Forests, Trees and Agroforestry CRP Evaluation

178 Pages·2014·1.64 MB·English

Evaluation of the CGIAR Research
Program
“Forests, Trees and Agroforestry”
(FTA)

Volume I – Evaluation Report
July 2014

Federica Coccia
Andrea Deisenrieder
Marko Katila
Florencia Montagnini
Markus Palenberg (Team Leader)

Carmenza Robledo
This evaluation has been commissioned by the Independent Evaluation Arrangement (IEA) of the 
CGIAR. 
The Independent Evaluation Arrangement (IEA) of CGIAR encourages fair use of this material 
provided proper citation is made. 
Correct citation: CGIAR‐IEA (2014), Evaluation of CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees, and 
Agroforestry (FTA). Rome, Italy: Independent Evaluation Arrangement (IEA) of the CGIAR 
http://iea.cgiar.org/
Forests, Trees and Agroforestry Evaluation

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Glossary and Acronyms ......................................................................................... iii
Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................x
Executive Summary ................................................................................................xi
List of Recommendations .................................................................................... xix
1. Introduction to the Evaluation.......................................................................... 1
1.1. Purpose and Audience................................................................................. 1
1.2. Evaluation Questions ................................................................................... 2
1.3. Scope ............................................................................................................ 5
1.4. Evaluation Methodology ............................................................................. 6
1.5. Timeline, Organization of the Evaluation and Quality Assurance ............ 9
1.6. Changes with Respect to the ToR and the Inception Report .................. 10
1.7. Main Constraints of this Evaluation.......................................................... 11
1.8. Terminology ............................................................................................... 12
1.9. Structure of this Report ............................................................................. 13
2. The Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry ........................... 14
2.1. CGIAR Reform and Creation of FTA.......................................................... 14
2.2. Overview of FTA ........................................................................................ 15
3. Relevance ......................................................................................................... 23
3.1. Theory of Change and Component Structure .......................................... 23
3.2. Relevance of FTA’s Objectives within the CGIAR ..................................... 28
3.3. Global Relevance of FTA’s Objectives ....................................................... 29
3.4. Relevance of FTA Research by Component .............................................. 34
3.5. Comparative Advantage of Institutions involved in FTA ......................... 42
3.6. Relevance of FTA as a Program ................................................................. 45
3.7. Conclusions and Recommendations ......................................................... 47
4. Program Effectiveness ..................................................................................... 52
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4.1. Quality of Science ...................................................................................... 52
4.2. Effectiveness along Program Components ............................................... 57
4.3. Effectiveness at the Program-Level .......................................................... 72
4.4. Conclusions and Recommendations ......................................................... 77
5. Cross-cutting Activities .................................................................................... 82
5.1. Sentinel Landscapes ................................................................................... 82
5.2. Gender ........................................................................................................ 88
5.3. Partnerships ............................................................................................... 91
5.4. Capacity Development .............................................................................. 94
5.5. Communications ........................................................................................ 95
6. Effectiveness and Efficiency of Institutional Arrangements .......................... 98
6.1. Financial Performance ............................................................................... 98
6.2. Reporting ................................................................................................. 107
6.3. Project-Cycle Management and Data Quality ........................................ 109
6.4. Human Resource Management .............................................................. 110
6.5. CIFOR Performance as Host of FTA ......................................................... 111
6.6. Conclusions and Recommendations ....................................................... 114
7. FTA Governance and Management .............................................................. 117
7.1. FTA Governance ....................................................................................... 117
7.2. FTA Management .................................................................................... 132
7.3. Results-Based Management and the Work of FTA’s MEIA Team .......... 138
7.4. Conclusions and Recommendations ....................................................... 143
8. Added Value of FTA and the Way Forward ................................................. 147
8.1. Added Value of FTA ................................................................................ 147
8.2. Achievements Relative to the Vision for CRPs and the Way Forward .. 150
Bibliography ....................................................................................................... 154

