Kurzbeschreibung
(Englisch)
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"RECOFTC formulated its Strategic Plan 2018–2023, building it on its extensive experience in empowering local people to find solutions for threatened forest landscapes and vulnerable communities. The plan puts people at the center of change, by empowering communities, governments and the private sector with rights, opportunities for dialogue, networking, technical expertise, tools and knowledge. RECOFTC seeks to focus on four strategic goals: (1) landscape collaboration in a changing climate; (2) governance, institutions and conflict transformation; (3) private sector engagement and enterprising communities and (4) social inclusion, gender equity and public action. The MTR was under the RECOFTC`s administration and it was conducted by an independent team of consultants, led by The Dala Institute, based in Jakarta, between December 2020 and February 2021. The MTR ToR was presented at the board of trustee meeting in September 2020, SDC and Sida participated as observers. The main objectives of the MTR was to assess the performance of RECOFTC to date in achieving the desired results and outcomes of the SP 2018-2023. The assessment was to use specific evaluation criteria, take a forward-looking approach, and consider the relevance of the SP in the regional context and in relation to the target countries’ forest and development priorities. These objectives have been fully met by the independent review team. Both SDC and Sida appreciate the comprehensiveness of the MTR report and the sound analysis of key elements of the contribution of SDC and Sida to the SP-2018-2023 of RECOFTC. Some of the report’s analysis and resulting recommendations are considered to be useful for strengthening the strategic orientation of the remaining two years for adaptation and strengthening the implementation of RECOFTC`s SP-2018-2023 The MTR presents 16 findings in relation to the standard OECD DAC evaluation criteria. It informs that overall, RECOFTC has developed a participatory, relevant and comprehensive SP and has effectively re-built the organisation around it. This work has helped to safeguard and build the reputation and credibility of the organisation and strengthened the confidence of government, development partners and donor stakeholders. While RECOFTC has a reputation for community forestry, its work is much broader given its focus on landscape approaches. The Theory of Change is relevant but may require some re-thinking, especially in the way the different Strategic Goals integrate and contribute to each other. The all-encompassing nature of the SP suits the organisation as a whole but presents implementation problems on the ground in focal countries. The landscape approach resonates with RECOFTC staff and external stakeholders but is sometimes difficult to align with government notions of spaces along jurisdictional lines. Much of the work within landscapes is on governance, for example, including issues of conflict and land tenure security. This creates a significant overlap between the Strategic Goals but also provides an opportunity for collaboration. Although private-sector development is conceptually understood and supported in the organisation, there is a general lack of capacity to build the models and relationships required to advance on this Strategic Goal effectively. There may be reputational risks for RECOFTC with respect to its association with private-sector actors (both as financial contributors and collaborators in activities) that are left unmitigated due to: (a) lack of processes to formalise collaborative alignment of the private sector with RECOFTC’s ethical standards; and (b) lack of processes to monitor ongoing risks of association with corporations that may (and have) been accused of human rights and environmental violations. RECOFTC’s approaches to gender equality and social inclusion have not only social benefits but also economic ones. MEL reporting and data collection have improved substantially and the organization is balancing the need to roll-up data to show collective results and allow staff to report according to the internal logics of individual projects. While indicators are tightly linked with outcomes that relate to Strategic Goals, they are only loosely related to SDGs, which is a roll-up in which external stakeholders may be more interested in than the Strategic Goals. Core funding along with the revenue from projects has contributed substantially to RECOFTC’s operations, providing the essential freedom to focus on business development, communication and knowledge management. However, country offices find themselves with insufficient funding, and are calling for greater efforts towards innovative financing from diverse funders and increased engagement with private-sector actors. Reports suggest the use of key strategic geographic landscapes within focal countries as an organising principle and location to focus on-the-ground work for tangible results that could drive country office work. The MTR concluded that overall, the Strategic Plan is a galvanising document that unites an organisation diverse in terms of both geographical focus and accomplishments. The past three years have been characterised by regrouping, and the Strategic Plan has played an important role in that. RECOFTC has been effective and efficient in implementing the Strategic Plan and looking forward, with the planned targets likely to be achieved. The MTR provides implementation and management recommendations. The implementation of these recommendations may be useful to micro-adjust RECOFTC’s work; however, overall the organisation is moving toward successful implementation of its strategic plan. Implementation recommendations relate to refining approaches to private sector objectives, and gender and social inclusion work. This review encourages RECOFTC to continue focusing on community forestry together with landscape approaches, with the possibility of scaling up models that have been proven effective. Recommendations also include to continue to position RECOFTC as a keeper and sharer of knowledge related to forests in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond and to better position RECOFTC’s climate change work. Management recommendations include systems to better align RECOFTC outcomes with SDG targets and to ensure all Strategic Goal leaders have the capacity to apply considerations from the other strategic goals. This review also recommends enhancing the capacity of country offices to conduct and implement business development plans. Another recommendation relates to enhancing existing learning opportunities within the RECOFTC staff, especially those which meet the priorities of country offices. For the sake of objectivity and determining a plan of action, RECOFTC grouped the recommendations (13 recommendations for the overall strategic program, and one set of recommendations each for Cambodia, Indonesia and Myanmar, where more in-depth analyses were conducted) under five broad strategic categories: i) Strategic Plan and its relevance, ii) business development and private-sector engagement, iii) social inclusion and gender equality, iv) knowledge management and monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL), and v) country-specific recommendations. For each of the recommendations, RECOFTC has offered its response with a forward- looking approach to address the recommendations in different time frames – short term, medium term and long term. Out of the 16 recommendations, 14 are ‘fully agreed’, 2 are ‘partially agreed’ and nil is not agreed ‘disagree’ . SDC and Sida agree to seize the opportunity to improve results by taking specific measures in line with the recommendation. As mentioned in the Management Response by RECOFTC, some recommendations can be addressed immediately within the remaining time of the current annual work plan (2020-2021). Others will need to be addressed in subsequent annual work plan cycles. There are a few recommendations that provide useful ideas going beyond the current strategic plan. RECOFTC will take those on board while developing its next five-year strategic plan (2023-2028). For the Follow-up on the recommendations that will have to be done by the Board of Trustees it would be good if RECOFTC could develop a short time plan, eventually also with assigned responsibilities, stating who and by when the different points in the management response will be acted upon."
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