The first projects to be funded through the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) remain in the developmental stage 18 months after the forests’ saving agreement was sealed with Norway.
Only one project concept note (PCN) has been submitted to the GRIF Steering Committee (SC)and the critical results framework is yet to be developed. The SC which is chaired by Guyana examines and approves projects for funds to flow. The GRIF is a fund for the financing of activities identified under Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
Norway has committed to provide up to US$250 million to the fund up to 2015, based on independent verifications of Guyana’s deforestation and forest degradation rates and progress on REDD+ enabling activities. The World Bank is the trustee for the GRIF.
No projects have been approved for funding yet and the PCN for a project to strengthen the institutions involved in implementing the LCDS was only submitted at the last SC meeting held on May 12. The minutes of the meeting were only posted on the LCDS website recently, a month after the meeting.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is the partner entity working on the institutional strengthening project and it said that while it can try to speed up the process of getting funds flowing, the project has to go through the IDB’s internal processes, and as long as there are no delays, the earliest approval would be September. The full project proposal is not completed and the bank’s representative at the SC meeting, said it was expected that the full project proposal will be ready to go to the SC by late August or early September. No funds can flow from the IDB until the project receives approval from the bank’s board, which is not expected to happen until September.
The bank is also working on the Amaila Falls Hydropower project. According to the minutes, the representative explained that this is an important investment being developed by the private sector division of IDB, and is currently going through screening on environmental and social issues, after which discussions will take place on physical and financial sustainability issues.
In addition, the IDB is working on the Hinterland Electrification Project and it noted that there is no timeline as yet on this project. The bank is also working on the Small and Micro Enterprise Development project and it said that it received a draft project proposal several weeks ago but that it hasn’t started looking at it as yet as it is currently focusing on other projects.
UNDP
Meantime, the United Nations Develop-ment Programme (UNDP) is also a partner entity and is working on the Amerindian Land Titling and Amerindian Development Fund projects.
On the Amerindian Land Titling project, the UNDP informed the SC that the first draft of a project proposal was posted on the LCDS website on December 24 last year and over 115 comments were received on the document. The UNDP examined the comments and made a decision on how to address them, the SC meeting was told according to the minutes. Together with the UNDP, the Project Manage-ment Office (PMO) prepared a draft incorporating the comments in mid-February. The UNDP reviewed the draft and shared a revised draft with the PMO and Ministry of Finance at a meeting on March 28, according to the minutes. It said that the government is currently in consultation with various parties on the document and the UNDP is awaiting feedback.
On the Amerindian Development Fund, the UNDP stated that it decided first to submit a PCN before developing a full project proposal. It received a draft PCN from the PMO on April 8 and a meeting was held between the PMO, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs and UNDP on April 14. The UNDP promised to review and submit a PCN to government by the end of April, which was done on April 28. On May 3, a brief meeting was held with the PMO. Feedback from the government is now pending, according to the minutes.
At the SC meeting, a Draft Operations Manual was approved as an interim working document to guide the GRIF process. The UNDP pointed out that the steps in project preparation described in the document are not consistent with the process that has been followed in the development of the Amerindian Land Titling project proposal and Amerindian Development Fund PCN.
Guyana, the minutes said, responded that there are outstanding comments that need to be addressed, and the Guyanese and Norwegian governments will work together to include comments received from partner entities and any additional comments.
Results framework
One of the critical components to guide the design of projects is a results framework. “The IDB stated that for the partner entities, it is important that a results framework is established as soon as possible. It added that the IDB cannot fulfil its function as a partner entity effectively until a results framework is established. It urged Guyana and Norway to take responsibility for this process and to ensure that it is concluded as soon as possible. It added that it is willing to provide support,” the minutes of the SC meeting said.
Following the first SC meeting last November, it was agreed that the Guyanese and Norwegian governments would work on a results framework, with Guyana leading the process. But it was only on May 11 that the Ministry of Finance here dispatched a letter outlining the list of programmed activities to receive GRIF funds in 2011.
The minutes of the last meeting revealed that Guyana proposed that Norway select a small team to work with a small team from Guyana to put together a results framework for the GRIF over the next 30 to 60 days. Norway responded that it has a limited number of people working on these issues, and that it would be difficult to organize something robust and helpful. It added that it hoped the institutional strengthening project will meet the needs of establishing a results framework but Guyana pointed out that that the resources for the institutional strengthening project will not be available for some time, and in the interim it is necessary to come up with an approach to develop the results framework.
The IDB said it would be happy to support the design of methodologies, baselines etc for a results framework through the institutional strengthening project, but that the relevant parties (Guyana and Norway) need to decide on what the indicators are. The IDB added that there are practical implications of a results framework for the GRIF, for example it may lead to additional monitoring and reporting responsibilities, which would lead to additional costs.
It was noted that the IDB resources will not be available until late this year. Guyana and Norway will continue to work bilaterally on this issue, the minutes said.
Meanwhile, according to the minutes, Norway raised the issue of organising information flows regarding the GRIF as well as how to organise a permanent secretariat, and proposed that the SC come to an agreement on a timeline for when the IDB, UNDP, World Bank, Guyana and Norway could submit their suggestions as a basis for a discussion.
Guyana said that it has begun engagement with the IDB on evaluating the structure and mechanism for improved functioning of the GRIF.
The IDB also raised an issue concerning how results are measured, noting that this is based on its past experience of global funds. It added that it is important to give some thought to how in-depth the results reporting process is, as this will have implications for how expensive the process is. It added that this would be an issue for the permanent secretariat to address.
Guyana stated that these issues come at a good time. It proposed putting together a project management matrix to reflect effectively the points raised by UNDP, the issues of transparency raised by the observers and the issue of timelines. This project management matrix would include a summary of decisions to be made by the SC, project objectives, key milestone dates and project timelines, and could be updated regularly and published on the GRIF website, according to the minutes.
