Sharing, Networking, Capacity Building -Experiences of the GEF IWCAM and GEF CReW Projects

3rd UNESCO / GEF IW:LEARN Groundwater Integration Dialogue: “Sustaining Networks and Sharing Experiences: The Way Ahead”7th May 2014

Donna Sue SpencerCommunications Specialist, GEF CReW Project,ds@cep.unep.org

GEF IWCAM (2006 – 2011)

Objective:To strengthen the capacity of the participating countries to implement an integrated approach to the management of watersheds and coastal areas. The long-term goal - to enhance the capacity of the countries to plan and manage their aquatic resources and ecosystems on a sustainable basis.

Countries – all Small Island Developing States:Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago.

Implementing Agencies:UNEP and UNDPExecuting Agencies:Secretariat of the Cartagena Convention, UNEP CAR/RCU and the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute

www.iwcam.org

IWCAM Achievements• Created the foundations for the application of the IWCAM approach in

the participating countries.

• Was responsible for strengthening the commitment to IWCAM of regional project executing organizations, and their capacity to sustain in time what the project had started.

• Catalyzed the initial replication of best practices across project countries, was able to foster the replication of successfully tested practices and the full consideration of lessons learned.

• Contributed to a policy and institutional reform process.

The GEF IWCAM’s 9 Demonstration Projects provided a wealth of experience and lessons learned in terms of practical approaches to integrated watershed and coastal areas management in SIDS. The Drivers River Watershed in East Portland, Jamaica, was the pilot of a Watershed Area Management Mechanism (WAMM) that has since been adopted by the National Environment Planning Agency for

management of all of Jamaica’s watersheds.

IWCAM Critical Success Factors• Partnerships • Early development of a Communications Strategy• Community mobilization• Early stakeholder involvement• Capacity building• Public Education and Awareness• Pollution and wastewater management• Governance at community and national levels• Legislative and policy environment• Adaptive Management

Wide range of IWCAM resources available: www.iwcam.org

IWCAM Communications Strategy• Internal Communications: in support of Project objectives; personnel

need to be clear on this and agree to key messages.

• Development, in consultation, of Communications & PEO strategy to guide work of the demos & at regional level. Essential to make sure “all on same page”. Role of PCU to facilitate rather than filter. Workshops to build capacity.

• Three tracked approach: public awareness & outreach / behavioural modification / documentation & communication.

• Differentiation of target publics essential because of Project’s scope.

• Documentation important, underscored by need to convey lessons learned & good practice from demos.

Why develop a CommStrat?Helps to:

• Establish a baseline picture of knowledge, attitudes, practices and behaviours.

• Identify key actors and channels for communications

• Clarify and reinforce project objectives and link communications objectives to project objectives

• Set achievable project objectives

• Develop useful tools and activities

• identify key indicators

IWCAM Communications Planning Guide

• To help Participating Countries (PCs) develop and implement communications activities.

• To help the PCU find effective ways of ensuring that key lessons & best practices were effectively communicated to target audiences at every level.

• To help national and community level partners break down their long term objectives into a series of small achievable steps.

• Guide not a Bible – supported by training and consultation. Effectively adapted by demo managers to suit their contexts.

How IWCAM documented LL and GP• By Mid-Term Evaluation – recognized reporting scant, drafted approach

to documenting LL & GP; prepared TORs for consultant• Consultant & PCU refined approach (Experience Notes & Case Studies

using Triple-Bottom Line (TBL) assessment – social, economic and environmental) – prepared Guidance Document

• Lessons Learned & Good Practices Workshop (sharing and feedback, questions provided)

• Missions to document LL & GP (CS & Consultant)• To and fro with demo managers responses• Development of Case Studies and Experience Notes• Noting of trends and Critical Success Factors• Preparation of Documentary / Visual and Audio Public Service

Announcements (retrospective)

Lessons Learned re. Communications• Develop CommStrat as early as possible

• Identify and consult with stakeholders.

• Take stock of existing resources, strengths and weaknesses

• Consultation processes are important; keep promises and be transparent.

• Allocate resources and time for training of personnel in communications and use of tools (e.g. videotaping, stakeholder management, preparation and dissemination of media releases).

• Use the in-kind communications resources, such as agencies’ or ministries’ communications divisions (Ministries, EA and IA).

Lessons Learned re. Communications• Ensure that accurate information, updates and illustrative material is

provided in a timely manner.

• Strategize to ensure dissemination of all printed material (partnerships to ensure the distribution of the material the way you want it).

• Be prepared to adapt/adjust and modify (time, content and resources).

• Evaluate impacts of activities and products as far as possible (feedback is needed, make sure you get it).

• Learn from those working on the ground.

• Celebrate achievements and recognize contributions publicly.

CReW ongoing: 2011 – 2015

Objective:• to provide sustainable financing for the wastewater sector, support

policy and legislative reforms, and foster regional dialogue and knowledge exchange among key stakeholders in the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR).

Countries:Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad & Tobago

Co-implemented by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

www.gefcrew.org

Neglected wastewater treatment plant …could be almost anywhere in the Caribbean…

Popular beach resort …Could be almost anywhere in the Caribbean…

CReW BackgroundBackground:• 2009 World Water Assessment Report showed within WCR• 85 % wastewater (sewage) untreated• 51.5 % of household were not connected to WWTP• < 2 % of urban sewage treated before disposal

Contributing factors:• rapidly growing populations• poor planning,• inadequate or nonfunctional wastewater treatment systems

It has three interlinked components: 1) Investment and Sustainable Financing – testing individual Pilot Financing Mechanisms

in four of the participating countries: Belize, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago; 2) Reforms for Wastewater Management – addressing key capacity constraints within

legal, institutional and policy frameworks; and 3) Communications, Outreach and Training.

