MIO-ECSDE “raised the bar” at the 20th Anniversary of GEF

Along with 300 other participants involved in the GEF International Waters (IW) portfolio of projects, MIO-ECSDE staff attended a four-day conference, held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, 17-20 October 2011.

Since 2011 was the 20th Anniversary of GEF, the conference theme was “Raising the Bar: 20 Years of GEF Transboundary Water Results”.

It offered the opportunity to take stock of all 71 active projects in 80 countries that make up the current IW portfolio. After the opening session, participants heard details about the progress of GEF’s International Waters projects in the Mediterranean, some of which involve programs in the conference’s host country.

In his opening remarks, Fritz Holzwarth, Deputy Director General of the German Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, highlighted that the real challenge is not only to make good projects, but communicate the results properly to hierarchies in the countries in related regions.

Directly linked to that, MIO-ECSDE, within its role in leading and implementing the MedPartnership’s communication and information dissemination activities, organized on the first day of the Conference, a side event to launch a state-of-the-art iPad application showcasing the project and its activities in a friendly manner using cutting-edge technology. The event was very successful and MIO-ECSDE was congratulated by all participants, who were very impressed with this outstanding output and was asked by the IW:LEARN team to share experiences and know-how in order to improve the IW:LEARN knowledge platform.

The application will be made available soon in a flash format in order to reach out to broader public.

For more info: Thomais Vlachogianni, vlachogianni@mio-ecsde.org