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Basic Project INFO

  • FOCAL AREA:
    Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
  • PROJECT TITLE:
    1. Action Plan Training/Skills Building for 25 Least Developed Countries to assist with National Implementation Plan Development under the Stockholm Convention

    2.Action Plan Skills Building for 15 Least Developed Countries to assist with National Implementation Plan of Development under the Stockholm Convention
  • PROJECT NUMBER:
      GLO/04/G35
  • COUNTRY:
      Global
  • PROJECT STATUS:
    1. Completed (2004 - May 2006)

      GEF Grant: US$ 1.000m
      Co-finance: US$ 1.025m
      Project Cost: US$ 2.025m

  • 2. On-going (began October, 2005)

      GEF Grant: US$ 0.700m
      Co-finance: US$ 0.750m
      Project Cost: US$ 1.450m
  • PROJECT DOWNLOAD (WORD)

Action Plan Training/Skills Building for 25 Least Developed Countries to assist with National Implementation Plan Development under the Stockholm Convention &
Action Plan Skills Building for 15 Least Developed Countries to assist with National Implementation Plan of Development under the Stockholm Convention

Facts and figures

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are organic chemicals such as pesticides, industrial chemicals or unwanted by-products of industrial processes or combustion which cause injury to human health and to species and ecosystems both near to and far away from their sources. POPs have three main characteristics: persistence (they can resist photolytic, biological and chemical degradation for months, years and even decades; bio-accumulation (POPs are usually lipid soluble and can accumulate in fatty tissues at levels higher than those in the surrounding environment) and mobility (POPs are volatile and can travel great distances from their source of release through media such as air and water or be carried by migratory species).

Their toxic effects of POPs in living tissue can include disruption of endocrine systems, suppression of immune system functions, carcinogenic traits, and induction of reproductive and developmental changes.

In May 2001, governments adopted the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and named the GEF as the Convention's interim financial mechanism, pending entry into force of the Convention. In October 2002, the GEF Assembly approved the addition of POPs as a new focal area for its activities.

Project description

Although conducted as separate Medium-Size Projects the two projects can be considered as phases 1 and 2 of the same activity. The second MSP (for 15 additional countries) was approved since the first project was unable to accommodate the high level of interest from least developed countries.

A basic and early requirement of any country to meet its obligations as a Party to the Stockholm Convention is the preparation of a National Implementation Plan (NIP), and associated Action Plans to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment. Many Least Developed Countries, however, lack the necessary capacity and skills to adequately develop such strategic plans.

The overall goal of the two projects is therefore to provide national-level training, technical and financial support to LDCs in order to develop and strengthen their skills to undertake project planning, including Action Plan development. Skills building and training are combined with concrete follow-up activities on action plan development. They projects are also contributing to human resource development through skills building in project planning and management which, in turn, may contribute to future chemicals management initiatives.

The objectives of the training include: raising awareness of relevant approaches to project and strategic planning; ensuring that trainees are able to effectively use key project management and strategic planning tools and methodologies; to apply these approaches in the context of the Stockholm Convention; and to share experiences and lessons learned between countries and identify possible country-driven follow-up activities.

The project, which is executed by UNITAR on behalf of UNDP, built upon existing experience and lessons learned through similar projects in some 40 countries to assist them in developing a wide variety of action plans on priority topics of sound chemicals management.

SELECTED PROJECT ACTIVITIES/RESULTS

  • In the first (25 countries) section of this project the strategy used to achieve the project objectives was divided into: adapting existing UNITAR guidance and training materials so that they related to Stockholm Convention requirements for action plans; conducting  action plan training and skills-building  sessions (2-4 days) in five selected “front-runner” countries; and organizing country-level training-of-trainers sessions. Lessons learned with front-runner countries were used to modify training sessions and revise guidance and training materials before further action plan and training-of-trainers sessions were organized in the remaining 20 LDCs.
  • An interactive tool to identify country obligations entitled "Decision Trees to assist with the Implementation of the Stockholm Convention" developed by UNITAR in partnership with UNEP was used to supplement the training. UNITAR’s Action Plan Helpdesk, which features a continuously updated FAQ, and allows questions to be submitted was also made available.
  • Final training sessions for the countries taking part in the first part of the project were completed in the second quarter of 2006 and the project is awaiting its final evaluation.
  1. Cambodia (front runner country – see above)
  2. Yemen  (front runner country – see above)
  3. United Republic of Tanzania (front runner country – see above)
  4. The Gambia  (front runner country – see above)
  5. Ethiopia  (font runner country – see above)
  6. Chad (5-6 April 2005)
  7. Samoa (17-19 May 2005)
  8. Mali (18-20 May 2005)
  9. Sudan (23-25 May 2005)
  10. Kiribati (25-27 May 2005)
  11. Mauritania (13-16 June 2005)
  12. Guinea (20-22 June 2005)
  13. Lesotho (9-11 August 2005)
  14. Benin (9-11 August 2005)
  15. Malawi (15-17 August 2005)
  16. Zambia (22-24 August 2005)
  17. Senegal (24-26 August 2005)
  18. Guinea Bissau (26-28 October 2005)
  19. Togo (8-10 November 2005)
  20. Uganda (23-25 November 2005)
  21. Bangladesh (4-6 December 2005)
  22. Laos (14-16 December 2005)
  23. Djibouti (13-15 March 2006) Replaced Madagascar which was not able to take part in the project.
  24. Haiti (25-27 April 2006)
  25. Nepal (18-20 May 2006)
  • In the second phase of the project (15 countries) a letter of notification was sent to the UN missions of all Least Developed Countries that had not participated in the 25 LDC project, and their Stockholm Convention focal points/NIP Coordinators ( cc to UNDP Resident Representatives) inviting them to participate.
  • Training sessions are underway for the 15 countries (three still to be selected) for phase 2 of the project. The training sessions are being conducted in three phases, instead of four as in the 25 countries project, as a group of front-runner countries is no longer required.
  • Training materials used in phase 1 were revised and adapted before being used for the second group of 15 LDCs.
  1. Burkina Faso (26-28 Jun 2006)
  2. Liberia (17-19 Jul 2006)
  3. Central African Republic (25-27 Jul 2006)
  4. Rwanda (31 Jul - 2 Aug 2006)
  5. Mozambique (14-16 Aug 2006).
  6. Burundi
  7. Comoros
  8. Democratic Republic of Congo
  9. Liberia
  10. Timor Leste
  11. Tuvalu
  12. Uganda
  13. 14. 15. (Three more countries will be selected when their National Implementation Plans are approved).

Partners etc

Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (BAFU) www.bafu.admin.ch., United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) www.unitar.org

Advisory committee is chaired by the GEF Secretariat and includes UNDP, UNEP, WB, FAO and UNIDO with UNITAR acting as secretariat.

Project website: http://www.unitar.org/cwg/pops/pops1.aspx

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