Environment projects in the spotlight during UNEP’s “Week in Focus” knowledge-sharing initiative

Initiative Offers Opportunities for Experts to Share Experiences on Climate Change Efforts Worldwide

The impact of climate change on poor communities from China to Ecuador will be in the spotlight this week as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launches a global initiative to share information gleaned from joint UN environment programmes worldwide.

The initiative, entitled “Week in Focus”, is part of an effort to harvest much-needed information on best practices, success stories and lessons learnt from projects being carried out jointly by multiple UN agencies under the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDG-F).

The MDG-F, established by the Spanish government to help speed progress across the globe on the Millennium Development Goals, supports 130 projects in 50 countries.

UNEP is the lead agency for 17 projects on Environment and Climate Change, which help poor communities adapt to climate change and reduce its impact on their livelihoods.

The “Week in Focus” knowledge-sharing initiative will make its debut on Teamworks, an interactive knowledge management platform. Its aim is to foster dialogue and interaction amongst colleagues from UN agencies, joint programmes and national institutions.

By focusing on one project at a time, the “Week in Focus” provides the MDG-F community with opportunities to mine, exchange and disseminate technical and environmental information.

Five cross-cutting weeks will discuss and resolve problems on common themes with specialists in the field. Each week and theme is supported by on-going discussions on “Teamworks” and through mailing lists.
The Week in Focus, which has gone through a pilot phase with China and Afghanistan, concludes with a collection of lessons learnt and success stories which will be actively disseminated throughout the community and beyond.

For more information, please contact:

Johara Bellali, Programme Moderator, johara [dot] bellali [at] unep [dot] org, or Kati Autere, Programme Coordinator, kati [dot] autere [at] unep [dot] org

Click here to hear MDG-Fund Director Sophie de Caen’s remarks on “Week in Focus”.

Click here to hear UNEP Director of Regional Cooperation Tomoko Nishimoto’s remarks on “Week in Focus”.

Click here to read about the MDG-F's work on the Environment and Climate Change.