| Overview : The Government of Uganda through the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), with support from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Global Environmental Facility (GEF), is implementing the project “Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Threatened Savannah Woodland in the Kidepo Critical Landscape in North Eastern Uganda”. This UNDP/GEF-GOU initiative is a partnership programme implemented as a joint venture of national government partners. The partners include:- - The National Environment Management Agency (NEMA);
- Uganda Wildlife Authority;
- National Forestry Authority;
- District Local Governments of Kaabong, Kotido, Abim, Otuke, Agago and Kitgum.
The Project Document covering the period 2013-2017 was signed by Government and UNDP in July 2013 and full project implementation began in 2014. The planned operational closure date for the project was 31-Jul-2017, but the project was extended for another 22 months up to end of May 2019. The Government of Uganda has made significant investments in most protected areas (PAs) in the country. However, the Kidepo Critical Landscape (KCL) of North-Eastern Uganda, encompassing eight protected areas under a range of management authorities, received limited investment over the past 20 years due to protracted conflict, and proportionately suffers from lower management-effectiveness compared to other sites. The project was designed to strengthen the national system of protected areas in Uganda by improving the management effectiveness of protected areas in the Kidepo Critical Landscape in the North-Eastern part of the country, thus affording biodiversity sufficient protection from emerging and future threats. This can be achieved through providing planned, targeted and effective support to the operational capacity of core PAs within the landscape, and by creating a coordinated landscape-management approach in the KCL to serve as a shield against human-induced pressures on Uganda’s threatened biodiversity. This project in the Kidepo Critical Landscape of PAs and buffer zones satisfies the requirements for GEF financing under GEF Biodiversity Focal Area, Strategic Objective one: Improve sustainability of Protected Area systems. The project aimed to bring 416,485 ha of land directly under strengthened PA management arrangements, involving three categories of PA (National Park, entral Forestry Reserve and Community Wildlife Area) as well as public lands, with a wider positive influence on an additional 239,215 ha of dispersal areas. In total, the project thus aimed to enhance biodiversity protection to over 655,700 ha of targeted PAs and linked dispersal areas. The project comprises two complementary components, which will be cost-shared by the GEF and co-financing. Each addresses a different barrier and has discrete outcomes. Component 1. Strengthening Management Effectiveness of the Kidepo Critical Landscape PA Cluster. Component 2. Integrating PA Management in the Wider Landscape. By addressing management deficits in these sites, the project was expected to strengthen the national PA system in Uganda as a whole as well as improve livelihoods for communities within the landscape. The project worked to diversify and strengthen biodiversity-based livelihoods through improved management of biodiversity assets both within and beyond the boundaries of protected area – for example, through management and sustainable utilization of species such as the shea tree, which provides significant economic benefits to communities, thus demonstrating the importance of biodiversity to livelihoods of rural people. Objective and scope of the TE: The TE will be conducted according to the guidance, rules and procedures established by UNDP and GEF as reflected in the UNDP Guidance document for Evaluation of GEF Financed projects, and the updated (2017) guidance document prepared by the GEF. The objectives of the evaluation are to assess the achievement of project results, and to draw lessons that can both improve the sustainability of benefits from this project, and aid in the overall enhancement of UNDP programming. The TE is to cover the entire Project including GEF, UNDP and GoU of Uganda funded activities. | 
