pilot projects under the five-year frameworks in these two provinces.
OBJECTIVES OF THE PRD
The general objective of the mission is to assess DANIDA-funded CCA pilot projects with a view to increasing the NTP-RCC’s effectiveness and to document the rationale, impact to date, sustainability and replication potential as well as lessons learnt and recommendations for the pilots for further sharing and replication, particularly for the design and implementation of other such pilot projects under the program. For full details of the scope of the mission see Annex 1.
http://www.bentre.gov.vn/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=4&id=64&Itemid= 85 (accessed May 24, 2013)
9 Information provided by Mr. Cao Van Trong, Vice chairman of Ben Tre’s PPC at the meeting on April
PILOT PROJECTS AND LOCATIONS
Quang Nam Province
The field visits were undertaken in Quang Nam province from 12 to 18 April, 2013.
Project Location Project status
1-Road improvement Dai Hiep commune, Dai Loc district Complete 2-Embankment and forest plantation Tam Quang commune, Nui Thanh district Complete 3a-Health clinic and storm shelters Binh Dao commune, Thang Binh district Complete 3b- Health clinic and storm shelters Dien Phuoc commune, Dien Ban district Complete 4-River embankment in Tra Nhieu Duy Vinh commune, Duy Xuyen district Complete 5-Irrigation and road improvement Que Xuan 1 commune, Que Son district Complete 6-Irrigation canals Que Phong commune, Que Son district Complete 7-Infrastructure for residential
resettlement area
Que Lam commune, Nong Son district 95% complete 8-Road improvement Tam Thanh commune, Tam Ky city Complete 9-Improvement of irrigation canal Tien Canh commune, Tien Phuoc district Complete
Color code Pilot projects
Pilot projects selected by DANIDA for in-depth review. Field visits and on-site data collection include meetings, interviews and discussions with officials, as well FGDs and in-depth interviews with beneficiaries.
Field visits and on-site data collection include meetings, interviews and discussions with officials, ad-hoc meetings with beneficiaries.
1-Road improvement (Apr 17) 2-Embankment and forest plantation (Apr 15) 3b-Storm shelter (Apr 17) 3a-Storm shelter (Apr 16) 4-River embankment (Apr 16)
5-Irrigation and road improvement (Apr 16) 6-Irrigation canals (Apr 16) 7-Infrastructure for residential settlement (Apr 17) 8-Road improvement (Apr 16) 9-Improvement of irrigation canals (Apr 18)
Ben Tre Province
The field visits were undertaken in Ben Tre province from 22 to 26 April, 2013.
Project Location Project Status
10-Local dam to prevent saline
intrusion Thanh Tri commune, Binh Dai district Complete 11-Water supply plant Binh Thanh commune, Giong Trom district Complete 12-Farming system adapting to
climate change Ba Tri, Binh Dai and Thanh Phu districts On going 13-Upgrade and increase
capacity of water supply plant Thanh Phu township Complete 14-Water tank distribution to
coastal households Giong Trom and Thanh Phu district Complete 15-Water treatment facility for
coastal communities Bao Thanh commune, Ba Tri district Complete 16-Mangrove reforestation Ba Tri, Binh Dai and Thanh Phu districts Complete 17-Upgrade Vam Tan Huong
dyke Minh Duc commune, Mo Cay Nam district Complete 18-Upgrade Cai Ban dyke Phu Khanh commune, Thanh Phu district Complete 19-Storm shelters Thanh Phu, Binh Dai, Ba Tri districts 95% complete
10-Local dam (Apr 24) 11-Water supply plant
(Apr 23) 12b-Farming system (Apr 24) 12a-Farming system (Apr 23) 12c-Farming system (Apr 25) 16c-Mangrove forestation (Apr 25)
13-Water supply plant (Apr 25) 14b-Water tank (Apr 25) 19b-Storm shelter (Apr 25) 19c-Storm shelter (Apr 23) 16a-Mangrove forestation (Apr 23) 17-Upgrade dyke (Apr 25) 18-Upgrade dyke (Apr 25) 14a-Water tank (Apr 23) 19a-Storm shelter (Apr 24) 16b-Mangrove forestation (Apr 24)
15-Water treatment facility (Apr 23)
KEY FINDINGS
Upon reviewing project documents, conducting field visits and on-site data collection, the PRD has found that Quang Nam and Ben Tre face different CC impacts, adopt different approaches towards the DANIDA-funded pilots, and pilot different models. Ben Tre is facing wide scale challenges with saline intrusion and is also become increasingly concerned about the irregularity of storm events, whereas the key CC challenges in Quang Nam are the increases in the frequency and intensity of storms and floods, as well as longer drought periods. The management and implementation of the DANIDA pilot projects also have significant variations between the provinces; Ben Tre has chosen a centralized, fast and efficient route to implementation and oversight, with the CCO being the office that holds the funding and contracts consultants to lead in almost every part of the project, from selection to implementation and appraisal of the constructions. In Ben Tre, the districts mainly play the role of beneficiaries. Meanwhile, Quang Nam has followed a more cautious and decentralized approach that has gradually built up the CCO’s internal capacity and the districts’ competence in selection, planning and accountability in implementation, and in this case, the districts are primarily the implementing agents.
