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Poverty-Environment Partnership (PEP) Strategy (2016-18) and Work Plan

Advancing a Poverty, Environment and Climate ‘Call to Action’for the Sustainable Development Goals

Consultation Draft – October 2016

Executive Summary

This Poverty-Environment Partnership (PEP) paper presents its renewed, forward-looking strategy and work plan in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It details what PEP itself will do in response to its vision and action agenda—Getting to Zero: A Poverty, Environment and Climate ‘Call to Action’ for the SDGs —launched at the 2016 High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. The strategy and work plan reflect discussions and priorities that emerged from the 20 th (May 2015) and 21st (May 2016) annual meetings of the PEP.

Contents:

Executive Summary

Background: Evolution of the PEP and P-E Agenda (2002-2015)

A New Context: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

PEP Call to Action: ‘Getting to Zero’ on Poverty, Environment and Climate

Moving Forward: A Renewed PEP Strategy for ‘Getting to Zero’ (2016 – 2018)

Outline PEP Work Plan (July 2016 – June 2017)

Annex 1: Chronology of PEP Meetings and Joint Publications (2002 – 2015)

Annex 2: PEP Core Budget (2016 – 2018)

PEP STRATEGY 2016-18 (DRAFT)

The Poverty-Environment Partnership (PEP) was established after the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development as an informal network of like-minded organizations committed to ending poverty and sustaining the environment. It has mobilized a community of practice across inter-governmental, civil society and research bodies—North and South—that has built an evidence-based narrative on how the environment matters to the well-being of people living in poverty, and advocated policies to integrate poverty reduction, environmental management and inclusive green growth.

2015 was a pivotal year for the global community and the PEP. Global agreement to a set of new universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development (FfD), and the new Paris Agreement on Climate Change have reshaped the global development agenda. The PEP believes that, together, these landmark agreements could really transform development policy and practice – through a new and universal ‘poverty-environment-climate’ (p-e-c) agenda.

In response, the PEP launched a new joint paper, Getting to Zero: A Poverty, Environment and Climate ‘Call to Action’ for the SDGs , at the 2016 High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Getting to Zero shows how ‘zero extreme poverty, zero net natural asset loss and zero net greenhouse gas emissions’ could unify the SDG, finance and climate agendas—with a greater focus on cross-cutting themes of multi-dimensional poverty, inequality and resilience, and tackling structural barriers and reforms in order to ‘ leave no one behind.’

A targeted strategy and work plan is now needed to re-position the PEP to play a leading role in advancing the new p-e-c agenda. The strategy has two pillars—an enhanced focus on joint analysis and agenda-setting (internal), and on communications, networking and shared learning (external):

1) Renewed PEP mandate and joint analytic work to advance the poverty-environment-climate agenda for the SDGs. PEP will step-up efforts to mainstream the new poverty-environment-climate agenda at all levels of SDG implementation, building on its 15 years of experience and lessons from the MDGs. A targeted set of priority activities have been identified on “Mainstreaming”, “Local Solutions” and “Finance” to be carried out by working groups of PEP members to contribute to an authoritative shared mandate and evidence base.

2) Expanded stakeholder communications and engagement, and strengthened PEP network, to advance poverty-environment-climate action. PEP will seek more strategic and coordinated engagement through a revamped engagement and communication strategy, including an updated website: http://www.povertyenvironment.net/

PEP will continue to reach out to low and middle-income countries and groups and the major emerging economies—and with other new policy, business and financial players—to embrace the new universal poverty-environment-climate agenda.

The PEP will establish a modest core budget to mobilize PEP member capacities to take this strategy forward, to organize PEP meetings and working groups, and to produce joint products and

1

http://www.povertyenvironment.net/


communications. This will be supported initially by development agency contributions through a pooled funding mechanism, but ultimately by wider stakeholders of the new universal agenda (e.g. beyond aid).

BACKGROUND

Evolution of the PEP and P-E Agenda (2002-2015)

The Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP) was formally established in 2002 after the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). It is an informal network of like-minded organizations committed to ending extreme poverty and sustaining the environment. PEP has contributed to accelerated efforts to tackle global poverty and achieve the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Poverty and environment issues tended to be treated separately in spite of strong inter-linkages in their root causes and potential solutions. With the dominant view of poor people as the primary agents of environmental degradation increasingly being challenged, some staff in the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the European Commission (EC), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank came together in June 2001 to form a shared vision on why the environment matters to poor households in terms of their livelihoods, health and vulnerability, and agreed to prepare a joint paper for World Summit for Sustainable Development. Their joint paper—signed by the heads of the four agencies and personally launched by them at the World Summit—offered a four-part action agenda to more effectively link poverty reduction and environmental management efforts: (i) improving governance, focusing on the rights and entitlements of the poor; (ii) enhancing the environmental assets of the poor; (iii) improving the quality (inclusiveness and sustainability) of growth; and (iv) promoting supportive international and industrialised country policies.1 This was one of the first high-level development agency commitments to empower poor people to sustainably manage the environment to improve their livelihoods and well-being.

