Designing community projects through cost benefit analysis |31 August 2019
The training in progress
In a bid to foster sustainable, inclusive development at district-level, the department of local government yesterday organised a workshop based on community-based cost benefit analysis for local projects in Seychelles at The Guy Morel Institute.
The workshop, attended by district administrators and project officers from the department of local government, seeks to identify development pathways that are viable and effective in relation to climate change, which could potentially threaten their success but also potentially create new opportunities.
One way to do this is through the use of a community-based cost benefit analysis (CBCBA) as a tool for project design and selection. This tool compares the anticipated costs and benefits of an investment, but in a way that takes on board both the social and environmental considerations. Its outputs include both quantitative estimates and qualitative evidence to set numeric estimates in context. Conducting a full CBCBA requires significant time and resources, which could render this process unfeasible for many local officials and stakeholders.
The full-day workshop, organised in collaboration with the Global Climate Change Alliance+, featured numerous talks by officials from the organisation, the department itself, as well as from the Ministry of Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning, including an introduction to the community-based cost benefit analysis methodology, applying CBCBA to climate actions in Seychelles through three case studies, applying CBCBA in the districts as well as group activities and discussions.
Emergency senior project officer at the department of local government Peter Estico noted the importance of equipping district administrators and project officers with the relevant knowledge for future use when implementing projects.
“In the past, there was a way to initiate projects but gradually, we need to rethink the way we design projects in relation to climate change. For instance, in building a bridge, we need to consider all the impacts including socio-economic, the impact on the surrounding community, the economic benefits,” said Mr Estico.
“The current system to initiate projects at district-level is that inhabitants are consulted but today we want to delve deeper to include three components – environment, social and economic benefits – and I think today we will cover the return benefit, in terms of the benefit to cost ratio of the project,” Mr Estico noted.
Mr Estico added that the workshop was organised with GCCA+ since climate change presents several adverse effects to projects and is increasingly an important consideration globally.
“But the whole world is also moving towards CBCBA to mitigate and counteract the impacts of climate change. After today’s workshop, we will go back to the drawing board and we will revise our assessments in implementing projects,” Mr Estico noted.
The training workshop builds on three earlier workshops, one on climate change risks at district-level and the second on applying CBCBA to selected climate actions in Seychelles.
