Plans to support newly established institutions should extend beyond the compact term and involve other donor partners. The Environment and Natural Resources Management (ENRM) Project established an environmental trust to be overseen by a mix of public and private sector stakeholders, and sought to institute a sustainable financing mechanism that could support continued interventions in sustainable land management beyond the life of the compact. While key partners such as Malawi’s Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) provided a portion of its funding to launch its operations, the trust has struggled to secure a revenue stream that would be sufficient to sustain continued support for catchment restoration activities within the Shire River Basin. In addition to helping to develop a wide range of fundraising strategies, MCC coordinated with World Bank and other donors to ensure long-term institutional support for the continued development of the Shire Best Trust. Because of the 5-year term for MCC compacts, this coordination strategy necessarily looked beyond the program’s time horizon to identify ways in which donor partners with a longer-term in-country presence could facilitate the growth and success of the trust. This included developing alternative co-financing mechanisms to supplement funding from EGENCO, providing capacity building to the trust, or organizing new partnership arrangements with other companies with a shared interest in improving watershed management in the Shire River Basin. Future MCC projects that establish or support newly created institutions should ensure that planning for long-term sustainability involves collaboration with donor partners that can offer continued assistance beyond the compact term. This could include direct provision of financial resources, but should also explore options for continued technical assistance in the areas of fundraising, operations, strategic planning, or other areas of capacity building. This long-term planning should complement the short-to-medium term processes of sustainability planning which must begin in the early stages of implementation, such as establishing funding mechanisms, completing critical studies, and obtaining stakeholder buy-in.
Lesson Learned