News

Mountain Partnership members like joint action

14.10.2014

Mountain Partnership members expressed their interest in working with fellow members in an online survey conducted  by the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in June 2014. Nearly all respondents, 50 out of 54, said they would like to participate in joint actions – especially conferences, workshops, seminars; capacity building and education; and development projects. The majority are partial to the project-based nature of joint action, followed by the networking and working jointly aspects of such undertakings.

Climate Change was the most popular topic for joint action, the survey found. Biodiversity, water and mountain agriculture were also among the topics highlighted by members.

Thirteen Mountain Partnership members favour joint action on the local level, ten on the regional level and eight with neighbouring countries (trans-boundary mountains). Continental-scale joint actions were preferred by two respondents.

Most members would elect to take part in joint action as team members/staff (16) while eight indicated interest in the role of coordinator and seven in the role of team leader/manager. Seven said that they would like to serve as consultant/advisor and one respondent signalled availability to participate as an auditor.

The greatest strengths in joint ventures were listed as: good international rapport (26), skilled and experienced personnel (26), matched quality performance records in previous projects (17) together with available intangible resources (13) in a sound environment with proper organization facility (16). Lack of financial resources for participating in joint action was the most common weakness - expressed by more than 30 members. Obsolete facilities and lack of staff were also reported as weaknesses.

Most of the organizations have participated and completed a number of successful joint projects, in particular, concerning climate change research and related topics.

Of the 54 respondents, the majority (40) were from the Major Group category while seven are governments and seven intergovernmental organizations.

Joint action is one of the six pillars of work of the Mountain Partnership. The Fourth Global Meeting of Mountain Partnership recommended that a survey be held to assess the interest of members to participate in joint actions.

The survey results were compiled by Irene Otieno Akinyi and Tino Johansson of ICIPE.