Kyrgyzstan CCCD project team consultation
Although the current capacity development portfolio of the GEF has not yet been evaluated in its entirety, there is evidence to suggest that CCCD projects have been responsive to critical gaps in countries' capacity development needs. For example, Kyrgyzstan's CCCD project focused on piloting environmental fiscal reform within a broader program of fiscal reform that served to respond to the net outflow of resources from the local level to the central government, with the unintended consequence of creating a disincentive for the collection of environmental taxes, fees and fines. At a time when bilateral and multilateral donors were at the early stages of negotiating support to a national program of fiscal reform, the GEF's relatively small US$ 500,000 investment in Kyrgyzstan's CCCD catalyze important donor commitment to replicate lessons learned and best practices based on project successes. Here are some other examples of successful CCCD projects financed by the GEF:
Jordan’s Cross-Cutting Capacity Development (CCCD) Medium-Sized project developed the national policy and legal frameworks to strengthen synergies and compliance with global environmental conventions. This was achieved through improved policy-relevant capacities for implementation of the Rio Conventions by enhancing connectivity between the research and policy making for optimum global environmental management. The project established thematic research groups corresponding to the three national committees and an advisory committee to link the two groups to ensure effective collaboration. The project was also instrumental in the developing and installing a virtual platform in the Ministry of Environment, and the systematic collection of data material both static and dynamic to for this purpose. The project helped formulate the adoption of biodiversity and desertification policies within the Environmental Protection Law and the development of sectoral strategies, particularly for biodiversity, as well as formulation of a new climate policy. This project effectively contributed to capacity building and awareness raising, for instance through the establishment of training modules on the requirements of and obligations towards the Rio Conventions as well as through the dissemination of reports and newsletters and collaboration with press and other media. Overall the project is an important milestone for Jordan to meet its obligations under the Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). The project has successfully contributed in promoting tools and procedures, producing and disseminating knowledge and information, and in influencing policy frameworks in regard to the Rio Conventions.
Egypt's National Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA) had identified a number of major challenges to implementing the three Rio Conventions, but the top challenge was the lack of coordination and information sharing. There are in fact many databases and inventories managed by multiple government agencies and other organizations, and research institutes in Egypt relevant to environmental monitoring, and yet because of the weak coordination and cooperation, there were important gaps, duplication, and incompatibility of data and information. Although the government prioritized the integration of environment into development plans and programs to secure their sustainability, the institutionalized sectoralization of ministries and agencies limited the ability of the lead ministry (Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs) to create economies of scale and to strategically facilitate regional implementation. Despite the support through GEF focal area projects and other donors to strengthen data and information monitoring systems, only the CCCD project catalyzed synergies and cost-effectiveness of donor investments. Another unique feature of Egypt's $500,000 Medium-Sized CCCD project was serving as the catalyst to local implementation of Rio Convention provisions within the construct of sustainable development process through broad-based local community and stakeholder participation. Egypt's CCCD project is a very good example of the GEF leveraging transformational change.
In Belize, policy-making to implement Rio Convention provisions and other environmental concerns of national priority was a particular challenge due to an ineffective consultative process that limited policies to be informed by best available information. Like many developing countries and other small island developing states that face constraints to meeting MEA obligations as a result of their limited absorptive capacities, Belize's CCCD project was transformative in catalyzing the inclusion on non-state stakeholders in the decision-making process. While NGOs and expert institutions exist in Belize, their contribution to policy-making was not sufficiently institutionalized, and as a result, policy decisions on the environment were not being strategically implemented, resulting in conflicting and mutually exclusive objectives and action plans. Belize's CCCD was particularly transformative in that non-state stakeholder engagement in environmental policy-making has been institutionalized, allowing for long-term benefits through policy making to better reflect Rio Convention priorities.
Belize CCCD project team consultation