GEF CSO Network Statement

Agenda item 12: Work Program

52nd GEF Council Meeting, Washington DC, USA

The GEF CSO Network, having reviewed document GEF/C.52/05, Work Program, along with PIF’s for GEF Trust Fund comprising 30 project concepts and 1 programmatic framework, makes the following comments and recommendations.

  1. We welcome that out of $248.8 million of GEF resources requested $76.9 million was for Chemicals and wastes programs. However our analysis of the proposed budgets showed that suggested co-finance is largely "in-kind" which may result in lack of funding for on the ground activities.

2. We are happy to note that this time distribution of fundswas uniform across the geographical region, particularly covering Africa, Asia and Latin America region.

3.We welcome the stakeholder participation currently described in many projects, including the specification of CSO and IPs engagement, but recommend that the PIF section on stakeholder engagement include more detailed information and that quality and scope of participation be enhanced, including to ensure that:

-CSOs and IPs fully and effectively participate in the whole process throughout the project. In order to do this, participation of CSOs and IPsshouldstart from the beginning of the PIF process, to ensure their engagement in the preparation of the GEF project with well-defined roles and responsibilities, taking into account gender considerations.

-CSOs and IPsare included as empowered partners in ways that recognize, respect and promote their knowledge and capacity.

However some projects clearly lack the participation of community groups and civil society organisations working on the ground. Proposal on chemicals and waste highlight the importance of the implementation of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management. However in some projects SAICM requirement regarding the need to improve participatory decision-making is not well considered including the key SAICM Governance objective which is, “To promote and support meaningful and active participation by all sectors of civil society, particularly women, workers and indigenous communities, in regulatory and other decision-making processes that relate to chemical safety”.

  1. We welcome the many gender considerations already described, and further recommend that each project in the Work Program have a clear action plan on gender equality and mainstreaming, including Indigenous women views, perspectives and needs such as the access to land property and financial and technical resources to develop some projects or activities relevant to women. The proposed projects will contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and to SDG 5 in particular, thus they should have gender-specific activities that will make gender and chemical safety components an integral part of the whole project cycle. Special attention should be paid to collecting sex-disaggregated data.
  1. We recommend that, in the Work Program or other appropriate places, GEF provide clear information on project accountability and grievance mechanisms, including ensuring that commitments to project involvement of CSOs and IPs are followed through.
  1. We note that a number of projects in the Work Program include creating, expanding, and/or improving the governance or management of Protected Areas. Within this focus, we highlight the importance of project compliance with the GEF Principles and Guidelines for Engagement with IPs at all stages, including respecting the right to consultation, free, prior and informed consent and the right to veto in the case of GEF-financed activities on, or significantly impacting IPs’ traditional and user rights.
  1. We observed that most of the programs on climate change are for mitigation while emphasis should be on adaptation. For example Bhutan project for 20 electric taxis for tourism development.

In conclusion we would like to emphasize that the GEF projects should ensure that more attention is applied to the ground impact and the GEF funds should be used directly to support on-the-ground work. NGOs representing public interest should be part of project design and play active role in the initial discussions and further project execution and monitoring.