Evaluation of the Institutional-

Centred Strategic Environmental

Assessment
(I-SEA) of the Dhaka Metropolitan
Development Plan
Mat Cashmore
Ulf G Sandström
October 15 2009
 Five issues

1. Objectives
2. Background / context
3. Methodology
4. Results
5. Conclusions
6. Research lenses
The evaluation deals with

• to what degree the ISEA-process (supported

by the World Bank) contributed to
environmental policy integration in urban
planning in Dhaka, and

• how it has strengthened public participation

and accountability in the planning process.
The general objectives

• to learn how effective the I-SEA

approach is at mainstreaming
environmental and social
considerations, and,

• to understand the contextual factors

that explain its influence or lack thereof.
The evaluation is

• Supported by Swedish Sida

• Carried out by staff from Swedish EIA
centre SLU:
– Anna Axelsson (Sida helpdesk)
– Mat Cashmore (School of Environmental
Sciences, University of East Anglia, UK)
– Ulf G. Sandström
Bangladesh
Short information on
Bangladesh
• Number of inhabitants:
161 300 000 (2008)
• Polity: republic
• Area: 147 570 km²
• Capital city: Dhaka 6,9 million,
mega-Dhaka >12 000 000
(estimation 2009)
• Important rivers: Brahmaputra-
Jamuna, Ganges-Padma,
Meghna
• Birth rate: 2,6 %
• Folk groups: Bengalis ca 98 %,
Biharer ca 1 %, local tribes ca 1
% WTO
• Literacy rate: about 70 % in
Dhaka
• GNP per se: 510 US dollar
(2008)
• Language: Bengali is the official;
others are Urdu, English and
Tibetans-Burmeish dialects
• Important export: clothes,
shrimps, fish, jute, leader, the
• No inhabitants/km: 1093
• Religion: Islam (mostly Sunni)
• Memberships in internationally
organisations: FN, OIC, SAARC,
From the street
Methodology

• Three phases:
– Preparatory work, e.g. document analysis
– Data collection, e.g. interviews
– Data analysis
Preparatory work

• Terms of Reference • Lesson learnt report

• SEA Inception report • WB comments
• SEA Interim report • Background
• SEA Final report literature
• Policy Note
• Mission report
Qualitative depth interviews

• SEA Team [8 – 8 involved in the SEA]

– (WB, Consultants, RAJUK)
• Government [11 – 4]
– e.g. RAJUK, DCC, Pourashavas,
• CSOs [11 – 7]
– e.g. BAPA, BUP, CUS, BUET
• Other stakeholders [4 – 0]
– e.g. Daily star, DAP consultant
The outcomes of I-SEA in Dhaka.
I-SEA goal Contribution in
practice
1. Environmental and social policy integration Negligible.
in urban development.

2. Strengthen environmental constituencies. Negligible.

3. Improve social accountability. Negligible.

4. Promote social learning. Negligible.

Explanatory factors:
Embedding I-SEA in the administration.

A real ‘window of opportunity’?

‘Local’ ownership of I-SEA and its results.
–“the World Bank pressurised me …they put
pressure on the Government, the Ministry and the
Chairman [of RAJUK]. I was not happy with the
work and report” (RAJUK SEA team #1).
Miscommunication of purposes.
Explanatory factors.
Lack of follow up.
–“I think it [the need for follow up] is lost out there in
Washington because there are so many other
burning issues“ (WB Dhaka).
Naive expectations about fostering learning.
Strengthening environmental constituencies:
underdeveloped conceptually.
Urban development as a neglected area.
Evaluation conclusions

Poor project design for pilot I-SEA.

–“this was a methodology which every day we
had to invent the next step” (Consultant #1).
Questionable commitment to:
–‘Local’ ownership of I-SEA and its results.
–Implementation of its recommendations.
–Respectful and open participation.
Failure to internalise basic evaluation lessons.
Research lenses.
Environmental policy integration in development
cooperation - why such an elusive goal?
–“the Bank Group continues to give low de facto priority to
the goal of enhancing the environmental sustainability of
development”
–“reprehensible”, “entirely unacceptable”, “saddens and
alarms us”, “damning” (DFID).
Institutions and impact assessment: Theoretical
relevance.
The role of international development cooperation
agencies in ‘creating’ knowledge about EPI.