General

The Global Environment Facility was established in October 1991 as a pilot program in the World Bank to assist in the protection of the global environment. In 1994 at the Rio Earth Summit the GEF was restructured and moved out of the World Bank system to b ecome a permanent separate institution. As part of the restructuring the GEF was entrusted to become the financial mechanism for both the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Framework Conventionon Climate Change. The GEF subsequently was also selected to serve as financial mechanism for three more international conventions: The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001) the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (2003) and the Minamata Convention on Mercury (2013) .The GEF strives to achieve global environmental benefits by supporting developing countries in their efforts. After various changes agreed upon during last two replenishment negotiations the work is focused around five thematic focal areas: biodiversity; climate change mitigation; chemicals and waste; international waters; and land degradation. Furthermore an integrated approach pilot was established during the sixth replenishment negotiations to support activities in recipient countries that can help them meet commitments to more than one global convention or thematic area by tackling underlying drivers of environmental degradation. This synergetic approach will continue in GEF-7 through Impact Programs focused on food systems forests and cities.The GEF is a network organization. It is composed of independent secretariat and evaluation office the World Bank acts as a trustee channelling project support to implementing entities such as to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Finland has supported t he GEF from the very beginning. The support to the seventh replenishment of the GEF (1.7.2018-30.6.2022) is about 31 million euros. This budget decision covers the remaining part of the total contribution 497 million euros.

General

The project is the second phase of REILA (Responsible and Innovative Land Administration) that supports the development of land administration in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is one of the least developed countries (LDCs) according to the OECD's classification. All the land in Ethiopia is owned by the government but the farmers have traditional extensive user rights to their lands. Official registration of such lands increases further the tenure security. Increased land tenure security encourages farmers to use their lands in a sustainable way and to make investments to raise the productivity of the lands. Official registration also reduces conflicts over land.The project started in August in 2017 in alignment with the Ethiopia?s fiscal year.The long term impact of th e project is to achieve improved livelihood and economic well-being of the rural population through promotion of sustainable land management practices. The outcome is to have improved and appropriate land administration system for Ethiopia and improved lan d tenure security for rural land users. Ministry of Agriculture manages the implementation of the project in Ethiopia. Finland's support to the intervention is 7.1 MEUR with a total budget of 781 MEUR. The one year extension is proposed with the option of 700000 eur additional funding for the technical aid. This option has been part of the original invitation to tender and procurement process.

Objectives

The overall objective is to "contribute to increased resilience, food security and income of agricultural and agro-pastoral households in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger through effective decentralized institutions and organizations for service delivery, improved natural resource and land management and local economic development." The programme is implemented through five (5) pathways, interdependent and complementary, which will achieve systemic and sustainable change.