The Global Mechanism of the UNCCD (GM) is one of the main partners of the Great Green Wall (GGW) of the Sahara and Sahel Initiative - an African Union programme that brings together 20 countries in the Sahel-Saharan Region, and major regional and international organizations.
In partnership with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and with European Union support, the GM is spearheading the development of a resource mobilization platform to mainstream the GGW into national development frameworks, and the elaboration of a resource mobilization approach for the GGW harmonized regional strategy.
It is in this context that the GM, in collaboration with the Algerian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, organized a sub-regional workshop for francophone countries with the objective of enhancing the capacity of national stakeholders to develop solid, sustainable resource mobilization strategies for the implementation of the GGW.
The workshop, held in M’sila, Algeria, from 2 to 6 April 2012, attracted participants from Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.
The framework for resource mobilization for the GGW and the financial flows that can be tapped for implementation, were key issues that the GM raised with participants and co-organizers during the event. The GM also shared its consolidated experience of utilizing innovative financing mechanisms and illustrated their potential use to support the GGW. The role that state and non-state actors can play in resource mobilization for the implementation of the initiative, such as civil society organisations (CSOs), local authorities and the private sector, was also underlined by the GM in the dialogue.
Participants acknowledged that the workshop was a great success in improving understanding of the importance of financing instruments for the implementation of the Great Green Wall at regional, sub-regional and national levels, and how such mechanisms can complement each other. In this context, the workshop was an opportunity to share ideas in the context of the implementation of the GGW.
The key topics were:
- the GGW as a platform for harmonization of the projects related to the initiative from a resource mobilization perspective;
- identification of existing and innovative approaches to resource mobilization (in particular in the framework of climate change and south-to-south cooperation opportunities); and
- the definition of modalities for innovative partnerships, capacity building and south-to-south cooperation for the implementation of the GGW action plan.
Moreover, the workshop provided an invaluable introduction to the planning tools used for the implementation of the GGW and methodologies that can be used to identify resource mobilization opportunities for the implementation of its programmes and projects, and in particular trans-boundary projects in the francophone African countries.
The key recommendations from the workshop are:
- develop a capacity-building programme for resource mobilization, and monitoring and evaluation:
- support resource mobilization for trans-boundary projects and integration of these projects into the GGW;
- set up a knowledge exchange platform with a special focus in partnership building, request formulation, experience exchange, research and development, and capacity building that is accessible to all the GGW stakeholders, to be hosted by the SLM-Finance platform (scopeacp.net)
- identify current and planned investments, perform a gap analysis to ensure the effective application of the integrated approach, and identify next steps for mobilizing additional resources; and
- support the harmonization of partners’ approaches within the initiative, accelerate implementation in countries with a GGW action plan and assist in elaboration of GGW action plans in other countries.
A similar workshop for Anglophone countries will be held in Banjul, The Gambia, in May 2012.
For more information:
Mr Youssef Brahimi, Programme Coordinator, North Africa & South-to-South Cooperation
Tel. +39 06 5459 2584
y.brahimi (at) global-mechanism.org
Ms Inès Chaâlala, Liaison Officer on the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative
Tel. +39 06 5459 2647
i.chaalala (at) global-mechanism.org
