Mountain Partnership

Mountain Partnership Secretariat

The Mountain Partnership is supported by a Secretariat which acts as a networking and liaison point for members, connecting institutions and activities in mountain development to ensure greater participation, coherence and impact. It does this by delivering key services: communication and information, knowledge management and brokerage. In particular, the Mountain Partnership Secretariat plays a facilitating role in helping members build and develop joint activities or Partnership Initiatives and ensures that it provides members with ready assistance when and how they need it.

The Mountain Partnership Secretariat helps to link existing activities in mountain development and foster synergies and complementarities to promote closer collaboration, avoid duplication and achieve greater coherence and better results in terms of sustainable development.

The Mountain Partnership Secretariat now operates in a decentralized manner, in order to make the best use of existing networks and institutions and to more effectively provide services and support to members at the regional level.

The new Secretariat structure consists of central and decentralized hubs hosted respectively by FAO in Rome (Central Hub), The Consortium for the Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion - CONDESAN in Peru (Latin America Hub), the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development - ICIMOD in Nepal (Asia/Pacific Hub), as well as the Environmental Reference Centre hosted by UNEP in Vienna. Even though hosting of the Secretariat is provided by different institutions throughout the world, the Secretariat operates as one mutually supportive team, dedicated to the service of Mountain Partnership members.

The Central Hub will continue to play an important coordination role for the Secretariat as well as maintain responsibility regarding global level initiatives. Our new Decentralized Hubs will enable the Secretariat to have closer and more regular contact with members, helping them to promote new initiatives and more effectively collaborate jointly on existing programmes. The new structure should enhance the collection and dissemination of knowledge and information as well as allow support for networking, organization and resource mobilization to be better tailored to local needs. The Environmental Reference Centre ensures adequate attention to environmental concerns in the partnership initiatives and provides its services both in the regions and at the central level.