The GEF Project CycleFrom July 1st 2007, all Medium (up to 1$ million) and Full-Sized Projects have been implemented according to a revised project cycle approved by the Council in June 2007. By reducing the number of processing steps and harmonizing the documentation requirements with the standard procedures of the GEF Agencies, the new project cycle reduces the time needed for project preparation. Full-Sized projects have to be endorsed by the CEO within 22 months from the date of Council approval of the work program; Medium-Sized projects have to receive the approval of the CEO of the final project document within 12 months from the PIF approval. The new project cycle also facilitate a more strategic programming of GEF resources and increases transparency in the decision making process by posting on the GEF website all the documents and the decisions related to each PIF submitted to the GEF Secretariat.
In the new project cycles GEF Agencies have the possibility to submit to GEF Secretariat on a rolling basis PIFs, endorsed by the country operational focal point. GEF Secretariat review of a PIF focuses on the following elements: - - Country eligibility;
- - Consistency with GEF strategic objectives/programs;
- - Comparative advantage of GEF Agency submitting PIF;
- - Estimated cost of the project, including expected co-financing;
- - Availability of resources for the GEF grant request within the focal area and under the Resource Allocation Framework;
- - Milestones for further project processing.
Once the GEF Secretariat has completed its review and has circulated the PIF among all GEF Agencies and relevant Convention Secretariats, the CEO will consider the PIF for inclusion in a work program. PIFs cleared for work program inclusion will be sent for STAP screening whereby comments of STAP will be posted on the web together with the PIF. All PIFs cleared for work program inclusion will be eligible for a GEF project preparation grant that may be approved by the GEF CEO for an amount based on financing the estimated incremental costs of project preparation. Agencies have now the option to request a fee advance on the amount of the preparation grant. If the agreed milestones and agreements in the PIF and project preparation grant approval letters are not achieved, the CEO will consult with the recipient country and relevant GEF Agency, and may agree to revised milestones and understandings or decide to cancel the project concept.
The second step in the GEF new project cycle is approval of the work programs (comprising of PIFs for full-sized projects, Program Framework Documents, non-expedited enabling activities and Agency fees) by the GEF Council. The Council reviews the work programs during the two Council meetings held annually and through several intersessional work programs with decision by mail on a no-objection basis, between Council meetings (1). The work program document to be reviewed by the Council focuses on policy and strategic issues for Council consideration and describe the overall programmatic coherence of the concepts presented in the following terms: - - their collective contributions to the GEF strategic objectives and programs;
- - their focal area and geographic balance, including a cumulative assessment of previous work programs;
- - their innovative elements, as well as replication potential;
- - the key assumptions and risks in the further development of the portfolio; and
- - the resource programming implications.
In approving the work program, the Council will provide guidance to the Secretariat and the Agencies on the strategic directions and programming framework for the GEF. Beginning in FY08, programmatic approaches for GEF funding will only be submitted to Council at its meetings, not intersessionally. The Program Framework Document (PFD) that includes documentation for securing approval and guiding implementation of a specific Program is presented to the Council in a work program. The Council reviews the PFD and endorses the overall objective and scope of the Program. PFDs will also identify, to the extent possible, all projects to be financed under the Program. The PFD contains the following key information (2): - - Background and Program rationale;
- - Value-added of the Program (including cost-effectiveness);
- - Program objective and results;
- - Consistency of the Program with national/regional priorities/plans/policies;
- - Alignment with GEF focal area strategy/-ies;
- - Expected global environmental benefits;
- - Type of operations and potential scope of projects under the Program;
- - Risks and mitigation measures;
- - Program coordination, monitoring and evaluation; and
- - Other relevant information, including Program implementation, indicative total GEF amount, potential co-financing and sources, the Program results-framework, a list of potential projects and the Program implementation timeline.
The third step in the GEF project cycle is the GEF CEO’s endorsement of the projects before such projects are approved by the GEF Agencies. The final GEF funding amount is confirmed by the CEO at this point. The Agencies will transmit for CEO endorsement the same documentation that they submit for approval by their respective internal approving authorities, plus a Request for CEO Endorsement which summarizes key information of the project. The project proposals will be reviewed by the Secretariat for compliance with the following conditions for endorsement: 1) High likelihood that the project, as designed, will deliver its outcomes and will generate appropriate global environmental benefits that are consistent with focal area strategies, with an adequate explanation for any changes in expected global benefits since PIF approval; 2) GEF funds are used cost-effectively, focusing on among others, the review of project budget, which includes project cost tables for project components, project management, and consultants; 3) Compliance with GEF’s M&E policy; and 4) Project preparation grant has been used in a cost effective way, as explained in the project preparation grant status report (which is included as an annex attached to the Request for CEO Endorsement).
