The Eighth Global Environment Facility Assembly and Associated Meetings will be held from May 30 to June 6, 2026 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Building on the momentum of previous gatherings, the Assembly will bring together ministers, heads of international organizations, business leaders, civil-society advocates, Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth from the GEF’s 186 member countries to chart an accelerated path toward global environmental goals. The Assembly, the GEF's highest governing body, meets once every four years. GEF Council meetings are scheduled from May 31 to June 3.

Throughout the GEF Assembly, the GEF Small Grants Programme will be actively engaged in several events and activities to highlight UNDP’s leading role and strong engagement with CSOs, Indigenous People and local communities via the UNDP Local Action Offer. These activities will also provide spaces to share knowledge and experiences gained over the last three decades, as well as explore opportunities to expand and scale up local action through SGP and other initiatives.

Detailed Assembly programme: https://assembly.thegef.org/event/2026/side-events  

Key Activities and Events for GEF SGP

Eco- Expo: UNDP Local Action, GEF Small Grants Programme Pavilion 
This space will be open throughout the GEF Assembly and is located in the Silk Road Samarkand Expo Markazi and will showcase UNDP’s Local action programming and the GEF SGP. It will feature GEF SGP community-based market products, knowledge management materials and videos highlighting UNDP’s local action activities globally and locally. It will be a space where Assembly participants and the public can engage in discussions on topics relevant to the Assembly, such as GEF's Whole of Society Approach and Leaving No One Behind.

GEF Civil Society Forum: Panel 1: Scaling Community-Led Solutions.
Location: Diamond Room | Date and Time: Wednesday 3 June, 14:00 to 18:30

Framed within GEF’s Whole-of-Society approach, the Civil Society Forum is one of the premier events of the Assembly during which civil society, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women and youth will be able to voice and share their priorities, interests and experiences related to the GEF’s mission and programming. It is expected that the Forum will discuss key messages and proposals to feed into the formal GEF Assembly sessions and roundtable discussions, including concrete ideas and proposals for the GEF-9 replenishment cycle to increase GEF’s support and engagement with civil society.

UNDP Uzbekistan Side Event: Scaling Locally Led Environmental Solutions: Experience and Results of the GEF Small Grants Programme in Uzbekistan and Launch of SGP OP8.
Location: Eco Expo | Date and TIme: Thursday 4 June, 12:00 to 13:00 

The side event is intended to serve as a strategic platform for policy dialogue, knowledge exchange, and partnership-building around the role of locally led environmental action in advancing Uzbekistan’s sustainable development and climate priorities. The event will launch the GEF SGP Operational Phase 8 in Uzbekistan, and will be an opportunity to reinforce policy coherence, expand partnerships for implementation, and support the scaling of community-driven environmental action.

GEF SGP Flagship Event: GEF SGP Whole of Society Approach: sharing country level experiences | Advancing Locally Led Solutions Through Innovation, Inclusion, and Partnership. Location: Agate Room | Date and time: Thursday 4 June, 18:30 to 19:30

This side event will highlight how these GEF‑8 innovations, especially SGP’s expanded partnerships, can accelerate local action and unlock greater environmental and social impact. The event will celebrate GEF SGP’s leading role and strong engagement with CSOs and local communities over the past 34 years, while highlighting enhanced partnerships and opportunities under SGP 2.0 and GEF-8. It will also showcase the leadership of civil society and local communities in delivering global environmental solutions rooted in traditional knowledge, highlighting how GEF SGP fosters innovation, resilience, inclusive engagement and leadership, especially among women, Indigenous Peoples, youth, persons with disabilities. The event will also launch the GEF SGP Global Knowledge and Learning Platform with UNDP, FAO, CI.

Round Table 7: Leaving No One Behind: From Commitment to Action, Empowering Civil Society, Women, and IPLCs in GEF 9.
Location: Diamond Room | Date and time: Friday 5 June, 9:00 to 12:00

GEF-9 commits to a “leave no one behind” approach, channelling 20% of resources to Indigenous Peoples and local communities and scaling up proven community-led solutions through stronger partnerships and implementation from 2026–2030. This Roundtable convenes partners at exactly the right moment to collectively and boldly shape how Whole-of-Society commitments are translated into concrete, lasting action across the GEF 9 cycle, from 2026 to 2030. Regarding SGP: the roundtable discussion will focus on strengthening CSO participation, expanding eligibility of grantees, and enhancing GEF SGP communities of practice.

IUCN GEF SGP Side event
Scaling-Up CSO-led Environmental Solutions for Transformational Change – Launch of the GEF Small Grants Programme CSO Challenge Programme. Location: Zircon Room | Date and time: Friday 5 June, 15:00 to 16:00

This GEF Assembly side event will introduce GEF Assembly audiences and the wider conservation community to the GEF SGP CSO Challenge Program – an exciting new pilot initiative of the GEF Small Grants Program 2.0 to recognize and scale up environmental solutions from civil society organizations including those from youth, women, and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. Featuring larger individual grants to CSOs, a global, competitive, open, and inclusive call for proposals, tailored packages of demand-driven supports for selected CSOs and more, the CSO Challenge Program will support wider recognition, development and scaling up of CSO-led environmental solutions and expand the constituencies with whom the GEF partners with. This Assembly event will also serve as the official launch of calls for proposals for the GEF SGP CSO Challenge Program and facilitate exchange on ways to enhance integration of CSO-led conservation action in GEF programming.