Later in 2001, DFID hosted an exploratory meeting in London at which a larger group of bilateral, multilateral and UN agencies agreed to form the PEP to advance this shared vision and action agenda, with a focus on the MDGs and support for Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) in low-income countries as key entry points. The initial PEP members agreed to focus on four main areas: (i) joint analysis on key poverty-environment policy issues; (ii) improving poverty-environment indicators and monitoring; (iii) joint communication and outreach activities; and (iv) harmonizing country-level policy support and operations. The World Bank committed to undertaking regular assessments of progress by PEP members on integrating environment into PRSPs and links to the MDGs.

PEP meetings were originally held about twice a year with a rotating host. The meetings were soon seen as an informal vehicle for information and experience-sharing that complemented well the

1 http://www.unpei.org/sites/default/files/publications/Linking-poverty-red-env.pdf

2

http://www.unpei.org/sites/default/files/publications/Linking-poverty-red-env.pdf


formal OECD-DAC Environet, typically engaging senior environment advisers facing the common challenge of ‘making the case’ to their colleagues on the central importance of environment to poverty reduction and sustainable development. Gradually, the PEP membership has evolved from its origin as a network of bilateral and multilateral development agencies to also include international NGOs and research institutes and, increasingly, developing country governments and civil society organizations.

PEP publications were prepared on major poverty-environment themes, primarily through PEP member working groups, and signed collectively by PEP member senior management. They helped stimulate broader partnerships and included some of the first poverty-environment and climate analyses on, for example, climate change and poverty, water and poverty, and environmental health and poverty—see Box 1.

Box 1. Major PEP initiatives and areas of influence

PEP’s Environment for the MDGs initiative during the 2005 UN MDG Review Summit included: two major PEP analyses; and policy messages to summit leaders on the economic case and priorities for sustaining the environment to fight poverty and achieve the MDGs; PEP-hosted high-level policy dialogues; and a head-of-state dinner event at which a number of major commitments were announced (including by the heads of UNDP and UNEP on formation of the joint Poverty-Environment Initiative, PEI).

PEP helped stimulate the launch and evolution of major new partnerships and areas of shared work, including on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (now known as REDD+); analysis of environmental fiscal reform (EFR) opportunities; the scale-up of the UNDP-UNEP PEI as a flagship UN initiative to support poverty-environment mainstreaming in national, sub-national and sectoral policy and planning processes; the World Bank’s Wealth Accounting for the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) partnership; and the Asian Development Bank’s Poverty-Environment Programme (which still hosts the PEP website).

More recently, to inform the global debate on green growth/green economy, PEP developed a joint paper on “Building an Inclusive Green Economy for All: Opportunities and Challenges for Overcoming Poverty and Inequality” launched at Rio+20.2 The joint paper stressed that the environment is not just a safety net for poor people, but can actually generate jobs and support economic and social development if managed wisely. However, the paper also stressed that the pro-poor benefits of a green economy are not automatic and the green economy transition could negatively impact the poor in the short run (for example, with a rise in fossil fuel prices or a singular focus on carbon), so the right policies need to be in place to ensure that a green economy is inclusive.

As the environment and notably climate change started to move into the mainstream, an evaluation of the PEP was carried out in 2007-08 (supported by DFID and DANIDA). It showed strong support for continuing the PEP. Members valued the PEP’s informality and role as an ‘ideas incubator’ and ‘network

2 http://www.povertyenvironment.net/sites/default/files/pep-files/PEP-GE4All.pdf

3

http://www.povertyenvironment.net/sites/default/files/pep-files/PEP-GE4All.pdf


of networks.’ It was agreed that PEP meetings should be only once a year, rotate between a northern and southern-based host, and should have more of a thematic focus.

Annex 1 provides a chronology of PEP meetings and topics covered, and related PEP joint publications, illustrating the evolution of the PEP and the poverty-environment agenda.

A NEW CONTEXT

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

A transformative agenda

2015 marked a pivotal year for the global community and the PEP as world leaders adopted a trio of agenda-setting agreements: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and new universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development (FfD); and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Taken together, these agreements have reshaped the global development agenda, and create breakthrough opportunities for transforming development policy and practice.

