DRAFT

Project exit strategy Report of

Support for Effective Cooperation and Coordination of
Cross-border Initiatives in Southwest Ethiopia-
Northwest Kenya, Marsabit-Borana and Dawa, and
Kenya-Somalia-Ethiopia (SECCCI Project)

August, 2020
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Table of Content

1. Background ........................................................................................................................ 3
1.1 Project objectives and expected results ....................................................................... 4
1.2 Project funding and management..................................................................................... 5
2. Purpose of the exit strategy .................................................................................................... 5
3. Recommended Actions .......................................................................................................... 6
3.1 Output 1: Policy development and mechanisms for cross-border cooperation enhanced6
3.2 Output 2: Coordination mechanisms in support of improved cross-border cooperation in
place at all levels .................................................................................................................... 7
3.3 Output 3: Stakeholder capacities developed in support of cross-border cooperation ...... 8
3.4 Output 4: Development planning processes at cross-border level are better understood,
more evidence-based, participatory and accountable .......................................................... 10
3.5 Output 5: Knowledge Management system captures and disseminates results and good
practice, facilitates cross-border coordination and cooperation .......................................... 11
3.6 Cross-cutting implementation plan ................................................................................ 12
4. Conclusion and Overall Recommendation for the development partners ........................... 13
 1. Background
Over the years, considerable efforts have been made by the national governments, regional,
international humanitarian and development institutions to improve sustainable peace,
socio-economic and governance conditions in the border areas of the countries in the Greater
Horn of Africa. In late 2014, a new Horn of Africa Initiative to promote stability and
development in the region was launched by the World Bank, UN, EU, African and Islamic
Development Banks, the African Union Commission and IGAD. The initiative pledged to
provide political support and financial assistance to Governments of the region, and to focus
on cross-border areas in particular.

In October 2015, the European Council adopted the EU Horn of Africa Regional Action Plan
and agreed to give priority to five groups of actions in the period 2015-2020, namely: regional
security and stability, migration and forced displacement, counter-radicalization and violent
extremism, youth and employment and human rights, rule of law and democratic governance.
Accordingly, the EU, through the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, has launched a €68 million
ground-breaking and innovative Program named “Collaboration in Cross-Border Areas of the
Horn of Africa Region (2017-2021)”. The Program aims to promote peace and stability,
support the socioeconomic transformation and help Governments in sound policy and
decision-making, from regional cooperation to management of trans-boundary resources.
The said program consists of seven different projects, which cover the entire length of the
Kenya-Ethiopia border, incorporates south-west Somalia and also supports the cross-border
area between Western Ethiopia and East Sudan.

The Support for Effective Cooperation and Coordination of the Cross-border Initiative project
(SECCCI) (2018-2021), is an integral part of the EU cross border Program addressing the
underlying root causes which create fragility and hamper the development prospects in the
region. The project is designed to provide technical support to national governments of
Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia and geographically, project support focuses on three cross-
border clusters: 1) Cluster I (Turkana-Omo at the Kenyan and Ethiopian Border) 2) Cluster II
(Marsabit-Moyale at the Kenyan, Ethiopian border,) and 3) Cluster III (Mandera-Gedo-Doolow
at the Kenyan, Ethiopian and Somali border). Besides this specific focus, the project also has
a coordination role for the cross-border collaboration Program in Western Ethiopia and
Eastern Sudan.
1.1 Project objectives and expected results

The overall project objective is intended to address the drivers of conflict and instability,
irregular migration and displacement in the cross-border areas of the Horn of Africa through
improved cross-border coordination and cooperation. It was envisaged that the complex
inter-related development challenges of the Horn of Africa require a coordinated response
that partially rests upon improved cross-border cooperation. Thus, cross-border cooperation
is being increasingly pursued as a synchronized approach to address the root causes of
vulnerability and building resilience to recurrent problems among communities in the cross-
border areas of the Horn of Africa. The expected outcomes of the project are;

Outcome 1: Regional policy frameworks, structures and protocols for cross-border

cooperation between national and local governments, the private sector, civil society and
international technical and financial partners in development are strengthened.
The main objective of this outcome is to enhance impact, ownership and synergy of the
project; to facilitate regular cluster coordination meetings with implementing partners,
relevant local governments of border areas and representatives of national authorities to
discuss on the project progress implementation challenges, and sharing the best experience
of each implementing partners in due process of project activities and subsequently
uploading of the information on the project’s web-based Knowledge Management Platform
for wider dissemination.

