“The premise […] is that all Parties have primary responsibility of achieving the vision of the UNCCD’s Ten Year Strategy”: the Managing Director addresses CRIC7 presenting the GM’s work programmes
11 November, 2008
At the Seventh Session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC 7), Christian Mersmann, the GM’s Managing Director, presented the GM’s draft Multi-Year and Biennium Work Plan and the Joint Work Programme (JWP) of the GM and the UNCCD secretariat.
Addressing Plenary, Mr Mersmann outlined how the tightly-focused draft multi-year and biennium work programmes with their results-based management (RBM) structure, contribute in tangible ways to promoting the mobilization of resources for the UNCCD. Moreover, they respond to Operational Objective 5 on financing and technology transfer and to Strategic Objective 4 on building effective partnerships to strengthen this process.
‘’The GM operationalizes its support to countries by delivering a comprehensive set of interrelated or complementary ‘work packages’ that build in-country capacity and knowledge on financing for sustainable land management (SLM)’’, Mr Mersmann explained, ‘‘leading to the development of integrated financing strategies (IFSs) for implementing SLM investment frameworks’’.
Propelling the Convention forwards requires assertive, coordinated action by all stakeholders: the JWP is a crucial aspect in building momentum in this regard, and is a “cornerstone that the two institutions (the secretariat and the GM) can build upon in defining shared but differentiated responsibilities with relation to our distinct mandates, roles and responsibilities”, he added.
Collaboration between the two institutions is gathering pace; one recent example being the financial resource mobilization workshop for Central and Eastern European countries, held in Brno, Czech Republic, on 10-12 September 2008, initiated by the Ministry for the Environment of the Czech Republic and facilitated jointly by the UNCCD secretariat and the GM.
Mr Mersmann stressed that the JWP is a ‘living document’ and the GM is committed to strengthening cooperative efforts to deliver common outputs together with the secretariat - clearly demonstrating the comparative advantages of working together.
“The premise underlying the GM’s programming strategy and approach is that all Parties to the Convention have the primary responsibility of achieving the vision of the UNCCD’s Ten Year Strategy”, he added. In order to successfully drive the Convention along a new and dynamic path, the combined efforts of all stakeholders are of utmost importance, as is the recognition of their distinct and complementary roles.
For more information:
Dr Christian Mersmann, Managing Director
Tel. +39 06 5459 2155
c.mersmann (at) global-mechanism.org
Related Links
Download the draft multi-year work plan for the Global Mechanism (2008-2011)