Due to the significant differences in CCA focus and project management approaches, the PRD decided to present the key findings in separate sub-sections for the two provinces, while keeping to the same structure. That being said, there are several useful comparisons to be drawn between the provinces, these will be developed within combined conclusions and recommendations sections, which will demonstrate the comparative analysis of the 2 project provinces. Case studies from individual pilot projects will be used to highlight key issues throughout this section.
KEY FINDINGS IN BEN TRE PROVINCE
Pilot Project Selection and Implementation Process
From the PDR meetings at the provincial level, we obtained a good understanding of the selection and implementation process for the pilot projects in Ben Tre, which can be described as follows:
Project Design
• Draft Design: CCO contracting with consultants to develop draft design for each pilot project, both technical and financial.
• Procurement Plan: CCO collecting all project designs, developing the procurement plans and submitting them to PPC for approval.
• Approval of Procurement Plan: PPC reviewing and approving the procurement plans.
Project Funding
• Fund Release: Embassy of Denmark releasing the funding to the government, which is managed by MOF and MPI.
• Fund Transfer: Government transferring the funding to PPC. Then based on the level of urgency of projects, PPC allocating the funding to CCO, related departments or districts for implementation.
• Fund Management: CCO, related departments or districts being accountable for management of project budgets.
• .
Project Implementing
• Bidding: CCO contracting with consultants to develop TORs and calling for bidding documents, both technical and financial. With technical support from consultants, CCO reviewing bidding documents and short-listing contractors.
• Final Selection: CCO selecting final contractors and proceeding with contract procedures.
• Project Implementation: Contractors signing the commitment for full implementation of projects, and starting the implementation/ construction. CCO, related department or district advancing part of the payment in line with the contracts.
Project Sustaining
• Supervision: CCO, related departments, districts and the local communities (including commune officials and residents) supervising the progress and quality of the projects.
• Appraisal and Handover: CCO and consultants appraising the projects and handing them over to communes for operation.
• O&M: CCO, related departments or districts developing O&M plans for the projects, and sending to communes for implementation.
• Evaluation: Embassy of Denmark having consultants to undertake independent evaluations of projects.
Project Selection
• Selection Criteria: CCO providing Districts and PPC’s departments with selection criteria, which are based on several policies and guidelines (NTP strategies/guidelines, DANIDA criteria, National decision 1719)
• Local Engagement: Districts and PPC’s departments consulting with local communes and residents on CC effects and selection criteria to identify key challenges and prioritized actions.
• Priority List: Districts and PPC’s departments developing their priority lists and submitting them to CCO.
• Feasibility Assessment: CCO contracting with consultants to survey and assess the priority lists in potential pilot sites.
• Final Selection: CCO developing the final project list based on the priority lists and consultant's recommendations, then submitting to PSC for approval.
It can be seen from the selection and implementation process that:
The selection and implementation process has been centralized at the provincial levels (CCO, PSC and PPC);
There has been a high level of dependency on consultants; Districts mainly play the role of beneficiaries.
Relevance
Following the document review the PRD mission had some concerns about the rationale used to select some of the project pilots; several English fact sheets were unclear or missed the key issues completely and the Vietnamese project documentation lacked clear analysis of CC problems and related solutions. However, during site visits and interviews with key informants, the justification of pilot selections became much more coherent and the team found that most pilots had a very strong rationale and justification for the choices made; with all projects targeting adaptation to the main CC challenges faced by the province – saline intrusion in regards to agricultural production and also a lack of fresh drinking water, as well as, to a lesser extent, an increase in storms and floods.
A lack of key indicators, that demonstrate the CC issues, was a particular weakness in existing, documented project rationale. During interviews with the Ben Tre PSC and the provincial hydro-met office it became clear that the province does, in fact, have a great deal to draw upon for providing problem analysis in CC; there are regular measurements of salinity, temperature, rainfall and sea level changes by the hydro-met station, as well as CC scenarios that have been developed (based on data gathered to date and long term predictions) that cover all 10-year periods from 2020 to 2100. These have uncovered some extremely daunting and motivating statistics;
An average rise, to date, of 25cm in sea level during 1984-2012 period, whilst significant drops in fresh river outflows10
A salinity level of 4%, recorded in the Co Chien river 45–52km in-land in all the four weeks11of April 2013.
These two recordings alone place Ben Tre in a position that their current CC scenarios had not predicted until much later; having had an expectation for salinity of 4% up-river to have only reached 40km in-land12in 2040.
Whilst these environmental indicators were well understood at the highest provincial levels, there seemed to be little awareness of these at levels below the PSC.
In addition to the big picture indicators there was also a lack of related impact data that could have been used to support selection analysis and related project choices. For example, there was a lack of information when it came to the health statistics that should have been used to justify the projects focusing on freshwater access, like the water tank, water treatment and water supply pilots. The same is true for the storm shelters, where simple indicators such as the number of people directly affected by floods and storms should have been presented. Many of the projects also fit within the plans for larger strategies for both irrigation and freshwater supply. By documenting where the pilots fit and how they are able to contribute to
10 Information presented by Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh, head of Ben Tre hydro-met station at the
debriefing meeting on 26 April, 2013.
