Facilitating NGO and Community Initiatives 16 The Small Grants Programme (SGP), funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), United Nation Development Program (UNDP), seeks to support initiatives which demonstrate community-based innovative, gender sensitive, participatory approaches and lessons learned from other development projects that lead to reduced threats to the local and global environment. The GEF SGP was launched in 1991 by the UNDP to assist developing countries to fulfill their commitment towards the protection of the global environment. The SGP is sourced with a belief that the global environmental problems can only be addressed adequately if the local people are involved in the planning, decision making and sharing of roles and responsibilities at all levels. Even with small amounts of funding, communities can undertake activities which will make a significant difference in their livelihoods and the environment. UNDP GEF SGP is currently offered in 103 countries worldwide. The programme started in India from the year 1996-1997. The UNDP and the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India (GOI) jointly administer the SGP. It is being implemented by the CEE as the National Host Institution (NHI) since September 2000. CEE currently implements 240 different projects reaching more than 600 villages with a total population of more than 6,00,000. The emphasis is more on establishing low cost, low external input and easy to manage technologies and social mechanisms to enhance livelihoods. 16.1.1 Programme Approach In India, the programme is implemented through a decentralized system of Regional offices in order to reach out to the remote, unreachable and inaccessible poverty ridden areas of the country. It aims to provide a countrywide coverage and also address the local issues more appropriately, leading to better livelihoods for the poor. While the strategy has been very effective in drawing out the NGOs and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to address the issues in a more sustainable matter, there is a need felt to involve the people s initiatives through the CBOs. This demands greater hand holding at the grass roots levels and at different stages within the SGP. CEE has always been sensitive to the evolving processes within the SGP and reflect on how it can be continuously improvised. 16.1.2 Programme Methodology The Regional Committees are the first level review process in overseeing the effectiveness of the project proposals under the SGP. Given the continuous success of the SGP nation wide, CEE is increasingly looking at ways and means to mainstream the priorities of the state governments, creating a better interface between the governments and the responsive NGOs and CBOs. Learning from the past will give greater ability to the SGP to be more responsive in addressing the issues effectively. The changing scenario also requires cutting the costs at various levels. 16.1.3 Objectives of the UNDP GEF SGP Promote innovative local responses that could reduce threats to the global environment in one or more of the now five UNDP GEF thematic areas, viz. Conservation of Biodiversity, Climate Change, Protection of International Waters, Ozone Depletion and the recently added 129
Prevention of Land Degradation and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). Develop community level strategies and implement technologies that could reduce threats to the global environment if they are replicated over time and space. Gather lessons on the responsive ways of project implementation from community level experiences and initiate the sharing of. successful community level strategies and innovations among CBOs and NGOs, host governments, development aid agencies, GEF and others working from a regional to global scale. Build partnerships and networks of stakeholders to support and strengthen the community, NGOs and state capacities to address global environmental problems enabling sustainable development. Ensure that conservation and sustainable development strategies and projects that protect the global environment are understood, practiced and replicated by communities and other key stakeholders. 16.1.4 National Steering Committee (NSC) Meetings Three NSC meetings were held in the year to finalise the Country Programme Strategy (CPS) and approve new projects. The 20 th meeting of the NSC held in April 2007 was primarily focused on the finalization of the Country Programme Strategy and making it available in the public domain i.e. through the websites and other means of exchanging information. Detailed discussions were held on the programme guidelines and how the programme can be made more accessible by the local communities in the difficult-to-reach areas of the country. Discussions were also held on developing a strategy to work with the private sector. In the 21 st NSC held in June 2007, 15 proposals (5 planning grants) were approved, 15 were recommended for revision and 7 proposals were Not Approved. The NSC members discussed the issue of creating better financial sustainability for the programme. The UNDP CO also confirmed that they have agreed to co-finance to the tune of 700,000 USD for the SGP programme from its internal sources for the next two years. The MoEF GOI also agreed to extend more co-financing for the programme. The 22 nd NSC held in November 2007 approved 8 proposals; 9 were recommended for revision and one proposal was Not Approved. One SGP project was also closed after due deliberations. So far, 13 projects have been sanctioned under the Planning Grants System of the SGP. The GOI also agreed to extend full support from the GEF Resource Allocation Framework (RAF) and provided the maximum possible allocation of 2.4 million USD for the next three years with a maximum of 0.8 million USD per year. 16.2 South South Grants Facility (SSGF) The SSGF which was launched by the Global Environment Facility for Disaster Risk Management in December 2004 has been successfully completed. The workshop on Sharing Innovative Experiences successful experiences on livelihood development in communities affected by the tsunami was held during September 5-8, 2007. 130