Outcome 2: Capacities of communities, local governments and civil society to fully engage in
processes for development planning and results are built.
The main objective of this outcome is to enhance impact, ownership and synergy of the
project; to facilitate regular cluster coordination meetings with implementing partners,
relevant local governments of border areas and representatives of national authorities to
discuss on the project progress implementation challenges, share the best experience of each
implementing partners in due process of project activities and subsequently upload the
information on the project’s web based Knowledge Management Platform for wider
dissemination.

Outcome 3: Effective cooperation & coordination, monitoring and evaluation of cross-border

initiatives in place, including involvement of relevant national and regional actors in these
processes.
The main objective of this outcome is to undertake an overall program-level
monitoring and evaluation on a regular basis, provide M&E support to implementing partners
in the implementation of the cross-border program and ensure the harmonization of the
different M&E tools and methodologies. Also, best practices sharing mechanism should be
provided through the web-based knowledge management platform (KMP).

As it was outlined in the project document there are five main outputs to achieve overall
outcomes of the SECCCI project; these include:

• Output 1: Policy development and mechanisms for cross-border cooperation enhanced.

• Output 2: Coordination mechanisms in support of improved cross-border cooperation in
place at all levels.
• Output 3: Stakeholder capacities developed in support of cross-border cooperation.
• Output 4: Development planning processes at cross-border level are better understood,
more evidence-based, participatory and accountable.
• Output 5: Knowledge Management system captures and disseminates results and good
practice, facilitates cross-border coordination and cooperation.

1.2 Project funding and management

The SECCCI project is funded by the European Union, with co-financing contributions from
UNDP and UNEP. Project total budget is $10,050,311, including $ 9,571,724 from EU and co-
financing of $359,940 and $119,647 from UNDP and UNEP respectively. The project has a
total life span of three years (36 months) from February 2018 to February 2021. The project
is implemented by the UNDP RSCA in partnership with the UNEP and IGAD. The project
implementation is closely coordinated with the national and local Governments of Kenya,
Ethiopia and Somalia. The UNDP RSCA is responsible for project quality assurance while an
Inter-Governmental Steering Committee provides overall project management, coordination
and strategic direction, oversight and ensures that project objectives and goals are duly
achieved. As mentioned earlier the project geographically mainly focuses on three cross-
border clusters i.e. 1) Cluster I (Omo-Turkana) 2) Cluster II (Marsabit-Moyale) and 3) Cluster
III (Mandera-Gedo-Doolow) along the Kenyan, Ethiopian and Somali border areas.

2. Purpose of the exit strategy

The main goal of an Exit Strategy is to ensure the ‘’sustainability strategy’’ of the impacts of
Support for the Effective Coordination and Cooperation of the Cross border Initiative project
(SECCCI) in addressing the drivers of conflict and instability, irregular migration and
displacement in three project cluster areas.
Exit strategies, have been proven to contribute to better program outcomes and encourage
stakeholders and beneficiaries to commit to program sustainability. In addition, good Exit
Strategies can:
• help resolve tension that may arise between the withdrawal of assistance and
commitment to achieve program outcomes.
• help clarify and define a sponsor’s role to host communities and other partners as
being time limited, reducing the potential for misunderstandings and future
dependency.
• be critical for existing developmental and conflict resolution programming as they
inform a program’s sustainability plan or when planning for its next phase.
Conversely, without Exit Strategies, program transitions and exits are likely to be more
haphazard.
An exit strategy is defined as a planned approach in which the implementing organization,
responsible local government bodies and the community or target group plan for the handing
over of the project management after completion.
And/Or
The fundamental objective of an exit strategy is the assumption that the beneficiary has been
adequately capacitated to undertake the next phase of the project by themselves.

