Document of The World Bank FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Report No: ICR00004679 IMPLEMENTATION COMPLETION AND RESULTS REPORT TF-A3886 ON A SMALL GRANT IN THE AMOUNT OF USD 0.42 MILLION TO THE IUCN - Asia Regional Office FOR Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) December 30, 2018 Water Global Practice South Asia Region Regional Vice President: Hartwig Schafer Country Director: Martin G. Rama Senior Global Practice Director: Jennifer J. Sara Practice Manager: Michael Haney Task Team Leader(s): Christina Leb ICR Main Contributor: Stuti Sharma ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS FM Financial Management IP Implementation Progress IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature MDTF Multi Donor Trust Fund PAG Project Advisory Group PDO Project Development Objective SAU South Asia University SAWI South Asia Water Initiative TF Trust Fund TABLE OF CONTENTS DATA SHEET ....................................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES ....................................................... 4 II. OUTCOME ...................................................................................................................... 5 III. KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECTED IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME .................................. 7 IV. BANK PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE ISSUES, AND RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME .... 8 V. LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................ 9 ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND KEY OUTPUTS ........................................................... 10 ANNEX 2. PROJECT COST BY COMPONENT ........................................................................... 14 ANNEX 3. RECIPIENT, CO-FINANCIER AND OTHER PARTNER/STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS ...... 15 ANNEX 4. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS (IF ANY) ..................................................................... 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) DATA SHEET BASIC INFORMATION Product Information Project ID Project Name P154856 Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance Country Financing Instrument South Asia Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Revised EA Category Organizations Borrower Implementing Agency IUCN - Asia Regional Office IUCN India (New Delhi) Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The development objective of this grant is to increase availability of high quality training modules on water diplomacy and cooperative basin governance. Page 1 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) FINANCING FINANCE_T BL Original Amount (US$) Revised Amount (US$) Actual Disbursed (US$) Donor Financing TF-A3886 420,000 353,449 353,449 Total 420,000 353,449 353,449 Other Financing The World Conservation 74,800 0 0 Union Total 74,800 0 0 Total Project Cost 494,800 353,449 353,449 KEY DATES Approval Effectiveness Original Closing Actual Closing 15-Nov-2016 18-Jan-2016 30-Jun-2017 30-Jun-2018 RESTRUCTURING AND/OR ADDITIONAL FINANCING Date(s) Amount Disbursed (US$M) Key Revisions 12-Jun-2017 0.00 Change in Loan Closing Date(s) Change in Implementation Schedule 31-Jan-2018 0.15 Change in Loan Closing Date(s) KEY RATINGS Outcome Bank Performance M&E Quality Satisfactory Satisfactory Substantial Page 2 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) RATINGS OF PROJECT PERFORMANCE IN ISRs Actual No. Date ISR Archived DO Rating IP Rating Disbursements (US$M) 01 26-May-2017 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 0.00 02 16-Nov-2017 Satisfactory Satisfactory 0.15 ADM STAFF Role At Approval At ICR Regional Vice President: Annette Dixon Hartwig Schafer Country Director: Martin G. Rama Martin G. Rama Senior Global Practice Director: Guangzhe Chen Jennifer J. Sara Practice Manager: Meike van Ginneken Michael Haney Task Team Leader(s): Christina Leb Christina Leb ICR Contributing Author: Stuti Sharma Page 3 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES Context 1. River basins in South Asia support some of the world’s largest population concentrations through ecosystem services, livelihoods and irrigation. They are the cultural and economic backbones of each basin nation and are significant factors in regional geopolitics. Despite this, transboundary riverine cooperation is low. One of the major factors contributing to this situation is the relatively low level of awareness of the complex geo-physical realities of rivers across a range of concerned and interested players (government, media, academic institutions, civil society) in countries in the region. The Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance Grant was designed to respond to this gap by providing training opportunities and tools on this topic. Project Development Objectives (PDOs) 2. The development objective of this grant is to increase availability of high quality training modules on water diplomacy and basin governance related to cooperative water governance. Key Expected Outcomes and Outcome Indicators 3. The achievement of the PDO is measured with the following three Grant Specific Indicators at PDO Level. Intermediate results indicators are specified in the Results Framework. i. Training modules/curriculum developed and tested (number) ii. Academic institutions that indicate interest in using the modules/curriculum (number) iii. Participants in the pilot testing workshops who rate the material and training content as relevant (percentage) 4. The grant outcomes contribute to the achievement of the South Asia Water Initiative (SAWI) Regional Focus Area’s overall objective to build knowledge and capacity across the region in support of transboundary basin- focused dialogue and cooperation and contribute to two of the program’s intermediate results indicators: (i) number of regional, basin/landscape or sub-basin level knowledge products produced and shared with key stakeholders, including decision-makers; and (ii) number of professionals trained in the aspects of water management, water policy or water diplomacy relevant to basin scale planning and management or regional cooperation. 