Environmental conservation and community development work, supported by donor funding and implemented by government agencies and NGOs has been underway in Jamaica for some time. As with other countries in the region and elsewhere in the world, it has been difficult to determine the overall impact of these interventions and by association the payoff on the investment made by donors due to lack of or inadequate mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating results.

The Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme recently approved its first round of projects to be implemented by NGOs/CBOs in Jamaica. Globally the programme has experienced similar difficulties in assessing its impact after fourteen years of operations. As such the GEF now requires that SGP put in place more stringent mechanisms for tracking progress towards the goals of global benefits in biodiversity conservation, prevention of land degradation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, elimination of persistent organic pollutants and elimination of persistent organic pollutants.

GEF requires of the country programme that ongoing monitoring and evaluation is done through the application of global indicators for measuring progress at the project level and at the country programme level in order to assess the impact of SGP at a global level. This will be done through a process of indicator development and tracking. A set of fifteen global indicators have been established and these will need to be made applicable at the country level for setting of baselines and monitoring by the NGOs and CBOs implementing projects. Experience in this type of monitoring is limited within the NGO sector and as such there is a need for capacity building in this area through training on refining and tracking of these indicators.

his project seeks to improve the capacity of organisations that are currently funded by SGP or wish to be funded by SGP to be able to take on this monitoring role. This will be done through development of a guide and delivering of training workshops. The strengthening of the NGOs/CBOs in this area will also enhance their general programme development as well as assist in their approaches to other donors.

There are three categories measuring impacts in GEF focal areas, in livelihoods and in empowerment. This is being done in order to achieve a coherent portfolio of projects with focused impact at the national level that will then contribute to the global outcomes of SGP.