11 Salinity summary in April 2013 posted on the website of www.bentre.gov.vn (in Vietnamese). URL:
http://www.bentre.gov.vn/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=4&id=64&Itemid= 85 (accessed 24 May, 2013)
12 Information provided by Mr. Cao Van Trong, Vice chairman of Ben Tre’s PPC at the meeting on 22
the large scale change aimed at by these plans, there would be a much stronger case for their justification.
In summary, the PRD found that the pilot choices made in Ben Tre were:
Highly relevant to the CC issues faced in the province13 and to the NTP-RCC strategies
and selection criteria14
Often integral parts of much larger, well defined plans,
On the whole, clearly justifiable and targeted to maximize impact.
However, a great deal of on-the-ground investigation was required to come to this conclusion and more clearly developed and documented analysis would be of great value, particularly as the bigger picture is not well understood at district and commune levels (again likely due to the heavy reliance on consultants and less internal capacity building).
Effectiveness and Efficiency
Ben Tre managed to begin planning and implementing its pilot projects relatively rapidly. To a large extent this was due to strong high-level management and an equally strong reliance on external consultants, who were well qualified to take on many of the technical roles needed to manage the project. This project management approach was efficient and allowed Ben Tre to move ahead very quickly in 2009, ensuring funding and dispersal efficiency for DANIDA and positive impact to be felt sooner. However, it did have negative consequences to the effectiveness of the program. This is most evident from the apparent lack of understanding on the project selection priorities, CC awareness and project information at all levels below the provincial. This was perhaps down to the high dependency on consultants which reduced or ignored internal capacity building and institutional knowledge at commune and district levels.
There were some difficulties encountered in Ben Tre that affected how efficiently the projects were managed and implemented. There were funding delays that came from national level (National Assembly) in 2012. In addition to this, there was also a lack of clarity given to the province in terms of how much funding was available, how much would be disbursed in the annual budget and how that figure was set. This has impacted on the implementation strategy and forced the province to slow down or cutback activities.
13 They were highlighted in the provincial CCA Action Frameworks in 2009 and 2011 and the
provincial Scheme for Adapting to CC and sea-level rise during 2011 – 2015 and the Orientation for 2020 (released in September 2011).
14 As described in the National Decision 1719, which can be seen here:
http://thuvienphapluat.vn/archive/Quyet-dinh/Quyet-dinh-1719-QD-TTg-phe-duyet-Tieu-chi-danh-gia-du-an-uu-tien-vb129957t17.aspx (accessed 29 May, 2013)
Highlighted Case Study: Local Dam in Binh Dai district
This project involved the construction of a small dam across one (of many) canals that interweave through the river delta in Binh Dai. It supports a much larger irrigation plan for the province; as such it is a key stage in the creation of a freshwater capture zone that links with a large network of dams and dykes, many of which are already in place, as well as a large agriculture diversification and adaptation strategy. However, this is not mentioned in the project documentation and only became apparent after many hours of in-depth interview with district officials. Even then it was described by one official as “just a vision I have in my head and not written down”.
The dam itself has a great deal of relevance to CCA but the related rationale is lost when there is no documented analysis of the context and bigger picture, and the plans are not shared with or understood well by all stakeholders.
With the majority of projects being directly managed and implemented by the CCO at provincial level we, once again, have a positive effect on efficiency but a negative impact on effectiveness in regards to CC awareness, capacity building and any aspiration for the promotion of decentralized project management.
Ben Tre has large scale strategies in place for both irrigation and freshwater supply, as noted earlier; they are both highly relevant to CCA. With many of the DANIDA pilots supplementing these program strategies, the effectiveness of the pilots is amplified and seed funding from DANIDA has enabled momentum in the big programs and leveraged additional fund resources. To create greater efficiencies in planning for CCA, and improve effectiveness in implementation, a more explicit broad strategy, that encompasses these irrigation and water
supply programs, under a well
documented climate change strategy, would be highly valuable. This combined with a stronger rational, would give a clear direction to the province and districts and could attract a great deal of additional funding. The effectiveness and efficiency of pilot interventions have resulted in integration of CC responses into policy and SEPDs of Ben Tre, which has been noted during our review of provincial SEPDs and interviews with the PSC and CCO. For instance, in the report on the Review of SEPD implementation in 2011 and the Tasks and Solutions for 201215 and in the report
on the Review of SEPD implementations in the first nine months and the remaining Tasks and Solution for the last three months of 201116, there were separate
sections on the NTP-RCC which clearly mentioned the pilot projects and their implementation status.
Overall the implementation of the pilot projects was very good. There was a high level of local participation in the construction and monitoring of the projects themselves and this helped greatly in ensuring the quality of the project was high and that the local people
15 The report is available at:
http://www.bentre.gov.vn/drp/portal/htvb/noi-dung/bao-cao-tinh-hinh-thuc-hien-nghi-quyet-hdnd-tinh-ve-phat-trien-kinh-te-xa-hoi-nam-2011-va-n
16 The report is available at:
http://www.bentre.gov.vn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11055&Itemid=153
Highlighted Case Study:
Increased Pipe Connection Network for water supply plant in Thanh Phu district This project enabled 500 households (more than 2000 residents) of Thanh Phu township to have better adaptive capacity and resilience against saline intrusion and longer drought periods. The DANIDA fund was used to add value to an existing ADB water supply plant project that was running under full potential and had the capacity to supply an additional 500 households but lacked the funds to implement. This funding has had a broad impact on a critical CCA issue at minimal costs.
