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.

Participants of the CMS Family Manual Working Group Meeting in Bonn; Photo: F. Rilla (UNEP/CMS Secretariat)

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.

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.

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:
schaichee@cms.int
or the Coordinator for the African Initiative, Ms. Evelyn
Moloko; e-mail: emoloko@unep.de.

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)