Advancing on monitoring and evaluation for climate change adaptation in the Philippines

Manila, Philippines – One of the key challenges for developing countries implementing the NAP is ensuring that adaptation actions are effectively tracked and assessed. In the Philippines, there is robust policy support and momentum for adaptation planning to address climate change risks to food security and agricultural livelihoods; for example, numerous policy instruments such as the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Plan and the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP) provide strong direction for adaptation planning. 

 

However, the multitude of plans pose the challenge of reporting progress and achievements across different frameworks, which affects the design and implementation of future adaptation interventions. The Systems-wide Climate Change Office, which coordinates adaptation planning efforts within the Department of Agriculture (DA),  recognizes that the agriculture sector must work collaboratively on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for adaptation, not just on a project basis but through in an integrated and systematic manner.

 

To address these capacity and technical needs for an integrated M&E framework and system, a four-day workshop was held on 23-26 April in Quezon City. Conducted under the NAP-Ag programme, the workshop was premised on support for the development an integrated M&E system that builds on, rather than replicates, existing systems.

 

Forty-nine participants took part in the workshop. Three regional field officers and sixteen attached bureaus and agencies of the DA were represented including, among others, those mandated to manage fisheries, soils and water management, agricultural research, livestock, agricultural credit and insurance. Key officers from the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and the National Economic Development Authority were present. Speakers included experts from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), Philippines Rice Research Institute, Bureau of Animal Industry, National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and CCC.

 

The workshop combined training and capacity building (using the forthcoming M&E training guide developed by UNDP and FAO) with the advancement of a number of key M&E activities. One, making a critical connection between agricultural sector efforts and the CCC’s update of the food security cluster of the NCCAP; two, a review and validation key indicators for measuring the impacts of climate change initiatives in agriculture, and three, a draft plan for the operationalization of the M&E framework.

 

Following the workshop, the work will be carried forward through to the end of 2019. More extensive planning workshops for the DA’s  M&E Division will be conducted in August & September and will draw from  April workshop towards the drafting and finalization of an integrated M&E framework for climate change adaptation in the agriculture sectors. FAO and UNDP will continue to engage DA and CCC to operationalize the framework and  reflect the developments in the updating of the NCCAP and its revised Results-based Monitoring Framework.