Country Support Program

To support country focal points, the GEF is launching the Country Support Program (CSP)—a new comprehensive capacity building program—in March 2006. The United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme are implementing the CSP, working closely with the GEF Secretariat. The CSP chiefly helps countries fulfill their obligations to the global conventions on biodiversity, climate change, desertification, and persistent organic pollutants.

Comprehensive Strategy for Country Support Activities

The program entails a comprehensive strategy to strengthen capacity for country-level GEF coordination and support, with linkages to such ongoing GEF country support activities as the GEF National Dialogue Initiative, the proposed country capacity building programs for least-developed countries and small island developing states, and the land degradation Country Program Partnerships (CPP).

Stronger Country Ownership of GEF Activities

Subject to GEF focal point needs, the program will provide the following:

• Direct funding to support training, outreach and information sharing, and country-level coordination
• Develop a GEF country and constituency knowledge management framework
• Deliver targeted capacity building activities through information exchange and training workshops at the subregional level.

The three components of the program will build the capacity of focal points to design, implement, coordinate, and monitor GEF projects. Moreover, it will promote genuine country ownership of GEF-financed activities and will facilitate active involvement of recipient countries’ governments and civil society stakeholders.

Please e-mail the GEF Secretariat for more information on this program.