NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK

TCP PROJECT FORMAT

"Assistance to Support the Capacity Building for an
Integrated Information Management System (IIMS)"

(Explanatory Note: Sustainable development presents a great challenge to various stakeholders in collectively and effectively dealing with global environmental changes. To achieve this, an environmental geo-spatial information infrastructure including the use of remote sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS) and agrometeorology techniques could serve as decision support tool in monitoring of environment and impact assessment, crop modeling, and inventorying and management of natural resources and disaster management at various levels for food security and sustainable agriculture. The goal is to provide technical assistance in capacity building to help FAO Members Countries to design and implement national policies and strategies in the operational use of spatial information management technology and its applications for sustainable agricultural development. This normative framework provides a guide for developing such a strategy and action plan.)

I. PROJECT SUMMARY

Paragraph providing a brief description of the specific problem to be solved and the issues to be addressed.

Data Needs:

• Main features of the project with emphasis on expected outcomes.

Data Sources:

• Individual sections of project report

II. BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION

Paragraph on general information such as geography, climate, administrative division and population of the geographical area (department, country, sub-region, region, etc.) where assistance is required. Figures, tables, and maps should be included.

Paragraph on the relative importance of the agricultural sector: crop area, production, export, import and the impact on the environment and utilization of natural resources. Figures should be included.

Paragraph on the rate of the economic and population growth as related to the agricultural sector.

Paragraph on the effects of environment degradation such as during last decade: the scale and intensity of deforestation, loss of biological diversity, uncontrolled urbanization, soil erosion and pollution, water contamination and associated declines in overall land availability and productivity.

Paragraph on the absence of, or inadequate, policies and regulations on environmental matters regarding the economy which could cause an over-exploitation of valuable resources with a particular reference to decision-making tools. Reference should be made to new development projects and investment activities approved without due attention to their potential negative impacts on the environment and the need to monitor effectively the impact at the local level with appropriate tools for short-, medium-, and long-term planning.

Paragraph on the description (technical and logistic) of the institutional sector (i.e. Ministry of Agriculture), including its various departments, responsible to define policies, regulations and to monitor variations in agricultural productivity, trends and changes.

Issues to be addressed:
Paragraph on the negative impact of rapid land cover/use change and subsequent environmental degradation to the economy. Include reference and figures to the economic cost of decreased agricultural productivity due to soil loss and fertility decline, loss of forests, damage to infrastructure, and the cost of infrastructure redesign and maintenance.

Paragraph on the various attempts made by the government to address sustainable management of country's renewable resources. Identification of poor results and brief explanation of the causes (i.e. lack of adequate coordination, local participation and institutional support; lack of up-to-date information on the nature and extent of change occurring).

Paragraph on the needs to report on the dynamics of change and the subsequent degradation of the natural resources in order to promote agricultural and socio-economic sustainable development. Description of timely and coordinated collection and analysis of agricultural data to enhance the ability to support this process.

Paragraph on the request made by the government to FAO to provide technical assistance to key ministry (i.e. Agriculture or other) to develop capabilities to monitor (through the use of agrometeorological and remotely sensed data, GIS tools in conjunction with more traditional statistical sampling procedures and other sources of information) and advise the nature and extent of change and on protective measures for selected elements of the agricultural resource base which are at risk.

Paragraph on a brief description of the final scope of the assistance and of the technical proposal of collaboration between the technical department and FAO to bridge the critical gap mentioned above. Brief description of the Integrated Information Management System (IIMS) and its main components.

Data Needs:

• Quantitative indicators of the current state of natural resource base.
  
• Current staffing and training of Ministry of Agriculture at central and decentralized levels.
  
• Ministry of Agriculture staff and non-staff budgetary allocations to support staffing at each level.
  
• Availability of existing facilities - quantified by number of computers and supporting software.
  
• Assessment of the state of thematic mapping and availability of topographic data and satellite imagery.
  
• Assessment of market potential to support communications infrastructure - e.g. web and its bandwidth.

Data Sources:

• Ministry of Agriculture/Information Management Units
  
• Ministry of Planning/Finance
  
• Survey Department
  
• National university/research institution studies
  
• FAO agricultural production statistics, FAO studies in the country

III. OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSISTANCE

"This section will state briefly but in specific terms, the particular objective(s) which the project is expected to achieve. The project objective is defined as a specific aim to be achieved and formulated as the expected future improved situation after the successful completion of the project. The statement should be drafted wherever possible in terms permitting subsequent verification of project accomplishments." (TCP Guidelines)

Long-term objective:
Paragraph on the scope of the long-term objective (i.e. reduce food insecurity in the country by providing technical assistance to the government, through their technical department, to fully account for changes - short-, medium-, and long-term - occurring in agricultural land and associated ecosystems as part of sectoral planning in agricultural development and management, as well as obtain timely and reliable information on the food supply situation).