The National Coordinator and Knowledge Management & Communication Facilitator Ms. Devyani Rana, along with the SSGF-SGP partners, attended the workshop. The interventions of the Indian partner C-DOT were very well appreciated. A global documentation is under preparation. 16.3 Capacity Development Initiative (CDI) The Inception Workshop on The Support that is being extended by the UNDP CO India for Capacity Development Initiatives of the GEF Cell and the GEF UNDP SGP was held as a part of the 22 nd NSC Meeting held in November 2007. The NC and Ms. Devyani Rana, Knowledge Management & Communications Facilitator, UNDP made a detailed presentation on the Project Overview and the other modalities of the support. The UNDP CO aims to provide support to the MoEF in coordinating activities related to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in India. The project has the twin objectives and components: Support to The GEFCell The GEF Cell was set up in the MoEF with UNDP help in 1999, to provide support to the Ministry in coordinating GEF related activities in India. Presently, it assists MoEF: by providing advisory support for the formulation of the GEF projects; in processing GEF projects for endorsement by the GEF Operational Focal Point India. This involves coordination with the concerned line ministries of GOI, state governments, GEF agencies and other stakeholders and conducting the meetings of the GEF Empowered Committee on a quarterly basis; in preparing for GEF Council meetings; in coordinating UNDP/GEF National Capacity Needs Self Assessment (NCSA) project; in conducting national workshops / meetings like GEF National Dialogue, GEF Constituency meeting and GEF Project Development Session. GEF s Resource Allocation Framework (RAF) began in July 2006. Under the RAF, India is eligible to access more than 120 million USD as GEF grant in the next four years. The GEF Secretariat is laying strong emphasis on strategic utilization of the RAF. India has completed the focal area Programmatic Approach on Climate Change and Land Degradation. The Programmatic Approach for Biodiversity is being prepared. The capacity of the GEF Cell to coordinate while effectively accessing, utilizing and monitoring GEF resources for sustained national and global environmental benefits will be enhanced further under the support. Support to the GEF UNDP Small Grants Programme Support will be provided to the GEF UNDP SGP India program for funding projects for scaling up and replication to the tune of USD 700,000 in the next two years. This would augment the SGP India graduation process through the GEF RAF allocation, in the scaling up of its best practices and to generate more resources from other donor agencies working in India. The copy of the relevant letter from the UNDP CO to GEF UNDP SGP, India was shared with the NSC. The fund will be used for: 131
Scaling up and replication of successful pilot initiatives under the GEF UNDP SGP with the focus primarily on the 7 UNDAF states of Rajasthan, Uttananchal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh; with provision for some to be considered in other areas also. Capacity building of local communities and SGP India team at the NHI; knowledge and sharing activities between partners is also being considered. Funds from the UNDP CO will be used to scale-up and replicate projects that are community driven and coordinated on the basis of the following principles: (i) Marginal and isolated communities, including tribals and women, where the basic development baseline has not been met and who have poor access to resources from both formal and informal funding agencies. (ii) Encourage and ensure equal participation and representation from all the socio-economic sections of the community. Local institution building will be one of the main drivers for this. (iii) Encourage, build and support publicprivate-community partnerships at the national, state and local level to make each SGP intervention sustainable. (iv) The projects under the UNDP CO core funding will be designed to have more focus on the sustainable livelihood aspects with emphasis on capacity building, enterprise development, institutionalization, micro credit activities and sustainable development. 16.4 GEF UNDP SGP CEE Southern Region The following activities have been carried out between April 2007 and March 2008: Wider circulation of information regarding the GEF UNDP SGP focal areas have been carried out for 16 prospective NGO/CBOs visiting the office of the CEE South. An average of 2-3 project concepts and applications has been responded to via email per working day during the reporting period. Fifty five proposals and 24 concept papers were reviewed and comment notes sent to the applicant organizations. Final evaluation was carried out for the following three projects and a report of the evaluation submitted to the National Coordinator (NC), GEF UNDP SGP. (a) Restoration of degraded tropical rainforests and abandoned plantations, and monitoring recovery of native plants, birds and invertebrates in southern Western Ghats, India implemented by the Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore (b) Conservation and revival of indigenous fodder resources for sustainable livelihoods implemented by the Green Foundation, Bangalore (c) Conservation of Wildfruit Trees in Eastern Fringes of Western Ghat Region implemented by the Tropical Research and Development Centre, Bangalore The Midterm Evaluation of the project titled GHG emission reductions through 132
