Established in 1994, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is the only legally binding international agreement on land issues. The Convention promotes good land stewardship. Its 196 Parties aim, through partnerships, to implement the convention and achieve Sustainable Development Goals. The end goal is to protect our land, from over-use and drought, so it can continue to provide us all with food, water and energy. The Global Mechanism is an institution of the UNCCD, mandated to assist countries in the mobilization of financial resources from the public and private sector for activities that prevent,  control or reverse desertification, land degradation and drought. As the operational arm of the convention, the Global Mechanism supports countries to translate the Convention into action and to achieve amongst others, drought resilience at the national level.

In recent years, attention towards enhancing drought preparedness has increased as seen in movements such as a High-level Meeting on National Drought Policy held in Geneva; an UN water initiative of capacity building regional workshops to support the development of national drought policies, and the development and adoption of the United Nations Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. Against this backdrop, the 13th UNCCD Conference of Parties (Decision 29/COP13) requested the secretariat and appropriate UNCCD institutions and bodies (including the Science-Policy Interface) within their respective mandates to implement Drought Initiative in the biennium 2018-19. Within the scope of the Drought Initiative, three work areas are identified :(i) drought preparedness systems; (ii) regional efforts
to reduce drought vulnerability and risk; and (iii) a toolbox to boost the resilience of people and ecosystems to drought.

The Global Mechanism will take the lead in supporting the Government of Guatemala in developing the national drought plans by, including, mobilizing a national Consultant.