3. Recommended Actions
3.1 Output 1: Policy development and mechanisms for cross-border cooperation
enhanced
Activities undertaken
The project activities undertaken under in this output are part of the peace building and conflict
resolution mechanisms developed to address the drivers of conflict and instability, irregular
migration and displacement in the cross-border communities. The latter include;
• promotion of collaboration under the existing MoU, review of policies and protocols
affecting cross border communities conducted;
• rapid information sharing forums and workshops organized;
• domestication of the existing MoU, policies, protocols and local community
agreements and awareness raising at the community level conducted.
• cooperation between the three countries in the implementation of the project
activities facilitated.

Recommended actions
 i. the dissemination of the MoUs, agreements and protocols should be further enhanced
through broadcasting in the local FM radio in the local languages.
ii. In order to ensure structured and sustainable implementation of the project
outcomes, it is recommended that the local officials, relevant development partners
and community members in the cross border areas take over the responsibility to
sustain the awareness and domestication activities of MoUs agreements, policies and
protocols to establish a coordination and cooperation mechanism in the cross-border
areas of three countries.
iii. The MoUs, agreements, policies and protocols should be translated in the local
languages and disseminated through printed materials to the local officials and
community members.
iv. all documents related to regional MoUs, agreements, policies and protocols should be
handed over to the cluster level offices in printed and soft copies.
v. All documents related to regional MoUs, agreements, policies and protocols should
be uploaded to SECCCI Knowledge Management Platform (KMP).

Action plan

Activity Resp 2020 2021

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb

1-iFurther enhancement of the dissemination of the IGAD

MoUs, agreements and protocols through broadcast in
the local FM radio and by their local languages

1-iiConduction of the IGAD capacity development, IGAD

awareness raising and rapid information sharing
workshops to handover the role.

1-iii Submission of translated documents to the local IGAD

officials and conduction of local level workshop

1-iv Submission of all relevant project documents to the IGAD

local level offices in printed and soft copies

1-v Upload all documents related to regional MoUs, IGAD

agreements, policies and protocols to be uploaded to
SECCCI KMP

3.2 Output 2: Coordination mechanisms in support of improved cross-border

cooperation in place at all levels
Activities undertaken
 • Cluster coordination meeting established and held in three cluster areas in
collaboration with IGAD, UNDP, UNEP, local governments and EUTF project
implementing partners;
• Inter-Governmental Steering and Technical committee of the SECCCI project were
established and held;
• Inter cluster sectorial technical committee not established.

Recommended action
i. To disseminate a list of the institutions participating (governments, CSOs and UNs)
to the Cluster Coordination, TC and SC meetings to relevant stakeholders in
hardcopy and softcopy, and uploaded it on the KMP for coordination purpose
beyond SECCCI.
ii. To upload the outcomes of the TC and SC meetings on the KMP.

Action plan

Activity Resp 2020 2021

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb

2-i. List of institutions participated to the meetings to be IGAD

disseminated and uploaded

2-ii. Outcome of TC and SC to be uploaded to KMP. IGAD

3.3 Output 3: Stakeholder capacities developed in support of cross-border cooperation

Activities undertaken
• 1 IGAD capacity development workshop was conducted for the national regional
sectorial participants in cluster II.
• 3 IGAD training courses developed on 1) Animal Production and Trans-boundary
Animal Diseases (TADs) Control, 2) Peace Building, Conflict Prevention and Conflict
Sensitivity and 3) Rangeland Management and Diversification of Livelihoods in the
project clusters.
• 3 IGAD studies developed on 1) Animal Production and Trans-boundary Animal
Diseases (TADs) Control, 2) Peace Building, Conflict Prevention and Conflict Sensitivity
and 3) Rangeland Management and Diversification of Livelihoods in project clusters.
• Study report produced at cluster level on “Climate information dissemination for
decision making”.
 • Study report produced on ‘’Rangeland reconnaissance, range resource assessments
and characterizations, land use-land cover mapping forage measurement/estimation
and forage prediction and estimation modelling equations within the clusters and
cross-border areas.’’
• Study report produced on “Securing cross-border livestock mobility along Ethiopia and
Kenya Border Areas: Case of mapping of cross-border transhumance routes and
grazing resources”.
• (I) 3 cluster-specific stakeholders’ mapping, (II) 3 cluster-specific capacity needs and
gaps assessment, (III) 1 capacity development plan on the participatory development
of local border areas development plans will be developed and put at the disposal of
the project’s partners and beneficiaries.

