PEI releases its Annual Progress Report 2008 entitled "Scaling up the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative"
The 2008 UNDP-UNEP Annual Progress report covers two main areas of achievement: first, the impact that PEI country programmes have had over the past several years against key targets; and second, the progress made in the expansion of the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative. The PEI Annual Progress Report for 2008 has been produced by the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Facility, based in Nairobi, as part of the process of keeping key PEI stakeholders - especially governments who provide financial support to PEI - informed of progress against intended results. The main part of the report presents the various achievements at country level, thereby reviewing: (1) Increased awareness and understanding of poverty-environment issues and capacities for mainstreaming; (2) Generation of country-specific evidence on the contribution of the environment to pro-poor economic growth and human well-being; (3) Environmental sustainability included as priority objective or outcomes in national planning processes; (4) Inclusion of poverty-environment indicators into policy documents and monitoring systems; (5) Increased budget allocation for poverty-environment measures; and (6) Improved integration of poverty-environment linkages into joint UN programming processes at country level.
Comprehensive country fact sheets for on-going country programmes and the ones under preparation are included as annexes for easy information. A second part of the report discusses the steps undertaken as part of the expansion of the PEI. In 2008, PEI has set up the necessary global and regional infrastructure to expand the programme to Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and as part of this effort, has developed, inter alia, regional strategies, launched eight new country programmes and initiated dialogue with a number of other countries. The last part of the annual Progress report discusses challenges foreseen over the next years that include continuous lesson learning, delivering on transformative targets and donor support, supporting the evolution of the PEI approach, living with climate change adaptation and measuring the longer-term impact of PE I. [PEI Annual Progress Report 2008]
UNDP-UNEP Poverty Environment Initiative Regional Meeting, Bangkok/Thailand, 12-15 June 2009
The PEI regional programme for Asia-Pacific held a regional planning meeting that discusse the state of the art of lessons learnt regarding integrating environment-poverty linkages into national development planning and operationalising the challenge of mainstreaming in the Asia-Pacific region. The meeting took place in Bangkok/Thailand, 12-15 June 2009. The discussions focused in particular on mainstreaming experiences at local level, review experiences with private investment and mainstreaming and examine the interlinkages between climate change, poverty reduction and mainstreaming. Participants of this meeting included national and regional PEI staff, UNDP and UNEP poverty and environment experts and government representatives from Asian-Pacific countries involved with the Poverty-Environment Initiative. The output of the meeting informs further PEI planning processes and priorities of programming work. In addition, it aimed at promoting regional information and knowledge exchanges across countries and regions. [Agenda]
Francophone Poverty and Environment Champions Training session, Dakar/Senegal, 26-30 April 2009
The UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative in collaboration with LEAD International and LEAD Africa conducted a Poverty and Environment Champions training for 13 representatives of Francophone PEI countries (Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso). The meeting took place in Dakar/Senegal, 26-30 April 2009. Participants included the main actors involved in PEI country programmes: Government representatives from Ministries of Finance/Planning and Environment, National PEI coordinators and advisors, UNDP Country Office Focal Points. The training focused on developing leadership and influencing skills and is aimed directly at building capacity of the PEI Champions to engage with and influence finance and planning ministries in-country. It included sessions on information sharing, practicing communication skills and developing messages. The training design corresponds to capacity needs identified during the PEI preparatory phases in each country. Prior to the training workshop, LEAD conducted a training needs assessment by sending a questionnaire to all particpants and discussing anwers during a virtual conference. Jonathan Duwyn and Jean-Jacob Sahou from the PEI Africa Team participated and supported the Facilitation of the training. [Agenda] [Participants].
Mainstreaming Poverty-Environment Linkages into Development Planning: a Handbook for Practitioners
Experience continues to show the vital contribution better environmental management can make to improving health, resilience to environmental risks, economic development and livelihood opportunities, especially for the poor. Poverty-Environment mainstreaming is one possible way. It aims to integrate the linkages between the environment and poverty reduction into government processes and institutions, thereby changing the very nature of its decision-making culture and practices. The UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative has published a new Handbook, which is designed to serve as a guide for champions and practitioners engaged in the painstaking task of mainstreaming poverty-environment linkages. It draws on a substantial body of experience at the country level and the many lessons learned by the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme in working with governments — especially ministries of planning, finance and environment — to support efforts to integrate the complex interrelationships between poverty reduction and improved environmental management into national planning and decision-making.
The Handbook offers guidance on:
- How to define and assess poverty-environment linkages
- How to engage decision-makers and relevant stakeholders
- How to raise awareness and build partnerships
- How to use economic analysis and ecosystem assessment approaches to make a case
- How to develop, cost and budget relevant policy measures
- How to include poverty-environment issues in the national monitoring system
- How to influence policy processes at national, sector and sub-national level
- How to strengthen institutions at national, sector and sub-national level
- How to make mainstreaming a standard practice
The Handbook is available in [English] [Francais] [Español]
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