The SDGs build on the momentum generated by the MDGs, but take a major leap forward in bringing together development, environment and climate concerns into a much more comprehensive and ambitious agenda for change. The overriding goal of the SDGs is to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 and to ‘leave no one behind.’ But the agenda goes much further by targeting key drivers of and barriers to transformative change—aiming to transform economies by making economic growth more inclusive and equitable, achieving decent work for all, decoupling growth from environmental degradation, and accelerating the transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient development pathways.

A universal agenda

The SDGs also call for doing development differently. Unlike the MDGs which were based on the prevailing North-South model of development cooperation, the SDGs are a universal agenda that reflects the global and systemic nature of the challenges and opportunities the world collectively faces. Under the SDGs, all countries and all sectors of society need to act—including through greater and more effective use of multi-stakeholder partnerships to advance the kind of inclusive, integrated and scalable solutions capable of realizing system-wide change.

An integrated agenda

"In Bangladesh the goals have been given great importance from the

highest level. The prime minister's office has formed a coordination

committee, instructing ministries to give attention to SDG

implementation ... Government ministries are owning this agenda from

the start rather than later – that presents a big opportunity."

Nurun Nahar, Planning Commission, Bangladesh at PEP-21 Meeting

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A third distinguishing feature of the SDGs is to integrate the economic, social and environmental dimensions of development and to take account of interlinkages within and across the goals in policy, planning and investment. This builds on a key lesson from the MDGs that sustained systemic change cannot be achieved through single-sector approaches alone. More integrated ‘whole-of-government’ and ‘whole-of-society’ approaches are needed to implement the SDGs, and will require breaking down traditional silos for more cross-sectoral decision-making and solutions.

PEP CALL TO ACTION

‘Getting to Zero’ on Poverty, Environment and Climate

In response to the rapidly evolving global development context and the new sustainable development agenda, the 20th (May 2015, Edinburgh) and 21st (May 2016, Dhaka) PEP meetings took stock of the PEP’s evolution, progress and lessons learned; assessed the opportunities and challenges presented by the new global agenda; and discussed what PEP should now do to deliver on the SDGs, FfD and climate commitments.

PEP prepared a new joint framework paper to present its Edinburgh and Dhaka consensus vision—Getting to Zero: A Poverty, Environment and Climate ‘Call to Action’ for the SDGs . This offers a new narrative on why poor people’s poverty, environment and climate needs and capabilities must be central to the 2030 agenda and the structural barriers to progress (Box 2) ; a new vision of ‘getting to zero’ on poverty, environment and climate; with a new agenda for change on how to get to zero that emphasizes structural reforms and more integrated policy approaches and solutions .3

Box 2. A new poverty, environment and climate narrative—five key messages

Due to glaring income inequality, poor people depend most on natural capital. They have demonstrated their ability to be good natural resource managers under the right conditions, but are also highly vulnerable to environmental damage and climate change.

While there is better awareness of linked poverty, environment and climate problems—and glimpses of success in tackling them—progress does not match the scale of the challenge.

Structural barriers limit progress in tackling linked poverty, environment and climate problems.

Integrated approaches are needed to break down structural barriers to solving poverty, environment and climate problems, and to find new pathways to prosperity and well-being for all.

3 Available at: http://www.povertyenvironment.net/getting-to-zero

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Box 2. A new poverty, environment and climate narrative—five key messages

The 2015 agreements create a policy mandate for ‘getting to zero’ on poverty, environment and climate.

‘Getting to zero’: A unifying vision for the SDGs and agenda for change

The SDGs, FfD and climate agreements create a strong political mandate and policy framework for ‘getting to zero’ on poverty (‘leaving no one behind’ in eradicating extreme poverty), environment (ensuring that net quantities and qualities of natural resources and their capabilities do not diminish, and as much as possible are restored) and climate (cutting greenhouse gas emissions so they match carbon fixation). PEP’s triple vision of achieving “zero extreme poverty, zero net loss of natural assets and zero net climate emissions” could unify the ambition of the various post-2015 agendas in ways that leverage synergies, leave no one behind, and ensure sustainability.

To achieve this triple vision for the SDGs, ‘Getting to Zero’ lays out a four-part ‘call to action’—an integrated, universal action agenda for countries and international cooperation over the next 15 years (Figure 1):

Increased empowerment and rights. Poor women and men must be recognized, empowered and engaged—so that they can be effective agents and rights holders in their own future.

Integrated institutions. An integrated approach is needed for inclusive and transformative institutions—to mainstream linked p/e/c issues, create resilience and achieve collective action on systemic opportunities and risks.

Inclusive finance and business. Investment and business rules and mechanisms must be reformed—to better engage with the poor people and environments too often marginalized by prevailing systems.