Recommended action
i. Taking into account the importance of IGAD’s studies and training manuals, these
should be disseminated and a copy of the latter provided to the cluster level local
offices.
ii. To ensure that the climate and weather prediction updates reach the cluster level
decision makers and critical stakeholders in a timely manner including local
communities through local FMs broadcasting services.
iii. To link the update of climate and weather forecast information in the KMP with IGAD
Climate prediction and Application Center (ICPAC).
iv. To establish inter sectorial cluster technical committee for sustainable use of this
technical committee in the process of preparing cluster level development plan and
Prepare TOR and identify sectorial participant
v. (I) 3 cluster-specific stakeholders’ mapping, (II) 3 cluster-specific capacity needs
development plan and gaps assessment specifically to prepare/update borderlands
development plans, (III) 1 capacity development plan on the participatory
development of local border areas development plans will be:

a) Put at the disposal of local government officials and community members;

b) Shared with relevant development partners for them to capitalize on these
documents to undertake future activities/implement similar projects in the
same clusters/thematic areas of interest;
vi. To upload the above mentioned points to the KMP (i, ii, iii). Weather prediction (ii) to
be synced.
Action plan

Activity Resp 2020 2021

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb

3-i Submission of all relevant project documents IGAD

(studies, reports and manuals) to the local level offices
in printed and soft copies

3-ii. To link the update of climate and weather forecast IGAD

information of ICPAC with the local FM radio, local
weather focal points and public relation offices at the
cluster level

3-iii To link the update of climate and weather forecast IGAD

information with IGAD Climate prediction and
Application Center (ICPAC)

3-iv. Establish inter sectoral cluster technical IGAD

committees per cluster

3-v-a Products (stakeholder mapping, capacity needs UNDP

and gaps assessment, capacity development plan) put
at the disposal of local government officials and
community members

3-v-b Products shared with relevant development UNDP

partners

3-iv Upload above mentioned documents (3-i, 3-v-a, 3- IGAD/

v-b) to the KMP UNDP

3.4 Output 4: Development planning processes at cross-border level are better

understood, more evidence-based, participatory and accountable
Activities undertaken
• (I) 3 integrated local needs assessments in borderlands in general, (II) 1 local
development plans and border development plans analysis report and (III) 1 guideline
on participatory planning processes and opportunities for joint cross-border planning
in cross-border areas will be developed and put at the disposal of the partners and
beneficiaries.

Recommended action
4-i. 3 integrated local needs assessments, (II) 1 local development plans and
border development plans analysis report and (III) 1 guideline on participatory
 planning processes and opportunities for joint cross-border planning in cross-
border areas will be:
a. Uploaded on the KMP;
b. Put at the disposal of local government officials and community members;
c. Shared with relevant development partners for them to capitalize on these
documents to undertake future activities/implement similar projects in the
same clusters/thematic areas of interest;
Action plan
Activity Resp 2020 2021
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb

4-i-a Products (local needs assessment, development UNDP

plans and border development plans analysis report,
guideline) uploaded on the KMP

