Liaising with other organizations that share goals or objectives provides important opportunities for collaboration. For instance, many non-profit organizations are effectively working on conservation and restoration. Some are quite established and spread across different nations, providing a foundation for developing transnational relationships. Moreover, collaboration with different organizations can enhance skills, as many have experience with cross-cutting tools, including communication, advocacy and lobbying, as well as the establishment of partnerships.

For NFPs from some countries there are specific UN operations at the national level that can be very useful for mainstreaming national strategies into planning activities in economic and social sectors other than environment. There also exists opportunities for developing international assistance in the form of capacity building, technical assistance and technology transfer that can promote the implementation of the national strategies. The main UN vehicle for this at the national level is the United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAF). UNDAFs are developed in consultation with developing country governments to focus the UN’s assistance and the UN Country Teams actions on national priorities. The UNDAF includes outcomes, activities and UN agency responsibilities that are agreed by governments.

For NFPs in developing countries it is important to establish a dialogue with their UN Country Teams and national entities to ensure that national strategies for migratory species become part of the development frameworks. Once part of the framework opportunities for assistance, advice and potential financial assistance to support the implementation of the strategy will open up. Being part of the dialogue establishing or revising the UNDAFs will also improve the coordination and potentially help to mainstream a country’s migratory species strategies with other sectors also receiving UNDAF support. The linkages with other environmental issues and MEA strategies will also be important, particularly for those issues that have high priority in national assistance frameworks such as climate change, water and waste management, chemicals and biodiversity management. In addition, developing a common understanding of how migratory species implementation strategies fit with key global priorities such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the future Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets will improve the potential take up of the migratory species strategies by the UNDAF.

The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is a powerful financial mechanism at the national level. It is not a financial mechanism for CMS and its instruments but it does fund biodiversity projects and activities on biodiversity and the NBSAPs. Therefore it can be useful for assisting a country’s work on migratory species in the greater context of biodiversity.

There are a number of international organizations, inter-governmental and non-governmental, that have expertise, mandates or resources that enable them to assist countries with national strategies and implementation plans. Such inter-governmental organizations include the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations University (UNU), the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), and others, including regional organizations. Non-governmental organizations include the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Fauna and Flora International (FFI), the World Resources Institute (WRI), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), BirdLife International, Wetlands International and others.

The implementation of instruments can also be supported by workshops, meetings, and activities outside formal institutional processes. These may be held in conjunction with the Secretariat/Coordination Unit and Member States to the instrument.