SOFF has been created as a Multi Partner Trust Fund jointly established by WMO, UNDP and UNEP. As a UN Coalition, SOFF will maximize complementaries, its impact and visibility.
The Steering Committee provides strategic direction to SOFF. It endorses SOFF strategic documents, adopts the Operational Manual taking into account recommendations of the SOFF Advisory Board, and approves the programming priorities, funding requests, and the budget for the operation of the SOFF Secretariat. The Steering Committee endorses financial and programmatic reports from the SOFF Secretariat and the Trustee and commissions regular independent external evaluations.
SOFF is advised by a multi-stakeholder Advisory Board. Its main functions are to provide strategic advice on programming and operations, contribute to assessing and maximizing SOFF results, ensure that SOFF maximize synergies between SOFF and the Advisory Board Members’ and other relevant stakeholders’ activities across the meteorological value chain, and to provide insights and foster learning and innovation.
The Secretariat coordinates operations and ensures coherence of action by the many SOFF partners. It operates under the overall guidance of the Steering Committee and is accountable to it. The SOFF Secretariat is hosted by WMO and responds to WMO administrative policies and procedures.
Major multilateral development partners that play an important role in hydromet project implementation serve as SOFF Implementing Entities for the investment phase – Multilateral Development Banks and UN organizations. All Implementing Entities are expected to be members of the Alliance for Hydromet Development.
National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) will provide hands-on advise to beneficiary countries and implementing entities on achieving and maintaining GBON compliance.
NMHSs from the SOFF beneficiary countries are the focal points for SOFF support. SOFF prioritizes support to SIDS and LDCs. All other OECD ODA-eligible developing countries are eligible for SOFF support under the Readiness phase only.
WMO as SOFF Technical Authority
The World Meteorological Congress is responsible for setting and approving the GBON regulations and updating them. The Commission for Observation, Infrastructure and Information Systems (INFCOM) is in charge of overseeing and coordinating the development of technical guidelines, processes and procedures for the implementation and compliance monitoring of GBON. The WMO secretariat provides basic technical support to the peer advisors, IEs and beneficiary countries on GBON regulations. The WMO secretariat is also responsible for the technical screening of the GBON Gap Analysis and the National Contribution Plan against the GBON regulations and the independent verification of the status of beneficiary countries’ stations against the GBON regulations.
