Effective and efficient monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) by Kate Dowen CCXG GF September 2016

1. International Climate
Fund (ICF)
Effective and efficient
Monitoring, evaluation
and learning (MEL)
Kate Dowen,
Department for Business Energy
and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)

2. International Climate Fund – New Starter Pack 3
Scaling up Climate Finance
Climate Finance Figures:
The UK Government set up the International Climate Fund in 2010 to provide £3.87bn
between April 2011 and March 2016
In September 2015, the Prime Minister announced that the UK would significantly
increase our climate finance over the next five years, providing at least £5.8bn ($9bn) by
2020.
The ICF Portfolio 2016 –
2021
DFID
BEIS
Defra
DFID - focusing in the poorest
countries primarily on adaptation.
BEIS - focused on mitigation.
Defra- the smallest portfolio with a
focus on forestry and biodiversity.

3. 11
Diverse ICF Portfolio
Adaptation/Resilience
CCRIF
ARC
stARCK+
BRACED
Forestry
REM
BioCF
FCPF
Capacity Building
CCS
2050 Pathways
PMR
ADB TA
TCAF
CDKN
Private Finance
PPCR
SEEC
REEP
Technology
CTF
PMEH
Small Island Developing States
PPCR
SEEC
REEP
Improving Architecture
NAMA
GCF
Ci-Dev
Key
BEIS Projects
DFID Projects
…Senior support for strong PMO and M&E

4. Key Performance Indicators
• 16 KPIs – being used and reviewed
• Annual reporting – supports annual reviews.
• Aggregation – provides programme level data,
useful for communicating impact, but doesn’t
help us make programming decisions

5. ICF Theory of Change

6. Overall ICF Results to date, as of March 2015
KPI Key Performance Indicator
Achieved
Results
(2011-2015)
Expected Results
(programme
lifetime)
1
People supported to cope with Climate
Change 15,000,000 53,000,000
2 People with clean energy access 2,600,000 33,000,000
5 Jobs created 39,000 100,000
6 GHG avoided (t CO2e) 2,300,000 430,000,000
7 Installed capacity (MW) 190 3,100
8 Area of deforestation avoided (hect.) 6,600 7,800,000
9 Units low carbon technology installed 310,000 3,600,000
11 Public finance mobilised (£) 1,200,000,000 3,700,000,000
12 Private finance mobilised (£) 330,000,000 3,400,000,000
Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/463954/ICF_Results_Note_Final.pdf

7. The ‘L’ in MEL
5
Monitoring and Evaluation are primarily done for two
purposes:
ICF portfolio aims for ‘transformational’ change. This
required pioneering new approaches.
By its nature a riskier portfolio, for which learning (for
future spend) is essential!
Greatest value is learning…

8. Challenges for donors
International Climate Fund – New Starter Pack 5
• Large diverse portfolio across the ICF
• Donor’s distance from results and activity on the ground yet a need for
accountability for taxpayer money.
 How do we learn across 200+ programmes, across 30 countries, with a
huge range of delivery partners?
 How can we be assured of the quality and consistency of reporting across
the portfolio?
• ICF, by its nature, aims to test innovative approaches, which requires more MEL
activities than traditional approaches, to learn if it is working and why or why not
• Large scope and multiple objectives means that no one indicator is a good
indication of achievement. Need indicators for mitigation, forestry, adaptation,
leverage, etc.
• Transformation – donors potentially choose higher risk programmes (as they
have higher transformational potential) but may not produce as high results in
other areas as more conventional approaches.
• Harmonisation of results frameworks with other MDBs and donors. How do we
ensure that our KPIs record comparable results to those by other donors and
MDBs?

9. MEL and programme management
International Climate Fund – New Starter Pack 5
Strong programme management function with MEL embedded
into process creates a number of benefits:
1. MEL considered
early (in Business
Cases)
2. Annual reviews
use robust analysis
(KPI) – resource
efficiencies and
better quality
reviews!
3. MEL activity feeds
directly into
programme and
portfolio decision
making cycles.

10. 3 Levels of MEL
International Climate Fund – New Starter Pack 5
Level Activity Purpose
PORTFOLIO Aggregated KPIs
Portfolio evaluation –
Compass contract
Monitoring & accountability
Learning & accountability
PROGRAM Logframe monitoring
Results collection
against KPIs
Prioritised evaluations
activity
Published annual report and assessment of
programme
Annual report and portfolio evaluations
Future investment decisions, annual reports,
accountability (verification of monitoring), case
studies
PROJECT Project level monitoring
run by fund manager
Project level evaluation
activity run fund
manager
Feeds into programme level
Feed into programme level
Provides tangible case studies

11. Climate Change Compass – Portfolio level MEL
International Climate Fund – New Starter Pack 5
Monitoring
- Review of KPIs to determine if methodologically fit for purpose;
- Use and usability
- Harmonisation with other funds
Evaluation
- Strategic learning questions selected by stakeholders across the ICF.
- All learning questions take the form of: What works, for whom, in what circumstances, how and
why? Rather than just trying to measure impact.
- Evidence used to answer learning questions is taken from across ICF portfolio’s published
evaluations and published documents from other MDBs, donors.
Learning
- Facilitation and learning experts help with consultation and engagement through monitoring
and evaluation processes
- Develop internal intranet to share lessons learned & documents across ICF portfolio.
- Communications and graphic designers available to help
- Stakeholder mapping done to understand potential audiences needs – i.e. who needs to learn
what and how do they learn best?

12. Concluding Remarks
• Quality of climate finance matters as much as its quantity. ICF was
established to learn more about what works and does not work for the
benefits of the international community. The results are hugely valuable
for accountability, and learning – providing a key project management
tool.
• This can only be achieved by comprehensive and rigorous MEL. Key to
success is embedding results collection into the project management
cycle (yearly process).
• Reporting across a portfolio is difficult and requires dedicated analytical
resource. Monitoring and reporting is most effective when it is combined
with evaluation and learning activities. The Compass programme will
allow us to learn about MEL
• Publication is key! Allowing greater comparability, building the
international communities skills, and for accountability/transparency.