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Mali and FYR Macedonia host National Dialogues
"GEF National Coordination - Lessons Learned from Country Case Studies" to be published during the second half of 2005
Mali
Mali's National Dialogue took place from 17-19 May 2005 organized by the Ministère de l'Environnement et de l'Assainissement with support provided by UNDP Mali. In addition to the 14 members of Mali's National GEF Committee, the event was attended by 74 stakeholders representing national and local government, civil society, the private sector, the donor community and the press. More than one quarter of participants from government and civil society represented provincial level institutions.
The first half of the Dialogue focused on raising awareness of the GEF and its eligibility criteria, operational programmes and strategic priorities, the roles of the GEF focal points, Mali's national environmental strategies, and Mali's existing GEF portfolio. The second half focused on the identification of national priority areas linked to the GEF's strategic priorities largely in the framework of Mali's strategies to implement the desertification, climate change and biodiversity conventions, the PAN (Mali's National Action Plan which stems from the CCD) and NEPAD. In this context, participants divided themselves into three working groups in biodiversity, climate change/energy and land degradation during which they discussed broad national plans, strategies and priorities and identified their cross-cutting links to the GEF's strategic priorities.
FYR Macedonia
Organized by the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, FYR Macedonia's National Dialogue, with support provided by UNDP FYR Macedonia, was held from 21-23 June in Skopje. More than 40 participants attended, representing national and local government, civil society, the private sector, the donor community and the press. Two days of multi-stakeholder dialogue was followed by a one-day field visit to the Lake Prespa region to learn from the experiences of two GEF co-funded projects under implementation.
Following a "pre-dialogue workshop" organized by the Ministry and UNDP Skopje which focused on raising the level of understanding of the GEF, the June National Dialogue focused on linking national development priorities (with a strong emphasis on EU integration) to the GEF's strategic priorities, the potential role of the private sector in the GEF in FYR Macedonia, opportunities for involving the wider bi-lateral donor community in the GEF process, and opportunities available under the OFP Focal Point Support Program. One of the key recommendations of the Dialogue was to establish a more formal multi-stakeholder GEF national coordinating committee comprised of government and civil society for the purpose of sharing information in project design, implementation and impact.
Detailed outcomes of these National Dialogues including recommendation summaries prepared by the respective GEF operational focal points will be available shortly on this site.
GEF National Coordination - Lessons Learned from Country Case Studies
The Dialogue Initiative, with support provided by the respective GEF OFPs and the local offices of UNDP, UNEP and the World Bank, is currently undertaking a study on GEF national coordination in five GEF participating countries: Bolivia, China, Columbia, Poland and Uganda.
The aim of the study is to learn from and share the experiences of national multiple-stakeholder GEF decision-making processes, for the benefit of the GEF focal points and other stakeholders in all GEF recipient countries. The study will examine multiple stakeholder decision-making processes at the national level relevant to global environmental issues and the GEF. It responds to numerous requests from GEF OFPs and other Country Dialogue Workshop (CDW) and National Dialogue participants between 2000 and 2004 to provide practical examples of how countries have developed and employed GEF national coordination mechanisms to facilitate cross-cutting linkages and mainstream GEF into national development plans. The input to this study is based upon interviews conducted with the various stakeholders representing government and civil society in the five countries. The study will result in a GEF Dialogue Initiative publication for use in National Dialogues and for wide dissemination to GEF focal points and other stakeholders. The publication is expected to be finalized and available for distribution in hard copy and on this website in October 2005.
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