Methodology

Methodology

The project information is derived via a desk research of publicly available databases (see a listing below), factsheets, websites, and personal conversations, and the information is updated on an on-going basis. The information in the Map and in the Database is synchronized via a WordPress Plug-in, which was specifically developed for this purpose.

When a listed project contained different phases, the funding of these phases was added up. Funding for projects that ended before 2015 was only included, if that very project had been on-going in subsequent years, e.g. Phase I: 2012-2014, Phase II: 2014-2016. If the funding amount was given in another currency than USD, a currency converter was used to convert it. It should be noted that for regional and international projects, only the TOTAL regional/international funding was recorded either by obtaining that figure or by summing up the funding of the countries involved in that project in case the total funding was not available. For calculation purposes, each regional/international project should therefore be included only once, which requires the subtraction of duplicates (based on Project Title) for both categories should the .csv be used for that purpose.

Co-Financing information was most easily procured for projects funded by international organizations, but was more difficult to identify for bilateral donors. Some of the main donor databases used were the following:

1) GEF Project Database: The project funding listed for GEF-funded projects includes the GEF grant and the co-financing, but not the administrative fees. For projects with a broader natural resource management scope, only those components were included that clearly focused on counter-IWT, which was indicated in the description.

2) US Foreign Aid Explorer: Data was downloaded from the US Foreign Aid Explorer database at: https://foreignassistance.gov/. A cleaning and sorting methodology was developed, which produced a list of relevant projects and disaggregated funding figures. For all USDOI-FWS projects, conservation fund information was used to determine the co-financing of projects.

3) UK Defra IWT Challenge Fund: The website was used to identify the projects funded, however, no co-financing was provided, which was confirmed through an official request sent to the UK government on the funding figures listed.