Capacity building on improved policy making and negotiation on key trade and environment issues

FIELD/United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

FIELD, in collaboration with UNCTAD undertook an initial six month consultation phase for a DFID funded project. The consultation involved three regions: Central America, South East Asia and East Africa. FIELD organised the highly successful African meeting in Nairobi in November 2002. This brought together government officials from six trade and environment ministries, as well as their representatives of Geneva based-missions responsible for negotiations at the WTO, to discuss their own priorities on capacity building on trade and environment.

After the initial six month phase, FIELD and UNCTAD produced an assessment report of the three regions, and during 2003, worked on implementing the project in Central America and South East Asia, with the objective of facilitating a process of improving policy co-ordination and developing holistic approaches to trade and environment issues of key concern to the beneficiary countries in a manner that reflects their developmental needs.

For more information on this project, see the UNCTAD Trade, Environment and Development page.

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FIELD/World Bank

FIELD, with support from the World Bank, has finished implementing an initiative to build national and regional capacity in East Africa on policy-making and negotiation of key trade, environment and development issues. The initiative, ran from March 2004 to June 2005, and worked with trade and environment policy makers and negotiators in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The principal activities were the preparation of a background study followed by national workshops in the three East African countries. Government representatives, together with local experts and stakeholders, were engaged in the preparation and execution of the project activities. For a copy of the project report please click on the link below.

This initiative has continued a process that will ensure that:

(i) technical capacity is channelled and mobilised principally within the trade and environment ministries of the East African countries in order to facilitate a process of improving policy coordination;

(ii) information is generated on the complex inter-linkages between provisions of the WTO Agreements and other international instruments including regional and multilateral environmental agreements; and

(iii) the process of consensus and coalition building continues within East Africa

Under this initiative, a Regional Coordinating Office was established to develop and maintain liaison with the participating countries and oversee logistical arrangements. The Office was based at the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) in Kampala, Uganda, and was headed by our Regional Coordinator.

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