5. Grant activities including training and capacity building activities targeted government officials, water professionals and students from riparian countries of the Greater Himalayan rivers1. These groups were the key stakeholders and main beneficiaries of the grant-funded activities. Additional stakeholders are the universities and training institutions (e.g. academic, mid-career government training, policy and research institutes) expected to take up the designed modules/curriculum into their regular teaching program. 1 The Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers Page 4 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) Components 6. This grant consisted of three components: i. Component 1: Development of Training Modules/Curriculum - This component supported design and development of short training multi-topic modules in water diplomacy and basin governance. ii. Component 2: Pilot Testing of Modules - This component piloted the modules and curricula developed through two focus institutions at two national and one regional workshop with participation from other countries in the region to finalize course content and develop eModules. iii. Component 3: Program Management and Dissemination - This component funded production and dissemination of course material and information about available training programs. II. OUTCOME Assessment of Achievement of Each Objective/Outcome 7. Training modules/curriculum developed and tested. Rating: Substantial. The grant delivered all seven of the planned training modules in a modular and stable curriculum developed by local experts through an iterative and interactive process that sought participation from local organizations (potential users) and inputs from international experts. The two national and workshops were held in India and Bangladesh and the regional workshop with participants from both countries was held in Thailand. These served to pilot course modules with participants from both countries, most of whom were mid-level professionals from government, civil society organizations, think tanks, academia and media. Their expertise ranged from law, engineering, policy, research, to project implementation. This format and multi-disciplinary approach allowed module authors and 20 renowned resource persons from premier academic institutions in India, Bangladesh and the USA to blend theory with practical sessions. Through the presented mock scenarios, participants experienced cooperative water governance in multi-stakeholder bi-lateral settings. 8. The grant also delivered interactive online platform; and the film ‘Rivers Beyond Borders’ which highlighted the importance of capacity building for an interdisciplinary audience. 9. Academic institutions that indicate interest in using the modules/curriculum. Rating: High. During module development and finalization, three institutions formally agreed to using the curriculum developed. To ensure that a wider audience was aware of this course content, beyond just the participants of the two national and one regional workshops, a dissemination workshop was held on January 28-29, 2018, to share outputs developed under the project. Stakeholders from over 24 institutions including universities, governments and think tanks from Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan attended this dissemination workshop which served as a platform to socialize the modules developed. Page 5 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) 10. The content, format and modular nature of the coursework developed generated attention from several institutions that expressed interest in adopting the coursework; the format also allows for replicability. Among those interested are South Asian University (SAU) in Delhi and Dhaka University, which will offer a joint diploma course and are initiating a virtual program on regional water governance. They are exploring means for taking this further through face-to-face sessions on certain modules through joint practical sessions for students from both countries. 11. IUCN India, the implementing agency, also received requests from the Foreign Services Institute and National Water Academy in India and the Bangladesh Public Administrative Training Centre, to curate half-day sessions on transboundary water governance and integration of the same within their civil service training programs. Another IUCN global program, BRIDGE: Building River Dialogues and Governance in the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basins, is building the Mahakali and Meghna basin cooperation frameworks. The implementing agency is planning on testing this training program through a series of training sessions in the Mahakali (India-Nepal) and Meghna (India- Bangladesh) basins. 