Partnerships

Recognizing the need to build partnerships between the EMG Secretariat and members, on the one hand, and international organizations, governments and civil society on the other, the EMG has recently initiated a series of partnership fora. These meetings provide a consultation forum designed to help define priority areas for action and to promote stakeholders' ownership of, and support and participation in, the activities of the EMG and its members.  In addition to these partnership fora, periodic briefing sessions are held in New York, Geneva and Nairobi to inform country delegations of the overall status of implementation of EMG activities.

The first EMG Partnership Forum was held in Curitiba, Brazil in March 2006. The meeting allowed UN member states, development agencies and non-governmental organizations to discuss the most effective ways for enhancing the EMG's role in advancing system-wide UN responses to environment and human settlement challenges. The Forum also provided an opportunity for Governments to express their perspectives on priorities for the work of the EMG.

This first of a planned series of Partnership Fora succeeded in initiating constructive dialogue between the EMG members and Government representatives so that new EMG's initiatives would better reflect the Governments' national priority issues and concerns, and also support the larger UN reform goals and efforts.