Strategic Partnership Among Benin, Bhutan and Costa Rica for Co-operation on Sustainable Development ( Program for South-south Cooperation)

General Information

Partnership website(s)

Expected Timeframe

May 2005 - December 2008

Partners

Governments: Government of Benin - Ministry of Planing, Beninese Centre for Sustainable Development (CBDD) Government of Bhutan - Ministry of Finance, Sustainable Development Secretariat (SDS) Government of Costa Rica - Ministry of Energy and Environment, Fundecooperation	Major Groups:
UN System:	Other intergovernmental organizations:
Other:

Thematic Focus

Primary Themes:

Gender equality
Changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production
Tourism
Energy for sustainable development
Biodiversity

Secondary Themes:

Geographic Coverage

Geographic Scope: Global
Country(ies) where the partnership is being implemented:
Benin, Bhutan, Costa Rica

National Focal Points

This partnership has made contact with the national focal points for sustainable development in the countries involved

Goals and Objectives

Summary of the partnership's goals and objectives

To promote sustainable development on a south-south basis through long term partnership between Benin, Bhutan and Costa Rica by implementing Agenda 21, program for further implementation of Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of implementation based on the principles of equality, participation and reciprocity. Recognizing that lasting poverty alleviation will be achieved only in the context of sustainable development, the partnership will seek to catalyze the transition to sustainability by supporting innovation in the policies, seeding initiatives and replicating success stories. As the first step to translate the vision and objectives of the partnership into concrete projects, a program for south-south co-operation (PSC) was launched in May 2005. Biodiversity conservation, sustainable tourism, sustainable chains of production and consumption and sustainable energy are the key themes with gender equality as cross cutting issue. The partnership will be implemented through policy dialogues, consultation and participation of the multi-interest groups with focus on pilot and reciprocal projects.

Targets and Progress

Partnership targets

Enhance peoples participation in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, to improve the quality of live of the communities;

Fostering Tourism initiatives, as means of promoting sustainable use of natural, social and cultural resources of communities, thus contributing to quality of life of the people with special reference to the involvement of gender;

Promote initiatives that enable demand-supply relationship of products that are produced in an environmentally friendly techniques and consumption on a sustainable basis;
Promote initiatives that contribute to the clean production and efficient use of energy thus reducing the pressure on the environment and making alternative sources and uses of energy accessible to the broader public.

Progress against targets

A Multi-Year-Plan (MYP) for 2006-2008 has been prepared by the partner countries from and the Annual Plan for 2006 is ready for implementation.

The Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) met in Costa Rica and reviewed the MYP and provided further guidance to finalize the MYP (Oct 2005).

The National Mechanism (lead agencies) also met in Costa Rica to incorporate the comments of the JMC into the MYP (Oct 2005)

The representative of the partner countries met in Bhutan from 14-17 Nov. 2005 for the first South-South Policy Consultation and reviewed the key thematic areas, shared experiences, exchanged information, discussed the emerging issues and challenges to promote sustainable development. As a result of the policy consultation, twenty five reciprocal and 27 pilot project ideas were identified to address the emerging issues and challenges. It also provided an excellent opportunity to bring the key stakeholders from the partner countries together promote people to people contact.

Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer

Arrangements for Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer

Human resources development/training
Institutional strengthening, including local participation
Technology transfer/exchange

Human resources development and institutional strengthening are consider very critical for promoting sustainable development. As such, most of the project includes HRD and capacity building.

Relationship to International Agreements on Sustainable Development

How the partnership contributes to the implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation

By implemeting concrete actions and measures in the thematic areas, the partnership will contribute to the implementation of the Agenda 21,the program for further implementation of Agenda 21 and the JPoI. Relevant Sections of the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21

Integration of economic, social and environmental objectives

Relevant Sections of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation

Poverty eradication ; Changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production

Coordination and Implementation

Coordination Mechanism of the Partnership

At the political level, a Joint Ministerial Committee, Comprising of responsible Ministers from the partner countries will meet at least once a year provide support and policy directions for the partnership. The Management Board (MB), consisting of the Directors of the lead agencies will appraise and approve projects for implementation. The MB will meet bi-annually. The respective national mechanisms communicate frequently among themselves, organize consultations and will work closely with the stakeholders to identify pilot and reciprocal projects. After proper scrutiny, the project proposal will be submitted to the MB for approval

Implementation Mechanism of the Partnership

Within the priority themes, two types of projects are supported under the PSC. Pilot project, within a single partner country, which needs to be highly innovative and result into a bigger project a spin-off project as a Phase II. Jointly formulated projects with components in the partner countries are called reciprocal projects. Projects are identified through a consultative process among the stakeholders. NGOs, community groups, research and educational Institutions and Government departments will implement project with flexibility and ownership.

Resources

Funding Currently Available Amount in US$: 13000000 Source(s): Government The Government of the Netherlands (Ministry of Development Cooperation) has committed Euro 11 million for the PSC for the period 2006-2008.	Non-financial resources available Type(s): Office space - Staff Source(s): Government Royal Government of Bhutan, Ministry of Finance
Funding Sought Required Amount in US$: Source(s) already approached:	Non-financial resources sought Requirement(s): Office space - Staff Governments of Benin and Costa Rica Source(s) approached and details:

Additional Information

Additional Relevant Information

As a concrete-follow- to the UNCED, the Netherlands signed a bilateral sustainable development agreements with Benin, Bhutan and Costa Rica in 1994. This collaboration provided opportunities to promote North-South partnership to pursue the goals of sustainable development. There are worth while experiences of this partnership as it promoted a new form of co-operation with reciprocity. Bhutan promoted sustainable agricultural practices in the Netherlands, Costa Rica has contributed to the biodiversity law of Bhutan. The Netherlands has promoted the practices of biological cotton in Benin and so forth. Despite the principles of equality, the Netherlands being the provider of the resources had a dominant role to play in the decision making process. Based on these foundations, as a step forward, the south-south cooperation among the three partner countries with level playing field was initiated to promote sustainable development.