12. Participants in the pilot testing workshops who rate the material and training content as relevant. Rating: High. According to participant surveys conducted after each workshop, 80% of the respondents felt that the course material was relevant. Participant comments were used to strengthen the modules. The feedback received was used to further fine-tune the lectures as e-modules which went live in June 2018, ensuring widespread availability. Overall Outcome Rating 13. The overall outcome of the grant in terms of its contribution to increasing availability of high quality training modules on water diplomacy for cooperative basin governance is rated satisfactory. (See Table 1). Table 1: Split Evaluation of the Project Outcomes Key Project Outcomes Overall Training modules/curriculum developed and tested Substantial Academic institutions that indicate interest in using the modules/curriculum High Participants in the pilot testing workshops that rate the material and training content as relevant High Overall Rating Satisfactory Other Outcomes and Impacts 14. In addition to achieving its objective, the grant was useful in providing a neutral platform for people from different walks of life to come together and consider transboundary interests. 15. Media professionals who participated in the pilot workshops recommended specific training workshops in local and regional languages to help equip media in the region to cover such sensitive issues as transboundary water disputes, and to educate populations directly impacted by such disputes. The implementing agency is formulating plans to realize this. Page 6 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) III. KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECTED IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME Key factors during preparation 16. The background analysis for the project was sound and built upon feedback from diplomats, water resources professionals and confirmed by literature review on the economic, social, cultural and ecological aspects of water and regional cooperation. It concluded that there was need for developing in-country trainings for people and institutions of riparian countries of the Himalayan rivers on hydro-diplomacy to ensure that shared water resources are managed efficiently, sustainably and equitably. The project design recognized the importance of collaborative thinking in developing such training material and involved two riparian countries. 17. Project timeline: The task of developing multi-disciplinary curricula across two countries on transboundary water disputes is a monumental challenge, and when combined with a component of software management necessitates prolonged spells of review, re-evaluation and re-testing. The project was structured with aggressive timelines in part due to the aggressive MDTF closing deadlines. For projects of this nature it is important to build some slack time into the project design to account for possible delays and challenges of e-module development to arrive at more achievable timeframes for delivery. 18. Technical qualification of implementing agency: While IUCN is an international NGO known for its expertise on transboundary water; it is also important that the immediate team in charge of project delivery has the specific technical expertise to ensure high quality of outputs. Team leads with deep knowledge and technical skills, policy savviness with respect to multi-functional issues and political sensitivities are instrumental in guiding curricula development, marshalling experts as well as holding them accountable for timelines and content. Support from team staff who have expertise in eLearning is also likely to result in more effective project implementation. Key factors during implementation 19. Restructurings: The grant was approved on November 15, 2016, signed on January 13, 2017 and declared effective on January 13, 2017 (effectiveness date typo in datasheet; to be corrected in ILAP). The grant was restructured twice to process no-cost time extensions for a total closing date extension of 12 months. The “parent� South Asia Water Initiative (SAWI) Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) is the source for financing of this “child� Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance project (US$0.42 million). At the time of the approval of this project, the closing date of the SAWI MDTF was December 31, 2017; the process of extending the MDTF for another year was ongoing. Therefore, the nominal closing date of this project was initially set to June 30, 2017 and the project paper (paragraph 17) indicated that the project would be extended to a full one-year implementation period once the MDTF closing date was extended to December 31, 2018. The administration agreements for the SAWI MDTF were revised and the closing date of the MDTF extended. The Client sent a request for a no-cost extension of this grant to IDA on May 1, 2017, with a new closing date of January 31, 2018, which was considered favorably by the Bank, as grant activities required a full year for implementation. 20. The first ISR (5/26/2017) rated progress towards achievement of PDO as Satisfactory and the overall Implementation Progress (IP) as Moderately Satisfactory due to initial challenges in setting up financial management and procurement arrangements and achieving effectiveness of the grant. The implementing agency subsequently took up implementation of all planned activities very effectively and conducted all planned workshops. The implementation progress rating was upgraded to Satisfactory on 11/16/2017. Page 7 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) 21. Due to early delays in getting the implementing agency registered on Bank systems the last regional meeting, which tested and reviewed the modules, happened very late in the project implementation cycle. More time was needed to finalize outputs to desired quality levels and working towards their uptake by universities in the region. The recipient submitted a request for a no-cost extension (letter from January 18, 2018) with a new closing date of June 30, 2018, and an action plan was agreed upon with the implementing agency. The grant activities required another 6 months for completion and the Bank team considered the new closing date (June 30, 2018) to be realistic. 