Launched in 1991 as an experimental facility, GEF was restructured after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro to serve the environmental interests of people in all parts of the world. The facility that emerged after restructuring was more strategic, effective, transparent, and participatory.

The Implementing Agencies of GEF are the World Bank, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

· The World Bank implements GEF investment projects, mobilizes resources from the private sector, and serves as trustee of the GEF Trust Fund.
· UNEP is responsible for scientific and technical analyses and activities, regional and transborder projects, and the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel to the GEF.
· UNDP provides capacity building and technical assistance programmes, takes the leading role in enabling activities, and manages the GEF Small Grants Programme (GEF/SGP).

The GEF Small Grants Programme (GEF/SGP) is administered by UNDP and is currently offered in 54 countries. While it is an integral part of the GEF Corporate Business Plan and the SGP Central Programme Management Team (CPMT), the implementation of the GEF/SGP is decentralized and country-driven. Since its inception in 1992, the GEF/SGP has occupied a strategic niche within the GEF system by supporting community-based initiatives that respond to the GEF criteria and objectives. The GEF/SGP

- promotes outreach and awareness regarding global environmental concerns;
- builds the capacities of communities and NGOs to address these concerns; and
- provides a mechanism for demonstrating and disseminating community-level and community-led solutions to global environmental problems.

In this sense, the GEF/SGP offers the GEF system-and the environment and development sector as a whole-field-tested approaches that may be replicated and expanded to benefit the global environment.

Second Operational Phase of the GEF/SGP
The GEF Council approved the Second Operational Phase of the GEF/SGP in October 1998. The primary objective of the Second Operational Phase is to secure global environmental benefits in the areas of biodiversity, climate change, and international waters-three of the four GEF focal areas-through community-based approaches that generate local (as well as global) benefits. The GEF/SGP does not fund projects in the GEF focal area of ozone depletion. The GEF/SGP aims to protect the global environment by funding community conservation and sustainable natural resource use projects. Since different local and national conditions require different kinds of intervention, project components may include one or more of the following:

- demonstration
- capacity building
- targeted research
- policy dialogue and information dissemination
- awareness raising among critical constituencies

Achieving a better fit with the GEF Operational Strategy and Programmes and demonstrating the global benefits obtained by implementing local, community-based projects are high-priority goals in the second operational phase. These goals will be achieved through more rigorous focusing of projects consistent with GEF criteria, increased capacity-building and technical assistance, better monitoring and evaluation, and more effective communications and outreach.

Projects encouraging environmentally sound practices but that are not directly related to the GEF focal areas will not be eligible for GEF/SGP funding.

Projects eligible for GEF/SGP funds are those that

- comply with GEF focal areas and national priorities;
- contribute to human welfare and sustainable development;
- foresee elements of capacity building and increasing environmental awareness;
- promote human capacity development; and
- involve close cooperation with local communities.

UNDP launched the GEF/SGP in Kyrgyzstan in 2001. The GEF/SGP operates in a highly decentralized and country-driven manner through a National Coordinator and a National Steering Committee, with support from the UNDP Country Office. The SGP Central Programme Management Team (CPMT) and UN Office of Project Services (UNOPS) provide global coordination and support.

The National Steering Committee (NSC) in Kyrgyzstan consists of 11 members including representatives of CBOs, NGOs, the environmental research and education sector, the UNDP country office, foreign and international programmes closely related to GEF focal areas, the mass media, the Ministry on Environment and Emergency, and bodies of local self-governance.

The NSC provides overall policy guidance and ensures that the programme is implemented according to the GEF/SGP requirements. It is responsible for reviewing and approving project proposals on the basis of their compliance with GEF criteria, sustainability, full community participation, and streamlining and transparency, among other considerations. Together with the National Coordinator, the NSC also provides general oversight in the implementation of the programme in Kyrgyzstan.

The National Coordinator takes the lead in managing country programme implementation. Major tasks performed by the National Coordinator include raising awareness of GEF/SGP's objectives and procedures among key stakeholders, assisting NGOs and CBOs in the formulation of proposals, pre-screening project proposals, facilitating the work of the NSC, assisting NGOs and CBOs with access to technical support services, ensuring sound programme monitoring and evaluation, and laying the foundation for programme sustainability.

National and local NGOs and CBOs may propose projects for grant support under the GEF/SGP. Procedures for project proposal screening and approval are as follows:

1. The project proponent contacts the National Coordinator or GEF/SGP office to receive project application guidelines and forms.
2. With assistance from the National Coordinator and using the standard GEF/SGP format, the proponent prepares a brief project concept paper and submits it to the National Coordinator.
3. The National Coordinator reviews and pre-screens the concept paper according to the GEF criteria and criteria adopted by the NSC.
4. If the project concept is judged eligible, the project proponent prepares a proposal.
5. The National Coordinator submits completed project proposals to the NSC.
6. The NSC reviews the proposal and accepts it, rejects it, or returns it once to the project proponent with a request for further work in formulating and refining the project idea.
7. Approved proposals enter the national GEF/SGP work programme through a Memorandum of Agreement to be signed between the proponent and the UNDP Сountry Office in Bishkek.

At present only one GEF project is specific to the territory of Kyrgyzstan: "Enabling the Kyrgyz Republic to Prepare its First National Communication in Response to its Commitments to the UNFCCC." This project started in mid-2001. It is national in scope and does not lead to conclusions concerning GEF/SGP priorities at the community level, but the experience gained by the project is nonetheless important to the GEF/SGP. It has shown that local NGO experts have high technical and scientific competence and are skilled in preparing grant and project applications. This observation is limited to NGOs located in the capital city of Bishkek; information is not available concerning NGOs located elsewhere in the country.

Among the GEF projects of the Central Asia region, the "Central Asia Transboundary Project of Western Tien-Shan Biodiversity Conservation," launched in 2000, is the most important for the GEF/SGP. This project has its own small grants component, which has not yet been realized. The project's Scientific Leader serves as the Chairman of the GEF/SGP NSC, which provides significant benefits in terms of coordination. It will be useful to have organizational links, in addition to coordination, with the small grants component of this project. Unfortunately, however, frequent turnover in the project manager position have hampered progress in this direction.

The "Regional GEF Water and Environmental Project" (WEMP) is another important GEF regional project that should benefit from strong links with GEF/SGP. Flood Emergency, Farm Irrigation, and Transboundary Water Monitoring (involving the creation of 25 transboundary hydrometeorological stations) are among the WEMP components carried out in Kyrgyzstan.

Activities related to GEF are likely to exist within other programmes or projects currently being implemented (see Attachment 8), such as the following:

· The National Implementing Center on the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification;
· The component of the UN Special Programmes for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) entitled "Rational and Efficient Use of Energy and Water Resources of Central Asia";
· The Joint World Bank/UNDP/UNEP Aral Sea Basin Capacity Development Project; and
· The components of the UNEP Programme "Regional Environmental Action Plan" (REAP) regarding air and water pollution, waste management, and degradation of mountain ecosystems.

Coordination is currently lacking among the various environmental projects in Kyrgyzstan. The Ministry on Environment and Emergency is unable to coordinate the full spectrum of environmental programmes and projects carried out throughout the country. One reason is that many NGOs and CBOs with environmental programmes and projects do not place a priority on informing the central authorities about their activities. The creation of an information network in GEF focal areas is therefore needed.