Back and Next - Back and NextSub-regional GEF meeting opens
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
A two-days sub-regional meeting of Global Environment Facility (GEF) operational and political focal points began yesterday at the Baobab Hotel in Bijilo.
Organised by the National Environment Agency under the leadership of Momodou B Sarr, Executive Director who is also the GEF council member for the constituency, the sub-regional meeting brought together delegates from The Gmbia, Burkina Faso, Cape, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.
The objective of the meeting is to review the agenda of the upcoming council meeting schedule from the 22 to 25 of April 2008 in Washington DC, where issues of concern within this constituency would be discussed and to share some informations on the ongoing activities including regional projects.
Decalring the meeting officially opened, Momodou Kotu Cham, secretary of state for Forestry and the Environment welcome the constituency delegates to The Gambia noting that the meeting coincided with several problems experienced within the sub-region due to the lack of consulttions prior to the council meetings.
According to him, the capacities of the constituency representatives to the council meetings are yet to be raised in this constituency. “Therefore, this meeting will greatly help the constituency delegates to participate and get enough informations so as to effectively participate in issues to be table at the council meeting. Without such, we will again be left behind as if we go to the meeting, we will not be able to make detail discusions on the agendas” he said.
SoS Cham then observed that this capacity building ahead of the council meeting is welcomed so as to help face the challenges and deal with issues to be table at the council meeting. He added that, The Gambia meeting will also help the delegates to keep in touch and work together. He advised them to focus on issus of relevance to the sub-region. He also assured that his department of state will closely work with the UNDP Gambia Office to realise their goals towards the GEF.
For his part, Momodou B Sarr, executive director of the National Environment Agency (NEA) equally welcomed the sub-regional delegates to The Gambia.
He then highlighted the importance of the meeting noting that it will enable the GEF Focal Points of all the nine countries to study and discuss the agenda of the upcoming GEF council meeting, and to ensure that the Council Member and the alternate who represent them in Washington are able articulate the consensus views of the constituency members when the matter comes up for decision making during the council meeting.
He added that, the meeting will also accord the delegates from the constituency to share experiences on the implementation of GEF projects within their countries” he said.
According to him, sharing of experiences in project implementation has proven to be one of the most effective capacity building tools and quickly recognised the presence of Dr. Sekou Toure,Conflict Resolution Commissioner of GEF.
Mr Sarr further observed that African countries have been receiving less important from GEF than all other regions, mainly due to our inadequate understanding of the inner workings of the GEF. He then expresed hope that after the meting, the African performance will double up.
For his part, Vitalie Muntean, UNDP Representative in The Gambia registered UNDP’s sincere appreciation for being associated in the sub-regional meeting and congratulated The Gambia’s GEF Focal Points who currently represent the constituency at the GEF council, for organising the forum and also lauded the objective of the forum.
According to him, this constituency faces several challenges in our efforts to tackle the environment-related problems that constrain us. “Included in these challenges is the relatively small size of the constituency, geographically speaking, which hinders the argument about the sub-region’s contribution to global environmental impact, and thus militates against our ability to attract and sustain donor support” he said.
.He further dilated on some of the eye-catching items of the agenda for the council meeting which are possible niche areas for the constituency to benefit from during the council meeting such as the scaling up the level of investment of transfer of environmentally friendly technologies, and review of the GEF business plan for the 2009-2010 financial year, as well as the corporate budget for the 2009 financial year.
The UNDP boss further expressed UNDP’s appreciation on the GEF strategic approach to capacity development and the small Grants Program included in the agenda noting that capacity development is the raison d’etre of UNDP and as well, been the GFE implementing agency entrusted with the responsibility of managing the small grants program.
He then informed the delegates that the application for the Gambia’s entry into the Small Grants Program has been successful, and that we are already in the process of commencing implementation activities. He then lauded the partnership and collaboration received from the Gambia government, particularly, the National Environment Agency.
As environmental issues feature promninently in the UNDP’s 2007-2011 country program, the UNDP boss noted that, they are also working with the government to mainstream environmental issues into national development planning, with plans afoot to expend the national GEF portfolio, probably in collaboration with the UNDP GEF regional coordination unit in Darkar.
As the resident implementing agency for GEF, Mr Muntea reiterated UNDP’s readiness to continue its close cooperation with the Gambia government to tackle the environmental challenges facing the country, in collaboration with other countries within the sub-region, as well as with other GEF implementing agencies.
Mr Sekou Toure, Conflict Resolution Commissioner of GEF said GEF constituencies are very crucial entities in the way the GEF operates. He said they were established for the purpose of enabling full and effective representation of these countries on council in particular.
According to him, the timing of the constituency meeting is important as it is scheduled prior to the council meeting to enable the constituency members to consult among themselves and make sure that the issues of concerns are articulated and carried towards by their representatives.
