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51. All regional seas management programmes depend ultimately upon the political willingness of the Contracting Parties to cooperate. The "willingness to cooperate" is not necessarily a factor which remains constant with time. It depends not only upon issues of national and international security, but also on the changing economic conditions of the countries involved. The geopolitical factor does not appear to introduce a high risk of project failure at this time; indeed the spirit of cooperation has been evidenced in recent years by the speedy ratification of the Bucharest Convention. It is further exemplified by the willingness of Ministers to subscribe to Action 19 of the Odessa Ministerial Declaration, which calls for the preparation and wide diffusion of a triennial report on the status of implementation of the Declaration -- a call for accountability and transparency.
52. The economic constraints are much less predictable. Some countries in the region are facing increasing uncertainties concerning the rate at which they move towards a market economy. The shift appears inexorable, but the state of individual economies varies considerably and, in some cases, weak economies have forced governments to focus their priorities for investment into areas with a marginal or even negative environmental benefit. These shifts, occasionally demanded by external advisory bodies, have delayed the implementation of sectoral funding mechanisms such as national environmental funds. It is hoped that such constraints will not be imposed on the regional mechanism and the results of the preliminary workshops were positive in all cases. The study will however, include the evaluation of alternative funding mechanisms, in the case that the barriers prove insurmountable in the short term.
53. The slow pace of incorporating international agreements and conventions on the statute books of Black Sea countries is a major cause for concern. However, this is not a problem limited to the Black Sea. The present project strategy incorporates the concept of developing National Black Sea Action Plans which should set an agenda for legal reform as well as for policy changes and investments. Strong public participation in the formulation of these plans should ensure greater political pressure which will help to strengthen the role of the Ministries of the Environment and maintain Black Sea issues at a high level on political (and parliamentary) agendas.
INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK AND PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
54. The BSEP Steering Committee formed for the GEF Pilot Phase project will be responsible for overseeing project implementation and for establishing and monitoring a detailed workplan. The Governments will be requested to ratify the membership of the Steering Committee and to renew its mandate. It currently includes National Coordinators (mostly Ministers or Deputy Ministers) and their advisors, the Project Coordinator and senior project professional staff, representatives of the GEF Partners and Donors and, as observers, the Black Sea NGO Forum (2), the cooperating UN Agencies, the Danube Basin Management Programme and the Mediterranean Action Plan. Following his/her selection, the Executive Director of the Istanbul Commission Secretariat will also be invited to attend. Activity Centre Directors are invited to attend on an ad-hoc basis. The Steering Committee will meet twice to review the previous year's activities and designs and approves the workplan and activities.
55. The Working Parties of the BSEP network are convened by the Directors of the Activity Centres in close coordination with the PCU. Responsibility for this coordination will gradually be transferred to the Commission Secretariat during implementation of the present project.
56. The UN Office for Project Services will act as Executing Agency for UNDP.
57. The project will be managed by the Programme Coordination Unit (PCU) of the Black Sea Environmental Programme (see last Table Annex 1).which is located in Istanbul, Turkey. The PCU was established in January 1994 in facilities provided by the Government of Turkey. These facilities will be shared with the Secretariat of the Istanbul Commission on the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding.
58. The World Bank shared responsibility for the implementation of some elements of the pilot phase project, and assigned appropriate staff time at its Washington headquarters. This year the World Bank team will be engaged in completing the Urgent Investment Portfolio (UIP) remaining from the Pilot Phase Project. The World Bank will not implement activities under the present project but will participate in BSEP Steering Committee meetings and other organs it considers appropriate to attend.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
59. The project strategy and outputs are regularly evaluated at annual meetings of the Steering Committee, as indicated in Section 5. Additionally, the project will be subjected to the review mechanisms of UNDP and an external evaluation will be conducted prior to the termination of the project, in accordance with UNDP rules.