use of energy efficient technologies by textile processing units in Tamilnadu, being implemented by Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE), Bangalore has been carried out and the report submitted to the NC. Discussions were held with various NGOs/CBOs on developing proposals for SGP projects. A discussion was held with the staff of Sahayoga and Centre for Sustainable Development to ascertain the reasons for delays in project implementation. After critical observation, a decision was made to change the project concept and submit a fresh proposal to the Regional Committee meeting(rcm). The Regional Committee (RC) meeting was held on 20 February 2007 for scrutiny of the SGP project proposals of south Indian region. A brief appraisal of the SGP activities carried out by the southern regional cell was discussed with the members. Overall the GEF UNDP Regional Desk Southern Region, received five project proposals that were eligible to be placed before the RC, out of which, three were scaling-up projects and two were regular projects. After critical examining each proposal, the RC has recommended the two scaling up projects with minor modifications and clarification from the respective NGOs. Among the regular projects one project is recommended with minor modifications and another is placed in the not recommended category. GEF UNDP SGP staff from the southern region attended the annual meet of the programme at Ahmedabad. 16.5 UNDP GEF SGP CEE Central In the corresponding year, three Regional Committee meetings (RCm) were organized in the region, of which the subsequent National Steering Committee (NSC) meeting for the last RCm is awaited. After the first two RCm, nine proposals were recommended by the RC for approval and a total of six projects and two planning grants were awarded by the NSC. The RC at CEE Central, Pune undertook an exercise to revise various formats of SGP based on past experiences of programme implementation. The suggestions were submitted to the National Coordinator during the annual meeting. Mid term Evaluations of six organizations and Final Evaluations of three partner organizations from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Goa were carried out during this year. Final evaluations of three organizations, viz. Jagrut Mahila Samaj Chandrapur, Gramjyot Sanstha Yavatmal and Pradeepan Sanstha Baitul were also carried out. In Maharashtra, four SGP partners were linked to Maharashtra Gene Bank Project initiated by the state government through Agharkar Research Institute, under the guidance of Prof. Madhav Gadgil. The programme aims to promote conservation of seeds, forest, wetlands, mangroves and endangered species involving local people through a process of documentation, prioritization and conservation, thereby promoting the sustainable use of natural resources. 16.6 UNDP GEF SGP CEE East CEE Delhi handled the UNDP GEF SGP in Orissa, West Bengal and Jharkhand with the 133
assistance of CEE East. There were four ongoing projects in these states and six new projects were processed during the year. The Regional Committee for this region was reconstituted. 16.7 ICEE Carbon Offset through GEF UNDP SGP Projects The SGP in CEE carried out an initiative to help the partners of the Fourth International Conference on Environmental Education (ICEE) to offset their air travel emissions, thereby attempting to make the conference carbon neutral. The main objective of the Carbon Offset Programme was to provide carbon offset certificates and share the funds raised through the Voluntary Emission Reductions (VER) with the communities of chosen NGO projects. It also aimed to upscale and replicate the model developed at the grassroots by the GEF UNDP SGP India projects. For this initiative, CEE partnered with a technical expert - Asia Carbon Emission Management India Pvt. Ltd. Four GEF UNDP SGP India projects, viz. Andhyodaya, Chatrasal Seva Sansthan, IBTADA, Sarvangeen Vikas Samiti have been selected for being developed into Voluntary Emission Reduction (VERs) projects for the travel offset at the conference, based on the volume of carbon mitigation achieved by the projects. It was decided that the SGP partner will invest the funds generated from the trading of VERs into scaling up and replicating the model developed at the grassroots level through the projects, maintenance of the assets developed under the projects and monitoring of the carbon savings and reporting throughout the lifecycle of the projects developed for thinvestment of VERs. 16.8 Partnership with the Private Sector As part of creating linkages with the private sector, GEF UNDP SGP has been working on initiatives with organizations interested sustainable models of development. 16.8.1 Partnership between Reliance Energy Ltd. and GEF UNDP SGP, CEE A study was undertaken for Reliance Energy Ltd. Focusing on the assessment of the socioeconomic status of the people and the impact of the Rosa Thermal Power Station project, Shahjanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on the local livelihoods and lives of the communities who had lost land due to the project start up. A final report on this study conducted on 13 villages near the Rosa project has been submitted to Reliance. CEE was also asked to suggest measures that need to be adopted for providing better livelihoods for the affected communities who lost their lands due to the establishment of the thermal power unit. The report has been accepted well. A proposal for Livelihood and Natural Resource-based development interventions over a period of five years has been submitted to the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and is under discussion. 16.8.2 Orissa Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) Project A similar study was undertaken for the Orissa Renewable Energy Development Agency (OREDA) in Mayurbhanj district, Orissa. An informal meeting of CEE experts with the Mayurbhanj district level officials, OREDA 134
