Reports

Consultative Meeting on Capacity Building and Training for Effective Management of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem Programme (BCLME)

Dr. O’Toole welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Ms. Mary Tamba Baldeh, (Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP) who gave a welcome speech and opened the meeting. Mr. Ashley Naidoo was introduced as the Chairperson.

General housekeeping announcements included the introduction of PCU staff as workshop assistants, identified breakaway rooms, conference materials and programme literature. An interpreter was available for communication in Portuguese. Copies of all presentations were given to the record keeper to be included in the final report.

Announcements included apologies from Ms N. Mbako,the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and Ms A. Nelumba, the Director General of the Angolan Ministry of Fisheries. Dr. O’Toole apologised for the short notice with regard to holding this workshop and pointed out a potential time management problem which may lead to rescheduling of some presentations. It was noted that this meeting is intended as a broad-based scoping exercise and not for developing proposals or training plans for individual organisations. Participants were asked to briefly introduce themselves prior to the start of the presentations.

Opening address by Tamba Mary Baldeh, Deputy Res. Rep. (UNDP)

• Institutions need to grow in order to effectively build capacity

• There are a number of training needs in Angola. BCLME can help to address these by bringing in other donors to assist with training needs, as well as the continued funding of BENEFIT, especially with on-the-job training. BCLME should focus on transboundary management and encourage other donors to address the remaining needs.

• Although the relationship between the Marine Research Institute and the university is a close one now, more participation and partnership in research projects is anticipated in the future as this process unfolds.

• Staff turnover isn’t just a Namibian problem; it is probably relevant to all governments worldwide, especially when there is high pressure on government to manage public services while competing with the private sector. While it is impossible to prevent, staff could be motivated to stay through training and a competitive salary. Additionally the ministry should convince the public sector of the importance of retaining these individuals in the government. There is some improvement in staff levels due to the creation of management posts.

• The ministry should summarize past training efforts and its effectiveness. There has not been a concrete training strategy for the last five years and probably about 95% of trained staff have left the ministry.

• The challenge is to educate managers to develop both technical knowledge and political function (i.e., leadership, ability to interact with government). Innovative ways to develop fisheries managers are needed, since one can only teach management skills and not the capacity to be a manager. Another problem is how leadership becomes appointed from outside of the ministry, and appointed persons may not have relevant backgrounds for the job. Another problem is that bureaucracy grows along with management levels.

• Institutional memory is important to transfer and expand knowledge and experience. Staff should be rewarded appropriately to avoid “brain drain”. There is a need for role models for youth and/or new staff to emulate.

Questions/Comments:

•  How will BCLME ensure the transfer of knowledge, since a significant amount of funds are committed to projects already involving a capacity building component that will most likely be contracted out? BCLME's contracts and Terms of Reference require reporting on training activities and the use of contractors to fulfil training needs; all but one contract utilises local (i.e., regional) consultants. The BCLME’s programme review will compare planned vs. actual training activities and evaluate for efficacy.

• To give an idea of training that’s occurred, BENEFIT has produced six MSc and two PhD graduates.

• There is need for a Training Officer or administrative position to oversee and coordinate training and interact with donors, someone to drive the programme.

• How would BCLME training programmes link with BENEFIT? Parameters would need to be defined, since BENEFIT training has focused on managing research, not other kinds of training i.e. management

• Who’s watching EIA’s to see the results and if the recommendations are implemented afterwards? Developers themselves should be more involved in monitoring EIA’s to check results and that recommendations are implemented. Regarding external monitoring, costs are the problem, not the expertise. One solution that would build capacity would have developers put funds in a kitty for external monitoring of their activities.

• MCS stands for monitoring, control and surveillance of fisheries. The MCS programme has an operational budget of 1,4 million Euros.

• UNDP questioned the time frame of courses, i.e., from time the course was approved to that of it being introduced; timely feedback, and organisational staff turnover. Who is the target audience for courses? For now by invitation only, aimed at people already working in the field, not students. It is possible to transfer courses from one country to another through collaboration with the Course Development Unit in the country. It is up to the CDU in the respective country to find funds or up to the participants.

• Isolated communities may have a problem with access to computers, however coastal programmes such as conservation programs or NORAD will have computers. Angola plans to put in resource centres in a number of points along the coast.

It was decided that the mini-workshops would be moved forward to Tuesday’s agenda as the entire first day was spent on information-sharing presentations and discussion.

