Workshop on Alignment & implementation of National Action programmes with the UNCCD 10-year Strategy in the Arab Region
League of Arab States (18- 20 June 2014), Dubai - UAE
UNCCD, Fady Asmar
3. GLOBAL SUPPORT
PROGRAMME
Component Component Component Component Component
Preliminary agenda of the workshop
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
09:00-
10:00
Opening (KFS – Mr. Choi;
UNCCD - Mr. Yang Yulin)
Introduction to the 2014
reporting exercise – (Mr. Yang
Yulin)
09:00-
10:30
Understanding and compiling
the section of the template:
performance indicators (SO 1-3)
(Dr. Victor Squires)
09:00-
10:30
Understanding and compiling the
section of the template: the
additional information (Mr. Fady
Asmar)
Individual working sessions by
country and feedback to plenary
Preparation of road maps (Dr.
Victor Squires)
10:00-
10:15
Break 10:30-
10:45
Break 10:30-
10:45
Break
10:15-
12:00
Working with the new PRAIS
platform and the PDF live files
(Mr. Yang Yulin)
Data requirements (Mr. Fady
Asmar)
10:45-
12:00
Individual working sessions by
country and feedback to plenary
Facilitator: Dr. Victor Squires
10:45-
13:00
Additional requirements of the
2016 reporting exercise: progress
indicators (Mr. Fady Asmar)
Final Questions & Answers (Mr.
Fady Asmar)
Workshop evaluation (Dr. Victor
Squires)
12:00-
13:00
Lunch 12:00-
13:00
Lunch 13:00- Lunch
13:00-
14:00
14:00-
15:00
Individual working sessions by
country (familiarization with
template and data
requirements; identification of
available data…)
Feedback and discussion in
plenary
Facilitator: Mr. Fady Asmar
13:00-
15:00
Understanding and compiling
the section of the template:
performance indicators (SO-4)
Understanding and compiling
the section of the template: the
Unified Financial Annex (UFA)
(Mrs. Camilla Nordheim)
AOB
15:00-
15:15
Break 15:00-
15:15
Break
15:15-
17:30
NAP formulation and
implementation, and national
reporting (Mr. Fady Asmar)
15:15-
17:30
Individual working sessions by
country and feedback to plenary
Facilitator: Mrs. Camilla
Nordheim
4. GLOBAL SUPPORT
PROGRAMME
Component Component Component Component Component
Introduction of the Global Support Programme
• GEF MSP approved in March 2014
• UNEP (implementing agency)
• GM (executing agency)
• UNCCD secretariat, country Parties (implementation
partners)
The project aims at developing further capacity to monitor
UNCCD implementation and report, while enhancing
knowledge management and information sharing at the
national, regional and global levels
5. GLOBAL SUPPORT
PROGRAMME
Component Component Component Component Component
o The project complements the GEF funding for
enabling activities on reporting and NAP alignment
o Project Components:
• Capacity-building (simplified reporting templates)
• Knowledge management (PRAIS platform)
Introduction of the Global Support Programme
6. GLOBAL SUPPORT
PROGRAMME
ACP
WP
200920082007 2010 2011 2012 20152013 2014
OO
SO
BP
PR
SEC
GM
AI
PERF.
IND.
PROGR.
IND.
DCP
SRAP
RAP
UN/IGO
GEF
PERF.
IND.
PERF.
IND.
COP 9COP 8 COP 10 COP 12COP 11
Performance Review and Assessment of Implementation System
7. GLOBAL SUPPORT
PROGRAMME
Component Component Component Component Component
Timeframe of reporting
revision of templates
compilationof information
subission of reports
data analysis
documentation
CRIC13
Nov 2013 Dec Jan 2014 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov
9. GLOBAL SUPPORT
PROGRAMME
Component Component Component Component Component
Changes to the templates and the PRAIS portal
o Reduced number of performance indicators (14 to 11 for ACPs,
10 to 8 for DCPs)
o Unified Financial Annex: The number of fields has been reduced
by 70%
o Separate reporting manual: the template has been drastically
shortened while the manual has been made available on-line
with a short guide
o Reporting tools: www.unccd.int/reporting
o New PRAIS portal: reporting platform with enhanced
functionalities available starting from June 2014
The secretariat has worked on the idea for capacity development since last year together with UNEP which resulted in the approval of the MSP project (2 million by the GEF) in early 2014. Initially, the project was conceived as a full-fledged project but this idea was refused by the GEF claiming that GEF enabling activity funding are out there to be used. So this is why we have a MSP project which basically pays for the regional training sessions and some parts of the PRAIS portal (or the work relating to shifting to a new on-line platform). The other parts such as the revision of the templates are UNCCD secretariat/GM in kind contribution which lead to a simplified reporting in 2014 and 2016.