officials, officials of the different government departments at the block level, was held to discuss how the survey for establishing a village energy security programme in particular disctrict/ blocks and selected remote villages can be made more effective through participatory planning processes. The village micro-planning was initiated through meetings with the CEO, and other higher officials of OREDA, Bhubaneswar. The aim of the project is electrification through nonconventional energy sources of those unelectrified remote census villages and remote un-electrified hamlets of electrified census villages, where grid connectivity is either not feasible or not cost effective. Ten villages have been selected for this - Purnapani, Kusumtota, Jamtalia, Baribeda, Khadighati, Bhadukacha, Fhuljhara, Jarkani, Kukurbhuka and Badnedam. The CEE team adopted a participatory micro planning process (PPP) approach and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methodology for this project. The duration of the project is 45 days from 11 th March 2008. 16.9 Outreach of SGP India The National Coordinator and Dr. D. P. Rath participated in the 23 rd International Conference on Solid Waste Technology and Management held at Philadelphia, PA, USA between March 30 - April 02, 2008. During the workshop, they made two presentations Alternative Models to Municipal Solid Waste Management Practices and A Community Livelihoods- Enterprise Approach in Managing Industrial Waste with Private Sector. The NC also chaired two sessions viz. Session 1 A: Recycling 1 & Session 4 E: Workshop on Sponge Iron Plants. On Days 2 and 3 of the workshop, two poster presentations were made on the GEF SGP India projects. More than 100 practitioners, scientists and academicians attended the programme. Many in-country contacts were made with NGOs and CBOs. The participants showed great interest in the GEF UNDP SGP its way of working, community involvement and ownerships, environment related benefits and especially the micro- planning approach adopted by SGP India. Certificates of merit for chairing the sessions and for good poster presentations were awarded to the NC. Special meetings were held with some of the participants from West Virginia (Monongalia County Solid Waste Authority), Poland, Luxemburg, Ecuador and Egypt. In joint meetings, the Monongalia County Solid Waste Authority, West Virginia, showed great interest in establishing mutual partnership and organising exchange visits, to learn from India s experience in waste management with greater community ownership models. Discussions and focused meetings resulted in the signing of an MoU. This was a very positive outcome during the four days and was in fact the only formal arrangement that happened during the workshop. 16.10 Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) Initiatives A consultation of civil society members was organized on the 12 th and 13 th of March 2008, at the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Ahmedabad, to provide inputs for the preparation of the Country Strategy/Report for the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD). This was in keeping with the spirit of CSD which has encouraged 135
dialogue and built partnerships for sustainable development with governments, civil society, the international community and the major groups identified in Agenda 21, and recognizing that civil society in India has played a positive role in the thinking and action on the evolving paradigm of sustainable development and building social capital. CEE, as the National Host Institution for the GEF UNDP SGP and also the nodal agency for the implementation of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) in India, facilitated the consultations through the NC SGP. Around 40 participants representing NGOs, GEF UNDP SGP partners, government, scientific and research institutions reviewed the draft reports of the UN Secretary General on the 16 themes of CSD and helped in capturing the SD perspectives within a diverse country like India. Case studies and examples which could be considered as best practices were also shared during the two day consultations. The report of the consultation was presented at the meeting of the National Consultative Group on CSD at the MoEF, New Delhi on 19 th March 2008. This illustrates how the lessons from and the sustainable methods of working of the GEF UNDP SGP are being shared and mainstreamed to influence policy issues in the country. The funds for the programme were totally leveraged from the Government of India. 16.11 Knowledge Management The SGP India website www.sgpindia.org is being updated regularly and all the information relevant to the SGP is being shared with all the stakeholders. As an initiative for the wider dissemination of information, all SGP partners are being encouraged to publish the SGP project experience in the form of brochures/ leaflets and circulate them widely. Nearly 10 such brochures have been made on different projects. The newly renovated water reservoir at villlage Padmkeda 136