The term ‘capacity building’ generally constitutes the development of activities and materials that support the acquisition of specific knowledge and skillset to better understand and implement the provisions of the Convention.
Resolutions and Decisions
- Resolution Conf. 3.4 on Technical cooperation
- Dec. 19.40-19.43 on Capacity-building
Committee documents
- AC31 Doc. 10 / PC25 Doc. 11 - includes the results of the survey from Notif. No.2020/027 and summary of information from other MEAs regarding their capacity-building efforts
- AC31 Doc. 10 / PC25 Doc. 11 Add. (Rev. 1) - includes the updates on the coordination efforts in other MEAs, findings from the survey from Notif. No.2020/027, information on capacity-building needs through CITES implementation reports
Current capacity-building opportunities
Resources and opportunities for capacity-building support
Global Environment Facility (GEF) Global Wildlife Program: program that addresses illegal wildlife trade across Asia and Africa. Over 30 GEF projects are included under GEF-6 and GEF-7. The new GEF-8 programming directions include the Integrated Program on Wildlife Conservation for Development.
African Elephant Fund (AEF): Multi-donor trust fund to direct resources for effective implementation of the African Elephant Action Plan (Resolution Conf. 16.9). UNEP provides the secretariat services to the AEF steering committee.
International University of Andalucía (UNIA) Master’s Degree in Management and Conservation of Species in Trade
Organized by the International University of Andalucía, the UNIA Master’s course has been running since 1998 and has provided specialized quality training on the concepts, scientific bases, techniques and instruments that enable CITES implementation to hundreds of participants from over 100 coutnries. Many of the course participnats are CITES authority officials.
The course, held every two years, consists of an on-campus period of 11 weeks in Baeza, Spain, followed by a research period of 9 months leading to the submission of a master’s thesis. The successful completion leads to the attainment of 60 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) credits and the Master’s Degree issued by UNIA, a public university in Spain.>
Important dates regarding the 15th edition of the Master’s course are (all dates to be confirmed):
- Publication of course information through Notification to Parties: mid-2023
- Pre-registration: June-October 2023
- Formal enrolment: November-December 2023
- On-campus period from 15 April to 30 June 2024
- Virtual period from 1 February to 1 September 2024
Subject to the availability of external funds, the CITES Secretariat provides limited financial support to interested CITES officials from developing country Parties. Other financial support is available from the West Africa Biodiversity and Low Emissions Development program (USAID WABiLED) for participants from West Africa.
Commemorative book "Master CITES: A success story of the Spanish cooperation (2019)"