Opportunistic funding of this nature has a great deal of potential in the province, where large scale projects are being developed and small funding gaps are often overlooked.
Highlighted Case Study:
Protective Coastal Afforestation in Ba Tri, Binh Dai and Thanh Phu districts
Over 100 ha of protective costal forest and mangrove has been planted with a strong O&M strategy in place. This afforestation helps to protect the areas, the local people and their livelihoods from strong winds, flying sand, windblown sea water and coastal erosion. The project has a great ‘community buy-in’ and participation aspect to it as it has been handed over to the local people and the community in. The local people are paid yearly for the upkeep of the afforestation projects - in Ba Tri district for example, some households are paid 120,000VND annually per hectare to maintain the plantation – and this results in increased sustainability for the project as well as giving the local people valuable capacity building skills. It has allowed the households who participate in the maintenance of the project to diversify their livelihoods and also bring in another income in an area that has a high rate of poverty.
could build capacity and skills. Full operation and maintenance plans for many projects were awaiting formal handover to communes, however, there were delays in these handovers due to final payments for construction contractors being also delayed. Once these O&M plans have been fully implemented, it is expected that efficiency and effectiveness will be enhanced as well as sustainability.
There was a strong level of participation in pilots such as the Vam Tan Huong and Cai Ban dykes in Mo Cay Nam and Thanh Phu districts, water tank building in Giong Trom and Thanh Phu districts, water supply treatment plant in Giong Trom district, where local labor was used for the construction; this further enhanced capacity building, kept production costs low, provided an additional income source to poor communes, and ensured that the local people played their role in a local project. In addition, free contributions of land and/or labor from the local communities were also apparent.
Use of local labor, local oversight committees and in-kind contributions from the community have enhanced both efficiency and effectiveness and ensured higher quality outcomes from project implementation.
Nevertheless, several pilots should have attempted to leverage additional fund sources to supplement the effectiveness of the basic infrastructure funded by DANIDA. There was little awareness of the potential for supplementary funding opportunities in some projects. This was evident in the storm shelter pilots; unlike the Multi-function Storm Shelter in Thang Binh district in Quang Nam which used the DANIDA money for building the shelter and then sourced other organizations such as Red Cross America and CRS to equip the building with rescue equipment and healthcare items. This kind of collaboration with different funding resources was not present in the storm shelters in Ben Tre.
Impact
Sector Number of Direct Beneficiaries
Notes
Agriculture /
Livelihoods improvement
BT10 - Local dam 4,000 Local residents of Hamlets 3 and 4,
but also a stage of a much larger freshwater capture zone serving many more.
BT12 - Farming adaptation 40 Around 40 households for pilot but
roll-out potential for many thousands more
BT17&18 - River dyke improvement
17,000 Local residents of Minh Duc and Phu Khanh communes
Sub-total 21,040
Clean water supply
BT11 - Water treatment plant 2,800 691 households
BT13 - Increased pipe
connection
2,000 500 households
BT14 - Water tanks 6,400 1,448 households
BT15 - Water treatment facility 872
Sub-total 12,072
Risk reduction
BT16 - Protective coastal afforestation
No exact data
short term capacity and medical service potential for many more
Sub-total 1,500
TOTAL 34,612
With the strong reliance on external consultants and a largely centralized project management structure, there has been some lost opportunities to increase CC awareness, build capacity for CCA planning and project management, all of which would have enhanced the project impact.
As noted, where pilots are used as key stages in larger plans, the numbers and impact on direct and indirect beneficiaries are greatly increased. It is unfortunately hard to extrapolate exact numbers in these cases, particularly when the overall plans do not contain this kind of data. However, Ben Tre should be congratulated for its big picture planning, and the pilot project impact should also be credited with adding seed funds, creating momentum and leveraging additional funding for these big vision programs.
Sustainability and Replication
The PRD mission was not a technical mission to assess infrastructure quality and construction techniques; as such it is difficult to comment on the expected usable life-spans of the pilot projects in terms of materials used, construction design and building techniques. Nevertheless, there were some clear indicators of sustainability and long term usefulness of many projects, with the overall results being somewhat mixed.
The “soft” development projects of research, agriculture adaptation and protective forestry all demonstrate a long-term vision and their impact should be sustainable in the face of increasing climatic stresses.
Whilst there is already evidence of self-replication (e.g. 1,000ha in Thanh Phu district) of several agriculture adaptation models developed by the pilot, additional resources may be required to ensure adequate roll-out and adoption. The models developed by Can Tho University have a high degree of relevance to many areas where saline intrusion will negatively affect agricultural production, therefore replication potentials are high, this is the case within Ben Tre Province, the Mekong delta as well as other regions in Vietnam and potentially elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
The water supply treatment plant in Giong Trom district and protective coastal afforestation pilots have enhanced their sustainability through strong O&M strategies and, like the agriculture adaptation models, their replication potentials are also high.
The sustainability of the water supply and irrigation (dam and dyke) pilots are greatly enhanced through inclusion in larger strategies that build towards a bigger goal. The experience gained in the management of these pilots and the techniques used to implement them is replicable both within these plans and in other projects.