New messages and metrics. The messages, ‘business cases’ and information used across poverty, environment and climate policies must be more coherent and inclusive, galvanize leadership and action, and measure real progress.

From global agenda-setting to implementation—getting beyond business-as-usual

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Moving forward, the true test for the SDGs, FfD and climate agreements will be mobilizing the political will to seize the opportunities that these interrelated and transformative agendas present for ‘getting to zero’ in poverty, environment and climate. More integrated and inclusive approaches to decision-making and implementation will be needed to make the post-2015 architecture work, and to translate good intentions into action that achieves real change on the ground . This will require a re-think and re-wiring of institutions, policies, planning processes, financing, and systems for monitoring, reporting and shared learning. Key change factors include:

Building national ownership and ambition. Countries taking the necessary steps to adapt the ambition of the global goals and targets to their national context and embed them into national and local policies and investment priorities. Governments securing high-level leadership in their implementation, especially by Ministries of Finance, Economy and Planning.

Engaging local actors and the private sector. Local authorities, organizations and communities—including micro, small and medium-sized enterprises—being empowered with the rights, resources, capacities and incentives to drive development and scale up local poverty, environment and climate solutions. Larger enterprises and the financial sector stepping up and seizing opportunities to align their strategies and business models to support the SDGs.

Mobilizing and effectively using finance. New commitments being made to ensure accessible financing for the SDGs, from both public and private and domestic and international sources. Steps being taken to build a more coherent architecture for the effective use of development, climate and environmental finance. Enabling equitable access at the local level.

Measuring what matters and ensuring accountability. Governments and the private sector incorporating environmental and social dimensions into traditional economic measures of progress. Coherent monitoring of SDG implementation and results. Robust and inclusive mechanisms being put into place to ensure participation, transparency and accountability.

How the PEP can contribute

Overcoming the political and implementation challenges to ‘getting to zero’ on poverty, environment and climate will require collective action on an unprecedented scale, from global to national to local levels.

This should be PEP’s strategic focus going forward. It is well-placed to contribute to collective action. At global level, PEP offers both a platform and 15 years of collective experience, analysis and knowledge that can be brought together, promoted and built on. South-South and South-North cooperation and multi-stakeholder partnerships are needed to accelerate mutual learning and improvement in policies, institutions and practices. At national level, despite very different circumstances, countries are now facing shared challenges and opportunities in SDG

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implementation. PEP members individually and collectively can help to operationalize an approach to national agendas that works first and foremost at local level. PEP’s work on local organizations can be brought together to encourage supportive enabling conditions, but might usefully be expanded to cover local finance and MSMEs.

MOVING FORWARD

A Renewed PEP Strategy for ‘Getting to Zero’ (2016 – 2018)

A more targeted and action-oriented strategy is needed to re-position the PEP and enhance its scale of reach and influence in advocating the new poverty-environment-climate agenda and catalyzing action to ‘get to zero’. This may entail moving from a loose network around diverse and changing poverty-environment themes, to a more focused mission and enhanced capacity for joint action on strategic poverty-environment-climate agenda outcomes. As a ‘network of networks,’ PEP will continue to play a catalytic convening and knowledge role, but with an enhanced focus on agenda-setting, making new network links and shared learning.

Strategic Output 1: Renewed PEP mandate and joint analytic work to advance the poverty-environment-climate agenda for the SDGs

The new global sustainable development agenda and ‘getting to zero’ call to action demand a renewed PEP mandate and stepped-up efforts for p-e-c mainstreaming in SDG implementation, so that members individually and collectively are more effective in influencing both traditional and new policy and financial players (see Strategic Output 2).

Activities

PEP members have identified three priority areas for joint work, with a primary focus on action at the country level:4

1) Poverty, environment and climate mainstreaming for the SDGs: Assessing country readiness for SDGs and measuring success; p/e/c mainstreaming approaches towards building more integrated institutions (organizations, rules, mechanisms)

2) Poverty, environment and climate local solutions for the SDGs: Scaling up local enterprise innovations and impact through research and encouraging supportive enabling conditions

3) Poverty, environment and climate finance for the SDGs: Enhancing access, coherence and effectiveness.

