CMS Family Manual Assumes a Concrete Form

Bonn, 5 November 2012 - The Working group on the CMS Family Manual met on 1 and 2 November in Bonn to review the progress made in developing the capacity building tools of CMS instruments. This pertained both to the draft CMS Family Manual and the draft concept on the CMS Family National Focal Point (NFP) E-Community Platform.

The CMS Family Manual is expected to guide the CMS Family National Focal Points on how to contribute more effectively to the implementation of the CMS Family instruments. The NFP E-Community platform supports this objective by providing an online community-of-practice to facilitate the daily work of NFPs. Working group members also had the possibility to test the online platform and provided positive feedback on its usability. As an outcome of this workshop, refined capacity building tools will be developed and are expected to be finalized by the end of February 2013.

The development of the capacity building tools was subcontracted to the Ecologic Institute, a private nonprofit institute for applied environmental research, policy analysis, and consultancy based in Berlin. Together with the CMS Information and Capacity Building Unit’s Officers and with the support from the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat, the Institute facilitated the workshop.

The working group consists of 25 active experts from different regions whose members engaged in fruitful discussions. Experts with different cultural and professional backgrounds generated new ideas from different perspectives. The workshop applied the participatory World Café method inviting participants to take part in discussions in an open and informal setting. This contributed to the constructive and positive atmosphere that prevailed at the workshop.

The UNEP/AEWA Secretariat has prepared a short video of the workshop reflecting some of the methods and providing some impressions from these two days as well as a number of short interviews with participants and workshop facilitators.

The initiative is a part of the joint activities implemented under the project title of “Effective Implementation of CMS, AEWA and Other CMS Family Instruments across Various Regions and Languages through Capacity Building for the Period 2012-2014”. The project is funded by the Thematic Programme for Environment and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources including Energy (ENRTP) Strategic Cooperation Agreement (SCA) between the European Commission - Directorate General Environment and UNEP.

For more information, please contact the CMS Associate Capacity Building Officer, Ms. Sofia Chaichee; e-mail: [email protected] or the Coordinator for the African Initiative, Ms. Evelyn Moloko; e-mail: [email protected].

Further video interviews:

	Interview with Ms. Sofia Chaichee, Associate Capacity Building Officer (UNEP/CMS Secretariat) and Ms. Evelyn Moloko, Coordinator of the African Initiative (UNEP/AEWA Secretariat), recorded on the occasion of the CMS Family Manual and E-Community Workshop, which took place from 1-2 November 2012 in Bonn, Germany.
	Interview with Ms. Susanne Altvater and Ms. Melanie Kemper from the Ecologic Institute and facilitators of the workshop, recorded on the occasion of the CMS Family Manual and E-Community Workshop, which took place from 1-2 November 2012 in Bonn, Germany.
	Interview with Dr. Frauke Fleischer-Dogley, Chief Executive of the Seychelles Islands Foundation, recorded on the occasion of the CMS Family Manual and E-Community Workshop, which took place from 1-2 November 2012 in Bonn, Germany.
	Interview with Ms. Nancy Céspedes Lagos, Deputy Chief Environment Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile, recorded on the occasion of the CMS Family Manual and E-Community Workshop, which took place from 1-2 November 2012 in Bonn, Germany. (for a spanish version please click here)
	Interview with Mr. Mohammed Saud Sulayem, Advisor on International Cooperation of the National Commission for Wildlife, Conservation and Development (NCWCD), recorded on the occasion of the CMS Family Manual and E-Community Workshop, which took place from 1-2 November 2012 in Bonn, Germany.
	Interview with Mr. Houssein Rayaleh, Technical advisor of the Ministry of Environment of Djibouti, recorded on the occasion of the CMS Family Manual and E-Community Workshop, which took place from 1-2 November 2012 in Bonn, Germany. (available in french only)