There were concerns for sustainability of two pilot projects, namely the three storm shelters and the two protective dykes. With the storm shelters the issue is the design; the shelters are single story buildings, therefore they will not be usable in the event of flooding and inundation. Even a centimeter of flood water above the floor line will render them unsuitable as a refuge for any length of time. In addition they also have corrugated metal roof sheets that may become a danger in the event of the high winds associated to severe coastal storms.
The protective dykes in Mo Cay Nam and Thanh Phu districts, whilst highly relevant to the needs of their associated communities, have been constructed from packed earth and clear signs of erosion from rainwater were evident by the time of the PRD, just months after completion. District officials in Mo Cay Nam estimate that the dyke will only have a useful life-expectancy of 5-7 years before it needs to be re-built. To ensure there is any long-term potential for this investment, additional funds should be considered in order to seal the embankments with concrete and construct a paved road on their surface. District officials are well aware of this need but simply lack the capital to implement.
The current documentation of the pilot projects is weak and the PRD mission had difficulty in extracting relevant information on the projects. Fact-sheets and project documents were sometimes misleading and problem analysis was not well supported by key indicators. Overall the PDR was impressed by many aspects of the work, but attention needs to be paid if the positive results of the work are to have adequate impact, particularly if the province wishes to attract further funding for replication and scale-up. The areas for improvement are; in public relations, improved sharing documentation, other communication tools (power-point presentations, video and short publication) and a broader capacity building of government staff in CC awareness and the CCA planning at CCO, district and commune levels that is associated.
KEY FINDINGS IN QUANG NAM PROVINCE
Pilot Project Selection and Implementation Process
The PRD mission gathered information to have a good understanding of the selection and implementation process for projects in Quang Nam through meetings with provincial officials and, particularly the Vice-Chairman and CCO staff. The process can be described as follows:
Project Design
• Draft Design: Project owners (related departments, districts and cities) developing technical and financial proposals for each pilot project based on CC effects, the situation at the project site and the budget.
• Procurement Plan: Based on the proposals, the project owners developing procurement plans and submitting the proposals and procurement plans to PPC (for projects under PPC’s departments or with funding not less than 10 billion VND) or DPC (for projects under DPC’s divisions and with funding less than 10 billion VND) for approval.
• Approval of Procurement Plan: PPC or DPC approving the proposals and procurement plans.
Project Funding
• Fund Release: Embassy of Denmark releasing the funding to the government, which is managed by MOF and MPI.
• Fund Transfer: Government transferring the funding to PPC. Then based on the level of urgency of projects, PPC allocating the funding to related departments, agencies and DPCs with at least 35% up-front.
• Fund Management: Project owners being accountable for management of project budgets.
Project Implementing
• Bidding: Project owners developing TORs and calling for bidding documents, both technical and financial, and reviewing bidding documents and short-listing contractors.
• Final Selection: Project owners selecting final contractors and proceeding with contract procedures.
• Project Implementation: Contractors signing the commitment for full implementation of projects, and starting the implementation/ construction. Project owners advancing part of the payment in line with the contracts.
Project Sustaining
• Supervision: CCO, related departments, project owners and the local communities (including commune officials and residents) supervising the progress and quality of the projects.
• Appraisal and Handover: Project owners and consultants appraising projects and handing them over to communes for operation.
• O&M: Project owners developing O&M plans for projects and sending to communes for implementation.
• Evaluation: Embassy of Denmark having consultants to undertake independent evaluations of projects.
Project Selection
• Selection Criteria: CCO providing 10 districts and cities with selection criteria, which are based on several policies and guidelines (NTP strategies/guidelines, DANIDA criteria, National decision 1719)
• Local Engagement: PPC’s departments, Districts and cities consulting with local communes and residents on CC effects and selection criteria to identify key challenges and prioritized actions.
• Priority List: PPC’s departments, districts and cities developing their priority lists and submitting them to CCO.
• Feasibility Assessment: PSC reviewing the priority lists submitted by districts and cities, comparing with selection criteria, and then selecting the most urgent priorities per district/city. CCO conducting further surveys and assessment in potential pilot sites in collaboration with related departments and agencies.
• Final Selection: CCO developing the final project list based on the priority lists and assessment results, having PSC, related departments, agencies and districts/cities to comment and then submitting to PSC for approval.
It can be seen from the selection and implementation process above, that Quang Nam CCO has managed to decentralize to PPC’s departments, districts and cities, which join in every stage of the process and act as implementing agents.
Overall Quang Nam Province feels that the planning and implementation process of the pilot projects is now working well, despite significant delays in the first two years. The major reasons for these delays were noted, by the PSC, as being attributed to a lack of clear guidance and; “…no one to follow from their past experience with CCA and this kind of fund”. The Province also said that, whilst they appreciate the funding mechanism coming through the State Budget, this did cause some early confusion with the various policies that covered both state funds as well as those from international aid. The province may need further clarity and guidance on the budget and funding process.
Due to the lack of experience with CCA, Quang Nam differed from Ben Tre and opted for a more cautious approach. There was a great deal of focus placed in building internal capacity, ensuring project/financial compliance and decentralizing implementation. The outcome of which has, in fact, greatly enhanced the quality of the planning and management of the project, as well as developing innovative approaches to overcome challenges.