4 These are indicative areas of joint work subject to further PEP member consultation and resource availability.

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Figure 2. Mapping PEP focal areas to the ‘getting to zero’ action agenda

PEPFocal Areas

Mainstreaming Local Solutions Finance

Getting to Zero Action Agenda

Empowerment √ √ √

Integrated Institutions √ √ √

Inclusive Finance √ √ √

Metrics √ √ √

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Joint work in all three areas will focus on: framing the challenge; synthesizing existing knowledge and good practice; identifying key gaps and barriers to progress; and putting forward practical guidance and tools. Guidance and tools will build on what already exists, and will complement emerging frameworks for supporting SDG implementation, such as the Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support (MAPS) framework prepared by the UN Development Group.5

Poverty, environment and climate mainstreaming for the SDGs: Assessing country readiness, measuring success and supporting institutions

Under a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario, too many countries may start SDG implementation the same way they approach any development plan—as a largely technocratic, sectoral exercise with limited attention to p/e/c integration and inclusion; policy, institutional and budgetary reforms; and to broader political drivers such as engaging civil society and the private sector. Work in this area will synthesize experience with mainstreaming poverty, environment and climate into economic and development decision-making in different country contexts as the basis for developing a ‘readiness diagnostic’ and guidance on ‘measuring successful mainstreaming’ and progress toward achieving p-e-c outcomes.

Readiness diagnostic . A ‘readiness’ diagnostic could be developed based on the ‘getting to zero’ call to action and focused on the integration of poverty, environment and climate SDGs into policy, planning and budgeting processes. The diagnostic would generate a picture of the poverty, environment and climate drivers in politics, the market and civil society for SDG implementation; establish where progress has been made; identify which institutions and actions (government or business, national or local) have contributed to progress and their strengths and weaknesses; clarify the poverty, environment and climate priorities which now need to be addressed; and identify both the political space and the barriers to further progress. The assessments would also seek to secure independent, critical perspectives with civil society and private sector input. The readiness assessment could provide a roadmap for aligning poverty, environment and climate policies, programmes and projects with the wider SDG agenda, and help to shape real-world transformative plans.

Measurement of effective mainstreaming . Guidance on ‘effective mainstreaming’ could provide a framework for assessing integration of poverty-environment-climate SDGs at the output level (in national and sub-national policy, planning, budgeting and monitoring processes), outcome level (coverage in policies, plans and budgets) and impact level (changes to p/e/c conditions). A common framework would support sharper accountability for SDG implementation and enable cross-country learning and benchmarking. It could be combined with capacity building on p-e-c mainstreaming at central and local level through the Poverty-Environment Initiative and other country support programmes.

Integrated institutions and capacity . On the one hand, unless mainstreaming aims directly at helping institutions to become more integrated (‘mainstreaming on the inside’) it will always be an uphill battle. On the other hand, whatever the institutional set-up, there will

5 See https://undg.org/home/undg-mechanisms/sustainable-development-working-group/country-support/

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https://undg.org/home/undg-mechanisms/sustainable-development-working-group/country-support/


always be the need for some form of mainstreaming as political priorities and contexts change. A key dimension of assessing readiness and monitoring progress toward achieving poverty-environment-climate outcomes is therefore identifying and encouraging the kinds of national and local-level institutions capable of inclusive and integrated decision-making. Guidance and country-level diagnostics and metrics on ‘integrated institutions and capacity’ need to be developed with input from developing country governments—but also with civil society groups and networks and the private sector so as to simultaneously enhance legitimacy, take into account different perspectives and support peer exchange. Key institutional structures and capacities to focus on would include: ways to effectively engage central and powerful ministries such as ministries of finance and planning with integration and/or inclusion mandates; mechanisms that effectively incorporate poverty, environment and climate priorities into sectoral ministries such as energy, transport, water and agriculture; diagnosing the ‘stages’ of integration—e.g. from silos, to safeguards, to synergies, to transformative institutional changes that tackle the structural barriers to sustainable development; and associated monitoring and reporting systems.

Poverty, environment and climate local solutions for the SDGs: Unleashing and scaling up local enterprise innovations and impact

The success of p-e-c mainstreaming efforts will be determined to a significant extent by their effectiveness in empowering local organizations to build and spread local solutions to p-e-c challenges. Investments need to reach local economies where resources are scarcest and where there are big risks to the SDGs not being achieved. Particularly important is the need to more systematically support formal and informal enterprises of the poor—typically engaged in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, renewable energy, water and sanitation, waste management and other relevant production and service sectors.

A growing body of research and practical experience demonstrates the transformative potential of micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) to generate a mix of economic, social and environmental benefits and deliver the integrated solutions needed to reshape local economies and help achieve the SDGs. Unlocking this potential will require concerted action to address the barriers to MSME growth; to create enabling conditions for scaling up successful MSME innovations and business models; and to build the sustainability and resilience of the MSME sector in the face of economic exclusion, ecosystem decline and climate change.

