Supporting Capacity Building for the Third National Reporting to CRIC-5/COP-8

The goal of the project is to contribute to the development of capacities for strategic planning on sustainable land management through the improvement of knowledge, awareness and institutional capacities to combat land degradation and desertification. The objective of the project is to assist 55 countries to enhance their capacities to prepare their third national reports to the UNCCD CRIC-5 and COP 8 in a participatory and self-evaluative manner. The project will specifically undertake the following: 1. Update the second national reports 2. Provide a country profile 3. Report on ongoing sustainable land management activities and report on impacts. The project will take into account the following: - Better integration of the 3NR process with ongoing NAP and GEF capacity building processes is needed. - Ongoing evaluation of the 3NR process is necessary in order to contribute to UNCCD deliberations on the improvement of the NR process itself, including recommendations for the fourth national reports. - The role of the UNCCD Secretariat in providing policy guidance and support to national UNCCD National Focal Points (NFPs) will be paramount for the successful completion and coordination of the two proposed MSPs. - Given that the existing national capacity varies between the different countries targeted by this MSP, the amount of resources provided relative to countries co-financing will also vary.