At this point it is important to note that these are pilot projects, they come at the launch of the NTP-RCC, with DANIDA as one of its first donors. Therefore it should be expected that there will be inevitable challenges to overcome and processes to develop, in fact, highlighting these issues is the very purpose of a pilot. As such the pilot projects have done an outstanding job.
Relevance
During interviews, focus group discussions and site visits, the relevance of the projects to key CCA focus areas became very clear and there were strong justifications for the work that was carried out. The rational for many of the pilot choices was further enhanced by DANIDA funding for the development of district “Climate Change Visions” in 6 coastal districts and 2 mountainous districts in the Province. If these “Visions” were further developed into full strategies then the work done in Quang Nam could be considered as ‘best-practice’ for other provinces to replicate.
Whilst most of the pilots do have a good justification and relevance to climate change adaptation, this is not always clear from the documentation that we received. Where excellent justifications were undoubtedly evident in the field, these were seriously diluted by documentation that was unable to clearly express the background issues, analysis and expected impact.
The pilot project in Duy Xuyen district provides a clear example of this; the original documentation provided a justification for the construction of an embankment and road as “…a landing site for boat-based ecotourism that will improve the sustainability of the tourism venture and enhance livelihood opportunities”. However, when analyzing the real context, problem, and expected impact of the pilot, through a climate change focus, the project rational should have been: “The embankment and associated road will secure the site from further erosion, creating livelihood security and diversification, and providing risk reduction by enabling;
Residents to construct more secure shelters;
Fishing boats to land their catches and dock without further damage to the bank; The construction of a paved road that can assist with both transport and evacuation; Greater protection to adjacent arable land;
Highlighted Case Study:
Irrigation Canals in Que Phong commune, Que Son district
This pilot was founded on the need for water use efficiency in the face of increasing drought. The justifications of this project would be greatly enhanced if data that clearly indicates the changes in rainfall, temperature and ground-water levels was recorded accurately. Whilst anecdotal evidence clearly demonstrates there is an increasing challenge of freshwater availability (well depths and reservoir volumes) for agriculture in the commune, accurate monitoring of the situation has not taken place.
The development of the Tra Nhieu eco-tourism village project by creating a safe landing site for tourist boats;
Momentum, through seed funding, to launch the district CC vision and a project pilot to test approaches”17
Perhaps the problem can be best described as not expressing clearly enough the climate change links and getting side-lined by a more standard development/livelihoods/poverty reduction focus.
We only found two of the projects that could be described as being at all weak in terms of their relevance to climate change adaptation.
The first is the Road Improvement in Dai Loc, which was not sufficiently explained in terms of CCA and not sufficiently up-graded to climate-proof it as a rescue and evacuation road. This project was made additionally weak by poor construction and poor planning process where a proper system of drainage was not installed.
The second is the Embankment and Forest plantation in Nui Thanh district. This is actually a well justified project if you look at it as a standalone pilot; it was designed as a measure to assist the lagoon (a shelter for fishing boats during storms), to reduce sediment build up and stop windblown sand from affecting the local village. This is a good justification for climate change adaptation, however, this rationale was weakened by the fact that the sediment, that is eroding to fill the lagoon, was taken from the dredging of the lagoon in the first place and then dumped at the current site. The pilot is actually fixing a problem that was caused by weak planning and a lack of a proper environmental impact assessment that came from a larger project.
The PRD also found that there is a need to collect raw data to add to the justification of certain projects. There were many instances during the PRD research that uncovered valuable indicators that prove well the relevance of the project choices. However, there was often little or no systematic collection or monitoring of these indicators. Had this been done then the relevance of the actions would have been made much more obvious in the documentation. If the province is able to develop key CC indicators it will have a much stronger case to attract further CCA funding and replicate and scale-up its pilot projects.
Effectiveness and Efficiency
In the face of several challenges in project funding, as noted earlier, the CCO office was still able to complete all construction projects. This was achieved by their insistence that all contractors, granted tenders to complete construction, would be paid only 30% up-front with the balance given after satisfactory completion and hand-over. This has avoided the potential
Highlighted Case Study:
Road Improvement in Tam Ky district
Local people were heavily involved in the construction on the road itself. In addition, the community elected a 10 person community supervisory board, who had basic construction knowledge, to oversee the construction. This has ensured that costs were kept low, local income was generated by the project implementation and also that there is increased local capacity to replicate this project.
The major lesson to come out of the road improvement pilot project is the combination and integration of various funding resources. DANIDA funded part of the road, however, the local officials were able to secure funding from other sources – namely the World Bank and the local government – to extend the road and ensure that it benefitted more people than originally planned. This demonstrates well that this type of seed funding for pilot projects can often build momentum for change and leverage other funding resources for larger scale impact.
Highlighted Case Study
Multi-function Storm Shelters in Thang Binh and Dien Ban districts
DANIDA funding was used to construct the buildings as the area has suffered greatly from climatic effects such as storms and excessive flooding. However, equipment inside the shelters came from different sources.
Binh Dao commune has utilized funding from the American Red Cross to acquire rescue equipment. The local officials also collaborated with CRS to organize awareness raising activities.
Dien Phuoc commune has rescue equipment funded from local government.
