How civil society works: the M&E system of the IKI Medium Grants

Since their first funding call in 2020, the IKI Medium Grants have relied on a results-oriented M&E system (Monitoring & Evaluation) in order to best align the funding instrument with the aim of strengthening civil society actors in international climate and biodiversity action. This year's evaluation will provide initial findings on the overall success of the IMG to date and identify potential for further development.

IMG projects have a concrete and local impact

An analysis of the IKI standard indicators has shown that up to 2022, eight IMG projects have already supported over 24,000 people directly and over 33,000 people indirectly in adapting to the consequences of climate change. One example of this is the project Adaptation to the effects of climate change and COVID-19 for communities in the Gedo region in southern and central Somalia. In this regard, the project promotes the use of drought-tolerant seeds and the installation of solar pumps for sustainable irrigation of agricultural land as direct adaptation measures and has carried out training on water resource management as indirect adaptation measures. In addition, seven IMG projects have so far contributed to better protection of more than 11,000 hectares of biodiversity. For example, the project Nature Conservation and Agroforestry Production in rural communities in Nepal has developed land management plans with community forest user groups and supported people to implement more sustainable management on forest and farmland through training on forest fire prevention, sustainable use of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and the introduction of organic and wildlife-friendly farming methods.

In addition to these figures from the implementation of pilot measures, the IMG also focus on qualitative improvements in civil society engagement as a prerequisite for ambitious climate and biodiversity action. In order to shed light on this, the IMG conducts an annual survey with implementing organisations and partners as well as all applicants based on a results logic developed specifically for the funding instrument. The first two surveys in 2022 and 2023 revealed positive signals of goal achievement on the one hand and potential for optimisation in project funding on the other hand.

Cooperation on equal terms strengthens civil society

On the one hand, the survey participants expressed great appreciation for the IMG. They emphasised that they improve their technical, methodological and administrative skills through the funded projects and that the projects contribute to strengthening civil society partnerships. In the last survey, the vast majority of German and local implementing organisations fully or predominantly agreed with various statements regarding a cooperation on a equal terms (see Figure 1).

The data also shows that, from the perspective of the implementing organisations, a slight increase in public and political interest in project results and an improvement in the knowledge and influence of target groups can be observed on average with increasing project duration (see Figure 2). This suggests that civil society in the partner countries is seen more strongly as a knowledge carrier and implementation partner for climate and biodiversity action as a result of the projects, which will be analysed in more detail as part of the upcoming evaluation.

Potential for optimisation in project funding

At the same time, the annual survey shows that although the IMG are working on relevant themes, there is still room for improvement when it comes to supporting applicants and implementing organisations with regards to funding management. For example, applicants criticise the high level of resources required in the application process coupled with a low selection rate. Moreover, while the vast majority of implementing partners are satisfied with the work of the IKI Office of Zukunft-Umwelt-Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH during project implementation, between 10 and 25 per cent of the participating implementing organisations still rated various aspects of the IKI Office of ZUG rather poorly (see Figure 3). Based on these results, ZUG's IKI Office is now in the process of simplifying the processes as far as possible and developing suitable training formats.

Upcoming evaluation of the IMG for in-depth insights into results and challenges

In order to better categorise the observations from the previous surveys and project reports and to be able to assess the results achieved by the first IMG projects that are coming to an end this year, the Monitoring, Evaluation and Impact Analysis team of the IKI Office of the ZUG is conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the IMG this year. On the basis of project visits to selected partner countries as well as interviews, focus groups, workshops, document analyses and, if necessary, other survey methods, the aim is on the one hand to contribute to accountability towards the responsible federal ministries, the Bundestag and the public. On the other hand, this evaluation aims in particular to identify lessons learnt for the further development of current and future projects. The results of the evaluation are expected towards the end of 2024.