The Bali Strategic Plan for Technology Support and Capacity-building was approved by the 23rd session of UNEP Governing Council in February 2005. The Plan was first adopted by the High-level g[Open-ended] Intergovernmental Working Group on an Intergovernmental Strategic Plan for Technology Support and Capacity-building at its third session, in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2004.
The Bali Strategic Plan constitutes an intergovernmentally agreed approach to strengthen technology support and capacity building in developing countries, as well as countries with economies in transition. It seeks to strengthen the capacity of Governments of developing countries and of countries with economies in transition at all levels and provide systematic, targeted, long- and short-term measures for technology support and capacity building. Another objective of the Plan is to promote, facilitate, and finance access to and support for environmentally sound technologies and corresponding know-how.
The Plan also aims to enhance delivery by UNEP of technology support and capacity building based on best practices from both within and outside UNEP. In particular, the Plan seeks improving coordination of disparate efforts to strengthen capacity by various multilateral and bilateral institutions. It does so by providing a framework for strengthening cooperation among UNEP, multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), and other bodies engaged in environmental capacity building, including the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), civil society, and other relevant stakeholders. Thus, for example, UNEP and UNDP signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the end of 2004 to improve cooperation in environmental capacity development and to ensure that environmental considerations are incorporated in the mainstream of sustainable development policies and activities. The Plan seeks to enable collaboration with all relevant stakeholders and provide a basis for a comprehensive approach to developing partnerships, including g[public-private partnership]s. It emphasises the identification and dissemination of best practices and fostering of entrepreneurship and partnerships.
With respect to implementation of the Bali Strategic Plan, the Plan states that a bottom-up approach in identifying specific objectives, strategies, and activities will be used to reflect the needs of countries and regions. This bottom-up approach reflects the views and priorities expressed by Governments, while also considering views of relevant organisations and stakeholders. This approach also supports another tenet of the Bali Strategic Plan: the importance of national ownership of capacity building and technology support initiatives. Another important theme of the Plan is fostering South-South cooperation bilaterally, regionally, and globally as a mean to maximize and develop existing capacities in developing countries.
The Plan is relatively brief (it is nine pages long); in contrast, for example, Agenda 21 (the so-called “Blueprint for Sustainable Development”) was hundreds of pages long.
The nine-page Plan includes sections on objectives, strategic considerations, implementation, coordination mechanisms, and financial mechanisms.
In order to ensure that the implementation of the Plan reflects the specific needs of developing countries and countries with economies in transition, UNEP has undertaken a series of regional and subregional consultations to identify priorities and opportunities for technology support and capacity building. UNEP is also assisting countries to transform their sectoral needs assessments into a holistic identification of priorities through the development of National Capacity Building and Technology Support (NCBTS) Plans, which will provide a common blueprint or platform for interventions by all local and international actors. The NCBTS Plans also aim to enhance country-ownership of the capacity-building and technology-support and to enhance public participation in environmental decisionmaking and implementation. They will build upon existing assessments such as the GEF National Capacity Self-Assessment (for the Rio MEAs), National Environment Action Plans, Poverty Reduction Strategies, as well as the Poverty and Environment Initiative.
In support of the implementation of the Bali Strategic Plan, UNEP has developed an inventory of its capacity building and technology activities across all UNEP Divisions, including those undertaken directly by its Regional Offices. The database is arranged by category (according to the 13 cross-cutting issues and 19 thematic areas identified in the Bali Strategic Plan), by geographical focus (region and State), by type of capacity building (Systemic, Institutional, Individual), etc. UNEP will launch an online public access version, and a government portal will enable designated Governments to submit official requests for assistance to relevant UNEP Divisions. The database will also help UNEP to report on its activities related to State requests and its implementation of the Bali Strategic Plan.
The Bali Strategic Plan is available at http://www.unep.org/
GC/GC23/documents/GC23-6-add-1.pdf
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