Page - (000101) - in Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable Development

relevantprogramsandmaximizeclimatechangeeffectiveness fromapractitioner’s perspective. Finally the authors also present related conclusions and lessons learnt for policymakers. 5.2 Purpose Thepurposeof initiating a “Report on theEffectiveness of theSwiss International Cooperation inClimateChange”was primarily accountability. The report aimed to providemainly themembers of the Swiss Parliament and the interested Swiss public with an accountable and transparent assessment of the climate change relevant interventions financed through public funds in the period 2000–2012. The report further accounts for the use of additional funding for climate change relevant interventionswhichaimedat raisingSwissODAcontributions to0.5%of grossnational income(GNI).4TheseadditionalSwissODAcontributionshadbeen classified as Fast Start Financing (FSF) under the United Nations Framework ConventiononClimateChange (UNFCCC). The scope of the evaluation is focusing exclusively on the effectiveness of the portfolio.Thus theassessment isnot anevaluation sensu stricto.TheotherOECD- DAC evaluation criteria (relevance, efficiency, impact, sustainability) have not been assessed and the report has not produced any recommendations. Furthermore, it is important tohighlight that theassessmenthasaclear focuson the climate change effectiveness of the portfolio, rather than assessing its overall results and achievements in relation to poverty alleviation which is regularly scrutinized in other studies and evaluations. Its findings on climate change effec- tiveness can therefore not be used to imply anything to the over-arching poverty reduction objectives and results of the Swiss InternationalCooperation.However, the impact of climate change on development is evident. People in developing countries are alsomorevulnerable to thenegativeconsequencesof climatechange due towidespreadpovertyand lower resilienceandcopingcapacities.Therefore, it seems apparent that climate change adaptation and mitigation measures have positive impacts onpoor populations. The evaluation assessed the effectiveness of SDC’s/SECO’s projects along the followinggeneral questions: • Howhave climate change relevant interventions achieved their objectives and proven tobe successful and effective in termsofmitigation and adaptation? • Towhat extent have climate change relevant projects proven to be successful and effective in contributing to a low carbon development in the partner countries? 4Refer to themessage for the increase of funds for the official development aid available under http://www.seco-cooperation.admin.ch/org/00515/00516/index.html?lang¼en.This documents is available only inGerman andFrench 5 Lessons fromTakingStockof 12Years ofSwiss InternationalCooperation. . . 83