AARHUS CONVENTION

Capacity-building framework
Coordination meetings
Suvery on capacity building
National Profiles Program
Thematic and Regional Workshops

Capacity-building activities

The first meeting of the Parties to the Convention (Lucca, Italy, 21-23 october 2002) requested the secretariat to continue with its efforts to develop the clearing house mechanism and capacity-building service (see Decision I/10 E F R) as a means to adequately address the need for coordinated and systematic assistance to the implementation of the Convention, primarily in countries in transition.

In connection with this mandate a broad capacity-building framework has been set up to streamline and rationalize capacity-building activities and promote synergies. The framework, facilitated by the Convention’s secretariat, involves some of the main international organizations involved in capacity building under the Convention. Also in connection with this mandate the secretariat had provided further information on the capacity building activities in a report to the second meeting of the Parties (available in English, French and Russian).

The partner organizations involved in the framework’s activities over the last year include:

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC)
Central Asian Regional Environmental Centre (CAREC)
Milieukontakt Oost-Europa
The Access Initiative (TAI)
European ECO Forum

Coordination meetings

Four partner meetings have been held since 2003 in the context of the framework

The 1st meeting
The objective of the meeting, held in Geneva 30 September 2003, was get an overview of ongoing activities, to discuss the input to the EAP Task Force meeting in Paris the week after and, thirdly, to provide for an opportunity to consider longer-term questions on the promotion of the principles laid down in the Convention. The meeting was very well attended by both UN-bodies and NGOs.

Document	English
List of Participants (Geneva, 30 September 2003)
Report

The 2nd meeting
The secretariat convened the second annual coordination meeting for international and regional organizations in Geneva in November 2004, at which the participants reported on their capacity-building activities. In order to gather further information, the secretariat subsequently carried out a survey of projects and programmes implemented by these organizations since the first meeting of the Parties . The survey aimed to assist with the review and assessment of capacity-building initiatives and to identify any resources such as materials, staff or office resources that were or would become available for use in other capacity-building activities in a particular country or region. It also attempted to identify the important lessons with regard to the implementation of the Convention learned in the course of the projects’ implementation, as well as any lessons learned related to the project implementation itself. Finally, it looked at needs and challenges identified during the implementation of projects, further assistance needed and any follow-up foreseen as being needed.

Document	English
List of Participants (Geneva, 4 November 2004)

The 3rd meeting
The 3rd meeting of international organizations was held on 17-18 November 2005. Information provided at the meeting and its main outcomes are reflected in the Note by the Secretariat on Capactiy Building Activities (available in English, French and Russian).

Document	English	French	Russian
List of Participants (Geneva, 4 November 2004)		n/a	n/a
Note by the Secretariat on Capactiy Building Activities
Presentation of the secretariat on the proposed incorporation of capacity-building information in the clearing house		n/a	n/a
Presentation of the secretariat on the use of national implementation reports as sources of information on capacity building		n/a	n/a
Presentation on OSCE activities		n/a	n/a
Presentation on CAREC activities		n/a	n/a
Presentation of the REC on component 3.4 of the UNEP-GEF Danube regional project		n/a	n/a
Presentation of the REC on the project on mediation and ADR		n/a	n/a
Presentation of the REC on the capacity-building on the Aarhus Convention implementation in the South-East Europe

The 4th meeting
The 4th meeting of international organizations was held on 4 December 2006. Information excahnged by the meeting participants is summarized in teh Note by the Secretariat which is being prepared by the 7th meeting of the Working Group of the Parties (2-4 May 2007).

Document	English
List of Participants (Geneva, 4 December 2006)

Survey on Capacity Building

The questionnaire aiming to identify priority capacity-building constraints as well as outputs and lessons of capacity-building initiatives was presented at the 6th meeting of the Working Group of Parties. The questionnaire has also been sent to the Parties, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. It aimed to identify priority constraints in the implementation of the Convention at national and local level and steps required to overcome these problems. The survey also asked for an overview and assessment of the ongoing capacity-building activities, including those undertaken by the Parties themselves.

Responses were provided by Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Malta and Romania as well as by NGOs from Azerbaijan and Bulgaria and by CAREC. These have been taken into account in preparation of the note on capacity building for the 7th meeting of the Working Group of Parties. The questionnaire and original responses are available from the table below.

Questionnaire in English	eng
Questionnaire in Russian	rus
Armenia	rus
Belarus	rus
Bulgaria	eng
Georgia	eng
Malta	eng
Romania	eng
NGO from Azerbaijan	rus
Bluelink (Bulgaria)	eng
CAREC	eng

National Profiles Program

In early 2003, UNECE together with UNITAR developed the pilot programme to assist c ountries in preparing a national profile to assess their capacities to implement the Aarhus Convention. It provides participating countries with a methodology for a comprehensive multistakeholder process of assessing capacities and needs on the national level. The national profile documents prepared in the context of the project will provide an indication of what steps are required to implement the Convention effectively and will also facilitate identification of priorities for targeted capacity-building. The partner institutions developed a guidance document establishing the main areas and methodology for the development of national profiles, selected Kyrgyzstan, Serbia and Montenegro, and Tajikistan as pilot countries, and worked together with the national project coordination teams on the preparation of the profiles. The national profiles have so far been developed in two of the three pilot countries. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan also used the multistakeholder consultative process and the information in the national profiles to prepare of their national implementation reports under decision I/8 of the Meeting of the Parties. The methodology, which will be further improved, based on the feedback received in the course of project implementation, will be made available to other Parties and organizations.

Thematic and regional workshops

Workshop on good practices in public participation at the local level Newcastle Upon Tyne (United Kingdom), 6-7 December 1999

First Central Asian Workshop Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), 4-8 May 2000

First South Caucasus Workshop Tbilisi (Georgia), 11-13 December 2000

Second South Caucasus Workshop Tsakhkadzor (Armenia) 15-17 November 2001

Second Central Asia Workshop in Dushanbe (Tajikistan), 4-7 June 2002: (English) (Russian)

National Workshop in Kyrgyzstan (Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan), 9-11 October 2003: programme (English), summary of discussions (Russian), workshop outcome (Russian)