It is expected that Parties (ACPs) do make contributions from their national level budget, including from the money that was received from the GEF for enabling activities (reporting and NAP alignment)
In case a country has not requested the funding for enabling activities, then this opportunity is lost. Please bear in mind that the secretariat has frequently recalled Parties to apply for whichever option countries would chose. It may be important to highlight that funding from the enabling activities should be used for the reporting process such as hiring a consultant, paying for the establishment of a monitoring system etc. in order to run this exercise effectively.
Two project components 1) is capacity building comprising of the simplification and refinement process, training sessions (workshops), Helpdesk etc. 2) is relating to the necessary changes of the PRAIS portal.
The official deadline for reporting is set for June 2014 bearing in mind the work to be done from the time of submission to the posting of official documentation in time for the session (fixed by the decision). The timing is fixed and can only be changed by the ES in consultation with the CRIC and COP Bureau. The last COP Bureau meeting met recently and decided to keep the deadline for the time being but gave the ES a bit of a margin to change the dates if a) too few reports are submitted by the deadline b) if there is a possibility to get a host country for CRIC 13 which would require a change of date for the session. Taking into consideration the dates of the training workshops and the time that is left to submit the report by June 2014, it is likely that CRIC 13 would be postponed if there are not enough reports submitted.
Reporting deadlines are always calculated backwards in case there is a fixed date of the CRIC. From the time of the CRIC there is a need for having official documentation in all languages up on the website for 2 months, preparing documentation needs time as well as the data analysis and possible cleaning, leading to the 30 June deadline. Please note that we did try as much as possible to adhere to the six month time period requested by Parties to report.
This slide should exemplify what can be done with the data received by Parties. Apart from preparing official documentation, information can be used to zoom in on one topic and try to compare data from different countries etc. It can be used for research and/or publication.
“Public Interface”: will ensure that data is accessible online to the wider public and that the database can be queried according to some pre-defined parameters. This way, data becomes not only useful for the wider public but can also be used by Parties themselves when trying to do their own national trend analysis vis a vis the implementation of the Convention. Planning and monitoring therefore becomes more easy.
Reduced number of performance indicators
Some performance indicators have been discarded i.e. CONS O 11 (knowledge sharing systems) (target achieved) question moved to CONS O 8 in order to ensure further collection for the website,
Some performance indicators will be compiled by the convention institutions i.e. CONS O 9 (reporting on standardized templates) and CONS O 15 (amount of financial resources made available
The reporting templates for Parties and other reporting entities have been revised and drastically shortened, making them an effective tool for communication, awareness-raising and advocacy at the national and international level
UFA
The format for reporting on financial flows has been significantly simplified and enhanced, with the merging of the Standard Financial Annex (SFA) and Programme and Project Sheet (PPS) into on Unified Financial Annex (UFA). The number of relevant activity codes (RACs) was reduced by 60 %
Separate reporting manual
The reporting templates for Parties and other reporting entities have been revised and drastically shortened, making them an effective tool for communication, awareness-raising and advocacy at the national and international levels. The explanation of how indicators need to be compiled was taken out of the templates and included in the reporting manual, making the manual the main reference guide for users experiencing methodological difficulties while reporting
PRAIS platform
The new PRAIS platform will also have a clear function in disseminating valuable Convention-related information for local and national decision-making on desertification/land degradation and drought. To this end, it is planned that the PRAIS platform will be equipped with data mining functionalities starting from July 2014