INTERNATIONAL WATERS
EXPERIENCE NOTES
2
http://www.iwlearn.net/experience








2007-008

Think Regional, Act Local: The GEF's
Small Grants Programme and Nile
Project Partnership in Addressing
Transboundary Water Issues


Abstract: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP) has been promoting
grassroots action to address global environmental concerns. The Nile Transboundary Environmental
Action Plan (NTEAP) has funded 179 Micro-grant Projects, 36 School based learning projects and 21
nationally selected community based projects. The question is how to establish a linkage and forge a
working relationship between various levels of interventions of GEF, and ensure a most cost-effective
mode of action from a GEF standpoint. In 2004, a strategic partnership was developed between SGP and
NTEAP to ensure greater impact by the two programs, with an integrated management approach and in a
cost-effective way. Through this partnership, SGP's model was replicated at the regional level by NTEAP
through the creation and implementation of a micro-grant component of the regional project. At the global
level, the experience of a strategic partnership between a regional IW project and SGP can be replicated
by other river/lake basins and regional seas. The significance of the partnership lies in the natural
complementarities between a regional project and a locally driven program. NTEAP provides a regional
vision and serves a regional forum for community-based actions, while SGP serves a delivery mechanism
for local actions.From the SGP point of view, NTEAP provides a regional vision to ensure a coherent
regional perspective of community-based actions and serves a regional forum for knowledge transfer.

Amir Baker/Sulan Chen
abaker@nilebasin.org/sulan.chen@undp.org
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Think Regional, Act Local: The GEF's Small Grants Programme and
Nile Project Partnership in Addressing Transboundary Water Issues

Experience of the GEF - sponsored

GEF/UNDP/WB: Nile Transboundary Environmental Action Project
GEFID: 1094

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
transboundary issues provides the riparian

countries with a major opportunity to make
GEF Small Grants Programme
significant progress towards their economic and

environmental goals in ways that have proved
Since its inception in 1992, the Global
difficult to achieve independently. Project
Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants
activities include capacity building, training,
Programme (SGP) has been promoting
environmental education and awareness raising,
grassroots action to address global
knowledge and information sharing,
environmental concerns. SGP aims to deliver
development of a decision support system,
global environmental benefits in the GEF focal
communications, environmental monitoring and
area of biodiversity conservation, climate
field activities at selected pilot sites. Diverse
change mitigation, protection of international
stakeholder groups will be encouraged to work
waters, prevention of land degradation (primarily
together, both within their own countries and
desertification and deforestation), and
with counterparts in other riparian countries, to
elimination of persistent organic pollutants
help build the mutual understanding,
through community-based approaches. SGP is
relationships and trust that are essential to joint
a corporate programme of the GEF. It is
problem-solving.
implemented by UNDP and executed by

UNOPS.
As of March 2007, the NTEAP has funded 179

Micro-grant Projects, 36 School based learning
Currently THE SGP has 101 country programs
projects and 21 nationally selected community
in developing countries. SGP applies a
based projects.
community-based approach and targets a

special group of stakeholders of the global
THE EXPERIENCE
environment, i.e. the vulnerable, disadvantaged,

and poor communities. As of March 2007, THE
Issue and Challenge
GEF SGP has funded more than 8,190

community-based projects worldwide. These
Unlike other lessons learned notes, this
projects have paid special attention to meeting
"Lessons Learned Note" does not intend to
GEF's environmental objectives while at the
capture the good experiences of a single
same time achieving poverty reduction and local
program or project, but documents the
empowerment objectives. Special concern is
experiences and lessons learned from creating a
also given to local and indigenous communities
synergy and fostering an integrated approach
as well as gender concerns.
between various levels of interventions of the

GEF. While SGP's rationale is local and
Nile River Transboundary Environment Action
community-based, the NTEAP takes a regional
Project
approach. There seems a gap between the two

levels of intervention. The question is how to
The objective of NTEAP is to provide a strategic
establish a linkage and forge a working
environmental framework for the
relationship between various levels of
environmentally sustainable development of the
interventions of GEF, and ensure a most cost-
Nile River Basin, to improve the understanding
effective mode of action from a GEF standpoint.
of the relationship between water resources

development and environmental conservation in
Addressing the Issue
the Basin, and to provide a forum to discuss

development paths for the Nile with a wide
In 2004, a strategic partnership was developed
range of stakeholders. Focusing on
between SGP and NTEAP to ensure greater
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impact by the two programs, with an integrated
those countries; they have also assisted in the
management approach and in a cost-effective
design and development of the National Action
way. Through this partnership, SGP's model
Plans for the Micro-grant Programs, as well as in
was replicated at the regional level by NTEAP
the design and development of the training
through the creation and implementation of a
programs for the NGOs and CBOs. The
micro-grant component of the regional project.
coaching to the micro-grant coordinators has
The institutional arrangements, modalities and
also proven to be quite valuable in the
rules and procedures of SGP were extended to
successful launch of the Program.
and learnt by NTEAP.


