The update the results of our discussion with NUBB this morning, which is part of our project monitoring plan, to see the progress, challenges, and recommendation for the project implementation: “Investing into Soil Organic Carbon Management ISOC for resilient upland farming (ISOC)”, which is implemented by National University of Battambang (NUBB)and funded by the CCCA3’s research partnership grant.

In the monitoring spot check, it can be acknowledged that the project has made some progresses, but other key deliverables are still ongoing and may not be able to deliver as per planned timeframe. Seeing this as a concern, the CCCA3 team have provided extra guidance on the grant’s M&E and reporting requirement and set out the following key actions to ensure the quality and results:

• As the period of the CCCA3 program will be ended soon, it is recommended that all the deliverables – even in draft version – must be delivered by the end of this year.
• After the provision of extra guidance on M&E and reporting requirements, it is recommended that the ISOC project team should update the annexes (RBM2, RBM6, RBM7, and RBM8) and submit them for review in the next quarter.
• For RBM2, in particular, the data/information for baseline and target as well as the methodology used to measure the progress of all indicators must be clarified and simplified.
• The CCCA3 team also recommended the ISOC project team to set out a strong commitment and clear plan, detailing key activities, specific timeframe, and implementation approach, to finish all the activities by the end of this year. Similarly, the ISOC team is also recommended to provide the list of research articles, entailing the title, type of research methodology, and timeframe, which are developing under this project.
• The CCCA3 team also presented a research report template and recommended the ISOC team to use it for the final research report.