General

The on-going debate on governance and benefit sharing in the forest sector and the push for the recognition of participatory forest management options represents potential for communities to receive benefits from forest conservation effort. Equitable benef it sharing in PFM is considered one of the most important issues for community cohesion conflicts solving/managing and in enhancing community voice and good governance.Well managed benefit sharing models provide positive incentives to support forest conser vation-plus presents enormous potential benefits for forest communities. It also presents unprecedented potentials for raising incomes securing land rights and social development. On the other hand as a consequence of the increasing pressures on and value of forest lands connected with the creation and commercialization of products and services they are expected to generate also potential social and environmental cost with related unprecedented risks of conflict between stakeholder groups and interests if b enefits and costs sharing as well as governance issues are not properly and well addressed from the very beginning. This project aims to establish pilot projects on benefit sharing accompanied by the necessary governance issues in 3 forest blocks in Mount Kenya region. The project will establish a learning platform in a number of areas including analysing benefit/cost sharing aspect and governance issues. Key questions to be answered include 1) Who will benefit from PFM 2) Mode of payment 3) What are the e xpected costs and possible risks from PFM 4). What are the core aspects to be considered in formulating proper benefit sharing mechanism and adopting good governance principles.The overall goal of the proposed project: ?To enhance governance and institutio nal capacity of community forest associations (CFA) in managing the affairs of the forest including equitable benefit sharing.

General

There is a urgent need for provision of water and sanitation services as basic human right and enforcement of relevant regulations that affecting the improvement peri-urban settlements in Zambia which requires to be improved for both the livelihood and the environment. The Overall Objective of the Project is to Upscale the Implementation + Operationalise through Public Private Partnership the lessons learnt from Zambia Sustainable Sanitation Improvement Project (SSIP) a 6 years Longitudinal Action Oriented Research Recommendations implemented by NECOS + Its International Partner GDTF. The project will promote equal access to clean water better sanitation and safe environment for the targeted communities. For some time NECOS has been pioneering alternative me thods of providing sanitation services in peri-urban areas taking into account the need to protect contamination of underground water and the environment in general. The project promotes the assertion that equality between women and men is fundamental to t ackling poverty and promoting meaningful and lasting improvements in the quality of community life. The construction dry toilets will significantly expected to contribute to improved peri-urban areas if intervention actions are taken. NECOS strives to rais e the standard of living and improved community healthy to reduce the environment health risks and costs of public health importance. The project planned to construct 150 dry toilets + build on the achievements of the six (6 years) longitudinal action orie nted research on the social-cultural sanitation financing mechanisms and the upgrading of the peri urban living environment. The main beneficiaries of the proposed project are the vulnerable people in the four 4 Constituencies and 8 Wards with population e stimated at 18000 of the peri- urban residents including the councilors and area members of parliament. Project key activities include the construction of 150 Dry ToiletsFacilitating Policy Dialogue Workshops SMEs training + capacity building School WASHE + Community Hygiene PromotionStakeholder meetings Monitoring +EvaluationReport writings Policy Brief IECs Materials + Ecosan user manual developmentImproved Tenure security promotionUrban Small Scale farming promotionSanitation MarketingPromotion of Sanita tion Loan and Social Schemes introductionFacilitating student internships finalisingEcosan Curriculum Creating and Compilation of

General

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is a legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. The Convention aims to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought e specially in Africa. The Convention entered into force in 1996 and has currently 195 Parties. Finland ratifed the agreement in 1995.The Sessions of the Conference of the Parties (COP) are held on a biennial basis. The COP approves the budget of the Convent ion and the indicative scale of contributions to the core budget. The achievement of the UNCCD workplan objectives is dependent on voluntary support. The year 2014 is important for the UNCCD in preparing for the meetings for 2015 including the 3rd UNCCD sc ientific conference to be held in March 2015 and the COP 12 to be held in September 2015. The issues of combatting desertification and drought are also reflected in the global discussions on Post 2015 process as well as in the negotiations for a new global climate change agreement. The UNCCD Secretariat has made a proposal for the 2014 voluntary support by Finland. With the allocation of 400 000 euros Finland will support activies taken by the secretariat to enhance scientific knowledge on land-based adapta tion to organise the 3rd UNCCD scientific conference in Mexico in March 2015 to prepare a publication on drought to enhance rights-based approach to sustainable land management to prepare advocacy material on equitable access to land and to organise a Gend er Forum to be held at COP 12. In addition Finland will support developing country participation in the sessions of the COP and its subsidiary bodies. A significant part of Finland's previous support for the UNCCD has been targeted to regional coordination in developing countries and to support to developing country participation in the decision-making in the Convention processes. As a result the inclusion of the special needs of developing countries in the UNCCD negotiations has strengthened.