He highlighted the several objectives these consultation has such as to enable members transact some internal matters related to the functioning of their constituency like discussing rational issue related to their representation, which country is to be the council members representative among others.
Organised by the National Environment Agency under the leadership of Momodou B Sarr, Executive Director who is also the GEF council member for the constituency, the sub-regional meeting brought together delegates from The Gmbia, Burkina Faso, Cape, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.
The objective of the meeting is to review the agenda of the upcoming council meeting schedule from the 22 to 25 of April 2008 in Washington DC, where issues of concern within this constituency would be discussed and to share some informations on the ongoing activities including regional projects.
Decalring the meeting officially opened, Momodou Kotu Cham, secretary of state for Forestry and the Environment welcome the constituency delegates to The Gambia noting that the meeting coincided with several problems experienced within the sub-region due to the lack of consulttions prior to the council meetings.
According to him, the capacities of the constituency representatives to the council meetings are yet to be raised in this constituency. “Therefore, this meeting will greatly help the constituency delegates to participate and get enough informations so as to effectively participate in issues to be table at the council meeting. Without such, we will again be left behind as if we go to the meeting, we will not be able to make detail discusions on the agendas” he said.
SoS Cham then observed that this capacity building ahead of the council meeting is welcomed so as to help face the challenges and deal with issues to be table at the council meeting. He added that, The Gambia meeting will also help the delegates to keep in touch and work together. He advised them to focus on issus of relevance to the sub-region. He also assured that his department of state will closely work with the UNDP Gambia Office to realise their goals towards the GEF.
For his part, Momodou B Sarr, executive director of the National Environment Agency (NEA) equally welcomed the sub-regional delegates to The Gambia.
He then highlighted the importance of the meeting noting that it will enable the GEF Focal Points of all the nine countries to study and discuss the agenda of the upcoming GEF council meeting, and to ensure that the Council Member and the alternate who represent them in Washington are able articulate the consensus views of the constituency members when the matter comes up for decision making during the council meeting.
He added that, the meeting will also accord the delegates from the constituency to share experiences on the implementation of GEF projects within their countries” he said.
According to him, sharing of experiences in project implementation has proven to be one of the most effective capacity building tools and quickly recognised the presence of Dr. Sekou Toure,Conflict Resolution Commissioner of GEF.
Mr Sarr further observed that African countries have been receiving less important from GEF than all other regions, mainly due to our inadequate understanding of the inner workings of the GEF. He then expresed hope that after the meting, the African performance will double up.
For his part, Vitalie Muntean, UNDP Representative in The Gambia registered UNDP’s sincere appreciation for being associated in the sub-regional meeting and congratulated The Gambia’s GEF Focal Points who currently represent the constituency at the GEF council, for organising the forum and also lauded the objective of the forum.
According to him, this constituency faces several challenges in our efforts to tackle the environment-related problems that constrain us. “Included in these challenges is the relatively small size of the constituency, geographically speaking, which hinders the argument about the sub-region’s contribution to global environmental impact, and thus militates against our ability to attract and sustain donor support” he said.
.He further dilated on some of the eye-catching items of the agenda for the council meeting which are possible niche areas for the constituency to benefit from during the council meeting such as the scaling up the level of investment of transfer of environmentally friendly technologies, and review of the GEF business plan for the 2009-2010 financial year, as well as the corporate budget for the 2009 financial year.
The UNDP boss further expressed UNDP’s appreciation on the GEF strategic approach to capacity development and the small Grants Program included in the agenda noting that capacity development is the raison d’etre of UNDP and as well, been the GFE implementing agency entrusted with the responsibility of managing the small grants program.
He then informed the delegates that the application for the Gambia’s entry into the Small Grants Program has been successful, and that we are already in the process of commencing implementation activities. He then lauded the partnership and collaboration received from the Gambia government, particularly, the National Environment Agency.
As environmental issues feature promninently in the UNDP’s 2007-2011 country program, the UNDP boss noted that, they are also working with the government to mainstream environmental issues into national development planning, with plans afoot to expend the national GEF portfolio, probably in collaboration with the UNDP GEF regional coordination unit in Darkar.
As the resident implementing agency for GEF, Mr Muntea reiterated UNDP’s readiness to continue its close cooperation with the Gambia government to tackle the environmental challenges facing the country, in collaboration with other countries within the sub-region, as well as with other GEF implementing agencies.
Mr Sekou Toure, Conflict Resolution Commissioner of GEF said GEF constituencies are very crucial entities in the way the GEF operates. He said they were established for the purpose of enabling full and effective representation of these countries on council in particular.
According to him, the timing of the constituency meeting is important as it is scheduled prior to the council meeting to enable the constituency members to consult among themselves and make sure that the issues of concerns are articulated and carried towards by their representatives.
He highlighted the several objectives these consultation has such as to enable members transact some internal matters related to the functioning of their constituency like discussing rational issue related to their representation, which country is to be the council members representative among others.
Author: by Alhagie Jobe
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