15 March 2012: A regional meeting for the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP) took place in the Pacific to provide training to national officers on the vision and strategy of the programme and SGP’s results-based management framework.

The meeting brought together national coordinators, sub-regional coordinators, and national focal points of the GEF SGP from Fiji, Tuvalu, Nauru, Samoa, Kiribati, Micronesia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. During the meeting, which took place in Sigatoka, Fiji, from 27 February – 2 March 2012, participants discussed ongoing projects, including their experiences with community-based approaches to biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, land degradation, international waters and chemicals.

The workshop opened with statements by: Delfin Ganapin, Global Manager, GEF SGP; Danielius Pivoriunas, GEF Senior Operations Officer; Asenaca Ravuvu, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Fiji Multi Country Office; and Jope Davetanivalu, GEF Operational Focal Point of the Government of Fiji.

Ganapin highlighted GEF SGP’s success in the Pacific, noting that the SGP in the region has raised US$3 million in co-financing from NZAID, as well as US$4 million from AusAID for Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) to climate change for Pacific Island Countries (PICs).

The workshop also included a ‘market place event’ where SGP Fiji grantees and partners showcased impacts and results of SGP projects in their various communities. This included: work implemented by Bird Life Fiji and Site Support Groups (SSGs) in the Natewa Peninsula; advocacy work on turtle conservation by the Mamanuca Environment Society; as well as climate change resilience and resource management activities led by Island Development Committees and WWF in the Lau Group. [GEF Press Release]