Cabo Verde, Comoros, Maldives, Mauritius, São Tomé & Príncipe and Seychelles may seem like they have little in common, but as small islands, they face very similar challenges. The countries − located in the Atlantic and Indian oceans − all share problems relating to the scarcity and contamination of freshwater supplies; lack of solid waste management facilities, over-exploitation and poor management of groundwater resources; increasing pressure on agricultural production; and disappearing biodiversity. Therefore, the Global Environment Facility has funded a full-sized project to strengthen their capacity to manage their aquatic resources and ecosystems on a more sustainable basis.

This project is a Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded full-sized project. It is implemented by two agencies, UNEP and UNDP. UNOPS (East African Hub and Water and Energy Clusters) is the executing agency for respective components and works in partnerships with the Governments of Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe and Cabo Verde. In each countries, a national focal point from the government has been designated to oversee the implementation of the project in partnership with the executing agency.

The component 4 of the project is dedicated to Capacity-Building and therefore a lot of activities are planned in all 6 countries and at the regional level.

The project has a regional coordination unit in charge of overseeing the implementation of the project at regional level. All decisions proposed by the regional coordination unit have to be validated by a regional steering committee. This regional steering committee is composed of representatives of all UN agencies involved in the implementation/execution of the project, as well as national focal points from the governments of the beneficiary countries.In each country there is a national steering committee in charge of piloting activities at national level. Through the national focal point, the discussions of the national steering committee are also considered at the regional steering committee.

UNEP; UNDP; UNOPS; GEF; Governments of Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe and Cabo Verde