The eighth meeting of the Executive Board of the Special Programme to support institutional strengthening at the national level for implementation of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, the Minamata convention and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) took place in hybrid format in Geneva, Switzerland from 15 to 17 February 2023.
The main objective of the meeting was to review the eligible and complete applications submitted for the sixth round of applications for funding from the Special Programme and consider arrangements for the launch of the seventh round of applications.
The Executive Board approved 9 projects amounting to US$2,207,875. The approved projects were selected taking into account the project’s merits, regional balance and priority to countries with least capacity, taking into account the special needs of least development countries and small island developing states, as listed below:
Ecuador: Improvement and sustainability for the management of hazardous and special waste and chemical products for industrial use in Ecuador.
Gambia: Capacity strengthening and technical assistance for environmentally sound management of chemicals and wastes in the Gambia.
Georgia: Establish of a Poison Control Center (PCC) as an essential infrastructural element of sound chemicals management system and prevention of chemicals exposure and management of poisonings in Georgia.
Kenya: Sound Chemicals and Waste Management Kenya (Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste)
Lesotho: Strengthening Institutional Capacity for Coordination of Chemicals and Waste Multi-lateral Environmental Agreements and Mainstreaming Gender in their Implementation in Lesotho.
Maldives: Institutional strengthening and capacity building for the sound management of chemicals and wastes in the Maldives.
Mali: Strengthening Mali’s National capacity to implement the Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata Conventions including SAICM.
Rwanda: Strengthening institutional capacity to reduce environmental and health risks from lead exposures and contamination in Rwanda.
Togo: Setting up a cost recovery mechanism to support the establishment of a sustainable legal and institutional framework for the sound management of chemicals with a special focus on the implementation of the Rotterdam Convention.
In approving the arrangements for the launch of the seventh round of funding, which will take place on 6 April 2023, the Executive Board revised the eligibility criteria for funding under the Special Programme. The Board decided that "Countries should refer to paragraph 6 of the Terms of Reference for eligibility which states that ‘Support from the Special Programme will be available for developing countries, taking into account the special needs of least developed countries and small island developing States, and for countries with economies in transition (1), with priority given to those with least capacity’.
Note that a number of donors have strict policies of funding only applications that meet the eligibility requirements of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list of Official Development Assistance (ODA) (2) at the time of application".
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1 See United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects Report available at https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/document_gem/global-economic-monitoring-unit/world-economic-situation-and-prospects-wesp-report/ with annexes available at https://desapublications.un.org/file/1113/download?_ga=2.247642817.739791176.1676889344-1020178047.1591942680
2 https://www.oecd.org/dac/financing-sustainable-development/development-finance-standards/daclist.htm