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Glossary and Acronyms

A4NH Agriculture for Nutrition and Health.
AAAS American Association for the Advancement of Science.
AdaptEA Adaptation of people to climate change in East Africa.
AfDB African Development Bank.
AFOLU Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use.
APFORGEN Asia Pacific Forest Genetic Resources Programme.
AR4D Agricultural Research for Development.
BIODEV Building Biocarbon and Rural Development in West Africa.
BOT Board of Trustees.
CAGR Cumulated Average Growth Rate.
CATIE Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza.
CBD Convention on Biological Diversity.
CCAFS Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.
CCT Component Coordination Team.
CEO Chief Executive Officer.
CGIAR The name CGIAR comes from the acronym for the Consultative Group
on International Agricultural Research. In 2008, CGIAR underwent a
major transformation. The name and acronym CGIAR is retained for
continuity.
CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture.
CIFOR Center for International Forestry Research.
CIMMYT Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maiz y Trigo.
CIRAD Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour
le Développement.
Cluster of Key sub-segments of CRPs under guidance for the second CRP call.
Activities Several Clusters of Activity constitute a Flagship Project. Clusters of
Activity are sub-projects (in general 5 to 8).
The term is not used in backward-looking parts of this evaluation as the
concept hadn’t been introduced.
CPA Consortium Performance Agreement.
CPF Collaborative Partnership on Forests.
COBAM Climate Change and Forests in the Congo Basin.
COMIFAC Commission des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale.
Component One of FTA’s five principal program segments. Used alternating with
“Theme” and “Flagship” in FTA documentation.
The Inception Report consistently uses the term “Component” in order
to avoid confusion (“Theme” describes components as well as sub-
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components and “Flagship Projects” are slightly different because of a
more pronounced intended focus on a few outcomes).
Consortium The legal entity “Consortium of International Agricultural Research
Centers.”
Component Person in charge of leading and coordinating a FTA Component across
Coordinator FTA Participant Institutions.
Component Person assisting a Component Coordinator within a FTA Participant
Focal Point Institution.
Coordinator of a Person in charge of leading and coordinating a cross-cutting activity
Cross-cutting across FTA Participant Institutions.
activity
Cross-cutting Umbrella term used in this report for various themes and support
activity activities not constraint to a single FTA Component.
Also termed “cross-cutting themes” and “program support” in FTA
documentation. Cross-cutting activities vary in the degree to which
they receive central program support and to which they are intended
to be incorporated into work along program components.
CRP CGIAR Research Program. The central programmatic modality for
results-based research in the reformed CGIAR.
CRP6 CGIAR Research Program 6: Forests, Trees and Agroforestry. Referred
to as “FTA” throughout this report.
CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
CSO Civil Society Organization.
CTFS Center for Tropical Forest Science.
DDG Deputy Director General.
DFID UK Department for International Development.
DG Director General.
DRC Democratic Republic of the Congo.
EBA Ecosystem Based Adaptation.
EC European Commission.
EFI European Forest Institute.
EPMR External Program and Management Review.
EU-FLEGT Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Facility of the
European Union.
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
FC Fund Council of the CGIAR.
Flagship Project Also called “Flagships.” Key segments of CRPs under guidance for the
second CRP call. Each FP has specific objectives and may produce
several outputs and research outcomes in order to achieve in due
course two or three Intermediate Development Outcomes or IDOs
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(rarely more).
The term is not used in backward-looking parts of this evaluation as the
concept hadn’t been introduced.
FLEGT (European) Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade.
FLEGT-VPA Voluntary Partnership Agreements in the context of FLEGT.
FP Flagship Project.
FRIM Forest Research Institute Malaysia.
FSC Forest Stewardship Council.
FTA CGIAR Research Program 6: Forests, Trees and Agroforestry:
Livelihoods, Landscape, and Governance.
In FTA documentation, FTA is also referred to as “CRP-FTA”, “CRP6-
FTA”, “CRP6”. Throughout this report “FTA” is chosen for convenience.
FTA Center CGIAR Center represented on the FTA Steering Committee.
FTA Director Person in charge of leading and coordinating FTA as a program. Also
referred to as “Head of MSU” and “Program Coordinator” in FTA
documentation.
FTA Evaluation The 6 people team implementing this evaluation on behalf of the IEA.
Team
FTA Participant FTA Centers and other, non-CGIAR institutions that are part of the FTA
Institutions Steering Committee.
