2 nd Meeting of the Consultative Group of Experts 27-29 September, Manila, Philippines

1. Information on problems related to the sustainability of the national communication process and maintenance of national technical teams for the preparation of national communications including GHG inventories, on a continuous basis 2nd Meeting of the Consultative Group of Experts 27-29 September, Manila, Philippines Firstname Lastname, Job Title

2. Parts of Survey 2 and survey respondents • Parts of survey 2: • Background information • Institutional concerns and solutions • Financial constraints and solutions • Greenhouse gas inventory software • Survey respondents • Most are project Coordinators (72%) • Most are from Parties (88%) and the rest are from UN agencies (11%) • Most have completed the initial NC (97%), 2nd NC (23%), 5% are not working on any NC

3. Functions of project coordinators • Administrative matters • Oversee substantive and technical • Manage consultants • Coordination with other agencies • Thematic experts, e.g. GHG inventories, mitigation, V&A assessments

4. Key observations: Multilateral organization • Jointly worked with 5 Parties in preparation of their NCs • The agencies involved are working with and for the governments: • Project coordinators • Technical staff • Project staff • Provides technical support to all sections of NC particularly in the sections on national circumstances and other information.

5. Key observations: Institutional concerns and solutions • Most of the respondents indicated continuity of experience from previous NCs although a good no. indicated that only in some cases. • Sections of NC respondents had difficulty in building on past procedures and organizational experience: GHG inventories, V&A assessments and mitigation assessments. • Activities in GHG inventories that respondents encountered challenges: Data management systems, interaction with other stakeholders and building expert staff.

6. Key observations: Institutional concerns and solutions • Key issues relating to sustainable NC process: Coordination among ministries/stakeholder engagement and preparation/approval of project proposals • Summary of institutional concerns (open-ended): • Financial and human capacity • System for data collection/generation and management • Engaging/coordinating different agencies and stakeholders • Contractual arrangements with staff/experts • Changes in government set-up • Difficulties in building and maintaining national teams: • Lack of available national experts • If available, lack of incentives (project-based) and fast turn-over of staff

7. Key observations: Institutional concerns and solutions • Institutional constraints affecting the ability to build and maintain national communications team: delays in recruitment and hiring; availability of time to complete NC; spending limits. • Institutional constraints relating to building and maintaining NC teams (open ended) • Financial constraints (currency exchanges) • Delays in hiring of consultants (TOR, bureaucracy) • Constraints in delivery of NCs (competing schedules, lack of understanding of TOR) • Translation into English (skills and time) • Types of technical assistance that are useful: training, information exchange, other support (S/N-S cooperation)

8. Financial concerns • Financial difficulties affecting the ability to sustain NC process and build/maintain NC teams: • Currency fluctuations (payments to foreign consultants, increase in costs) • Sufficiency/consistency of funding • Co-financing • Technical assistance to address financial and funding constraints: training in financial management is useful but will not solve all problems. • South-south cooperation and info. exchange • Training in financial risk management • Efficient disbursement of funds

9. Greenhouse gas inventory software • Most are using the current inventory software (45%) and are interested in testing the prototype (84%). • Most don’t see any major problems in using the current software (70%). • Reasons for not using the software: software is not working; prefer to use IPCC guidelines and spreadsheets. • Most national experts are involved in energy and less involvement in waste sector. - - - - -