1. Main Conclusions and Recommendations 1.1 Background Costa Rica has been the recipient of Global Environment Facility (GEF) financial support since 1992 through a variety of projects and activities in collaboration with the GEF’s Implementing and Executing Agencies (IA/ExAs). From the end of 2005 until April 2006, the GEF Evaluation Office undertook an evaluation of GEF support to Costa Rica—the first time it has performed such an evaluation. The evaluation came about as a result of the GEF Council’s requesting the Evaluation Office to evaluate activities supported by the GEF at the country level so as to provide pertinent information to the Council on how those activities relate to the country’s sustainable development agenda, national environmental strategies and priorities, and the GEF’s mandate. Costa Rica was selected as a pilot case for testing the methodology and, based on that experience, for drawing up terms of reference for similar future evaluations. The focus of the evaluation is a portfolio of 12 projects funded by the GEF during the period from 1992 to the present with an investment of almost $32 million.1 Eight of those projects have been completed, and four are under execution. This portfolio was not developed based on a predetermined program or strategy, but consists of various projects with different aims and objectives developed and implemented over a 14-year period.
All GEF focal areas are represented in this group, as are all GEF IAs—the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)—and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The evaluation also looked at the Small Grants Programme (SGP) that has been under implementation in Costa Rica since 1993 and which has funded 354 projects worth $5 million.
1.2 Conclusions Relevance of the Portfolio On the relevance of GEF support for the country’s sustainable development agenda and its environmental priorities, as well as its relevance to the GEF mandate and programs, the following conclusions were reached. Conclusion 1: GEF support to Costa Rica has been relevant to the progress of the country’s environmental agenda. The analysis of the GEF portfolio shows that it is in line with national development plans (NDPs) and national environmental strategies. Also, an analysis of the origins and results of completed projects shows that Costa Rica has full ownership of the GEF portfolio in the country and has managed it in accordance with its national agenda. Projects