GACF Global Alliance of Community Forestry.
GCS-REDD+ Global Comparative Study in REDD+.
GEF Global Environment Facility.
GHG Greenhouse Gas.
GPFLR Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration.
HR Human Resources.
IADB Inter-American Development Bank.
ICRAF World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF refers to the original name of the
center, International Council for Research in Agroforestry).
ICRW International Center for Research on Women.
IDH The Sustainable Trade Initiative.
IDO Intermediate Development Outcome.
IEA CGIAR Independent Evaluation Arrangement.
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IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute.
IIED International Institute for Environment and Development.
IITA International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.
INPE Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais.
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
IPGs International Public Goods.
IPGRI International Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute, former name
of “Bioversity International”.
IRD L'Institut de Recherche pour le Développement.
IRRI International Rice Research Institute.
ISI Institute for Scientific Information.
ISPC Independent Science and Partnership Council of the CGIAR.
IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature.
IUFRO World's Network of Forest Science.
LAFORGEN Latin American Forest Genetic Resources Network.
Lead Center CGIAR Center with overall legal and fiduciary responsibility for FTA.
From program inception onwards, CIFOR has fulfilled this role.
LTER Long Term Ecological Research.
LUC Land-use Changes.
LUWES Land Uses of Lower Carbon Emissions.
MAPFORGEN Mapping Forest Genetic Resources.
MDGs Millennium Development Goals.
MEIA Monitoring, Evaluation, and Impact Assessment. MEIA is also the name
of a team working on these topics within FTA.
MSU Management Support Unit.
NAMAs Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions.
NARES National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems.
NARS National Agricultural Research Systems.
NGO Non-governmental Organization.
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NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
NLBI Non-legally Binding Instrument on all types of forests by UNFF.
NTFP Non-timber Forest Products.
OCS One Corporate System.
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
OECD-DAC OECD Development Assistance Committee.
PES Payments for Environmental Services.
PIA Program Implementation Agreement.
PoWB Plan of Work and Budget.
PPA Program Participant Agreement.
PRGA Systemwide Program on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis
PROFOR Program on Forests.
PROFORMAL Policy and regulatory options to recognize and better integrate the
domestic timber sector in tropical countries.
RD CIFOR Research Domain.
REALU Reducing Emissions for All Land Uses.
RBM Result-based Management.
RECOFTC Center for People and Forests.
RRI Rights and Resource Initiative.
RRC Rural Resource Centers.
RSPO Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.
SAFORGEN Sub-Saharan African Forest Genetic Resources.
SC FTA Steering Committee. The central governance body of FTA,
operating on delegated authority from the Lead Center BOT.
SD ICRAF Science Domain.
SDGs Sustainable Development Goals.
SEI Stockholm Environment Institute.
SL Sentinel Landscape.
SLO System Level Outcome.
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SMART Acronym for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-
bound.
SMEs Small and medium-sized enterprises.
SOs Strategic Objectives.
SPs Sample Projects.
SRF CGIAR Strategy and Results Framework.
SSAC Scientific and Stakeholder Advisory Committee.
Sub-component One of several sub-segments within FTA’s principal program
components. Used alternating with “Theme”, “Sub-Theme”, and
“Cluster of Activities” in FTA documentation. This report consistently
uses the term “sub-component” in order to avoid confusion (“Theme”
describes components as well as sub-components and “Clusters of
Activities” are slightly different because of a clearer intended focus on
few outcomes).
TFD The Forests Dialogue.
Theme Used to describe a topic or a thematic area. FTA documentation uses
the term “theme” also to refer to program segments: for the 5
components, but also for sub-components. This report consistently
uses the term “Component” for these segments in order to avoid
confusion.
ToR Terms of Reference.
UN United Nations.
UNCCD United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
UNEP United Nations Environment Programme.
UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
UNFF United Nation Forum on Forests.
UN-REDD United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from
Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries.
UN-REDD+/ "REDD+" goes beyond deforestation and forest degradation. It includes
REDD+ the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and
enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
USA United States of America.
USAID United States Agency for International Development.
USD United States Dollar.
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