MSME diagnostics and programme framework . A literature review and analytic work will be undertaken to prepare a PEP joint paper on: assessing MSME potentials to deliver poverty, environment and climate solutions; identifying the policies, resources and capacities needed; and shaping key elements of a programmatic approach to support and scale up local enterprise solutions. Issues to address will include:

MSMEs as drivers of jobs, inclusive growth and p-e-c solutions;

Policy, regulatory, market and institutional barriers and drivers (enabling conditions) for scaling up MSMEs;

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Business ‘ecosystems,’ institutional structures, and financing and partnership models that have worked to support the growth and sustainability of MSMEs;

Metrics for assessing the enabling conditions for and performance of MSMEs in delivering integrated p-e-c solutions and outcomes.

Linking local solutions to country-level SDG implementation . The next step will be to seek opportunities for testing and demonstrating the diagnostic tools and programmatic approach in different country contexts within the broader framework of implementing the poverty-environment-climate agenda for the SDGs. The aim will be to embed this work into the SDG implementation strategies and action plans of both governments (national policy and planning institutions) and development partners including PEP members (i.e. the UN Country Team and platforms such as the Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI), the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), the GEF Small Grants Programme and the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development).

Poverty, environment and climate finance for the SDGs: Enhancing coherence, access and effectiveness

Looking beyond the need for new and additional commitments of finance, there is the pressing need for a coherent architecture for managing the increasingly complex landscape of development, climate and environmental finance, including public and private and domestic and international sources. This—combined with measures for more equitable access to finance and to enhance finance effectiveness—can help provide the glue for linking poverty, environment and climate objectives and action.

PEP’s analytical and country-level work will aim to improve finance coherence, access and effectiveness by enhancing:

Coherence of climate finance . There is a need for internationally-agreed guidance to define climate finance and, where appropriate, distinguish climate from development finance; with more concessional finance needed for Least Developed Countries.

Access to local-level finance . This would demonstrate how to get international development, climate and environmental finance down to the local level. Local and household levels need to receive some funding from outside, but external finance is not reaching the local level to the extent it should and remains fragmented. PEP will explore how local governments and local non-governmental organizations can access finance directly or through intermediaries and other locally-appropriate channels.

Effectiveness of Environmental accounting to link poverty and equity . United Nations guidelines have been agreed to evaluate public finances to incorporate environmental value, known as the System of Environmental Economic Accounts (SEEA). The World Bank’s Wealth Accounting for Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) project is supporting SEEA implementation, but needs to be expanded to meet decision needs in relation to ‘getting to zero’ in particular to cover poverty, equity and distributional issues.

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Effectiveness of Environmental fiscal reforms for domestic resource mobilization . Reforms have taken place when taxation and subsidy policies incorporate environment and climate actions, often linked to public financial management reforms. A joint PEP initiative would meet the need to more systematically document good practices and expand the use of environmental fiscal reforms by sharing ideas and experiences from countries in the context of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda emphasis on domestic resource mobilization.

Strategic Output 2: Expanded stakeholder communications and engagement, and strengthened PEP network, to advance p-e-c action

The PEP needs to strengthen and expand its stakeholder outreach and engagement efforts to more effectively leverage its analytic and country support. PEP has evolved from its origin as a network of bilateral and multilateral development agencies to include international NGOs and research institutes and, increasingly, developing country governments and civil society organizations. It will continue to evolve by seeking more direct and strategic engagement with a diversity of low-income countries and groups, major emerging economies and other middle-income countries, and other new policy, business and financial players that are in a position to advance the new p-e-c agenda. It will draw on the universality of the SDGs to share lessons between south and north, and to shape narratives on sustainable pathways for achieving ‘prosperity for all’ within ecological limits. This will require core PEP support to leverage synergies among PEP members and their respective networks, and with potentially influential SDG implementation and inclusive green economy/green growth initiatives.

Activities

Knowledge into practice and communications

The PEP will enhance efforts to keep poverty, environment and climate change at the top of SDG implementation agendas, and to provide knowledge useful for practitioners. This will require more effective packaging, dissemination and communication of PEP’s analytical work. PEP also could play a role in supporting practitioners to capture both experiential and theoretical knowledge, creating feedback loops on successes and failures to guide good practice. This, in turn, will require improving the accessibility and use of relevant websites (such as the Green Growth Knowledge Platform and the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation research platform), including the PEP website. 6 PEP will explore other channels for strengthening and expanding outreach, training and capacity building (e.g. through massive open online courses, or ‘MOOCs’), and more effective use of social media.

