Midterm Review (MTR) for the WWF-supported, GEF-financed Full Size “Integrated Landscape Management to Secure Nepal’s Protected Areas and Critical Corridors” Project

The MTR rates the project's relevance as Highly Satisfactory and its overall effectiveness and efficiency as Moderately Satisfactory. While the project has successfully engaged local communities and established strong biodiversity baselines, it has faced significant delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, government restructuring, and legislative bottlenecks regarding the disbursement of grants and revolving funds. Financial disbursement is low, with only 48% of expected costs for the first two years spent. However, the project is rated as 'Likely' for sustainability due to its integration with the broader Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) Program and strong country ownership.

• The project is rated as Highly Satisfactory in relevance, with a design that correctly identifies barriers to endangered wildlife conservation and aligns with national priorities and international conventions like the Convention on Biological Diversity.
• Project effectiveness is rated as Moderately Satisfactory (rating 4), with an average achievement of 61% against the last workplan and 62% against Year 2 Results Framework targets.
• Significant implementation delays occurred during the inception phase, primarily caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, subsequent lockdowns, and 2022 elections, pushing effective start-up to the last quarter of 2021.
• Financial efficiency is rated as Moderately Satisfactory, with a low burn rate; only USD 1,197,642 was spent out of an expected USD 2,511,439 for the first two years.
• Legislative constraints within the Public Procurement Act have created bottlenecks for deploying subsidy grants and revolving funds to communities, though individual grants to university students have been successful.
• The project has achieved notable success in knowledge management (Component 4), meeting 100% of four out of five indicators, although technical reports are sometimes difficult to locate on the project website.
• Sustainability is rated as 'Likely' (rating 4), supported by the diversified funding of the broader TAL Program and the formalization of communities as legal entities to access financing.
• Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) efforts have increased awareness, but the MTR found that decision-making capacities and power dynamics in communities have not significantly changed.
• The project's adaptive capacity is rated as Moderately Satisfactory; while it adjusted activities to meet goals, it failed to conduct standalone annual adaptive management meetings to review the Theory of Change and risks.
• The project has successfully restored 336.8 hectares of land (72% of the Year 2 target), including 191 ha of forest land and 136.2 ha of natural grass and shrublands.

APA

Cozzolino, G., Ponziani, C., Bazzucchi, D., & Nepali, S. (2023). Midterm Review (MTR) for the WWF-supported, GEF-financed Full Size “Integrated Landscape Management to Secure Nepal’s Protected Areas and Critical Corridors” Project. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1067/94lplazfdj_WWF_GEF_ILaM_Project_MTR_Final_Evaluation_Report_w_management_response.pdf

Chicago

Cozzolino, Giacomo, Camillo Ponziani, Daniel Bazzucchi, and Sushila Nepali. Midterm Review (MTR) for the WWF-supported, GEF-financed Full Size “Integrated Landscape Management to Secure Nepal’s Protected Areas and Critical Corridors” Project. WWF International, 2023. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1067/94lplazfdj_WWF_GEF_ILaM_Project_MTR_Final_Evaluation_Report_w_management_response.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Cozzolino |first1=Giacomo |last2=Ponziani |first2=Camillo |last3=Bazzucchi |first3=Daniel |last4=Nepali |first4=Sushila |title=Midterm Review (MTR) for the WWF-supported, GEF-financed Full Size “Integrated Landscape Management to Secure Nepal’s Protected Areas and Critical Corridors” Project |publisher=WWF International |date=29 November 2023 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1067/94lplazfdj_WWF_GEF_ILaM_Project_MTR_Final_Evaluation_Report_w_management_response.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cozzolino2023midterm, author = {Cozzolino, Giacomo and Ponziani, Camillo and Bazzucchi, Daniel and Nepali, Sushila}, title = {{Midterm Review (MTR) for the WWF-supported, GEF-financed Full Size “Integrated Landscape Management to Secure Nepal’s Protected Areas and Critical Corridors” Project}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2023}, month = nov, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1067/94lplazfdj_WWF_GEF_ILaM_Project_MTR_Final_Evaluation_Report_w_management_response.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }