[{"bbox": [85, 151, 1145, 355], "category": "Text", "text": "In December 2021, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board approved a 36-month arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility in an amount equivalent to SRD 472.8 million. The IMF financial arrangement will support Suriname's economic reform programme and is also intended to help bring public debt down to sustainable levels, upgrade the monetary and exchange rate policy framework, stabilise the financial system and strengthen institutional capacity to tackle corruption, money laundering and improve governance. These reforms will be supported by technical assistance from development partners including the IMF, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank Group."}, {"bbox": [85, 382, 1145, 670], "category": "Text", "text": "The Netherlands embarked on a technical assistance programme with Suriname, called ‘Makandra’ (‘together’ in Surinamese), which was launched in 2021 for a 4-year period. It is funded by EUR 6 million for four years and is a Government-to-Government technical assistance scheme. It builds up capacity of the Ministries of Justice and Police, Finance, Education and Health, as well as the Central Bank and creates a level playing field for entrepreneurs. The executing agency is the Dutch RVO (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland, Netherlands Enterprise Agency), with a steering committee comprising the Surinamese Ministry of Finance, Foreign Affairs and the Dutch embassy. Short and long-term experts from the Netherlands are coming to Suriname to carry out the activities of various time range. The EU Delegation is being kept informed about Makandra in order to explore synergies between interventions of the Netherlands and the EU."}, {"bbox": [85, 702, 326, 731], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2 Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [85, 746, 342, 776], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### Short problem analysis:"}, {"bbox": [85, 805, 1145, 952], "category": "Text", "text": "The importance and relevance of the EU-Suriname Forest Partnership as a priority area of the MIP is supported and heightened by the country's geographical specificities, which include an at-risk coastline and a densely forested hinterland, the need for sustainable economic diversification, and the sustained political will towards maintaining forest cover, which represents an opportunity and entry point for the EU to implement its Green Deal priorities and objectives."}, {"bbox": [85, 980, 536, 1010], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### Strengthening the capacity of civil society:"}, {"bbox": [85, 1039, 1145, 1214], "category": "Text", "text": "Improving forest governance implies strengthening of counter veiling powers in CSOs to promote balanced policy dialogue between government and civil society. Surinamese civil society plays a key role in enhancing governance and transparency through advocacy and maintaining an enabling environment for the implementation of the EU-Suriname Forest Partnership. Needs and gaps need to be addressed by strengthening community based organisations, indigenous organisations, as well as forest products associations/trade unions and weak environmental community-based CSOs."}, {"bbox": [85, 1242, 1145, 1448], "category": "Text", "text": "Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and tribal peoples are dominating populations in the interior (hinterland) of Suriname, representing respectively 4% and 21% of the total population. Their livelihoods largely depend on the natural resources including forests, making them key stakeholders and partners in the decision making and management of the forest resources. Both groups are organised in associations or umbrella organisations. Speaking more distinctly about indigenous people, the Association of Indigenous Village Leaders in Suriname (VIDS) focuses on recognition in Suriname of indigenous people's rights in particular land rights, and on strengthening the indigenous traditional authorities."}, {"bbox": [85, 1475, 1145, 1621], "category": "Text", "text": "The commitment of indigenous peoples to conservation also materialised in the establishment of the Indigenous Declaration for the Protection of 7.2 million hectares of rain forest in South Suriname. The declaration was signed in March 2015 by eight parties, including the Organization of Indigenous in Suriname (OIS), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), Conservation International Suriname, the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning, Land and Forest Management"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1680, 1145, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 16"}]