United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Global Environmental Finance The UNDP Global Environmental Finance (UNDP-GEF) Unit partners with environmental vertical funds to support countries with simultaneous eradication of poverty and significant reduction of inequalities and exclusion, by catalysing environmental finance for sustainable development. The UNDP-GEF Unit provides programming and implementation support services to countries in the following areas: o Sustainable management of ecosystem goods and services; o Scaling up of climate change adaptation and mitigation; o Sustainable, affordable and accessible energy services; o Sustainable management of chemicals and waste; and o Improved water and ocean governance. The principal environmental vertical funds UNDP partners with are those managed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), including the GEF Trust Fund (GEF TF), Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund (NPIF), Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), and Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF).  In addition, UNDP is an accredited entity for the Adaptation Fund (AF) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The UNDP–GEF business model involves a three-tier structure of oversight and specialised technical assistance that supports the delivery of high-quality services to each vertical fund. The three-tiers are: (a) UNDP Country Offices; (b) UNDP-GEF region-based technical advisers (RTAs); and (c) UNDP-GEF global principal technical advisers (PTAs). UNDP’s comparative advantage for the GEF lies in its global network of country offices, its experience in integrated policy development, human resources development, institutional strengthening, and non-governmental and community participation. UNDP assists countries in designing and implementing activities consistent with both the GEF mandate and national sustainable development plans. In the context of the OKACOM UNDP through GEF has taken a leading role in supporting several initiatives, which includes the design and implementation of the “Environmental Protection and Sustainable Management of the Okavango River Basin” project with FAO as the executing agency and the “Support to the Cubango-Okavango River Basin Strategic Action Programme Implementation” project with OKACOM as the executing agency.