Networking

PEP will strategically engage with networks/initiatives supporting SDG implementation—such as the UN Development Group, OECD Environet, Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI), the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), Green Economy Coalition (GEC), Global Green Growth Institute, and others. Strengthening these linkages will be critical to enhance shared learning and more

6 http:/www.povertyenvironment.net/

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effectively influence key policy processes and actors. Relevant PEP members will need to be mobilized, and light central coordination assured.

PEP annual meetings

PEP members meet annually, alternating between locations in the Global South and Global North with relevant PEP member hosts. The annual meetings provide an informal and open forum for networking and shared learning in defined and demand-driven themes. In the past, each PEP meeting has been dependent on mobilizing funds to cover venue costs and, more recently, to cover the costs of sponsored developing country participants. The latter have greatly helped to expand and diversify PEP participation, perspectives and influence pathways. To improve the planning and organization of the annual meetings, and to ‘institutionalize’ developing country participation, the PEP now seeks to budget and mobilize funds well in advance. The 2017 meeting is planned to be held in the United States with UNDP as host, and the 2018 meeting will be held in a developing country (likely to be Africa).

PEP core capacity and governance

The PEP needs a modest strengthening of core capacity if it is to enhance its scale of reach and impact in the new poverty, environment and climate agenda.

PEP facilitation . PEP has a part-time facilitator currently based at IIED (and previously based at UNDP and DFID). The facilitator has played a critical central role in guiding and supporting the substantive and logistical organization of annual meetings, as well as supporting the PEP reference group (see below). Moving forward, the facilitator’s role needs to be further strengthened to more actively monitor and support agreed follow-up actions to the PEP annual meetings.

PEP reference group . While the PEP remains an informal ‘network of networks,’ it was decided several years ago to establish a ‘reference group’ comprising about 15 organizations representing key PEP stakeholders who meet virtually between the PEP annual meetings to review progress, guide overall strategy and to plan activities, in particular those in support of annual meetings. In line with the new PEP strategy and to ensure the most effective use of funds mobilized, the PEP reference group will initiate a process to identify and assess options for strengthening PEP governance and operations, and will submit proposals for consideration at the next PEP annual meeting in 2017. This will be conducted through a structured series of teleconferences (tentatively three) and brief options papers on key topics, for example: 'membership' and mail-list; communicating across the PEP network; PEP website design; PEP working group modalities; and role, structure and functioning of the PEP reference group. The exercise also will help to shape the ToR and mandate of a possible independent evaluation of the PEP.

PEP evaluation . A second independent evaluation of PEP is tentatively planned for late 2017/early 2018, ten years after the first. Its ToR and mandate will be agreed at the PEP-22 meeting. The evaluation will assess PEP progress and results, the effectiveness and efficiency

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of PEP operations, and will make short and medium-term recommendations given needs and other initiatives in the p/e/c policy space.

PEP core budget

The PEP will establish a modest core budget to scale up its capacity and activities to take this strategy forward. Supported initially by donor agency contributions through a pooled funding mechanism, ultimately the strategy will be to seek support by wider stakeholders of the new universal agenda (e.g. beyond aid). See Annex 2.

PEP work plan

Following each PEP annual meeting, agreed actions and areas of joint work will be consolidated in a work plan covering the period up to the next annual meeting and addressing this strategy. This will provide a roadmap for the PEP facilitator and the PEP reference group to monitor and ensure follow-up to the PEP meetings. An indicative work plan for July 2016 – June 2017 (the period between the PEP-21 and PEP-22 meetings) is presented in the next section.

Outline PEP Work Plan (July 2016 – June 2017)

Strategic Output 1: Renewed PEP mandate and joint analytic work to advance the p-e-c agenda for the SDGs

Activity Lead

‘Poverty, environment and climate mainstreaming for the SDGs: Assessing country readiness, measuring success and institutional ’ Prepare concept note PEP review and expressions of interest Form PEP working group and develop workplan

UNDP/UNEP PEI

‘Poverty, environment and climate local solutions for the SDGs: Unleashing and scaling up local enterprise innovations and impact’ Prepare concept note PEP review and expressions of interest Form PEP working group and develop workplan

DA

‘Poverty, environment and climate finance for the SDGs: Enhancing access, coherence and effectiveness’ Prepare concept note PEP review and expressions of interest Form PEP working group and develop workplan

IIED

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Strategic Output 2: Expanded stakeholder communications and engagement, and strengthened PEP network, to advance p-e-c action

Activity Lead

Knowledge into practice and communications – Support for mutual learning and joint action among members

Prepare concept note Circulate to PEP members for comment Prepare workplan

GGKP/ESPA

Knowledge into practice and communications – Update PEP website Prepare concept note for website redesign Circulate to PEP reference group for comment Prepare workplan

