Experience Notes & Lessons Learned
Experiences and lessons learned from the project
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Experience Note: Lessons-learned Reporting on Stakeholder Involvement: WIO-Lab
- While this existing political and institutional framework provides a good ground for political embedding of strategy formulation and decision-making, the capacity for stakeholder involvement (technical, financial and human resources) of the dedicated focal point institutions and individual focal persons may in cases be limited; experience with wide stakeholder involvement (or the motivation to assure such) may be limited or even non existent. The WIO-LaB strategy for stakeholder participation is based upon a stakeholder involvement strategy that distinguishes between three levels of stakeholder involvement. The project has been underway for 15 months, and the approach is proven to be successful so far, in particular as it concerns the regional-level stakeholder involvement. However, the success rate of the national stakeholder involvement activities is still to be proven, with many of the project countries still establishing their strategies and structures. Peter Scheren
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Experience Note: Lessons-learned Reporting on Project Management Structure: WIO-Lab
- The WIO-LaB project workplan is based upon the Nairobi Convention workplan. The synergy between the project and the policy/programme level, provides an important advantage. Despite these important advantages, it should be noted that the capacity of the focal points (technical, financial and human resources) for coordination of the different project activities, which cover a wide range of issues, may in cases be limited. A second challenge concerns the large diversity in the respective institutional, cultural and socio-economic settings of the respective countries. Apart from official structures, the WIO-LaB PMU has furthermore established/supported a number of more informal structures for stakeholder consultation and involvement. Although the adopted structure builds upon the existing structure of the Nairobi Convention, the approach would generally be replicable in other situations. Peter Scheren
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Experience Note: Nature’s Answers to the Sanitation Challenge: The Application of Constructed Wetland Technology for Wastewater Management
- The coastal zone of the Western Indian Ocean region is the site of most major cities, harbours, industries and other socio-economic infrastructure, which increasingly affect the environment. One of the technologies being promoted by UNEP-GPA WIO-LaB project is that of constructed wetland treatment systems. This note describes several completed demonstration projects. The projects have led to a number of important lessons learnt, covering: cost-efficiency, learning from experience, stakeholder buy-in and ownership and technology. The note also addresses replication issues, including selecting the right technology for the right conditions, ensuring adequate stakeholder buy-in and building upon experience. These demonstration projects are not the first examples of such systems in the WIO region, however they have made an important contribution to extending the knowledge and understanding of this promising technology to other countries in the region. Furthermore, with the establishment of a regional center for wetland technology at the University of Dar es Salaam, the projects are expected to have very important spin-off, in providing countries in the region with an effective and cost-efficient alternative to existing wastewater treatment technology. Peter Scheren Addressing Land Based Activities in the Western Indian Ocean
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Experience Note: Lessons-learned Reporting on Demonstration Site Selection and Design: WIO-Lab
- The challenge in this is thus to ensure that relevant technical actors are involved in the design and review process, and that were needed capacity at the national level is attracted from supporting institutions. The process for development and selection of demonstration projects, as applied for the WIO-LaB project, applies very much a consultative approach. The note describes both the selection process and criteria for selection. Projects were also ranked and selected through a transparent (non-weighted) multi-criteria analysis, a sample of which is included. The approach is generally applicable in projects applying a similar project management structure. Peter Scheren