The meeting adjourned at 16h15.

Dr. O’Toole welcomed everyone to the second day of the workshop and reviewed the amended agenda as follows:

Today’s Programme:

8h30 - 11h00 Identify key future training & capacity building (T&CB) needs

Coffee/tea break

11h00-? Identify some modest training and capacity building projects for action

11h30-12h00 Discuss TOR’s for T&CB advisory group

12h00-12h30 Strategic planning of the T&CB workshop

12h30 Close

13h00 Lunch

The first task is to identify key future T&CB needs in the two areas of management and marine science. Participants were asked to assemble into four mixed groups that will collaborate for a maximum of one hour on specific questions. Suggestions should be as specific as possible and rapporteurs should write-up a summary which will be presented to the plenary, allowing fifteen minutes per presentation.

The three questions under consideration are:

1) What are the transboundary science/management training and capacity building needs? Prioritise.

2) How can these needs be realistically addressed; (i.e., what actions are needed to attain capacity?)

3) How can capacity be retained, continued, maintained and expanded?

Questions/Comments:

Add “Hypothesis creation” under regional technical needs. Need to develop centres of excellence within institutions, building partnerships around these (can be virtual centres as well). The idea should focus on scientists joining programmes, not institutions. Another issue is rather than retaining trained scientific skill in the region, data and data products should be retained.

Remember to include the maritime point of view and the issue of safe shipping and maritime involvement in the BCLME area. Harbour and port authorities should be involved in monitoring shipping and related activities with regard to pollution as affects both resources and stocks. Although the European Union is addressing this topic, it should maintain priority in order to have effective management.

Add non-consumptive resource management (i.e., ecotourism, etc) to the issue of marine pollution to be addressed or integrated with coastal management.

With regard to staff retention, it is difficult for government salaries to be changed as they are pre-determined by the Office of the Prime Minister. Since the ministries aren’t independent entities, perhaps this is where the science community needs to “sell science” so that governments and countries recognise its importance.

• May not be appropriate now

• Urgent ones only (consultation: IIM, MFMR, MCM, Benefit)

• Other actions to await outcome of strategic planning workshop (to occur July 2004)

II. Strategic Planning Workshop

1. Move forward six to nine months (July 2004)

2. Develop TOR for workshop (CTA-consultations)

3. Use strategic planning expert facilitator to organize/facilitate workshop

4. Nominate Advisory group members

5. Small group 15-20 members

6. Venue: Johannesburg or Windhoek

• Should incorporate BENEFIT strategic planning update with this agenda also

• Fund update of BENEFIT Training Plan - integrate two in same workshop, BENEFIT as sub-section

• Use key inputs from today’s workshop for the next one in July-will be a consolidation of information and professional output to use as a lever with donors to solicit more funds

• Report from this workshop will be generated electronically to all participants, to gather more inputs also

1. Provide advice to the BCLME Activity Centres and PCU on T&CB projects;

2. Assist with the development of T&CB projects;

3. Coordinate activities and provide support for development of strategic planning/T&CB workshop;

4. Identify gaps in T&CB that need addressed and prioritise them;

5. Work closely with experts, bodies and institutions including relevant NGOs and stakeholders;

6. Monitor and evaluate T&CB programme and report back on progress;

7. Coordinate administration and management of T&CB projects with BENEFIT Training Plan;

8. Promote T&CB in BCLME region including on-the-job training, distance learning and specialised courses, (e.g., Train-Sea-Coast);

9. Build in long-term sustainability.

• Monitor and evaluate BCLME programme, not projects;

• See long-term sustainability built into the TOR;

• Will this be a BCLME T&CB programme in the future? What is this effort leading towards in the future? Address these questions at July’s planning workshop;

• Do we nominate members as part of Advisory group members will be nominated during the July workshop, in the interim two to three people can be identified to help with planning;

• Nominations should be up to three members per country to include people from other sectors; (Include representation from those organisations to be trained in the planning phase). Ensure tertiary institutions are informed as to what expectations are.

Dr. O’Toole thanked all participants, Rapporteurs, and the PCU staff for organising the workshop. It was a good networking and information-sharing experience.

The workshop report will be available to all participants in two to three weeks’ time.

The meeting closed at 12h30.