This funding collaboration has resulted in a complete shelter with the building, health clinic with medical supplies and also rescues equipment to be used in the event of a severe storm or flood. Raising awareness of integrating these various funding resources with different organizations is crucial to many pilots so that they can have a more effective and sustainable solution to their climate change problems.
for half finished constructions littering the province and has improved implementation efficiency.
The field research found that local participation in the projects was, like in Ben Tre, very high. This has had a positive effect on both the efficiency and effectiveness of the pilots.
The decentralized approach, taken in Quang Nam, has further enhanced project efficiency and effectiveness. Districts, as project managers, have
improved capacity in project
management and CC awareness, also adding to the impact of the DANIDA fund and improving its replication potential.
Several projects were able to further enhance their effectiveness by using the
DANIDA fund for the basic
constructions, then leveraging that for additional or supplementary funding from other sources. These projects include the multi-function shelters, the residential relocation site, and the Tam Thanh road.
The PRD mission noted that there was a lack of an adequate contingency budget for several pilot projects. For example, inflation linked cost increases on state funded infrastructure, are covered automatically by the State, however D131 guidelines instruct that the contingency funds for projects must cover inflation. This has resulted in many individual contingency funds for pilot projects being exhausted by inflation alone, with little left for unforeseen issues that have arisen during construction.
Highlighted Case Study:
Infrastructure for Resettlement Area in Que Lam Vinh commune, Nong Son district
The local authority has had to increase their funding to the project to add stronger embankments to the excavated site, at an additional cost of 300 million VND. They note that the original cost estimate for the project was insufficient to cover this unforeseen need, due to inflation that had exhausted their contingency budget.
Impact
Sector Number of Direct Beneficiaries
Notes
Transportation access
QN1 - Road improvement 10,000 With potential for growth
QN8 - Road improvement 6,000 Difficult to fully estimate as the road
has now linked with 6km of extension form new funding sources.
Sub-total 16,000
Risk reduction
QN2 - Embankment and protective coastal afforestation
2,542
QN3 - Storm shelters 900 This is for medium term shelter only
but with the multi-functions of community hall and medical centre there will be thousands more.
QN4 - Embankment 1,800 450 households QN7 - Infrastructure for resettlement area 400 100 households Sub-total 5,642 Agriculture / Livelihoods improvement QN5 - Irrigation and road
improvement 3,200 QN6 - Irrigation canal improvement 1,650 QN9 - Irrigation canal improvement 1,500 600 households Sub-total 6,350 TOTAL 27,792
The PRD found that, while pilots did have a significant impact on the local area and beneficiaries and feedback was mostly positive, there remains an imbalance when it comes to hardware versus software investments. Local officials, whilst certainly having a reasonable foundation in CC awareness, would be benefited from support in analysis and CCA planning and the wider beneficiaries need to be better informed in basic climate change awareness. There was also an economic impact in some of the areas that the pilot projects were implemented. This included hiring local labor for some of the projects - Road Improvement in Dai Hiep commune for example - where 20 local laborers were hired to construct the road. This helped to add a short-term income to these poorer districts and build some level of basic capacity. In addition the economic impact of improved transportation links for trade and service access is expected to be significant.
Highlighted Case Study:
Development Infrastructure for a residential resettlement area in Nong Son district A 3.2ha site has been cleared for residential resettlement of 100 households that are vulnerable to severe flooding. This project is highly relevant to the needs of the community and well justified as improving their adaptive capacity. However, an environment impact evaluation should have be made during the project design, as there are some concerns over sanitation and contamination of water sources for residents within and below this relatively densely populated site.
Sustainability and Replication
Again, as a non-technical construction review, it is hard to fully assess construction quality and potential longevity. However, construction design and quality do appear to be to a high standard throughout, and expectations are that they have long-term sustainable potential, with a few noted exceptions.
What were lacking in many cases was an
adequate environmental impact
assessments All constructions did match up to the established government standards for EIA in construction of this scale, however, the PRD mission feels that these standards are insufficient in
adequately planning for CCA
infrastructure. The nature of Climate Change is that we are dealing with fragile ecosystems that are coming under increasing climatic stresses; therefore any unintended consequences from poorly planned projects are likely to have an amplified impact on this environment.
In some cases the EIA should be conducted for the larger “visions” under which the small pilot projects will be housed. The Duy Xuyen embankment provides a good example; it is part of a larger plan to stabilize embankments on the river delta throughout the entire district, through hard, concrete embankments or soft, Nipa Palm planted embankments. The environmental impact of this work will be substantial and should be fully understood before further stages are implemented.
Where pilots have come under larger “visions”, like in Duy Xuyen and for the embankment and forest along the An Hoa safety lagoon, their sustainability is enhanced and replication potentials are strong; with internal capacity building growing from lessons learnt in these pilots. The next logical step is that these “visions”, and in some cases, action plans are further developed into full CCA strategies.
There does need to be more emphasis on climate change awareness. While many local officials and people know about climate change, more effort needs to be put into understanding adaptation potentials and consequently project choices. This, as in the case of Ben Tre, along with improved sharing and communication materials, will greatly enhance the ability for officials to explain their CCA choices, attract additional funding and plan effective projects.