A training manual on the Monitoring and
The Program started implementation in 2004
Evaluation of micro-grants was developed by the
through a regional launch held in Khartoum,
NTEAP project in collaboration with the SGP
Sudan in December 2004. The SGP
Coordinators of the Nile Basin countries. The
Coordinators of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and
purpose of the manual is to provide guidance
Uganda were all present in that workshop.
and orientation to micro-grant coordinators,
Currently there are 179 projects in the nine Nile
NGO trainers and other potential trainers
Basin Initiative countries under the micro-grant
working with NGOs in the NTEAP countries. The
component of NTEAP. The total amounts
manual provides information that would be
committed have exceeded 4.085 million US
useful to the trainers when they are conducting
dollars. The first countries to approve MG
their training sessions at the local NGOs or
projects were the SGP countries which had
community level. It also provides definitions,
sound institutional structures in place (national
concepts and some practical examples and case
steering committees and SGP national
studies that may be used by the trainers when
coordinators).
conducting their M&E training activities to micro-

grant grantees. Each training session within the
Institutional Arrangement
manual has some training slides for presentation

purposes and an explanatory note that explains
SGP has a country programme in six Nile River
the slides. The trainers may also supplement the
riparian countries, including Egypt, Ethiopia,
information provided in the manual by additional
Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. It has
data and case studies to correspond to the local
established a national steering committee in
context of the given country. This manual has
each of the country programme, reviewing and
been tested in three of the Nile riparian countries
approving country program strategies and
and has been adjusted based on the feedback
projects to support the implementation of the
generated through those field testing trials.
strategies. SGP has an established institutional
Feedback and experiences from the SGP on
arrangement that has been fully utilized by
monitoring and evaluation issues were also
NTEAP micro grant component. Through the
incorporated to enhance the module.
collaboration of the SGP National Coordinators,

NTEAP micro grant component approves its
The micro-grants program has developed a
projects via the national steering committee
database of all projects. Even though this
mechanism of the SGP with an addition of two
database is at its infancy stage, some of the Nile
members, a Technical Advisory Committee
Basin countries with SGP are making use of the
(TAC) member of the Nile Basin Initiative and a
SGP data base to enter the micro-grants
representative of the environmental host
projects. It is hoped that in the future all micro-
institution of the country.
grant projects, in the eight Nile Basin countries

with SGP projects, will be integrated into the
Capacity Building and Technical Assistance
national SGP database.


In three countries, namely Ethiopia, Rwanda and
RESULTS AND LEARNING
Uganda both the SGP and micro-grants

coordinators share the same office and rental
The NTEAP MG benefited from that of the SGP
costs. The SGP has been quite instrumental in
structure and experiences in getting a good
the implementation aspects of the Program. The
start. Since the beginning of the NTEAP MG,
SGP Coordinators of Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda,
SGP has contributed directly to the successful
Uganda and Tanzania have helped in the
implementation of the micro-grant component of
recruitment of the micro-grant coordinators of
NTEAP through: sharing of institutional
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arrangement; capacity building and technical
The significance of the partnership lies in the
assistance; and networking and exchange of
natural complementarities between a regional
information.
project and a locally driven program. NTEAP

provides a regional vision and serves a regional
Networking and Exchange of Information
forum for community-based actions, while SGP

serves a delivery mechanism for local actions.
The SGP Coordinators have participated in

three regional
micro-grants workshops
As the Lead Specialist of the NTEAP Micro-
organized by NTEAP. Their role was
Grants Program stated, the Nile Transboundary
instrumental in sharing their experiences of SGP
Micro-grants Program was designed as a replica
projects with the view of capturing some best
of the successful GEF Small Grants Program.
practices and lessons learnt. They have also
Even though the Micro-grants Program
provided valuable inputs to help some countries
addresses one area of global significance
in adopting the SGP model for implementing
(international Waters), it does in many aspects
projects at the grass root level. An example is a
also address the SGP focal areas on
presentation made by the SGP Coordinator of
Biodiversity and Land Degradation as far as they
Kenya to government officials in Ethiopia about
relate to the environment of the Nile Basin To a
the SGP and its successes. The experience has
great extent, the success of the entire Nile
convinced the Ethiopians to adopt the module
Transboundary Micro-grants Program rests on
and eventually Ethiopia became an SGP
the collaboration with the SGP as it draws on the
country.
experience of the SGP not only in the design but

in the implementation of activities as well.
Exchange visits from non-SGP countries to SGP

countries have proven to be quite valuable to
From the SGP point of view, NTEAP provides a
NSC members of non SGP countries as it
regional vision to ensure a coherent regional
allowed them to interact with their peers from
perspective of community-based actions and
SGP countries and share the experiences. The
serves a regional forum for knowledge transfer.
interaction has proven quite valuable as at least
Further, it is a natural replication mechanism for
two projects (Water Hyacinth and Soil Erosion
SGP to generate greater transboundary impacts.
control) will be replicated in non-SGP countries.


REFERENCES
REPLICATION


GEF Small Grants Programme
Replication of the partnership arrangement has
(http://www.undp.org/sgp)
been achieved at the regional and global level.
Sulan Chen
- Programme Specialist--
In the Nile River basin, the partnership between
International Waters
SGP and NTEAP demonstrates a mechanism
Tel: 1-212-906-5842, Email:
for replication of local models at the regional
Sulan.Chen@undp.org
scale. The design of NTEAP's micro-grant

component is modeled after SGP, with the
Nile Transboundary Environment Action
activities built on experiences gained by SGP.
Program (http://www.nileteap.org)
NTEAP provides a channel for SGP to influence
Amir Baker - Micro-grants Lead Specialist
and change policy-making at the regional level
Email: abaker@nilebasin.org
in cooperative management of its Nile River

Basin.
KEYWORDS


At the global level, the experience of a strategic
S River Basin
partnership between a regional IW project and
S Community-based actions
SGP can be replicated by other river/lake basins
S Watershed Management
and regional seas. Regional approaches and
S Partnership
local community-based approaches are naturally
S Institutional Arrangement
complementary to each other, and will contribute
S Capacity-building
to the overall objectives of GEF.
S Networking

S Information Exchange
SIGNIFICANCE



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The Global Environment Facility (GEF)
International Waters Experience Notes series
helps the transboundary water management
(TWM) community share its practical
experiences to promote better TWM.
Experiences include successful practices,
approaches, strategies, lessons, methodologies,
etc., that emerge in the context of TWM.

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