Within ten business days of receiving a draft final project document for endorsement, the Secretariat will review the proposal and the CEO will determine whether the proposal is in compliance with the conditions for endorsement. As soon as the CEO has determined that the project proposal meets the conditions for endorsement, the Secretariat will circulate to Council Members the draft final project document. Within four weeks of receiving such a document, Council Members may transmit to the CEO any concerns related to technical, procedural or policy issues or inconsistency with the GEF Instrument that they may have regarding the proposal prior to CEO endorsement and final approval by the Agency concerned. The CEO has discretion to endorse or not to endorse a proposal. The CEO will take into account any Council Member’s concerns prior to endorsement and work to address them with concerned parties, following which the CEO will re-circulate the proposal, as needed. The CEO will post those concerns on the GEF website, will notify Council Members within two days and will update the status of the project proposal in the management information system to indicate that endorsement will be delayed pending resolution of the concern expressed by the Council Member. Endorsed final project documents will be posted on the GEF website. The Trustee will make commitments of funding to GEF Agencies for projects and fees upon CEO endorsement. The commitments will be made based on the amounts endorsed by the CEO, as indicated in the endorsement letter from the CEO to GEF Agencies. In the case that the amount endorsed by the CEO is reduced from the amount approved by the Council for the project or fee, the Trustee will release the reduced amount of funds, which were previously set aside for the project/fee, back to the GEF Trust Fund to be made available for other projects, activities, or fees (3). In all cases, transfer of funds from the Trustee to Agencies will be made after commitment by the Trustee and subsequent Agency approvals of the projects/activities, where relevant, following the procedures agreed between the GEF Agencies and the Trustee. For Medium-Sized projects (MSP) the project cycle is shorter. The PIF has to be submitted to the GEF Secretariat for CEO approval. Once the PIF is approved, the Agency can start preparation of the MSP until a final MSP project document is ready for CEO approval. A project preparation grant maybe approved by CEO for the project, if necessary, upon CEO approval of PIF. After CEO clears the MSP final project document, it will be posted on the GEF website for a two-week period and a notification is sent to the Council for comments. At the end of the two-week circulation period, CEO will send an approval letter to the Agency indicating the approval of the project, the grant amount and the associated Agency fee. If comments are provided by Council, Agencies should address the comments and notify GEF Secretariat on how the comments are responded and if these have any effect on the final project document. As necessary, a revised project document maybe resubmitted and CEO may approve the project based on the final submitted project document. Enabling Activities (EA) under expedited procedures (up to $500,000 in GEF financing, but varies across focal areas) do not need to submit a PIF (4). EA project document will be approved by the CEO and will be accessible on the GEF database through the GEF website. For EAs that are not under expedited procedures, processing will be the same as full-sized projects. The Secretariat will ask Agencies to revise proposals that it deems not to be in compliance with the specified conditions for approval and resubmit them for review, with another 10-day review period being applicable. The CEO may also determine, in consultation with the country and the Agency concerned, to stop further project preparation and cancel the project from the GEF pipeline.
The fourth step in the GEF project cycle consists of implementation supervision, monitoring and final evaluation. Streamlining the GEF project approval process will be accompanied by more robust result verification mechanisms. As part of its monitoring responsibilities, the Secretariat will conduct an Annual Monitoring Review, which will be based on the submission of Project Implementation Reports by the Agencies. The key issues to be monitored will include: implementation progress, focal area strategic objectives’ performance indicators, projects at risk, actions to achieve sustainability and replicability, stakeholder involvement, and co-financing status. The Agencies are required to submit the final evaluation reports to the GEF Evaluation Office. In addition, the GEF Evaluation Office also assesses the adequacy of the M&E system in the GEF, including compliance with the GEF M&E Policy. Upon financial closures of projects/activities, the GEF Agencies report to the Trustee of any unused funds. The Secretariat, in consultation with the countries, and in collaboration with the GEF Agencies will actively manage the project cycle as described in GEF/C.30/3, Rules, Procedures and Objective Criteria for Project Selection, Pipeline Management, Approval of Sub-projects, and Cancellation Policy (November 2006). Additional criteria to guide these decisions, as requested by the Council at the December 2006 meeting, are suggested in Annex 1. Notes: (1) In response to Council members’ request, GEFSEC has decided to establish more frequent intersessional work programs, provided cleared PIFs meet the IWP criteria, i.e. at least 10 cleared PIFs are ready for inclusion in a work program, or the amount of cleared PIFs is worth at least $50 million. CEO has the authority to decide whether to have or not to have an IWP in the months preceding a Council meeting. (2) Please refer to the April 2008 Council paper, “From Projects to Programs: Clarifying the Programmatic Approach in the GEF Portfolio” (GEF/C.33/6) for additional information on processing procedures for programmatic approaches. (3) The Agency fee at CEO endorsement/approval will be net of any fees approved in advance for the PPG. (4) All EAs are not eligible for PPGs with the exception of NCSA (project amount of which is up to $200,000). If a NCSA is requesting a PPG, then the NCSA will need to submit a PIF as well. |
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About GEF Projects:
- Who can apply?
- How to apply?
- The Project Cycle
1.CEO Review of the PIF
2.Council Approval of the WP
3.CEO Endorsement
4.Implementation and M&E
+ Documents and history of the GEF Project Cycle
- Types of Project,
Templates and Guidelines
- Project Database
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