Introduction

Key Events:

Monday, 14 July 2003
9:00 AM: Opening Session at Kenya School of Monetary Studies (KSMS), Thika Road, Nairobi

Friday, 18 July 2003
Afternoon: Partner Roundtable at KSMS, Nairobi

Friday, 18 July 2003
6:30 PM: Gala Evening – a celebration of community achievements in sustainable development throughout Africa at the Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi

Workshop Final Report

Detailed Schedule   PDF   TEXT

Daily Journal – An Online Report of Daily Proceedings and Events

Daily Photo Gallery – Pictures and Images from the Event

Community Declaration

Participant List    HTML   PDF   TEXT

Workshop Resources

Additional Links

Media Links:

Media Covering Letter    PDF   TEXT
Advance Press Release   PDF   TEXT

UNDP Newsfront

Introduction

TThis five day workshop is taking place in Nairobi. The event is organized by UNDP, the Equator Initiative, UNDP's Civil Society Organizations (CSO) Division, and GROOTS in partnership with a Local Host Committee made up of Africa 21st Century, Climate Network Africa, Environmental Liaison Centre International, Honey Care Africa Ltd, IDEAS NGO, Indigenous Information Network, International Federation of Social Workers, Kenya Forests Working Group, Kenya Green Towns Partnership Association and the National Council of Women of Kenya. The government of Canada, the DFID/UK, the GEF Small Grants Programme, the Huairou Commission, and the International Institute for Environment and Development also supported substantive and financial support to the meeting.

Over 100 participants from local communities, community-based organizations (CBOs), non-government organizations (NGOs), self-help groups, indigenous peoples organizations, UNDP and government representatives are attending the workshop with the overall objective of increasing understanding and awareness of the importance of local community action for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in achieving the MDGs. Particular attention is being given to the issues of food security and hunger, water, land rights and management, biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, and HIV/AIDS.

The workshop provides an opportunity to:

• increase local communities’ understanding of the MDGs;
• present successful local initiatives that are helping achieve the MDGs;
• connect local community networks that share common visions and practices to encourage the transfer skills and knowledge;
• share these local initiatives and lessons learned with national and regional policy specialists who can then apply these lessons and develop strategies to help countries realise the MDGs; and,
• widely publicize the local approach to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, poverty reduction and realizing the MDGs.

The intended outputs are:

• “Learning Exchange Agreements”: Seed funding of US$50,000 has been allocated to support implementation of learning exchange agreements. These agreements will establish shared learning objectives and a plan of action for learning exchange between different communities participating in the workshop.
• Community Declaration: A statement including key recommendations and community messages.
• Knowledge Network: Community networks will be deepened and the documentation of good practices will be encouraged.