Upscaling climate resilience measures in the dry corridor agroecosystems of El Salvador (RECLIMA)

The mid-term evaluation of the RECLIMA project in El Salvador finds that while the project is strategically aligned with national priorities and has seen high adoption of agroecological practices, implementation is behind schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather events. The project has successfully reached 22,718 farm families through farmer field schools and restored 4,022 hectares of ecosystems, but progress toward mid-term targets remains below expectations. Key challenges include systemic vulnerabilities of target populations, procurement delays, and a lack of a formal greenhouse gas measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) system. The evaluation recommends a two-year project extension and improvements in institutional coordination and capacity building to ensure the desired paradigm shift toward climate-resilient agriculture.

• The project is strategically aligned with national development goals and the needs of producers, and its delineation of the dry corridor using multi-criteria analysis is considered a milestone in El Salvador.
• Implementation is behind schedule, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme climate events, which caused an estimated 18-month delay in field activities.
• Progress in Component 1 is the most significant, with 22,718 producers attending farmer field schools and demonstrating levels of adoption for agroecological practices that often exceeded project targets.
• Component 2 has restored 4,022 hectares of ecosystems, reaching 52 percent of the mid-term target, though it lacks a specific monitoring and follow-up plan for restoration actions.
• The project has successfully integrated a gender approach, with 38 percent of participating producers and community promoters being women, and 49 percent of household rainwater harvesting systems allocated to women.
• While the project complies with social safeguards, some Indigenous and Afro-descendant leaders expressed dissatisfaction regarding their level of participation in project benefits.
• There is a lack of clarity regarding the mechanism for recording and reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, as El Salvador does not yet have an established measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) system.
• National partners have met 79.4 percent of their total committed co-financing (USD 91,828,492), but there is an imbalance as GCF funds have only been executed at 54.8 percent.
• Procurement challenges, including global supply chain disruptions and internal FAO process adaptations, led to late delivery of vegetative materials and some culturally inappropriate tools.
• Understanding of the promoted paradigm shift varies; while high among project coordination and partner management, it is weaker among community promoters and producers.

APA

Green Climate Fund (2023). Upscaling climate resilience measures in the dry corridor agroecosystems of El Salvador (RECLIMA). https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp089-interim-evaluation-report-pub.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. Upscaling climate resilience measures in the dry corridor agroecosystems of El Salvador (RECLIMA). 2023. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp089-interim-evaluation-report-pub.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=Upscaling climate resilience measures in the dry corridor agroecosystems of El Salvador (RECLIMA) |date=June 2023 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp089-interim-evaluation-report-pub.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefund2023upscaling, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{Upscaling climate resilience measures in the dry corridor agroecosystems of El Salvador (RECLIMA)}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp089-interim-evaluation-report-pub.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }