Third meeting of the Executive Board of the Special Programme

The third 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 on 2-3 December 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The main objectives of this meeting were to consider the eligible and complete applications received for the 2nd round of applications, to update the draft resource mobilization and communications strategies, and to make conclusions from lessons learned from implementation of the approved projects in the 1st round of applications.

The launch of the second call for applications took place on 21 February 2017. By the deadline of 20 June 2017, 42 applications from 39 countries were received for the second round of applications, following regional breakdown: Africa: 12 applications; Asia and the Pacific: 19 applications; Central and Eastern Europe: 5 applications; Latin America and the Caribbean: 6 applications. At the third meeting of the Executive Board of the Special Programme, the Executive Board approved seventeen (17) projects during the second round amounting to US$ 5.1 million, taking into consideration, regional balance and the special needs of least developed countries and small island developing states, as follows:

• Afghanistan: Enhancing the sustainable institutional capacity to regulate toxic chemicals
• Belarus: Establish a sustainable national infrastructure to join and support the implementation of the Rotterdam Convention in the Republic of Belarus
• Brazil: Strengthening institutional capacity for Sound Management of Chemicals through the establishment of necessary structure to implement the national legislation on Industrial Chemicals
• China: Strengthening institutional capacity for the implementation of the Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata Conventions, and SAICM
• Ecuador: Strengthening of the National Control System for the Management of Dangerous Materials in Ecuador
• Gambia: Institutional Capacity Building for the Implementation of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements in the Gambia
• Ghana: Strengthening Institutional Capacity for the Sustainable Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste throughout their Life-Cycle and the Effective Implementation of the Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata Conventions and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) in Ghana
• India: Institutional capacity building for sustainable management of chemicals and wastes with Special Focus on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
• Kenya: Support to Chemicals and Waste MEAs and SAICM Implementation Kenya
• Kiribati: Strengthening legal systems, institutions and data collection infrastructure in Kiribati
• The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: Strengthening institutional capacities for mainstreaming quadruple synergy schemes in implementation of the National Action Plans (NAPs) for implementation of SAICM and inclusion of Minamata convention
• Republic of Moldova: Improving sustainable institutional and regulatory framework for chemicals and waste management throughout their lifecycle in the Republic of Moldova
• Nigeria: Strengthening of the legal ad institutional infrastructures for sound management of chemicals (SMC) in Nigeria
• Papua New Guinea: Strengthening the institutional framework and national capacity of key stakeholders in Papua New Guinea in waste and chemical management
• Serbia: Strengthening the synergies between Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata Convention at national level in the Republic of Serbia
• Uganda: Strengthening national institutional capacity in sound management of chemical and waste in Uganda
• Vietnam: Strengthening national capacity in sound chemical and waste management for the implementation of the Stockholm, Basel, Rotterdam, Minamata Conventions, SAICM in Vietnam