GPP Partner Agencies: Update on Activities – August 31, 2017

Note: Due to the Summer Holiday break, this update covers July and August, 2017. All public GPP documents are available on the ‘Agenda for Humanity’ (A4H) website, in the initiatives section - http://www.agendaforhumanity.org/initiatives/gpp.

Documentation

The ‘Country Application Template’, a ‘Step-by-Step Guide’ to applying for GPP support, and a V20 member state guide to engaging with the GPP have all been formatted and the first two are available on the website. The Operations Manual is a ‘living’ document, and continues to undergo changes over time. GPP Secretariat met with the OCHA WHS Annual Synthesis Report author to discuss the inclusion of the initiative in that document. An update for the A4H newsletter was provided. MPTF Steering Committee TORs, and country application selection criteria have been developed, for review and adoption by the Operational Subcommittee.

Meetings

Bilateral meetings were held at Director level between UNDP, OCHA and FAO with two key themes, reinforcing the GPP within UN agency corporate structures, and greater focus on resource mobilisation. Some outcomes included planning for; joint briefings at USG level within the agencies, joint donor events, and raising the GPP at senior UN management meetings.

V20 GPP Operational Subcommittee

Bilateral meetings were held between the GPP Secretariat and Barbados, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The meetings with Barbados and Philippines have resulted in establishing the V20 Operational Subcommittee with the two countries acting as co-chairs. In April at the V20 Ministerial Dialogue the decision to form the subcommittee was taken, and by July TORs had been developed and adopted. Arranging ‘virtual’ meetings across disparate time zones, or at third party venues proved problematic, so it was determined that the Ambassadors from the Missions in Geneva could represent their respective capitals as co-chairs.

The first GPP Operational Subcommittee meeting has now been booked for September 6th, in Geneva. It is expected that Country Application Invitations will then be forwarded to V20 members on September 7 th .

GPP management arrangements

Staffing – The Secretariat Support position contracting process is in its final stages. A contract will be issued in September. Petra Jaervinen working on communications and event management has been contracted, with 50% of her time on GPP, and the other 50% supporting INFORM. She can be contacted on petra.jaervinen@undp.org

Fund Management – The Multi-Partner Trust Fund MOUs have been signed by FAO, UNDP, and the MPTF Office.

This means that the MPTF is now considered functional and can be capitalised.
The GFDRR ‘kick starting’ funds will be directly managed by GFDRR, and will be formally approved in September.

All core partners have now either transferred their 2017 funds to support the functions of the Secretariat, or have formally committed them, and replied that they are in the process of transferring.

For more details please contact Matthew Serventy – matthew.serventy@undp.org or global@preparednesspartnership.org