MID-TERM EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT: EXPANDING AND CONSOLIDATING MADAGASCAR’S MARINE PROTECTED AREAS NETWORK

The project aims to triple Madagascar's marine protected area (MPA) coverage by 2025 to meet the 'Sydney Promise' and Aichi Target 11. While the evaluation finds the project highly relevant and aligned with national priorities, it reports significant delays in the establishment of a national Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) inventory and the selection of sub-project sites. These delays, caused by inefficient recruitment, political blocking, and a reactive Project Management Unit (PMU), have led to substantial underspending. Despite these challenges, the project has successfully established steering committees and conducted capacity building on OECMs and KBAs. The evaluation recommends a 12-month no-cost extension, a revised stakeholder engagement strategy, and a reduction in surface area targets to make them realistically achievable.

• The project is highly relevant to global, national, and local contexts, aligning with the GEF 6 biodiversity programme and Madagascar's 'Sydney Promise' to triple MPA coverage by 2025.
• Progress toward the project's primary objective of increasing MPA coverage is unsatisfactory or moderately satisfactory, with the KBA inventory delay posing a serious risk to the achievement of outcome 1.2.
• The Project Management Unit (PMU) has demonstrated limited effectiveness in strategically engaging stakeholders and often operates in a reactive rather than proactive mode.
• Significant delays in implementation were caused by inefficient recruitment, contracting processes, and political blocking of key structures like the KBA National Coordination Group.
• The project has experienced substantial underspending in Year 2 and the first half of Year 3, making it unlikely that all resources will be spent by the original December 31, 2025, end date.
• While the M&E design is highly satisfactory, the actual documentation of activities and record-keeping at the PMU level is moderately unsatisfactory.
• Gender mainstreaming implementation has been insufficient, particularly regarding the collection of sex-disaggregated data and the inclusion of gender perspectives in consultancies.
• The project lacks a functional stakeholder engagement plan and a public website, which has hindered the sharing of knowledge products and the securing of intersectoral buy-in.
• Environmental sustainability is threatened by competing economic interests, specifically industrial fishing and deep seabed mining.
• Upcoming general elections in November 2023 are identified as a major risk that could disturb strategic and political support at the national level.
• Security risks, including attacks by 'Dahalo' (armed bandits) in rural areas like Menabe, require close monitoring and the avoidance of income-generating activities involving cattle.
• The evaluation recommends a 12-month no-cost extension and a reduction in surface area targets, which are currently deemed overambitious.

APA

WWF International (2023). MID-TERM EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT: EXPANDING AND CONSOLIDATING MADAGASCAR’S MARINE PROTECTED AREAS NETWORK. https://files.worldwildlife.org/wwfcmsprod/files/Publication/file/1i9dy9k74i_231018_MTE_Report_EN_final_clean.docx_2_.pdf

Chicago

WWF International. MID-TERM EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT: EXPANDING AND CONSOLIDATING MADAGASCAR’S MARINE PROTECTED AREAS NETWORK. 2023. https://files.worldwildlife.org/wwfcmsprod/files/Publication/file/1i9dy9k74i_231018_MTE_Report_EN_final_clean.docx_2_.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=MID-TERM EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT: EXPANDING AND CONSOLIDATING MADAGASCAR’S MARINE PROTECTED AREAS NETWORK |date=18 October 2023 |url=https://files.worldwildlife.org/wwfcmsprod/files/Publication/file/1i9dy9k74i_231018_MTE_Report_EN_final_clean.docx_2_.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternational2023midterm, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{MID-TERM EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT: EXPANDING AND CONSOLIDATING MADAGASCAR’S MARINE PROTECTED AREAS NETWORK}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://files.worldwildlife.org/wwfcmsprod/files/Publication/file/1i9dy9k74i_231018_MTE_Report_EN_final_clean.docx_2_.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }