Statement by the UNDP Resident Representative Ms Ahunna Eziakonwa-Onochie, at the Launch of the GEF Small Grants Programme and Grant Award Ceremony, held in Maseru on 4th February 2009, UN Conference Hall

Hon. Minister for Tourism, Environment and Culture
Excellencies Heads of the Diplomatic Missions and
Colleagues from the UN Agencies
Principal Secretary for Tourism, Environment and Culutre and GEF Political Focal Point
District Administrators
Senior Government Officials
Representatives of Non-Governmental and Community-Based Organizations
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the UN House to witness the launch of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) in Lesotho. The GEF-SGP is based on the fundamental premise that the local people will be empowered to protect the environment when they are organized to take action, when they have a measure of control over access to the natural resource base, when they can deploy the necessary information and knowledge, and when they believe that their social and economic well-being is dependent on sound long-term natural resource management culture. It is this very notion that prompted the initiation of the process for the establishment of the GEF Small Grants Programme in Lesotho. UNDP is implementing and administering this Programme on behalf of the GEF Implementing Agencies namely, World Bank and United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). I may add that this Programme directly addresses Millennium Development Goal SEVEN on Environmental Sustainability.

Hon. Minister, I am informed that what we are witnessing today, are fruits of you and your Ministry’s hard work, which you as the focal point for the Facility, initiated in 2004 with support from the UNDP Team. It is because of the strength of our partnership and the strong commitment of the Government, that today we have in our midst, three NGOs and one community-based organization that will be awarded M 994,070.00 or US$ 99,407.00 in grants. We all agree that building partnerships and capacity development of civil society is important for sustainable results.

I would like to assure you that the UNDP Country Office in Lesotho will continue to support the GEF-SGP to ensure that it grows and lives up to the expectations of the GEF and the Basotho. The UNDP is happy with the results of the Fourth Global Evaluation of the SGP which took place in 2007. That evaluation rates the SGP as the best GEF project. For the current phase, Operational Programme 4, which ends in June 2010, country programmes are expected to secure four key targets which will form the basis for future evaluation:
i. Global environmental benefits
ii. Global network of country-based knowledge and practices
iii. NGOs, CBOs, CSOs increasingly forming a capacitated and motivated constituency
iv. Institutionalization of multi-stakeholder National Steering Committee

These targets are to be achieved through:

i. Securing Global environmental benefits in the SGP focal areas through community-based initiatives and actions ((policy reform, conservation of critical ecosystems,
ii. replication/scaling up, mainstreaming)
iii. Strategic program results (sustainability, resource mobilization, capacity development, knowledge management and empowerment of the local communities)

The attainment of all of these is very much dependent on the nature and strength of linkages established vertically and horizontally at the national, district and community levels. These linkages in turn determine the nature of partnerships established to leverage new and additional resources to co-finance implementation of the Country Programme. The GEF is a co-financier and as such it thrives on partnerships. The SGP as a corporate programme of the GEF thus provides grants that cover only fifty percent of the total required budget for project implementation; hence resource mobilization remains a big challenge both at programme and project levels, and very much depends on delivery.

Distinguished Guests; Ladies and Gentlemen,
Even though the Small Grants Programme is rated the best Global Environment Facility project, it is faced with several challenges which as a country we must analyze and come up with a position that will inform processes for determination of the future of the SGP for GEF 5 and subsequent phases. The main challenges include among others:
i. Managing success (higher expectations, faster expansion, competition)
ii. Oversight and accountability
iii. Fund competition
iv. Management cost issues
v. Execution modality issues
vi. Resource mobilization

In conclusion, I would like to call on all the donor and development partners as well as the private sector to extend support to the GEF Small Grants Programme by assisting in the implementation of the GEF SGP Country Programme Strategy that has been adopted by Stakeholders and approved by the Global Management in June 2008. This strategy defines the scope within which the GEF-SGP supports community environmental protection efforts in Lesotho. That support, be it in the form of technical, human and financial resources, will be most appreciated.

We look forward, with great anticipation, to the successful implementation of the first four community projects funded by the GEF – SGP and the results thereof. This will greatly enhance community participation in local environmental protection efforts to ensure environmental sustainability. I would like to remind all that the second call for Concept Papers has been issued; and I am hopeful that more NGOs/CBOs will receive some funding to advance sustainable environmental protection initiatives. After all, it is the commitment, partnership and dedication of each of you here that will ensure successful and sustainable results for Lesotho.

I thank you all.