4-i-b Products put at the disposal of local government UNDP

officials and community members

4-i-c Products shared with relevant development UNDP

partners

3.5 Output 5: Knowledge Management system captures and disseminates results and
good practice, facilitates cross-border coordination and cooperation
Activities undertaken
• MEL plan developed and SECCCI logical framework to coordinate the M&E actions
updated regularly in coordination with the Clusters.
• Baseline survey for project outcome/objective level indicators conducted.
• SECCCI monitoring, evaluation and learning working groups from all SECCCI/EUTF
project implementing partners established and functional.
• A comprehensive online knowledge portal (https://resilience.igad.int), was developed
for and hosted by IDDRSI. The portal is fully functional and provides a platform for
sharing news, events and technical resources related to resilience interventions and
practices in the Horn of Africa.
• Institutionalization of a web-based knowledge management portal under IGAD
secretariat for its sustainability and use of knowledge product after project phased
out.
Recommended action
i. To ensure the sustainability of the knowledge management portal after the project
phased-out.
 ii. To ensure all stakeholders have access to the SECCCI KMP after the project phase out.
Action plan
Activity Resp 2020 2021
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb

5-i. To ensure the sustainability of the knowledge IGAD

management portal after the project phase-out

5-ii To ensure all stakeholders have access to the KMP IGAD

3.6 Cross-cutting implementation plan

The points below are cross-cutting action points which are applicable across the Outputs.
Recommended actions
i. To prepare ToR for each action points mentioned in this document to plan them in further
detail.
ii. To prepare a list of project achievements and lessons learnt and upload the latter to the
KMP. The aim is to put them at the disposal of different stakeholders and make them available
for consultation for the design and development of new cross-border project after the
project’s phase out.
iii. To discuss a continuity plan with UNDP Kenya Regional Borderlands Hub in Nairobi on all
applicable activities listed in this document.
iv. To organize a project phase out workshop per cluster to share project achievements and
discuss the exit strategy implementation with all relevant stakeholders.
Action plan
Activity Resp 2020 2021
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb

6-i ToR for each action plan mentioned in this IGAD/U

document to be prepared to plan them in further NEP/U
detail NDP

6-ii Prepare a list of project achievement and lessons IGAD/U

learnt NEP/U
NDP

6-iii. To discuss a continuity plan with UNDP Kenya UNDP

Regional Borderlands Hub in Nairobi
 6-iv Project phase out workshop (including reviewing IGAD/U
of the outcome of the project and incorporate them NEP/U
under their custody) NDP

4. Conclusion and Overall Recommendation for the development

partners
This strategic document captures a series of recommended exit activities for the SECCCI
project covering its all its Outputs from 1 to 5. The prime objective of this strategy is to ensure
sustainability in cross-border cooperation and coordination accelerated by the project.
Continued support for cross border development as SECCCI and other EUTF funded Cross
Border projects have been in a “Pilot” Phase of some sort as this kind of development projects
are just being adopted in the sub-region. Therefore, the EUTF has broken ground for other
projects to learn and adopt more sustainable cross-border development strategies. While a
lot has been done, it will take a while to realize the full impact of the SECCCI Project since
policy level interventions do not necessarily result in immediate impact at all levels. On the
other hand, it is worth noting that cluster level stakeholders have realized and mentioned
importance of a range of activities conducted under the SECCCI project, such as awareness
raising of cross-border MoUs, policies and protocols. Therefore, a formulation of the quality
Exit Strategy is an essential task for the project to prepare a conducive environment to hand
over SECCCI assets to other cross-border projects and those to be formulated after the phase
out of the SECCCI project.
Connected to the above, as described in this paper, it is very important to hand over certain
functions of the SECCCI project to local development partners including local governments.
To this end, it is essential that the SECCCI project makes available of a rich assets produced
by this project-
• including a list of project achievements and lessons learnt;
• cross-border documents (MoUs, policies and protocols); coordination mechanism
(stakeholders mapping and coordination meetings structure);
• various reports and training materials;
• Capacity gap assessment report and recommendation to border area development
plan- to be uploaded to the SECCCI KMP where all stakeholders have an access, and
which will be appropriately maintained after the project phase out so that it can serve
a range of cross-border implementation partners and stakeholders.

Similarly, as described in this document, it is crucial that the SECCCI project coordinates
appropriately with the Regional Borderlands Hub by UNDP in Nairobi to share its assets
and experience of the project so that it can widely serve to borderlands programming not
only in the Horn of Africa but also elsewhere in the continent in the future.