The project is highly relevant and closely aligned with global, regional, and national priorities for DRR, Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), and sustainable development. It effectively addresses the specific needs of the participating countries by providing targeted support in DRR, CCA, and Natural Resources Management (NRM). The project's alignment with the SDGs, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and national policies highlight its strategic relevance. The project promotes gender equality and women's empowerment within its reach but could not systematically change broader societal gender dynamics.
The project is strongly aligned with national policies, strategies and other development interventions across the participating countries. It effectively complemented existing DRR and climate resilience initiatives, particularly in countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan and Fiji. The alignment with ongoing initiatives by development partners such as JICA, the World Bank and UNITAR-supported projects further reinforced the project's contribution to broader national and regional efforts. However, some opportunities for deeper integration, especially with other UNOSAT and UNITAR projects, were missed, limiting the potential synergies that could have been achieved.
The project was generally effective in achieving its planned outputs and outcomes, significantly enhancing technical capacities across multiple countries. Deploying in-country experts and developing web-based geospatial applications were instrumental in improving decision-making capacities in disaster risk management and environmental planning. However, the project's effectiveness was uneven across countries, with challenges such as high staff turnover, inconsistent government engagement, and the technical profile of focal point organizations hindering progress in some areas. Despite these challenges, the project achieved over 80-95 per cent of its main targets, demonstrating satisfactory performance.
The project demonstrated satisfactory efficiency, producing most of its planned outputs in a timely and cost-effective manner. The strategic use of in-country experts, partnerships and open-source software significantly enhanced cost efficiency. Although there were initial delays due to administrative challenges, the project effectively applied adaptive management strategies to mitigate these issues and ensure nearly full resource utilization by the project's end. Besides administrative delays, the project was affected by exchange rate changes.
The project's impact on DRR and climate resilience in all participant countries was significant. In Lao PDR, Uganda, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Fiji, project geospatial tools were effectively applied during specific disaster events. The project enhanced resilience through improved disaster management capabilities, better quality data and increased efficiency in resource use. By developing user-friendly web-based applications and decision support systems, the project has enabled beneficiaries to make more informed decisions. The project's contributions to enhancing organizational capacities and resilience were substantial, but systemic policy changes or significant differences in disaster outcomes compared to counterfactuals were not evident.
The project also supported climate finance proposals in the three Pacific countries, mobilizing nearly USD 12 million. However, the overall impact on climate finance in the Pacific Island countries was less measurable, with climate finance flows remaining similar to counterfactuals during the project timeframe.
The sustainability of the project's results varies across the participating countries. The likelihood of sustaining project outcomes is high in countries where strong government engagement and institutional backing are present. However, challenges such as government restructuring, high staff turnover, and the limited integration of GIT into national frameworks pose risks to the long-term sustainability of the project's outcomes.