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CHALLENGES AND LESSONS IN A GEF SGP MULTI-COUNTRY PROGRAMME

CHALLENGES AND LESSONS IN A GEF SGP MULTI-COUNTRY PROGRAMME. Giles Romulus Sub-regional Coordinator Tracy Phillips Programme Assistant (Barbados and the OECS). CONTENTS. GEF SGP Sub-regional Programme. The challenges in Caribbean Development Projects and their impact

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CHALLENGES AND LESSONS IN A GEF SGP MULTI-COUNTRY PROGRAMME

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  1. CHALLENGES AND LESSONS IN A GEF SGP MULTI-COUNTRY PROGRAMME Giles Romulus Sub-regional Coordinator Tracy Phillips Programme Assistant (Barbados and the OECS)

  2. CONTENTS • GEF SGP • Sub-regional Programme. • The challenges in Caribbean Development • Projects and their impact • Capacity Development • Lessons Learned

  3. GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY SMALL GRANTS PROGRAMME • Corporate programme of the GEF • Implemented by UNDP on behalf of the GEF IAs • Currently in 112 countries and expected to be in 124 countries by the end of GEF 4 • Three objectives: environmental sustainability; poverty alleviation/ reduction; and capacity development.

  4. THE SUB-REGIONAL PROGRAMME • 6 Countries • 16 Islands • Land Area: 2473Km2 • North South: 700Km. • Pop: 777,000 • British Dependencies • (as associated states)

  5. National Focal Group Sub-Regional Steering Committee Regional Global National Country Programme Strategy Sub-regional Strategy Global Strategy Central Programme Management Team National Focal Person Sub-Regional Coordinator SUBREGIONAL STRUCTURE GEF SGP SUB-REGIONAL MODALITY (Unbroken lines represent the primary connections and feedback)

  6. FOCUSING FOR RESULTS • Each country has a Country Programme Strategy. • Geographic and/or Thematic Focus. • Cross Cutting Themes http://sgp.boecs.org

  7. No. of Projects and Value of projects by Focal Areas (2004- 2009)

  8. No. of Projects and Value of projects by Country (2004- 2009)

  9. DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES • High cost of travel and communications; • Low capacity of CBOs and NGOs, which means that the level of assistance has to be high at all stages of the project cycle; • A felt impatience in communities for rapid development to address poverty issues within the context of relatively high employment rates and the phenomenon of the working poor; • Multi-jurisdictional challenges with different statutes and policies and many political nuances; • Gender disparities in work and benefits;

  10. DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES • Higher poverty rates among women and young people; • Growing crime rates and the proliferation of an illegal drug culture; • Very high HIV/AIDS infection rates, second only to Sub-Sahara Africa; • Over 50% of the population in several countries with no form of certification; • Low resilience economies (open; minimal diversification; significant dependence on remittances); and • Great exposure to disasters.

  11. Antigua’s Waste Recycling Project

  12. BIODIESEL PROJECT – BARBADOS

  13. BARBADOS MARINE TRUST Reef Ball Project Reef Ball Gardens

  14. ST. KITTS SEA TURTLE PROJECT Craft Making - Fishers

  15. UNION ISLAND ENVIRONMENTAL ATTACKERS – SVG

  16. FOUR MAIN PROJECT DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES • Low capacity of CBOs and NGOs • Level of Participation (Consultative fatigue) • Level of Community (Community by Interest or Community by Proximity) • Lack of creative or smart partnerships to address chronic issues such as capacity development.

  17. CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT ISSUES(Harris Report, 2009) • did not have a clear and well defined philosophy of development; • had a more organisational centred approach rather than a people-centred approach; • viewed capacity development as mostly an internal organisational matter without considering the external enabling environment and the role of Government; • had a top-down decision making structure; • had poor project management skills; • engaged in unproductive competition and secrecy and tended not to create beneficial partnerships among themselves; • did not use a ‘rights-based’ approach as a motivator for action;

  18. CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT ISSUES(Harris Report, 2009) • worked within a culture with high visual and oral literacy, but poor written literacy; • adapted to changes too slowly; • undertook insufficient self-criticism and self-evaluation; • took few income or revenue generating initiatives to lessen the dependency on donors; • were not focusing their resources for maximum impacts, yet requested more and more funds to cover core administration costs; and • were confronted by a political culture which viewed strong NGOs, CBOs and individuals as competitors and adversaries rather than partners.

  19. LESSONS LEARNED 1. Resilient Communities: Adapted from the Centre for Community Enterprise (2000)

  20. Increasing Participation Active Participants Supporters Wait and See People Non-Participants Decreasing Participation LESSONS LEARNED 2. Levels of Participation & Power (???)

  21. LESSONS LEARNED • Mentorship as a Practical Strategy Interventions to develop capacity continue to fail because they are predicated on: • capacity development as an end and not a process; • project time periods which are driven by the constraints of agendas and funding cycles; • activities which do not adequately consider the existing situation of communities and groups; • the existence of a support system for communities and groups; and • the availability of well trained professionals with the right skills set, attitude and approach. Community mentorship programme is one in which individuals and/or groups are available to CBOs and NGOs who select them because of their skills, reputation and credibility, to take them through a process of self discovery and capacity development in which they are empowered to think, act, reflect and learn in an iterative manner.

  22. LESSONS LEARNED • Smart Partnerships (forward looking; address challenges; and are mutually beneficial) - Donor Network for CBOs and NGOs. - Establishment of BECON.

  23. LESSONS LEARNED • Livelihoods is an economic and business construct and not an environmental construct. • The real challenge in the sub-region is the shortage of creative ideas and the lack of people and communities with the passion and desire to take risk and try and try until they succeed. • Sustainable development begins when learning becomes culture and self-criticismbecomes habit.

  24. THE PROPHET Gibran Khalil Gibran, in The Prophet, There are those who give little of the much which they have - and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome. And there are those who have little and give it all. These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty. There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward. And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism. And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue . . .

  25. THANK YOU Mr. Giles Romulus - SRC Ms. Tracy Phillips - PA UN House, Marine Gardens, Hastings, Christ Church Barbados. Tel: 1-246-467-6000 Fax: 1-246-429-2448 http://sgp.undp.orghttp://sgp.boecs.org

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