The entire event was a tremendous success, with the participants in awe of their experience at TARAGram Orchha, where the DA group has brought about remarkable positive change in the livelihoods of rural communities in Bundelkhand.

The Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP) is an informal network of development agencies, which seeks to improve the coordination of work on poverty reduction and the environment within the framework of internationally agreed upon principles and processes for sustainable development. The theme for the meeting this year was Green Economy for Poverty Reduction: Innovation and Scale.

This year, the meeting was attended by over 50 participants representing over 30 organizations, including: multilaterals (ADB, UNDP, UNEP); bilaterals (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States of America); think-tanks and NGOs (GIZ, DA, IIED, IUCN, TNC, WBCSD, WRI, WWF); and representatives of developing countries and countries in transition from Botswana, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Rwanda, Tajikistan and Uruguay.

This conference gave an opportunity to DA-TARA to showcase its work to a wider international audience. Some of the participants were posited as ambassadors and promoters of the DA Group’s work and initiatives. Most participants referred to the field trips as an enlightening experience. They not only expressed interest in partnerships between their organisations and DA for future projects, but also shared their thoughts on exploring funding opportunities for the kind of projects being taken up by TARA.

PEP 17 also acted as a platform to capture the participants’ experiences and inputs for DA-TARA’s work. Majority of the participants wanted to understand the extent of influence that the DA Group has managed to make at the policy level along with the local government’s involvement. They were interested to learn DA’s action plan, to scale up the work they have undertaken in smaller economic clusters with controlled parameters. Needless to mention, it was a brilliant network building and knowledge exchange platform for DA-TARA.

To crisply understand the objectives of PEP 17, the following key points may come handy:

Day 1 commenced with a welcome address by Dr. Khosla, followed by discussions on Green Economy Innovation in Middle Income Countries and Least Developed Countries. Most significantly, the second half of the first day had discussions on Stimulating Green Growth and Innovation in Practice in India and Green Economy in Asia Pacific. The session was informally referred to as the India Session.

Day 2 had field visits organized by DA-TARA. Route 1 comprised the trail from TARAgram Orchha (TGO) to Rampura, Pahuj and return to TGO. Route 2 took the trail from TGO to Gaushala, Bagan, Madore back to TGO.

Day 3’s prime focus was discussions on formulating international synergies for positioning for Rio+12 on poverty reduction and Green Economy.

Day 4 saw the conclusion of the meeting along with discussions on the steps to be taken in the near future. The next meeting, the PEP 18, will take place in Germany. q