Knowledge fair pencilled for F/town

CHAKALISA DUBE
Staff Writer | Thursday October 18, 2012 00:00

The event, which is expected to attract between 100 and 150 participants from across Botswana, will be held at Adansonia Hotel.According to Birdlife Botswana director, Dr Kabelo Senyatso, the seminar will be conducted in collaboration with Global Environment Facility (GEF).

'The purpose of the fair is to improve awareness and understanding about the GEF and discuss best practices on how the environment can be used to fight poverty, sharing lessons learnt by former and current GEF grantees,' Senyatso explained. He added that the workshop will also disseminate information on what has been achieved by the GEF programme in Botswana over the past 20 years.

The director also indicated that the knowledge fair would be ideal to inform the participants, who are mostly community-based organisations, about other funding modalities and support organisations besides the GEF through its Small Grant Programme (SGP).

'We have invited many other agencies to present to the local community groups what support they can offer them,' he indicated. Senyatso shared that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative, Anders Pederson is expected to officiate at the event. Birdlife Botswana is membership-based biodiversity conservation and rural community upliftment orientated Non-Government Organisation (NGO) established in 1980.

The GEF on the other hand unites 182 member governments in partnership with international institutions, nongovernmental organisations, and the private sector to address global environmental issues.An independent financial organisation, the GEF mostly provides grants to developing countries and those with economies in transition for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer and persistent organic pollutants.  These projects benefit the global environment, linking local, national and global environmental challenges and promoting sustainable livelihoods.

Established in 1991, the GEF is today the largest funder of projects aimed at improving the global environment.The organisation has financed and co-financed more than 2,700 projects in more than 165 developing countries and countries with economies in transition through SGP. Through its SGP, GEF has also made small grants to more than 12,000 non-governmental and community-based organisations.