The steering committee is composed of the Cuban focal point to the GSP (Dagoberto Rodríguez Lozano), the president (Mirelys Rodríguez Alfaro) and the vice-president (Olegario Muñiz Ugarte). Furthermore, 5 working groups have been established, based on the five GSP Pillars of action (Amaury Rodríguez for Pillar 1, Heriberto Vargas, for Pillar 2, José Manuel Febles González for Pillar 3, Luis Rivero Ramos for Pillar 4, and Guillermo Mora Yero for Pillar 5). Cuba constitutes the thirteenth National Soil Partnership following the example of Nicaragua, Portugal, Slovakia, Italy, Mongolia, Malawi, Thailand, Costa Rica, Philippines, Brazil, Ukraine and Colombia who are all successfully implementing soil programs and project at the national level.

OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of the implementation plan of the Cuban NSP is to propose concrete activities to be executed during the year 2020, based on the priorities identified and the action plans of the pillars of the Regional and Global Soil Partnerships. All activities are aiming at preserving soil resources. The steering committee will work towards the collaboration, approval and control of the activities of the Cuban NSP; the regular meeting of Working Groups to facilitate the fulfillment of the country's activities within the implementation plan; and the organization of an annual Plenary Assembly. 

FUNCTIONS

Among others, the committee will perform a number of functions:

• Catalyze cooperation between institutions, producers and decision makers in charge of and/or related to land use and management.
• Discuss and provide guidelines regarding national objectives and priorities related to soil and their implementation.
• Update the National Implementation Plan (NIP) and facilitate its development in line with the 5 Pillar Action Plans and the corresponding plans of the Regional Soil Partnership for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Global Soil Partnership.
• Provide technical and logistical assistance to NIP activities and monitor results.
• Promote the launch of soil awareness and education campaigns.
• Promote the improvement of the country's soil legal framework.
• Prepare and send regularly a newsletter and launch of a national website.
• Promote training activities.
• Keep the Secretariats of the Regional Soil Partnership for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Global Soil Partnership informed about the main actions developed by the Cuban NSP.

The partnership faces several challenges, with the first one being to actively contribute to the achievement of the objectives set for the celebration of the International Year of Soils 2015, with priority on the following:

• Raise awareness among civil society actors and decision makers (about the importance of the soil resource).
• Support effective policies and measures for the sustainable management and protection of soils.
• Promote investments in sustainable soil management activities.
• Strengthen initiatives related to the process of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030.
• Promote rapid capacity building for soil information collection and monitoring at all levels. 

The second challenge is to actively support the priorities established by FAO to improve food security and sovereignty, based on the preservation of soil resources and alert on the role of soils in climate change adaptation/mitigation.

Finally, the last challenge faced by the NSP is to join efforts with ongoing initiatives in the region and to prioritize the resource mobilization for the implementation of new initiatives by governments and national, international and private institutions.