Non-EU Countries from Central and Eastern Europe Met in Prague to Align their National Action Programmes

 

Delegates from 11 countries Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), met on 7 – 10 June 2010 in Prague, Czech Republic, to discuss alignment of national action programmes (NAPs) with 5 operational objectives of the 10-Year Strategy of the UNCCD (2008-2018), adopted in September 2007. As many of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Annex V of the UNCCD) are in a phase of current NAP revision or are drafting their first NAPs, the workshop addressed practical aspects of successfully designing and financing a NAP. These were: the importance of raising the political profile of SLM at the country level, key elements to be included in an aligned NAP including an integrated financing strategy (IFS) and concrete actions for successfully engaging with donors. The European Commission, the GEF secretariat and the Czech Development Agency provided invaluable insight into their strategic priorities for the region and offered tips on how to write successful proposals.

This meeting also represented an additional activity promoting the regional initiative on financial resource mobilization to strengthen the implementation of the Convention in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Here the main focus was helping to enable focal points and others concerned to start the formulation of Integrated Financing Strategies (IFS) leading to investment frameworks as part of the iterative process inherent in the principles of the NAPs and as promoted by The Strategy.

On 10 June 2010 the participants of the workshop adopted a resolution which reflected the main outcomes of their deliberations. These results will, inter alia, contribute to the global programme on NAP alignment and mainstreaming to be developed through cooperation between the UNDP, the UNCCD secretariat, the GM and other partners.

Additional information:

Resolution with the outcomes on alignment of national action programmes (PDF)

List of participants (PDF)

Global Mechanism: Milestone in NAP alignment in Central and Eastern Europe

Source: UN Convention to Combat Desertification, Global Mechanism