Acting locally while thinking globally is at the heart of the UNDP environmental efforts, writes Emad Adly* During the late 1980s, the report Our Common Future came as a result of much dialogue and research undertaken by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). The report revealed very clearly, arguably for the first time, the relationship between the environmental protection and economic and social development -- so-called sustainable development. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the "Earth Summit", held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 officially mapped out strategies of sustainable development. "Agenda 21" -- published after the conference -- is considered a guiding document for all actors on how to maintain socioeconomic growth while keeping the environment sound not only for current needs but for future generations as well. In the run up to Rio, global environmental threats were obvious and critical and lead to the establishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) which became the primary source of financial support for developing countries in their efforts to deal with local environmental problems while achieving global benefits. The GEF was established as a result of the Earth Summit, followed by the Small Grants Programme (SGP), which is funded by the GEF and executed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The SGP is centrally managed from New York. The first global manager was Peter Hazelwood, who was behind the establishment of the programme for its pilot phase in 30 countries. Hazelwood joined the programme after being with Care International. He left in 1997. Sally Timpson, founder of the Civil Society Unit at UNDP headquarters and then resident representative in the Philippines, became the second global manager of the SGP. Sally was a pioneer inside the UNDP, advocating the importance of empowering the civil actors. In 2003, Delfin Ganapin, formerly chair of the National Steering Committee of the SGP in the Philippines, became the third global manager. The SGP is fostering transparency and good governance at all levels in managing funds. This is done at the national level through the National Steering Committee (NSC), which has in its membership representatives from relevant ministries, international and UN agencies, NGOs, academia and thematic expertise centres, and the private sector. The SGP is a modality to provide NGOs and community-based organisations (CBOs) the financial means to make the link between local priorities and global imperatives. The GEF-SGP aims to protect the global environment by funding community conservation and sustainable natural resource use projects through community-based approaches that generate local benefits. The primary objective of the GEF is to assist securing global environment benefits in the areas of biodiversity, climate change, international waters, ozone depletion, land degradation, and persistent organic pollutants. GEF-SGP in Egypt operates on the premise that people will be organised to protect their environment only when they are educated and empowered. SGP in Egypt, therefore, is more than simply a fund that provides small grants to improve local conditions. SGP in Egypt seeks to help establish a more supportive, conducive environment for achieving sustainable development and addressing global environment issues by raising public awareness, building partnerships and promoting policy dialogue. Since it was launched in Egypt in 1992, the SGP has adopted a Country Program Strategy (CPS) that gives priority to projects that deal with poverty reduction at the local level and ensure global benefits at the same time. SGP-CPS always takes national priority issues and encourages partnerships between government, civil society, the business sector and other relevant agencies. Although in Egypt these actors number more than 16,000, the challenge was -- and still is -- to achieve the difficult balance of dealing with poverty issues and linking them to the global requirements of the GEF. For this reason the SGP has focused on capacity building for NGOs and CBOs in the different regions of the country. Many workshops and consultations were organised to explain the ways of bringing all these objectives together in projects that could be sustainable and involve marginalised groups such as women, youth and poor communities in rural and remote areas. After more than 12 years, the SGP and NGOs in Egypt succeeded in meeting the objectives of the programme. There are many success stories that can be expanded and replicated in many areas. The SGP portfolio in Egypt has shown that NGOs were able to formulate most initiatives under the climate change category, and more specifically in issues related to renewable energies and improving energy efficiency. In most governorates, NGOs and CBOs developed sound projects that promote the use of solar heating, modified household stoves, biogas units and the use of lights that conserve energy. The initiative of installing solar heaters in economically poor villages of Upper Egypt using the revolving funds became a model and was replicated in many other areas. For this reason, UNDP Cairo decided to produce a documentary film to highlight this initiative. The programme has also confronted with the "black smog" pollution issue through a partnership process with the General Federation of NGOs headed by Mahmoud Sherif, the governorates of the East Delta, the Agriculture Research Centre and actors in the private sector. The SGP has initiated capacity building for more than 150 NGOs that have shown interest in dealing with agricultural waste, stopping the burning of fields and converting post-harvest residue into compost useful for farmers. The initiative promotes a solution that deals with both the environmental and economic aspects of the original problem. The initiative has proven that agricultural waste has economic value for farmers, and we need to raise awareness about the issue, as well as provide the low cost technology needed to benefit, and to enforce environmental laws. SGP initiatives also dealt with the sustainable use of lakes, the protection of coral reefs, and also with low cost technologies in treating water and waste from villages, minimising pollution in the Nile River. All these initiatives aim at localising Millennium Development Goals and ensuring sustainable livelihoods for poor communities, as well as underlining how much we need to consider civil society a real partner in achieving the only successful type of development there is: sustainable development. * The writer is national coordinator of the Small Grants and LIFE (Local Initiative Facility for Urban Environment) UNDP programmes in Egypt.