Annex A - Presentation #1: Introduction and background to meeting (Dr. O’Toole, CTA, BCLME Programme) - Hard copy only

Annex B (MS PowerPoint - 1.93MB) - Presentation #2: Summary of Scoping Report on “Training & Capacity Needs Assessment for the BCLME” and recommendations (B. Clark, Anchor Environmental Consultants)

Annex C (MS PowerPoint - 75KB) - Presentation #3: Perceived training and capacity building needs by Ministry of Fisheries, IIM, IPA and Ministry of Urbanism & Environment in Angola (V. de Barros Neto, IIM; A. Duarte, IPA; C. Santos, MUA)

Annex D (MS PowerPoint - 16.5KB) - Presentation #4: Perceived training and capacity building needs by fisheries and environmental ministries in Namibia (M. Maurihungiere, MFMR; B. van Zyl, NatMIRC; J. Intenge, MWTC; S. Shikongo, MET; R. Roeis, MAWRD)

Annex E - Presentation #5: Perceived training and capacity building needs by fisheries and environmental ministries in Namibia (G. Schneider, MME) - Hard copy only

Annex F (MS Word doc - 29KB) - Presentation #6: Perceived training and capacity building needs by fisheries and environmental ministries in Namibia (M. Maurihungiere, MFMR; B. van Zyl, NatMIRC; J. Iitenge, MWTC; S. Shikongo, MET; R. Roeis, MAWRD)

Annex G (MS PowerPoint - 4.94MB) - Presentation #7: Perceived training and capacity building needs by fisheries and environmental ministries in Namibia (M. Maurihungiere, MFMR; B. van Zyl, NatMIRC; J. Iitenge, MWTC; S. Shikongo, MET; R. Roeis, MAWRD)

Annex H - Presentation #8: Perceived training and capacity building needs by fisheries and environmental ministries in Namibia (M. Maurihungiere, MFMR; B. van Zyl, NatMIRC; J. Iitenge, MWTC; S. Shikongo, MET; R. Roeis, MAWRD) - Hard copy only

Annex I  (MS PowerPoint - 6.43MB) - Presentation #9: Perceived training and capacity building needs by MCM in South Africa (J. Augustyn, MCM; W. Sauer, Rhodes University)

Annex J (MS PowerPoint - 757KB) - Presentation #9: Perceived training and capacity building needs by MCM in South Africa (J. Augustyn, MCM; W. Sauer, Rhodes University)

Annex K - Presentation #10: Overview of training and capacity building components of BCLME project activities (L. Staegemann, H. Hamukuaya and M. de Lourdes Sardinha, BCLME Activity Centres) - Hard copy only

Annex L (MS Word doc - 119KB) - Presentation #11: Overview of training and capacity building components of BCLME project activities (L. Staegemann, H. Hamukuaya and M. de Lourdes Sardinha, BCLME Activity Centres)

Annex M (MS PowerPoint - 49.5KB)- Presentation #12: Overview of training and capacity building components of BCLME project activities (L. Staegemann, H. Hamukuaya and M. de Lourdes Sardinha, BCLME Activity Centres)

Annex N (MS PowerPoint - 226KB) - Presentation #13: Review of the BENEFIT Training Plan (N. Sweijd, BENEFIT)

Annex O (MS PowerPoint - 4.16MB) - Presentation #14: Training and capacity building needs for environmental impact assessment of industrial developments in the BCLME (P. Tarr, SAIEA Group)

Annex P (MS PowerPoint - 130KB) - Presentation #15: Training and capacity building for monitoring, control and surveillance in BCLME region - anticipated needs (C. Alexanderson, EU/MCS Programme)

Annex Q (MS PowerPoint - 78KB) - Presentation #16: Addressing the capacity building needs of the BCLME (G.B. Brundrit and F.A. Shillington, UCT; presented by V. Shannon)

Annex R (MS PowerPoint - 827KB) - Presentation #17: TRAIN-SEA-COAST Specialized courses for BCLME (K. Prochazka and J. Collins, UWC)

Annex S (MS PowerPoint - 4.04MB) - Presentation #18: Reflections on how ICT can play a role in information sharing and capacity building for effective management of the BCLME (F. Odendaal, EcoAfrica)

Annex T (MS Word doc - 21.5KB) - Presentation #19: Marine Science Group #1

Annex U (MS PowerPoint - 39.5KB) - Presentation #20: Marine Science Group #3

Annex V (MS Word doc - 53.5KB)- Presentation #21: Management Group #2

Annex W (MS PowerPoint - 44.5KB) - Presentation #22 Management Group #4