May 2009

THE IMPACT OF THE GEF’S RESOURCE ALLOCATION FRAMEWORK ON CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS

To assess how the changes introduced by the Resource Allocation Framework (RAF) have impacted the partnership with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), a detailed review and analysis of the contributions made by CSOs in projects was made, with particular attention to the current GEF-4 under the RAF, using GEF-2 and GEF-3 as benchmarks.

More than 1,100 project documents (from July, 1998 to January, 2009) were reviewed, and those Full Sized and Medium Sized Projects granted directly to CSOs, as the lead executing agency, were considered for this report. The changes introduced by the RAF to the Small Grants Programme were also analyzed.

Some of the key trends identified are:
·          Despite the key comparative advantage that CSOs offer in ‘efficient and cost-effective project execution’, the overall share of CSO executed Full Sized and Medium Sized projects has been steadily declining –from 30 percent of the total share of GEF allocations in GEF-2 to 8.6 percent in GEF-4. The implementation of the RAF has not been ‘equitable or inclusive’, as anticipated.
·          Government agencies and international agencies still account for the majority of the Full Sized Projects (FSP), with 95 percent of the total FSPs approved in GEF-4, compared to 92.3 percent in both, GEF-2 and GEF-3.
·         There has been a significant decrease in the number of Medium Sized Projects (MSPs) granted to CSOs in GEF-2 and GEF-3 compared to the number in GEF-4 under the RAF. The relative share of CSO-executed MSPs dropped from 53.4 percent and 41.7 percent of all MSPs in GEF-2 and GEF-3 respectively, to 16 percent in GEF-4.
·          The change in the source of funding for the Small Grants Programme (SGP) introduced for OP4 is currently affecting 52 percent of the participating countries. In the RAF funds and the Core/RAF countries, the source of funding has shifted partially or entirely to the government-led contributions from the country’s RAF allocations.

Based on the analysis, recommendations are presented for consideration of the Participants of the Fifth Replenishment of the GEF Trust Fund, as well as for the Council members, for the short-term and for GEF-5. The options and modalities presented to increase the share of the CSO executed projects in GEF-5 are not exhaustive and a combination of the various elements and modalities could be considered and further developed.