Corporate report

Government response to the Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s review of the Blue Planet Fund, November 2023

Published 19 January 2024

The government welcomes the Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s (ICAI) rapid review of the Blue Planet Fund (BPF) portfolio.  

We acknowledge ICAI’s findings and accept the Report’s recommendations in full. With more than 3 billion people, primarily in developing countries, reliant on ocean resources for their livelihoods, we share ICAI’s view that the BPF portfolio represents a significant increase in the UK’s contribution to supporting the globally underfunded UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14) – Life Below Water.

The BPF portfolio is consistent with and supports the strategic goal of the UK’s International Development white paper which makes clear that the sustainable use and management of the ocean is key to tackling poverty, climate change and biodiversity loss.

We welcome the Report’s findings regarding the positive approaches taken within the BPF portfolio to support this goal, including the Climate and Ocean Adaptation and Sustainable Transition (COAST) programme’s strong use of evidence, and the Ocean Community Empowerment and Nature (OCEAN) programme’s focus on vulnerable ocean-reliant communities.  

We will use the report’s findings to strengthen the delivery, coordination, and oversight of the BPF portfolio. We are already implementing actions that support ICAI’s recommendations and we welcome the report’s recognition of this. For example: 

• our refreshed fund-level Theory of Change (ToC) to improve the BPF portfolio’s coherence and focus on poverty reduction
• the new fund-level monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) strategy and finalised fund-level key performance indicators (KPIs) that all BPF programmes will report relevant results against
• a strengthened and coordinated approach to delivering countries’ priorities through our BPF country plans and appointed BPF regional coordinators

We commit to consolidating and accelerating the measures in progress, embedding these into all existing BPF programmes’ implementation and new BPF programmes’ design. Our actions over the next 12 months aim to improve the BPF portfolio’s relevance, coherence, and effectiveness and critically the portfolio’s impact towards its collective goal of protecting and restoring the marine environment and reducing poverty.  

Recommendation 1

As the strategic lead for the BPF, Defra should put in place formal core central management functions, including results management and reporting systems to enable the Fund to demonstrate impact and value for money (VFM). 

Response: Accept  

We accept these are areas for improvement and action to strengthen and enhance our approach is underway. 

Defra has increased resourcing within the BPF programme management team in Defra and will put in place Grade 6 resource to oversee the BPF’s programme and MEL function in 2024. Increased programme management and MEL resource will enable us to strengthen cross-government core management, coordination, and oversight functions for the BPF portfolio as outlined in recommendation 2.

In addition, Defra will appoint a new Deputy Director for the Blue Planet Fund to oversee delivery and implementation of activities, including to meet ICAI’s recommendations. The Defra BPF team and the BPF Deputy Director will part be of the Directorate which includes the ODA Hub to reinforce collaboration across Defra’s ODA delivery teams.  

Our BPF portfolio level MEL strategy and finalised KPIs will supplement existing BPF programme monitoring and reporting. This in turn will improve our assessment of VFM and impact across the BPF portfolio. All BPF portfolio programmes will report relevant results against these finalised portfolio level KPIs. An independent MEL supplier will be on-boarded in 2024 to support the coordination of monitoring and results reporting at a portfolio level and to lead the design and delivery of BPF portfolio level interim and final evaluations.  

VFM will be further assured through a review of corporate overhead drivers and rates charged by Defra arm’s length bodies (ALBs) in the context of the BPF. Strengthened operating guidance for all Defra Official Development Assistance (ODA) programming is already in place and applies to all stages of operational programme management, from design to all aspects of implementation such as procurement, grant management, programme reviews, results monitoring and reporting, and provision for gender, equality, and social inclusion (GESI).  

Building on the progress of our programme level engagement with in-country partners and the development of BPF country plans, supported by BPF regional coordinators, we will continue to refine the BPF portfolio level communications plan. We will use existing portals such as the BPF’s GOV.UK website and BPF programme partners’ websites to share information more effectively and transparently with stakeholders on the BPF portfolio and to demonstrate its impact. Strengthening the BPF portfolio’s communications will improve the understanding of the portfolio’s strategic offer among UK overseas posts, other governments, and in-country stakeholders.  

Recommendation 2

Given the major risks identified by this review, the cross-government oversight of the BPF should be strengthened.   

Response: Accept  

We have established processes to support the development of a more coherent BPF programme portfolio including the 2022 BPF Delivery Framework which sets out Defra’s and FCDO’s roles and responsibilities in delivering the BPF portfolio, and a recently refreshed fund-level ToC. The latter has strengthened the vision for change underpinning the BPF, and the steps to achieve the desired outcomes. 

We will strengthen the effectiveness of oversight by the Joint Management Board (JMB). To achieve this, we will conduct a rapid review of the JMB’s function in early 2024 (including how it drives learning, impact and risk management, and complementarity with other oversight mechanisms such as Defra’s ODA Board) and act on the review findings. Increased resources for the Defra BPF team in the form of a new Deputy Director and the Programme and MEL Office will strengthen the effectiveness of the JMB.  

