An Amazing Event at the COP14
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28 August 2019
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Story
At the UNCCD COP14 recently held in Delhi India, the Capacity Building Marketplace (CBM) featured strongly through its side-event "Talking Capacity Building and You. A chance to share and to receive!" which took place on 6th of September. The CBM team of Jairo (Colombia), Ali (Pakistan), Jorge (Spain), Lilia (Russia), Loretta (Ghana), and Paul (France) had worked -under the guidance of CBM Manager, Dr. Richard A. Byron-Cox- for weeks organizing this major event. From the planning of the exercise to the designing of materials, and the organization of a grand cocktail to close the event, were all in the hands of the Team. This was all being done working with people halfway around the world from Germany, i.e. in India. People they had never and will never meet in person as no member of the Team save the Manager attended the COP. But they made it a grand affair, as from all accounts, the event turned out magnificently!!
The side event began with a well-received address by UNCCD Executive Secretary, Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw under whose patronage it was held. His was followed by very informative and illustrative presentations from Republics of Korea and Turkey, both of which have given great support to UNCCD capacity building activities over the years. A big hit with the hundreds of attendees to the side event was the presentation of UNCCD Press Officer Ms. Wagaki Wischnewski, who told her audience that they had wonderful stories to tell which the world was hungry to hear.
The event was designed by the CBM to ensure that no region of the world was left out. In keeping with this, there was a special presentation made by Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management in the Caribbean SIDS. Here the urgent need to address the question of capacity building for effective implementation of the UNCCD in all SIDS was addressed.
The event ended with an excellent cocktail but not before the entire CBM Team addressed the full hall of participants. Through the use of Skype video call, each member of the Team spoke with participants sharing their experiences about organizing the event and the various roles they each played. They also spoke of the importance of capacity building and the role of the CBM in the same. The intervention by the Team was greatly appreciated by the attendees who were truly thrilled to actually talk to the young people working behind the scenes to create such a meaningful and successful event. To them the CBM Team represented a real and practical demonstration of the peoples of the world working with and for each other in securing the common good of all humanity and the betterment of the planet as a whole. And, special mention must be made of the CBM ad-hoc Indian colleagues Lakshay, Ayush and Tanveer who did the work on the ground the day of the event thus making sure that everything worked splendidly.
This event was truly a magnificent success and you can see images of the same here.
P.S.
The UNCCD Capacity Building Marketplace is an exchange platform for those seeking and offering knowledge, training and opportunities helpful for anyone working toward Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). The platform is created for students, grassroots movements, professionals, researchers, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), farmers’ organizations and the general public and also by all of them, since everyone is welcome to share opportunities and new ideas.
