Inception Meeting on the Sustainable Management Mechanism for POPs in the Caribbean Project

The Project Inception Technical Meeting for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded full-sized project 'Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the Caribbean' took place from the 15th to 17th September, 2015 at the Hilton Hotel and Conference Centre, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.

It was hosted by the regional project executing agency, the Basel Convention Regional Centre for Training and Technology Transfer (BCRC-Caribbean) in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the GEF Project Implementing Agency.

Representatives from the 8 participating project countries across the region were in attendance alongside local attendees from key government ministries and agencies. Ms. Keima Gardiner, Environmental Engineering Specialist represented the Environmental Policy and Planning Division of the Ministry of Planning and Development at the meeting. There was also representation and presentations from the CARICOM Secretariat, the African, Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) Group of States/Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA) Unit as well as the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Secretariat and the GEF.

At the Project Inception Technical Meeting, the critical elements of the project were discussed, inclusive of project component elements, execution schedules, the proposed organisational structure, division of finances, implementation timelines, monitoring, evaluation, auditing and the other facets of the project management system. The key actors in the project were also identified.

Participants at the meeting including Ms. Gardiner, Ministry of Planning and Development (front row, centre) and    Dr. Ahmad Khan, Director, BCRC-Caribbean (front row, first on the right)

Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for POPs in the Caribbean

A Regional Validation Workshop was hosted by the Basel Convention Regional Centre for the Caribbean on  September 25th, 2014 to  September 26th, 2014 at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre, Port of Spain. 

The workshop was attended by one Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Operational Focal Point and one Stockholm Convention National Focal or Official Contact Point from each of the following eight (8) Caribbean territories: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

These countries represent the member states involved in the GEF funded full-sized project “Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the Caribbean”. Ms. Keima Gardiner, Environmental Engineering Specialist, Environmental Policy Analyst represented the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources at the Workshop.

The workshop was convened to:

• finalise all technical administrative and financial elements of the project as discussed in the Town Meetings held in July, 2014 in the respective territories 
• refine the budget and work plan for the project 
• provide an official forum for consensus building and project validation 

 

Representatives from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) were present to facilitate information sharing among project member states and foster collaboration in advance of official project implementation. This was done by providing participants with resource material and empirical information on UNIDO's experiences with POPs and unintentional POPs (uPOPs) in other countries. The Regional Consultant for the Project, Ms. Camille Roopnarine, gave an in-depth review of the project components as it related to the expected outputs, affiliated activities and budgetary allocations for each. 

At the end of the Workshop, regional stakeholders agreed in principle with the outcomes and this was to be confirmed through the provision of individual co-financing agreements.

Group photo of the participants including Ms. Gardiner (front, 4th from the left) at the GEF funded Regional POPs Project with representation from Caribbean states, UNIDO and BCRC-Caribbean.

Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for POPs in the Caribbean

The Town Meeting for the Global Environmental Facility/ United Nations Industrial Development Organization (GEF/ UNIDO) Project entitled “Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for Persistent Organic  Pollutants (POPs) in the Caribbean” was held on Thursday 10^th July, 2014 at the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources’ Conference Room, Tower D, International Waterfront Complex, Port of Spain.

 

The Project was approved by the GEF Council in November, 2013 and is being coordinated by the Basel Convention Regional Centre for the Caribbean (BCRC-Caribbean). It seeks to enable the  region to reduce and/ or eliminate the threat of POPs as part of the obligations under the Stockholm convention, within the context and realities of eight (8) Caribbean countries, inclusive of Trinidad and Tobago.

  

As part of the Project Preparation Phase, one of the associated activities was the hosting of a Town Meeting, for liaising with the relevant stakeholders in an attempt to refine and solidify their roles and responsibilities at this phase as well as to garner preliminary information for preparation of the full sized project document. In attendance at this Town Meeting were a wide cross-section of representatives from government, public sector, private entities, NGOs and academia.

Participants at the Town Meeting for the GEF/UNIDO Project:

 Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism 

for POPs; July 10th, 2014.

The Meeting was opened by the Permanent Secretary, Ms. Vidiah Ramkhelawan, who provided some brief introductory remarks. Following which, the Regional Consultant, Ms. Camille Roopnarine spearheaded the session by providing presentations on the  Project and then engaging participants eliciting their feedback on the relevant project Components for the country.  The Town Meeting coordinator, Ms. Keima Gardiner (Environmental Engineering Specialist, Environmental Policy Planning Division) then brought the meeting to close with a vote of thanks.