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Cusco Framework for Action for the Mountain Partnership
(or ‘Cusco Framework for Action')
This framework aims to provide guidance and recommendations for the development of existing specialized Partnership Initiatives, as well as the launching of new ones, under the Mountain Partnership.
It should help members to better define their contribution to the Mountain Partnership and at the same time enable them to take advantage of the experiences of other members.
In developing any Partnership Initiative under the Mountain Partnership, members are urged to focus inter alia on the following elements:
- Strengthening policies for sustainable development
- Institutional capacity-building
- Financial resource mobilization
- Accountability through monitoring and evaluation
As a building block of the Mountain Partnership, a Partnership Initiative should:
- Specify its link and contribution to the main goals of the Mountain Partnership as defined in the Mission Statement in the ‘Organization, Membership and Governance' paper.
- Define its objectives and expected development impacts. Elements to consider in the formulation of the objective might include contribution to human and institutional strengthening, policy dialogue, information sharing and networking, and advocacy for sustainable mountain development.
Members of each Initiative should also conduct an initial assessment of what work is already being done on the theme or in the region to which the respective initiatives are devoted and what gaps exist that might require new work to be done through the Initiative. This should include the work of both Mountain Partnership members and non-members. - Define the role of lead members in a given Initiative, the role of other members, and the role of non-members who will be involved — either as external partners or as beneficiaries — in the work of the Initiative.
- Identify opportunities of linkages and synergies between other members of the Mountain Partnership as well as with other Initiatives. Regional consultations must be the oriented inputs in developing and prioritising actions within thematic Initiatives.
Assess the financial needs and define their own contributions and identify needs to mobilize resources. With the help of the administrative structure of the Mountain Partnership, Initiatives should explore ways and means to get support from other sources including the private sector. - Establish its own monitoring and evaluation procedures. In this regard, common tools would help in standardizing the monitoring and evaluation of the Initiatives, thus making the impacts of the Initiatives comparable. The monitoring and evaluation results of each Initiative should be made public through the Secretariat, keeping in mind the reporting responsibilities of the Secretariat to the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). This reporting should cover both the operational and financial situation of each Initiative. See Annex 1 for further details and suggestions on planning, monitoring, and reporting tools.
The Mountain Partnership Secretariat is the networking point of the Mountain Partnership. Its core functions are to promote synergies between Initiatives and partners, to provide support to Initiatives on a demand basis, to mobilize financial resources, and to provide the information and communication services needed by the Mountain Partnership. The Secretariat should work with the Initiatives to further elaborate the services expected from it, in accordance with the principles laid down in the Mountain Partnership ‘Organization, Membership, and Governance' paper.
The Secretariat is responsible for producing the periodical reports of the Mountain Partnership activities to the CSD. This report will cover the situation of each Initiative under the Partnership, the specific contributions to the Mountain Partnership by all members as well as the achievements of the Secretariat, including in fundraising. The first report will be presented to the CSD-14 meeting in 2006, and every three years thereafter.
29 October, 2004
Cusco, Peru
Annex
The following logframes are suggested tools for how Initiatives might plan, monitor/evaluate, and report on their activities. Initiatives are strongly urged to use the categories (e.g. objectives, capacity needs, etc.) in the tables. The content under each category is provided as suggestions for each category and element (e.g. strengthen policies, institutional capacity-building, etc.). This content may be used as it is, or modified, or added to, or deleted as suits the needs of each Initiative. A financial report on all activities should also be included, listing contributions by each Partnership member involved in the activity and any external funding that was obtained.
1. Strengthen Policies for Mountain Sustainable Development
a) National, Sub-regional and Regional Laws and Regulations
| Create synergies and cooperation between all members, involving particularly national authorities and relevant stakeholders | (i) Comparative legislation on relevant issues for mountain ecosystems | Before 2006 | Each country partnership has made a legislative comparison document related to important elements for mountain ecosystems | Country Partnership members, in coordination with other members and the Secretariat | Identification of countries with a lack of appropriate legislative framework | |
| (ii) Sub-regional proposals for the harmonization of laws | Before 2007 | At least one per sub-region | Different agencies | Sub-regional harmonized proposals | ||
| iii. Seminars for local, sub-regional and regional authorities < td> | On-going | At least 3 seminars per country during the period | Each member with collaboration of international agencies and the Secretariat | Local, regional and national seminars reports, and authorities informed |
1. Strengthen Policies for Sustainable Mountain Development
b) Participation at International Fora
| Identify and facilitate mechanisms for technical cooperation | (i) Elaboration of documents to be submitted to international fora | (i) On-going | At least one on each international fora | Each member with the collaboration of international agency and the Secretariat | Documents and reports on meetings held |
2. Institutional Capacity-Building
a) Human Capacity-Building
| Building human capacities at local,regional and national level, supporting the sustainable development of mountain regions | Organize distribute and make accessible the scientific, technical and technological information relevant for the sustainable development of mountain regions | (i) ConfIrmation of electronic nodes wit specific metadata included | Before 2006 | Workable and inter-operable central portal with interconnection and access to other databases | The sub-regional and regional focal points with the Secretariat | A efficient and inter-operable net system |
| (ii) Development of toolkits to facilitate access to the electronic information | Before 2006 | All members' access and make accessible information through their national focal points | The Secretariat with the sub-regional focal points | A dynamic activity between all national focal points |
2. Institutional Capacity-Building
b) Infrastructural Capacity-Building
| Organize distribute and make accessible the scientific, technical and technological information relevant for the sustainable development of mountain regions | i. ConfIrmation of national, sub-regional and regional nodes | Before 2006 | All members are interconnected and interoperable | National and regional members (universities through alliance with foreign institutions, organizations, etc) | All national focal points connected with the central portal | |
| ii. Strengthen capacities for use of virtual communication systems | Before 2006 | All members hold regular courses, workshops, etc | National and regional members | All members familiarized with the use of virtual communication |
2. Institutional Capacity-Building
c) Administrative Capacity-Building
| Building administrative capacities at local, regional and national level, supporting the sustainable development of mountain regions | Organize distribute and make accessible the scientific, technical and technological information relevant for the sustainable development of mountain regions | i. Training on the use of informatic programs for project learning and monitoring | Before 2006 | All projects are in line with the use of MS project management system | Regional nodes with collaboration of universities and the Secretariat | Partners responsible for project implementation with the knowledge of project management programs |
| ii. Regulation of organization and functions of the Secretariat (administrative simplification) | Before 2006 | All projects are in line with the use of MS project management system | The Secretariat | A regulation for the Secretariat |
3. Financial resources
a) Creation of financial mechanisms
| Establish a financial mechanism to ensure sustainability of the initiatives | Financial resources for all partners to develop the Initiatives | i. Establishment of a fiduciary fund for development of priority projects | Before 2007 | All partners have the needed financial resources to develop the Initiatives | The Secretariat in close collaboration with all partners | A fiduciary fund available to support the Initiatives |
4. Monitoring and Evaluation
An open and transparent reporting system of projects and tasks for each member of the Partnership, which respond to the efficiency indicators on the achieved results.
| Have a transparent system to follow up the Initiatives and check their impact in relation to the real objectives of the Mountain Partnership | Efficiency of the action | i. Milestones and results achieved by projects available in an information exchange system | Before 2006 | Number of projects with goals achieved placed in an electronic system | All members, project responsible | Project reports available in electronic system |
