Overview of IW:LEARN Activities

Editor's Notes

• #2: Feel free to replace reference to Dann Sklarew with your own name and role. There may be some slides here which are hidden from presentation, for your reference and/or inclusion for longer presentations. Dann needs to incorporate updates from Bank Workshop 2006-03-10 version thru October 2006; ADD BRAZILIAN FLAG TO PARTNERS!!
• #3: Organizational Vision: Stakeholders participating in Transboundary Waters Management are able to find the data, information and knowledge they need to sustainably manage their shared water resources. Projects’ stakeholders include managers, governments, partners, implementing and executing agencies – as well as NGOs (civil society and private sector) participating in GEF IW projects.
• #9: See slides and notes which follow this slide for more details on each component.
• #10: <number> Activity A.1 Establish a central metadata directory of all available IW project data and information (GEF IW Information Management System: IW-IMS) Details:The International Waters Information System (IW-IMS) will serve as single entry point for access to GEF IW information. This activity will develop, test and institutionalize a supporting mechanism to enhance access to high quality data and information. Extending the International Waters Resource Centre (IWRC) information system created during the IW:LEARN Pilot Phase, and utilizing the UNEP.Net Frame Work, [3] the IW-IMS will include a central database with supporting utilities that provide remote search and transparent access to project profiles, contact information, publications, geo-referenced data, news, etc., that are available on-line and are relevant to GEF priority areas (e.g. project websites, thematic portals and clearing houses, other Resource Centres). Its interface will consist of a series of user prioritized “modules” that readily address IW stakeholders’ information needs and questions by harvesting and customizing information from a broader network of information partners. Activity A.2 Provide technical assistance to GEF IW projects to develop or strengthen Web sites and apply appropriate ICT tools according to defined ICT quality criteria, and connect all GEF IW project Web sites to the GEF IW-IMS. Details:The objective of this activity is to create and make GEF IW projects’ and partners’ Web sites interoperable, build capacity for their continued upkeep and utility, and to assist projects in developing and applying ICT solutions to TWM. It also repackages and applies the tools developed in Activity A1, and serves as a feedback mechanism for practical refinement of the functions and services offered by the IW-IMS.
• #11: This is an imageshot from the soon-to-be-release NEW IW Resource Centre.
• #12: <number> Activity B.1 Organize 2-5 inter-project learning exchanges on a regional scale Details: This activity aims to enhance the implementation of regional subsets of the GEF IW portfolio by increasing the overall capacity of managers, transferring capacity from within these portions and from outside partners, and strengthening communication and learning exchanges across networks of GEF IW managers within these regions.   Activity B.2 Organize and conduct multi-project learning exchanges for 3-5 subsets of similar projects in the GEF portfolio. Details: This activity aims to enhance the implementation of freshwater, marine and coral reef subsets of the GEF IW portfolio by increasing the overall capacity of managers, transferring capacity from within these portions and with outside partners, and strengthening communication and learning exchanges across networks of GEF IW managers managing similar ecosystem types. A blended learning approach will be used to promote ongoing sharing of experiences among each of these communities. Some demand-driven training elements may also be incorporated. Activity B.3 Coordinate inter-project exchanges between GEF IW projects and partners Details: This activity builds upon lessons from the 2003 pilot. Objectives include: Exchanging project experience and expertise at the operational level between projects with similar goals, objectives and activities; Mutually increasing capacity for more effective protection of shared resources and sustainable management of transboundary water systems; Documenting and disseminating recommendations and lessons gleaned from the exchanges across participating GEF IW projects. The activity brings together project managers, scientists and technical experts, non-governmental organization leaders, and policy makers for exchanges of project experiences and lessons learned during multi-week “learning missions.” The exchanges enable participating institutions to share experience and learn from each other in practical ways through collaborative face-to-face interactions over two to six week periods. To date, a number of projects and their partners (e.g., BCLME, GCLME, HCLME, PEMSEA, PERSGA, IUCN (Mekong and Tanganyika), Globallast, DeltAmerica? (IWRN)) have already requested notification and consideration for exchanges in 2004. Even though the pilot phase necessarily had a short notification period, tight application deadlines, and limited publicity, the interest was widespread and vigorous.   Activity B.4 Provide face-to-face and virtual training to enhance public participation in Transboundary Waters Management. Details:IW:LEARN’s P2 training activity will consist of distilling and delivering a set of P2 training modules to teams of project, government and NGO partners across at least 15 GEF project areas. This modular training will be reinforced and enhanced back in participants’ home offices through facilitated distance learning across projects using appropriate ICTs. The overall goal will be to assist each GEF IW project in building the public support and stakeholder ownership needed to sustain TWM beyond GEF’s intervention. Specific outputs may include new or improved SIPs, P2 protocols for conventions, or adoption of specific tools or measures (e.g., citizen advisory committees, stakeholder mapping tools, social marketing campaigns, public-access repositories for data or legal documents, public hearings) for improving P2 in TWM. Results for improved public access may be measured through benchmarks adapted from those developed by the Access Initiative, an international environmental NGO network, with guidance from GEF and UNDP M&E experts. Stakeholder involvement results will also be tracked according to the number and type of activities planned and realized by teams following the training.