The cautious and systematic approach taken in the development of the pilot projects in Quang Nam, and their decentralized management structure, has significantly enhanced CC awareness and will enable smooth replication and scale up in the future.
CONCLUSIONS AND LESSONS LEARNT
Planning
On the whole, the projects used the right development approaches with the right target groups, at the right time, and were consistent and coherent with national government strategies and policies.
The selection, planning, implementation and monitoring processes were carried out with strong participation of beneficiaries.
Where projects fitted into larger strategies, action plans or “visions” their impact, effectiveness and sustainability was greatly enhanced. Both provinces would benefit from developing full and comprehensive CCA strategies at both District and Province level; in which each project pilot action could be housed and links to the overall strategy clarified. Integration with other programs, through both government and international development
partners, helped to maximize the project effectiveness, impact and sustainability.
Implementation
The level of decentralization varied greatly between the 2 provinces, leading to differences in the capacity built and CC awareness achieved for local officers and people. Heavy reliance on outsourced consultancies in Ben Tre needs to be reviewed with care as it brings about both positive results (rapid implementation), and unexpected ones (lower capacity for local government officers).
The project approach used the fewest resources necessary to motivate local stakeholders to get involved in the process, and encouraged significant contributions from beneficiaries as well as local government.
The pilot projects have highlighted significant challenges with funding processes and provision of adequate guidelines. There is a need to build from this experience and improve management processes and communication.
Impact
There were significant achievements gained through knowledge transfer (farming training, construction techniques, livelihood diversification, etc), these have a relatively low cost and are highly sustainable. Large numbers of project participants were noted to already be sharing knowledge with non-participants, greatly leveraging the investment in training and creating wide scale impact and replication.
The project’s impact was clear in most cases and improvements of rural infrastructure to cope with climate changes can be seen to be creating immediate positive change.
Awareness of local beneficiaries and capacity of governmental officers has been raised and the adaptive capacity of the provinces is significantly enhanced.
The results of integrating with other government and international programs are impressive. However, some issues of sustainability might arise after project closure, these relate to how much government funding will be available to support operation and maintenance costs.
Valuable advances were made in encouraging local people to voice their needs and concerns with government officers, especially. The consensus view of most local informants was that the project succeeded in strengthening the voice of beneficiaries, not only to express their needs but to supervise the construction quality control as well. Many of the rural infrastructure projects, additional to CCA achievements, enhanced
Documentation and Sharing
Project documentation was on the whole quite weak, as was the verbal explanation of project choices and expected impact. However, the reality of the projects showed that they are, in fact, well targeted and in-line with expectations and guidelines. Further development of PR and sharing documentation is required.
There is a need for further advocacy and mainstreaming of initiatives so that lessons generated by the project might remain once the external support for the project ends.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Full district and provincial CCA strategies need to be developed to improve the coherence, coordination and effectiveness of future projects. In addition these strategy documents should act as a blueprint for future funding focus in CCA, so as to avoid ad-hoc project selection.
These documents need to be concise and logically structured and build from precise analysis, therefore should include;
o Problem identification with key indicators and clear cause and effect analysis,
o Climate change scenarios that anticipate expected climate change impact,
o A participatory planning process to build from problem analysis and identify solutions to the emerging CC challenges,
o A clear guidance on timing and sequencing of implementation actions,
o Environmental impact assessments to analyze risks and unintended consequences,
o Socio-economic impact assessments of suggested projects,
o Process and policy analysis to develop clear implementation guidelines and consistent processes,
o Resource mapping to assess implementation requirements (funding, capacity, staffing, institutional management structure, partners, etc),
o Donor mapping to asses funding opportunities and technical support programs that can assist in implementation,
o A clear monitoring and evaluation framework for CCA projects.
It is noted that many of these elements do currently exist in a mix of action plans, CCA “vision” papers, proposals, and CC scenarios at various levels. However, they are not clearly linked together and do not present an adequate framework that can house future actions.
This action requires a strong reflection and strategic planning process that will require the participation of all stakeholders. It is uncertain that the current capacity in the CCOs is adequate for this task, therefore external consultants should be considered for facilitating this process and documenting results. In addition, several components that are required to build an adequate strategy are highly technical and require specific expertise to implement (EIA, CC scenario mapping, socio-economic impact assessments, etc.), these technical areas will need the support of external experts. This process, and the strategic plan that will be generated from it, should be considered as an output of the DANIDA fund under this project, alongside the individual pilot actions, and therefore should be completed by project closure in 2015 with a specific budget allocated to it under the DANIDA fund.
A strong sharing and communication strategy with associated sharing documents, media and presentation tools, as well as improved capacity in public relations, would assist both provinces to adequately explain their CCA needs and plans.
If there is sufficient capacity within the CCOs this component would be best as an internal process developed by the CCOs. However, again there may be need for external support from short term consultants particularly where the sharing documents are targeting an English speaking audience, ie. International donor agencies. This action should be completed before project closure as it will help maintain momentum if additional funding can be sourced to continue further CCA actions.
Systematic monitoring of climate change indicators is needed. Whilst Ben Tre does have a comprehensive series of CC scenarios, its monitoring data needs to be made more readily available, both internally within the province and as supporting indicators for future planning and fundraising requirements. Quang Nam, on the other hand, should begin to
