Background

The 1^st Asia Pacific Regional Targeted Workshop for GEF IW Projects is the first of three workshops in the region that will be organized by IW:LEARN in order to enable regional inter-basin co-ordination to enhance the management capacity of institutions and project partners.  The objective is to increase communication in between project managers of marine, surface freshwater, and groundwater resources.  An intended outcome is the identification and development of project twinning /learning exchanges in between projects over the next two years.

The workshops are also about transferring management approaches amongst GEF projects and partners to build capacity based on topics deemed the most appropriate by workshop participants. Finally, the workshops are also about supporting participation in the GEF IW Global Communities of Practice for surface freshwater, groundwater and soon also large marine ecosystems.

Workshop Objectives

The workshop will resemble an International Waters Conference at the regional scale, with a focus on inter-project knowledge sharing (Best Lessons and Challenges). The workshop will also discuss some potential course modules to be provided by partners on content requested by Project Managers. Future learning priorities will also feature on the agenda, including twinning exchanges between projects and future workshops supported by GEF IW:LEARN. Facilitators will be drawn from the Global Community of Practice Partner (IUCN), as well as from actors in the region.

The overall aim of the workshop will be to foster cooperation and sharing amongst the various IW projects in Asia so as to be able to capture and replicate best practices while identifying challenges and working together to address these challenges and find solutions. The workshop will also aim to improve participation and interaction within the IW:LEARN Global Communities of Practice.

Other key topics that will be examined in the workshop will include addressing climate change impacts in GEF IW Projects, and the formation of Public Private Partnerships.

The workshop has the following primary objectives:

1. The presentation of areas of achievement and best practice as well as areas of challenge within each Project
2. Identification of Potential Twinning Exercises
3. Priorities and deliverables from following two (IW:LEARN) workshops

Workshop Outputs

• Report on Best Practices and Challenges (and how to address these issues within active and future Projects)
• Proposals and/or a Road-Map for improving Project delivery on top Priority Issues
• Proposals for project-project twinning exchanges in the region
• List of course modules for follow-up workshops in the region 2012-2014