Immediate objective:
Paragraph on the brief description of immediate objectives such as:

- definition of user requirements for spatial data to monitor regularly the dynamics of agricultural land cover/use change to ensure the complementarity with existing and planned programmes;
- design and build-up of prototype data sets suitable to regularly monitor agricultural productivity and land changes (agricultural and agrometeorological database);
- development of the crop monitoring system;
- development of the crop yield and production forecasting system;
- carry out short pilot projects for the selected applications to demonstrate the results;
- conduct technology transfer activities (including training) to ensure the capacity for development of future operational systems, including contributions from other national partners as well as with partners from other developing countries with relevant experience; and
- buildup a sustainable capacity to geo-spatial information and integrate it into an operational reporting structure (dissemination of information to decision-makers).

Data Needs:

• Quantitative indicators to monitor the quality and extent of land degradation
  
• Assessment of current capacities in MOA

Data Sources:

• Ministry of Agriculture/Rangeland Dept.
  
• Ministry of Cooperatives and Rural Development or equivalent
  
• Survey Department

IV. PROJECT OUTPUTS (RESULTS)

Paragraph to briefly describe the main outputs of the such as: development of a crop monitoring and yield forecasting based on agrometeorological and remotely sensed data; development of an integrated area frame to improve agricultural data collection based on remotely sensed data; establishment of a spatial information system for operational monitoring and management of the agricultural land area including damage assessment after natural disasters; and training of national staff.

Detail listing of the project outputs such as:

- evaluation of the current and potential user-base for information on agricultural information, and an assessment of their user-needs;
- inventory of key agricultural/environmental datasets and information for the country, and an assessment of the current status of base-line data for agricultural land management purposes;
- overview of local infrastructure and knowledge base in the field of Agrometeorology, remote sensing and GIS;
- review the capacity of government institutions and key agencies to utilize the information-base for monitoring agricultural productivity and the efficient management of the agricultural land;
- appropriate training of personnel;
- development and application of agrometeorological and remote sensing tools to local monitoring systems;
- operational extraction and flow of processed and validated ;
- routine generation and dissemination of value-added products;
- assimilating resulting information system outputs into decision-making processes;
- project's performance evaluation and overview of lessons learned.

Data Needs:

• Number and skill level of existing staff members.
  
• Institutional analyses (National Spatial Data Infrastructure) for data collection and providers in the natural resources sector.
  
• Current dissemination and information access mechanisms.
  
• Extent of current information holdings and periodicity of update.
  
• Availability of local coverage of aerial photography/satellite data/vector layers of natural resources information/population distribution/topographic-elevation data availability/climatic data availability and geographical coverage and density of stations.
  
• Details on rural community engagement in the sector and number of livestock and spatial distribution.

Data Sources:

• Ministry of Agriculture
  
• Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Rural Development or equivalent
  
• Survey Department

V. WORK PLAN

Listing of the various activities for each of the project's outputs. A timetable showing the scheduling and duration of each activity should be included in the annex.

Data Needs:

• Estimate and logical time sequence of the major project activities and input needs.

Data Sources:

• Ministry of Agriculture
  
• Ministry of Planning and Rural Development or equivalent

VI. CAPACITY BUILDING

Paragraph on the use on international and national experts to train local staff. Description of seminars, workshops, and on-the-job training courses.

Data Needs:

• Numerical data on training under the project.

Data Sources:

• Ministry of Agriculture
  
• Ministry of Planning and Rural Development or equivalent

VII. INPUTS TO BE PROVIDED BY FAO

See TCP Guidelines, Annex 1, pages iii to vi.

A concise description of each input under the respective numbered items below. Sufficient detail on each budget line should be provided. The sum of related amounts of each sub-category under each line item should add up to the total for the line item.

a) Personnel services

Technical services of international and/or national experts/consultants
- International consultants/experts
- FAO Advisory Technical Services (ATS)
- National experts and consultants
- International expertise under Partnership Programmes (i.e. TCDC/TCCT or Retired experts and consultants)
- Administrative support
- Supervisory Technical Services (STS)

Priority and preference should be given to the employment of competent experts under the TCDC/TCCT programmes in countries that have signed these agreements. There are specific limits to the use of international expertise at UN rates. Project drafters are advised to consult with the TCP Unit before preparing the staffing inputs and budgets.

Personnel
List of personnel services to be selected from TORs should be in annex. Requirements should be based on a detailed assessment of existing national capacity and an identification of skill gaps.

- International consultants with expertise in the areas of techniques for agrometeorological crop monitoring, agricultural land monitoring, GIS, spatial information systems and agricultural area frame development (_____ p/m in _____ missions);
- National consultants in the field of Agrometeorology, Remote Sensing, GIS and Information Management International (_____ p/m in _____ missions);
- TCDT expertise (to be assessed by FAO);
- FAO Advisory Technical Services (to be assessed by FAO);
- FAO Field Visits (to be assessed by FAO); and
- Local temporary support staff.

b) Official travel
c) Contracts, Letters of Agreements or Contractual Service Agreements
d) General operating expenses (GOE)
e) Materials, supplies and equipment:

- Materials and supplies
- Equipment

f) Direct operating cost (DOC)
g) Training:

- Study tours
- In-country workshops
- Fellowships and academic training
- Young Professionals for on-the-job training

Official Travel
For in-country travel for project staff: up to US$XX.

