There is a 3-day BRIDGE Project Oversight Committee meeting that is currently taking place at Hotel La Louisiane in Paris, France. The meeting started on 19 April and it will end today.

BRIDGE is a 4-year joint project of CAFÉ and the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Environmental Funds (RedLAC) whose title is “Bridging Private Finance and Conservation Towards the 2030 Action Targets.”

The project has a total budget of €4.8 million and its main purpose is for Conservation Trust Funds (CTFs) in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean to contribute towards the 2030 action targets through engaging the private sector in conservation finance. The following are the three components of the project: Private Finance Innovation Facility, Exchange and Capacity Building, and Knowledge in the Long-term.

The Oversight Committee, which comprises of 6 members (3 from CAFÉ and 3 from RedLAC), is an organ that guides and oversees project implementation, and approves relevant reports, procedures and manuals.

In attendance from CAFÉ are the following: Dr Théophile Zognou, the President of CAFÉ and Executive Director of the Sangha Tri-national Trust Fund of Cameroon (FTNS); Mr Tapiwa Makiwa, the CAFÉ Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Community Conservation Fund of Namibia (CCFN), and Mr Guillaume de Rouville, CAFÉ Executive Committee member and Executive Director of the Okapi Fund for Nature Conservation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

BRIDGE Project funding comes from the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) and MAVA Foundation.