Advice to Council 02-02 — The North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation (NAFEC)
DISTRIBUTION: General
J/02-01/ADV/02-02/Rev.1
ORIGINAL: English
The North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation (NAFEC)
The Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America;
IN ACCORDANCE with Article 16(4) of the NAAEC, that JPAC “may provide advice to the Council on any matter within the scope of this agreement (…) and on the implementation and further elaboration of this agreement, and may perform such other functions as the Council may direct”;
CONTINUING to recognize the important role of the North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation (NAFEC) in promoting grass roots participation in the work of the CEC as previously stated in Advice to Council 00-04;
UNDERSTANDING that the level of funding for NAFEC will likely not be increased in the near future and the resulting need to adapt the NAFEC Administration and Funding Guidelines to better suit the realities of a more limited program;
HAVING reviewed proposed modifications to the NAFEC Guidelines prepared by the Secretariat;
HAVING also reviewed the Proposal for an Alternative NAFEC Structure prepared by the Secretariat;
JPAC strongly supports the proposed modifications, particularly those related to streamlining administrative costs, including eliminating the pre-proposal stage, and assuring direct links to current CEC Program Plans;
JPAC recommends that the following clarifications be brought to the revised document and that Council then approve it:
- The ceiling for single grants should be established each year in relation to available budgets;
- The Selection Committee should be independent and its decisions transparent. Appointees to the Selection Committee should have experience with the CEC and its vision of trinational cooperation as well as experience with the NGO community. In this regard, membership should be drawn from JPAC and the National Advisory Committees (NACs); and
- A performance evaluation of NAFEC should be conducted every three years rather than every two years.
Regarding the Proposal for an Alternative NAFEC Structure, JPAC will review any proposals put forward by Council. Until such time, JPAC recommends that the status quo be maintained.