General Operating Expenses
- To cover all miscellaneous expenses: up to US$XX, including US$XX for the production of the Terminal Statement.

Contractual services
To enhance information access and publishing of data emanating from this project through the use of Desk Top Information Management Systems, Web Information Access Systems, Metadata systems, document management systems and activities tracking: up to US$XX.

Materials and supplies
Basic facilities to manipulate, retrieve and distribute remotely sensed data and to translate into user formats as well as additional GIS software, remote sensing imagery and other thematic information where required: up to US$XX.

Equipment
Justification for each item of equipment as well as cost estimate to be provided.

- Personal computer (PC) (US$XX)
- Laser printer (US$XX)
- Uninterruptable Power Supply UPS (US$XX)
- Software (US$XX)
- Plain paper copier (US$XX)
- Scanners (US$XX)
- Other equipment (US$XX)

Training
Justification for each training activity as well as detailed cost estimate to be provided.

- Seminar on methods of data processing/dissemination and geo-spatial information system management;
- Seminar on the design and development of a spatial data information management system, including metadata standards, information access policy;
- Seminar on information system outputs for agricultural land monitoring applications, including the development of area frames for current agricultural statistics;
- Seminar on optimizing institutional frameworks for information system application as a decision support tool for agricultural land management and policy definition;
- Training on database management;
- Training on crop monitoring and forecasting, area and multiple frame design,
- Training on application of remote sensed data and GIS tools;
- Other specialized training as required; and
- Study tours to already established IIMS.

Data Needs:

- Number, type and cost of each input (numbers of staff participating, of items, internal trips, cost per day, DSA rate, monthly consultant rate, etc.).

Data Sources:

• Ministry of Agriculture
  
• Ministry of Planning and Rural Development or equivalent
  
• FAO
  
• UNDP
  
• Local suppliers/providers

VIII. REPORTING

See TCP Guidelines.

Paragraph on a summary of planned project reporting activities (provide a table as below). These fall into three general categories: periodic reports on project status; back to office reporting; and project documentation deliverables. Finally, a document deliverable is a key written output that specifically addresses one of the several primary project objectives.

Data Needs:

• Operation-related performance data/information on training activities and outputs.
  
• Reports on specific problems.
  
• Consultant's itinerary, persons met, terms of reference, lists of additional equipment, etc.

Data Sources:

• Project records
  
• Project staff
  
• Participatory rural appraisal exercises
  
• Ministry of Agriculture
  
• Ministry of Planning and Rural Development, or equivalent

IX. GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTION AND SUPPORTING ARRANGEMENTS

Paragraph on the staff contribution by the government such as: the National Project Coordinator (to work full-time for the project); the necessary counterpart and support staff, including field staff, to ensure the smooth implementation of the project.

Paragraph on the government's contribution on suitable office space for staff and consultants and to facilitate in-country travel of consultants and project staff as well as the necessary facilities and equipment for the training components of the project. Eventually, include the need for provision of translation and interpretation facilities.

Data Needs:

• Government contribution in terms of cash, personnel time, facilities, vehicles, laboratories, building and office space (for workshops and other), secretarial and translation/interpretation expertise.

Data Sources:

• Ministry of Agriculture
  
• Ministry of Planning and Rural Development or equivalent

X. PROJECT BUDGET

The project budget covering the FAO contribution is prepared by FAO, based on elements received from the requesting country. 

Data Needs:

• Numerical details on FAO contribution in US$ by budget line.

Data Sources:

• Team Leader, plus national and international project staff
  
• FAO
  
• UNDP
  
• Equipment suppliers
  
• Travel agents

XI. ATTACHMENTS TO PROJECT AGREEMENT

1. Description of the training programme.
2. Description of Advisory Technical Services and Supervisory Technical Services.
3. Description of services to be provided under contracts.
4. Terms of reference including description of required qualifications for each international and national consultant/expert and where appropriate for the National Project Coordinator.

Data Needs:

• Quantitative estimates and descriptions/specifications as relevant to the above attachment.
  
• Terms of Reference (TOR) for each national and international project staff member including FAO technical staff members contributing to the project. TORs for short-term staff inputs (weeks to several months) need to describe precise, time-bound activities and outputs expected. Longer-term staff inputs should be more generally phrased to allow some flexibility and cover unforeseen occurrences.

Data Sources:

• Team Leader, plus national and international project staff
  
• Ministry of Agriculture
  
• Ministry of Planning and Rural Development or equivalent