• #20: <number> Activity C.1 Organize third GEF International Waters Conference Details:The 3rd IW Conference took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2005. Continuing the success of the previous conferences, IWC3 featured issue and region-based plenaries, seminars, peer-to-peer discussions, participatory workshops and individual meetings. Sessions were designed to facilitate information exchange among project initiatives and to encourage collaboration and replication wherever feasible. The conferences also provided an opportunity for GEF to showcase successes and highlight lessons learned across the IW community, including current and prospective TWM partners.   Activity C.2 Organize fourth GEF International Waters Conference Details:The 4th IW Conference will likely be held in Cape Town, South Africa. With the exception of CSD participation, activities will largely parallel those of IWC3, taking into account any procedural lessons or guidance provided through the project’s independent mid-term review. Given the proximity of Cape Town to the GEF IW-supported Benguela Current LME, as well as the host country’s progressive water management policies, one or more site visits may be arranged. A key output of a second conference will be to further plan extension of this biennial GEF IW 'conference of the parties' in a participatory setting, based on the demonstrated and evaluated results, beyond the term of this IW:LEARN FSP.
• #24: <number> Activity D.1 Develop South East Asia Regional Learning Center (SEA-RLC) Details: The SEA-RLC will establish a regional IW Web site interlinked with the sites and data archives GEF IW projects in the region and the broader IW-IMS. This site will include a regional roster of IW experts and a virtual library of resource materials, both to be maintained by the center. The activity will then develop, deploy and maintain a regional GIS database for IW projects, along with dissemination of materials relating its application to TWM decision-making. Finally SEA-RLC will address GEF IW projects need for guidance regarding financial sustainability though links to potential co-financing and aid and development agencies, information regarding the generation of revenue streams for sustaining management-related activities concerned with the aquatic environment Activity D.2Provide face-to-face and virtual training, knowledge sharing and capacity-building and cooperation between IW stakeholders in Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea Details: A series of roundtables for senior officials and experts will serve as the coagulant for a regional TWM information exchange network launched via Internet to foster a regional IWRM community of practice in the Southern Mediterranean in support of the Petersberg Declaration and Athens Process. Based on the long term World Bank involvement in transboundary freshwater, coastal and marine resources management activities in Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean, this activity supports and combines the efforts of the Petersberg Process (jointly coordinated by the Government of Germany and the World Bank) and the Athens Declaration Process (jointly coordinated by the Government of Greece and the World Bank). Activity D.3 CSD/GEF Roundtable on IWRM or other priority issue to emerge from CSD-12. Details: A global roundtable, in follow-up to CSD-12 (and contributing to CSD-13) will establish linkages and alignment of the GEF IW community as synergistic with and contributing to CSD processes, which in turn contributes to sustaining the benefits of GEF interventions over the long term. CapNet?, a UNDP capacity-building project for IWRM, is providing substantial in-kind contributions to IW:LEARN (see Annex J). Thus, CapNet? will be a key partner in realizing this activity.
• #27: Snapshot from IWRM Roundtable in Tokyo (December 2005), organized in partnership with Japan Water Forum (lead) and others.
• #28: <number> Activity E.1Facilitate internal dialogue and partnerships with Implementing Agencies (IAs) and Executing Agencies (EAs). Details: IW:LEARN helps IAs and EAs develop and co-implement plans for progressive decentralization/delegation of responsibilities for IW:LEARN information systems and services to projects, IAs, EAs, and regional institutions leverage these entities’ comparative advantages and resources to institutionalise IW:LEARN activities beyond the Operational Phase IW:LEARN project.[i]   Activity E.2 Pursue dialogue and partnerships with external organizations Details: Exploring collaboration with other partners, such as donor countries with relevant Transboundary Waters Management experience, to ensure sustained benefits to GEF IW community. This activity will promote cross-cutting information sharing systems and learning exchanges, as necessary, to sustain successful activities not supportable directly by GEF entities. (Actors to drive the transfer of this sustainable benefits will be enlisted during the PDF-B period and explicitly identified in the Operational Phase Project Brief, in order to foster ownership from the outset of the project.) [i] E.g., collaboration with UNEP-DEWA to enhance and integrate IW information management; with UNDP’s Cap-Net to provide capacity-building support at sub-regional scales; with World Bank and IFC to address Public-Private partnerships; with World Bank Institution to sustain Black Sea -Danube Regional Distance Learning Program, etc.
• #30: IW Bridges Newsletter delivers syntheses of IW management experiences in response to IW stakeholders’ capacity-building needs.
• #39: Add Brazilian Flag! Check that Hungarian Flah is correct (looks like Italian a bit)