ADB

PEP-22 meeting (2017) – Possible thematic focus: Investing in Sustainable Natural Capital for an Inclusive Green Economy to implement the SDGs and the Paris Climate Change Agreement

Agree thematic focus with PEP Reference Group Confirm venue and dates Prepare concept note on meeting objectives and proposed agenda topics Circulate to PEP members for comment, solicit suggestions on other agenda

topics and initial expressions of interest to be session lead Revise concept note and circulate to PEP reference group for

comment/teleconference Prepare first draft meeting agenda Identify and sponsor developing country participants

UNDP

PEP reference group – Options for strengthening PEP governance and operations

Prepare concept note on proposed topics and process Circulate to PEP reference group for comment Membership (including work plan leads) Prepare workplan and timetable/content for teleconferences

PEP facilitator and reference group

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ANNEX 1

Chronology of PEP Meetings and Joint Publications (2002-2015)

Launching of a new poverty-environment agenda

PEP-1 (2001). London, UK Department for International Development (DFID).Exploratory meeting to establish development agency poverty-environment partnership.

PEP-2 (2002). Washington. DC, The World Bank.Linking poverty reduction and environmental management.

Linking Poverty Reduction and Environmental Management: Policy Challenges and Opportunities (2002).

MDGs and national poverty reduction strategies as entry points for mainstreaming

PEP-3 (2002). New York, UN Development Programme (UNDP).MDGs and WSSD follow-up; country-level analysis; joint paper on climate.

PEP-4 (2003). Brussels, European Commission (EC).Environment integration strategies; country-level analysis and coordination.

PEP-5 (2004). Oegstgeest, Netherlands D-G for International Cooperation (DGIS).Governance; growth; indicators and monitoring; PEP website.

PEP-6 (2004). Berlin, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ). MDG+5 Review Summit; PRSPs and MDG7; MDG monitoring.

PEP-7 (2005). Stockholm, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).PEP Environment for MDGs initiative; p-e integration in PRSPs; vulnerability.

PEP-8 (2005). Ottawa, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).MDG Review Summit follow-up; environmental wealth; future of PEP.

Poverty and Climate Change: Reducing the Vulnerability of the Poor through Adaptation (2003)

Environmental Fiscal Reform for Poverty Reduction (2005)

Sustaining the Environment to Fight Poverty and Achieve the MDGs—The Economic Case and Priorities for Action: A Message to the 2005 World Summit (2005)

Investing in Environmental Wealth for Poverty Reduction: Background Paper for the 2005 World Summit (2005)

Assessing Environment’s Contribution to Poverty Reduction: Background Paper for the 2005 World Summit (2005)

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Tackling diverse real-world poverty-environment drivers

PEP-9 (2006). Washington. DC, The World Bank, Pro-poor growth; health; country mainstreaming

Linking Poverty Reduction and Water Management (2006)

PEP-10 (2007). Nairobi, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and UNDP.Country mainstreaming (Africa); donor harmonization; local organizations.

PEP-11 (2007). Copenhagen, Danish International Development Agency (Danida).Climate; financing; markets and PES; capacity development.

PEP-12 (2007). Washington. DC, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).Infrastructure development; private sector; REDD+; biodiversity and protected areas.

PEP-13 (2008). Manila, Asian Development Bank (ADB).Assessing poverty-environment linkages; country mainstreaming (Asia).

Poverty, Health and Environment: Placing Environmental Health on Countries’ Agendas (2008)

Making REDD Work for the Poor (2008)

Shaping inclusive green economies

PEP-14 (2009). Geneva, UNEP and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).Climate and green economy; scaling up local solutions; PEP review.

PEP-15 (2010). Lilongwe, DFID, OECD, UN, the World Bank and Govt. of Malawi.Climate mainstreaming and green economy.

PEP-16 (2011). Vienna, Austrian Development Agency (ADA).Supporting nationally-owned green economies.

PEP-17 (2012). Orchha, Development Alternatives, ADB and UN.Green jobs and SME development.

Building an Inclusive Green Economy for All: Opportunities and Challenges for Overcoming Poverty and Inequality (2012)

PEP-18 (2013). Berlin, BMZ and GTZ.Inclusive green economy and urbanization; SDGs.

PEP-19 (2014). Durban, EThekwini Municipality and EC.Cities, inclusive green economy and climate; SDGs.

A new and universal poverty-environment-climate agenda for implementing the SDGs

PEP-20 (2015). Edinburgh, DFID., Stocktake on poverty-environment-climate agenda and PEP forward-looking strategy

PEP-21 (2016). Sarvar, ADB, DFID, UN, Finland, IIED and ICCCAD,

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SDGs in Action: Learning from the South & Partnerships

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