Defra has streamlined and consolidated its ODA guidance. This strengthened guidance applies to all stages of Defra’s BPF programmes’ project cycles, including the implementation of existing, and design of new BPF and wider ODA programmes, managed by Defra. FCDO will continue to manage its BPF programmes in line with its Programme Operating Framework (PrOF). Defra already holds robust agreements with all ALBs to govern the delivery of their mandates. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is now in place between Defra and Cefas as the tier-1 delivery partner for the Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP). This MoU formalises and strengthens the updated management and programme delivery framework for OCPP.  

Recommendation 3

The BPF should ensure that poverty reduction, as the statutory purpose of UK aid, is the primary focus of the Fund’s programming.  

Response: Accept  

The strategic goal of UK international development, as set out in the UK government’s International Development white paper, is to end extreme poverty and tackle climate change and biodiversity loss. The BPF portfolio, and its individual programmes, are fully aligned to this strategic goal. The BPF portfolio’s ToC and seven priority outcomes recognise the direct and indirect linkages to poverty. We note ICAI’s critique that greater focus on poverty could have been more explicitly embedded into the design of some BPF programmes. 

We will commission a review of the global evidence base on the linkages between poverty and protecting and restoring the marine environment in 2024. This review will inform decisions on live and future BPF programmes. The review will assess the strength of evidence and gaps, and support identification of changes required to strengthen the BPF programmes’ focus on poverty and inform updates to the ToC and BPF Investment Criteria as appropriate.  

Given the disproportionate impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss on women and girls, people living in poverty and marginalised groups, and the risk that climate change and biodiversity loss further exacerbate poverty and inequality, we will continue to strengthen poverty and GESI analysis and mainstreaming across the BPF programme portfolio. Defra will develop portfolio and programme level GESI action plans to strengthen performance and capability on GESI in BPF programme and delivery partner teams, informed by the evidence review and advice delivered in 2023 by Defra-commissioned external development specialists. The JMB will receive updates on performance and capability on poverty and GESI. This will build on Defra’s ongoing action to strengthen poverty reduction and GESI across its ODA portfolio as mandated by the Defra ODA Board in November 2023. This includes use of commissioned specialists and new in-house expertise. 

We will procure and onboard a BPF portfolio MEL partner in 2024 to support portfolio level evaluations that will provide a deeper understanding of the BPF portfolio’s collective performance. The recently agreed BPF portfolio level KPIs have a stronger focus on poverty reduction and will be embedded into all BPF programme logframes and results monitoring. This approach will ensure programmes’ poverty reduction results are captured, support performance improvement, and demonstrate BPF programmes’ causal links to poverty reduction. 

The BPF communication plan will identify how to share the outcomes and impact of the BPF portfolio on poverty reduction and illustrate evidence and learning through marine protection programmes. This will include where BPF programmes have leveraged additional investment.  

Recommendation 4

Defra and FCDO should ensure that governments and other national stakeholders in the countries where the Fund operates are empowered to shape programmes by creating formal channels for them to communicate their priorities and needs. 

Response: Accept  

The BPF programme portfolio must support the priorities and needs of the developing countries they operate in, the people they work with, and prioritise this demand. We acknowledge ICAI’s finding that an earlier focus to capture and embed those priorities and needs into early portfolio level design would have strengthened the initial portfolio’s coherence. The majority of the BPF portfolio’s live programmes are designed to be fully or partially demand-led. Other parts of the portfolio support pilots, or innovative models, which contribute to the evidence base on the linkage between marine protection and poverty reduction.

We will ensure that all future BPF programmes are designed to align with the poverty and marine environment priorities and needs of the countries they operate in and build on lessons generated through the BPF portfolio. We welcome ICAI’s recognition of our improved consultation and alignment process for more recent BPF programme’s design, such as COAST.  

The report notes that new BPF country plans will support the BPF portfolio’s in-country coherence and alignment to countries’ priorities and needs. We are currently co-designing 6 BPF country plans alongside developing country governments and UK Government overseas staff. These plans will create regular channels for in-country stakeholders to review and inform the BPF portfolio’s delivery.

We acknowledge their development comes after the BPF portfolio is largely designed. However, we will maximise the BPF’s programme portfolio adaptiveness and responsiveness to the plans and ensure relevant strategies and workplans are updated. In 2024 we aim to complete and finalise the current 6 BPF country plans and begin new ones, supporting the mobilisation of key new bilateral programmes such as COAST, Sustainable Blue Economies programme, and OCEAN. Ensuring we work closely with partners during this process will take time but is appropriate to develop clear, long-term approaches. 

Implementation of our BPF country plans will be supported by BPF regional coordinators. Four are in post, with another to be recruited in early 2024. We will use the knowledge, expertise and relationships developed through the BPF regional coordinators to guide BPF programme implementation, inform new BPF programme design, obtain in-country feedback, and direct the BPF portfolio’s support towards in-country needs and priorities.

We will retain overall programme responsibility centrally given most BPF programmes deliver across multiple regions and countries.