May 05, 2023
The link between climate finance and development impacts is confirmed by a recent independent evaluation commissioned by the Climate Investment Funds (CIF).
On May 3, 2023, an international panel of evaluators, project implementers, country partners and policymakers came together for a webinar to delve deeper into the data and evidence of the “Evaluation of the Development Impacts from CIF’s Investments”.
The lead evaluator for the report, Daniel Kaufman of Industrial Economics (IEc), talked through with the virtual audience, some of the overarching findings and recommendations. He explained that not only does the evaluation confirm the link between climate investments and the development impacts, it also shows why climate project creators or managers should plan, design, and deliver interventions with development impacts front of mind.
“One way to do this is to take what we call a ‘back-casting’ approach. Back-casting starts with the end in mind. We ask: what development impacts do we want to achieve with this project or investment? … Climate funders can achieve better results if they identify the important development impacts through diagnostic work in investment planning and then design the projects to achieve those goals.”
The evaluation examined CIF investments at project and portfolio levels and draws on evidence and data from about 250 CIF projects, setting out more than 60 development impacts in 11 subcategories that ranges from livelihoods and wealth to inclusiveness and energy justice. But it’s the 13 country case studies that breaks down the data and anchors the report in lived experiences.
Helena Lawira is Senior Project Officer at the Asian Development Bank explained how planning for development impacts not only addressed economic challenges, but also bridged cultural divides and empowered marginalized groups such as women and young people. During her work on a project in Indonesia with CIF’s Forest Investment Program, she spent some time with remote indigenous communities.
“I went to the field and interviewed a few of the women. They said they were proud [that] they made money by themselves, because their livelihoods supported their husbands and their families. So its [perhaps] the first time they earn their own money. It gives them pride and confidence,” she explained.
A project in Brazil’s Cerrado region is another example of how intentionally planning and designing climate projects can bring together diverse stakeholders. Clarisse Cruz of Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change noted that while tackling deforestation in the region is a priority, any project to address this must balance other economic activities such as agriculture and livestock breeding. By bringing together various government agencies, civil society, local communities, and the private sector under what she calls an “umbrella of policies” the project unlocked a range of development impacts such as supporting women farmers and creating economic spinoffs for products from the region.
“We have one project with civil society, indigenous people and other communities living in the [Cerrado] biome which brought the production and conservation of specific products and [facilitated] wider the conservation the region. And on the other hand, we had the private sector that created products from the region, and [created] value [for products] in the area.”
The World Bank’s Debashish Paul Shuvra who works on climate resilience projects in Bangladesh, says investments linked to development impacts generated a range of positive outcomes, most notably creating safe access to schools, health care facilities and local markets for communities living in the remote coastal polders. As he noted “It is a valuable lesson to consider when planning and designing future projects”, because by including desired outcomes from the start, projects can better track and monitor development impacts.
Download the evaluation here: Full Report Summary Brief Case Studies Modeling Memo