22. The implementing agency has since completed all deliverables as agreed upon in the results framework and the outputs have delivered on the development objective. IV. BANK PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE ISSUES, AND RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME 23. Bank Performance: The relevance of the project was well articulated at entry and built upon World Bank engagement through the South Asia Water Initiative. The grant responded to the need for modular training materials in transboundary water governance. It may be argued that the Bank and Recipient were optimistic in terms of how quickly the modules would be rendered as online modules. The Bank team provided extensive support and participated in the workshops both to assess the quality of deliverables as well as engage with participants on the relevance of course content. The team was responsive to timeline constraints and reacted promptly to requests for extension of time. Furthermore, the Bank team was very actively engaged in reviewing and providing written comments on drafts for a range of the documents prepared under the grant. The overall quality of Bank performance is thus rated Satisfactory. 24. Financial management (FM). Financial management reviews found that the grant was generally able to maintain adequate FM systems, compliance with the legal covenants, and improvements were observed in FM reporting, for example, timely audit report submission. 25. Procurement. Procurement reviews found that there was overall compliance with procurement procedures as outlined in the grant agreement, including development and timely submission of procurement plans. 26. Risk to sustainability. Two risks were identified in the project paper: institutionalization of course curriculum over a longer term and managing regional sensitivities. The former was partially mitigated by the involvement of experts from universities in the region in both the curriculum and module development. The dissemination workshop saw participation and generated interest by institutes from the wider South Asian region. Institutes and countries that were not initially part of the program requested the implementing agency to take conduct additional workshops and trainings. This indicates likely sustainability of the achievement of the broader goal of ensuring training in transboundary water management delivered by South Asians to South Asians and on a continuous basis. The institutions that had expressed a clear interest and need would have benefitted from better recognition of their internal requirements and ecosystems for institutionalizing a web-based course as part of standard curricula, such as budgets, approvals, and web-platforms for hosting this course. Higher budget allocation and more time could help addressing this risk. 27. The implementation agency, in designing the curricula and presenting it, ensured equal participation of trainers Page 8 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) and trainees from Bangladesh and India. Certain course modules were jointly developed prior to pilot testing, and the workshop provided the platform for academics from both countries to provide their inputs into the finalization of course modules. This was very effective in ensuring the output was largely viewed as neutral and respecting regional sensitivities. V. LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS 28. Following are the lessons learn over the course of the implementation of this grant. i. Knowledge sharing: Bringing together mid-level professionals and subject matter experts from different countries is an effective way of promoting shared learning across countries. It helped establish a network of experts and institutions who exchanged ideas and could collaborate. ii. Generating buy-in and ensuring credibility: Having academics from key universities be an active part of the curriculum development process from the onset is necessary to cultivate ownership and ensure that there is a certain degree of awareness at their universities. This also helped establish credibility of the instructional resources prepared, within both academic circles and participant networks, aiding increased awareness and adoption of course modules. iii. Quality review: Early establishment and institutionalization of an iterative and continuous peer review process at the inception of the module development cycle can aid the quality check process with consequent benefits to the overall workshop process and meeting timelines. This is particularly relevant for catering to regional sensitivities and the depth of content. iv. Leveraging technology: With the ultimate objective of developing the curricula as e-modules, on-boarding e- module developers with expertise in technical curriculum delivery at the very onset can help in keeping course content engaging and motivational. . Page 9 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND KEY OUTPUTS A. RESULTS INDICATORS A.1 PDO Indicators Objective/Outcome: Increase availability of high quality training modules on water diplomacy Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Training modules developed Number 0.