NPPR partnership grant assessment : final report -- highlights : evaluation of the grant agreement between the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) and the US-Asian Environmental Partnership (US-AEP)

Final evaluation covers the period 1/97 to 3/99, the end of the original period of the grant, which has been extended 1 year. Roundtables were established in three countries (Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand) and are in varying degrees of formation in six others. Sustainability is moderate to high in the roundtables in Indonesia and the Philippines. Although the grantee did not establishing eight country-level roundtables, as targeted, use of a more flexible definition of roundtable, ranging from networks of active CP professionals at one end, to a more formal roundtable-like organization capable of hosting an annual meeting at the other, indicates that NPPR fully met the cooperative agreement's primary intent. There appears to have been a working understanding between USAEP and NPPR that the form of the roundtable could vary in accordance with individual countries needs, emerging country CP trends, the availability and interest of roundtable advocates, and the presence of other CP- like organizations. Also, the probability of formal roundtable establishment depends on a range of variables, many outside the scope of the cooperative agreement, such as the Asian economic crisis, turnover of key roundtable advocates and sponsors, and shifts in host-country government and ministry interests. For example, lower-than-expected demand for Asian P2/CP (unrelated to the economic downturn), the real "exportability" to Asia of the U.S.-based NPPR model (annual meeting, secretariat, membership dues, etc.), country-specific hesitation to form new organizations, and the emergence of other P2/CP forums appears to have undercut NPPR's strong efforts. NPPR actively advanced pollution prevention awareness in targeted Asia countries and nurtured roundtable organizational capacity-building. Most respondents had very favorable feedback about grantee field support, and interviewees also rated NPPR's US-based national conferences as very valuable. NPPR also nurtured development of the first regional-level roundtable in Bangkok (11/97) and the second meeting in Brisbane (4/99). By most accounts, NPPR support was instrumental in making these meetings a reality. The importance of establishing a region-wide roundtable was noted in the grant agreement and its success may provide a greater dividend than anticipated. Recommendations are to: (1) align NPPR's field implementation efforts more closely with the status of country- level roundtable formation and development; (2) adopt a more strategic approach during the extension period in order to maximize limited funding and staff resources; and (3) use more frequent NPPR communication with USAEP to improve coordination with USAEP's many partners. Discussions with USAEP and NPPR indicate that many of these recommendations are already underway.