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 and tested 01-Jun-2016 31-Jan-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018 Comments (achievements against targets): 100% actual achieved Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Participants in the pilot testing Percentage 0.00 80.00 80.00 80.00 workshops that rate the material and training content 01-Jun-2016 31-Jan-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018 as useful Comments (achievements against targets): 100% achieved. Page 10 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) Objective/Outcome: Increase availability of high quality training modules on basin governance related to cooperative water governance Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Academic institutions that Number 0.00 3.00 3.00 3.00 indicate interest in using the modules 01-Jun-2016 31-Jan-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018 Comments (achievements against targets): 100% actual achieved. A.2 Intermediate Results Indicators Component: Module Development and Pilot Testing Workshops Held Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Module development Number 0.00 1.00 1.00 workshop held 01-Jun-2016 31-Jan-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018 Comments (achievements against targets): Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion People trained in the pilot Number 0.00 20.00 20.00 testing workshop 01-Jun-2016 31-Jan-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018 Page 11 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) Women trained in the pilot Percentage 0.00 35.00 35.00 testings workshops 01-Jun-2016 31-Jan-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018 Comments (achievements against targets): Unit of Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Baseline Original Target Measure Target Completion Pilot testing workshops held Number 0.00 3.00 3.00 01-Jun-2016 31-Jan-2018 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2018 Comments (achievements against targets): Page 12 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) B. ORGANIZATION OF THE ASSESSMENT OF THE PDO Objective/Outcome 1 1. Training modules/curriculum developed and tested (number) 2. Academic institutions that indicate interest in using the Outcome Indicators modules/curriculum (number) 3. Participants in the pilot testing workshops that rate the material and training content as relevant (percentage) 1. Module development workshop held 2. People trained in the pilot testing workshop Intermediate Results Indicators 3. Women trained in the pilot testing workshops 4. Pilot testing workshops held 1. 7 designed training modules Key Outputs by Component 2. 2 national and 1 regional workshop (linked to the achievement of the Objective/Outcome 1) 3. An e-discussion forum, a short film, managing the implementation of this regional grant through various IUCN country offices. Page 13 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) . ANNEX 2. PROJECT COST BY COMPONENT Amount at Approval Actual at Project Percentage of Approval Components (US$M) Closing (US$M) (US$M) Development of Training .12 0.10 85.67% Modules/Curriculum Pilot Testing of Modules .21 0.18 83.00% Program Management and 0.08 0.07 84.90% Dissemination Total 0.42 0. 35 84.15% Comments: The IUCN provided a counter-part contribution for the implementation of the activity in the equivalent value of USD 74,800. This was spread across the four components as shown in the Table below: Percentage of Amount at IUCN Actual at Project Overall Overall Components Approval counter-part Closing (US$M) (WB Project Project (US$M) contribution and IUCN combined) (US$M) Development of Training 122,535.00 26,800.00 149,335.00 131,485.71 88% Modules/Curriculum Pilot Testing of Modules 215,105.00 28,000.00 243,105.00 207,135.41 85% Program Management 82,360.00 20,000.00 102,360.00 89,365.18 87% and Dissemination Total 420,000.00 74,800.00 494,800.00 427,986.30 86% Page 14 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) ANNEX 3. RECIPIENT, CO-FINANCIER AND OTHER PARTNER/STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS IUCN acknowledges the financial support provided by World Bank for developing training modules on water governance for policymakers, practitioners and media in the six countries; Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan. The project made an important contribution to the IUCN’s growing portfolio on transboundary cooperation in Asia. The training modules development and pilot testing in Bangladesh and India was an inclusive process which benefitted from the institutions and the experts involved. Converting the modules to the e-module/online learning format was a formidable challenge. While the training modules exhibit fluidity and are contextualized to the country in which these are delivered, the e-module is more set in its contents which was a challenge. The IUCN team worked hard with the authors and the developer to overcome this challenge which took more time than anticipated. At the dissemination workshop in January 2018, there was great appreciation for training modules, its format and delivery as well as online content, however, it was felt a catalyst such as IUCN was needed to provide initial support, hand holding for institutions in the countries to mainstream modules developed into their courses/training. IUCN had initially submitted this as a phased proposal and through this grant phase one has been completed. It is critical to maintain the momentum of this capacity building initiative and take it to next phase where the institutionalization of this training could take place in all 6 countries. IUCN requests the World Bank to consider supporting the Phase 2 of this initiative. Page 15 of 16 The World Bank Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance (P154856) ANNEX 4. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS (IF ANY) 1. Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance Project– Project Paper, November 7, 2016 2. Regional Capacity Building: Water Governance Project– Restructuring Paper, February 18, 2018 3. Implementation and Status Results Reports (ISRs) 4. Weblink to the e-Modules: http://www.southasianwaters.org/ 5. Weblink to the video at the 8th WWF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-wSZZOGCdM Page 16 of 16