CReW Communications

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Survey (KAPS) found:

Widely accepted that there needed to be emphasis on changing attitudes of decision-makers and increasing public consciousness of wastewater and health issues.

CommStrat Consists of five elements:• Public Relations and Outreach• Targeting Policy & Decision-Makers and Specific Communities• Media Sensitization & Capacity Building• Environmental Education• Documenting and Recording Lessons Learned and Best Practice

Also an internal communications strategy - particularly important to integrate Component 1: Investment and Sustainable Financing, as demonstrated by the PFMs, which is being implemented by the IDB, and, Components 2 and 3, Reforms for Wastewater Management, and Communications, Outreach and Planning, which are being implemented by UNEP.

Status of CReW

• “CReW is an unconventional, regional, policy-oriented, non-reimbursable technical cooperation that fuses experimentation with financial models, execution of public works, reform of wastewater policy and alignment to international norms, institutional strengthening and public outreach and dissemination within one project. The broad array of project components is synchronous but non-sequential; the outcomes are conceptually linked but operationally independent. The diversity of the thirteen participating countries and the dynamics of working with an extensive number of autonomous stakeholders exacerbate the project’s complexity. Project outcomes are highly dependent on the political and institutional environments in which it operates.”

- Mid-Term Evaluation

Status of CReW• All components have taken longer to get underway than initially

planned. • Two of the four pilot countries have made progress towards establishing

innovative financing mechanisms and should initiate construction on their first-generation wastewater projects in early 2014.

• The policy reform, capacity building and communications components are making progress through small-scale financial agreements that will deliver customized technical support to meet each country’s individual needs.

CReW - Some Lessons Learned so far…• Belize - the importance of involving the local stakeholders early in the process,

to assure that local concerns are considered and to help avoid delays in implementation.

• Belize - offers a useful lesson in adaptive management, by finding a short-term alternative, without compromising the eventual completion of the principal project.

• Guyana - underscores the importance of identifying champions early on and focusing on public outreach to build awareness to build demand from the private sector.

• Public-private partnership is a unique sub-set of local development financing that requires skills and tools that are not usually available in the public sector. Executing agencies require specifically adapted technical assistance and operating policies. Private sector wastewater initiatives require strong external drivers and regulatory enforcement.

CReW Lessons Learned so far• The importance of raising awareness of the linkages between

wastewater management and its benefits for public health, quality of life and economic opportunities in particular cannot be underestimated. Wastewater is truly a forgotten and neglected issue at every level. The media is an essential primary audience because of its ability to reach the wider public.

• It is important that wastewater be considered as part of the broader management of water and to work in collaboration with existing regional agencies and networks.

• Keeping non-pilot countries engaged requires that they be given additional attention in the project’s regional components, particularly by developing small-scale demonstrations or interventions.

CReW – Replication & SustainabilityRe. Sustainable Financing Mechanisms:

“until the revolving funds receive repayments based on user fees or additional capital infusion from local governments, it is not possible to assess their replicability and sustainability. “ – view of MTE

Present focus therefore is on:

• Use of facilitation – for the promotion of dialogue , sharing, and reaching consensus.

• Capturing lessons learned – Community of Practice being developed.• Adaptive management• Lessons learned in Components 2 and 3

Take Away Messages:

Begin planning your Communications Strategy Early

• GEF International Waters projects have a limited and defined period of time in which to implement initiatives that are both innovative and have demonstration value. Ensuring visibility of these projects and ensuring that the key messages are communicated effectively to the right audiences require that a Communication and Outreach Strategy be developed early in order to be effective.

• The development of a Communications Strategy can help to: clarify and reinforce project objectives; link communications objectives to project objectives; set achievable project objectives, given available resources, and develop useful tools and activities to raise awareness

Don’t neglect internal communications – ever!

• Don’t take it for granted that everyone is on the same page – Clarity and agreement on objective/s and main messages is absolutely necessary.

• If project partners and actors are to act in concert for the overall benefit of the projects they need to be communicating with each other. Facilitate this.

Know your audience

• The conduct of even brief Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Surveys (the baseline in terms of needs assessment for communications) early in project implementation would result in more efficient and meaningful allocation of limited resources.

• Communication activities must always be audience-centered. More emphasis should be placed on defining different target audiences when working on the communication and outreach strategy.

The most persuasive arguments are:

• Simply communicated - provide simple information on complex environmental problems for the target audience (whatever the tool e.g. coastal vulnerability mapping, economic valuation)*

• Of interest to the target audience.

• Scientifically/statistically well-founded.

• Demonstrate cause and effect (do describe consequences).

• Invite action.

*Additional references and resources can always be provided.

Diligently document and disseminate • As replication and sustainability of good practices are also important

concerns, an effective Communications Strategy should also be instrumental in helping to capture and disseminate experience and lessons learned, particularly given the diverse nature of a project which involves multiple participating countries, implementing and executing agencies and components.

• Quality of documentation is essential – of both process and outcome…in a way that makes sense and makes it possible to codify/describe what is needed for replication e.g. TBL structure helped; IW EN structure helped.

• Knowledge documents and resources must remain available but this is about more than setting up a CHM or database; best if resources are associated with someone / some agency that knows about them… institutional memory. Don’t let sustainability of your CHM be an afterthought…

Re. Replication• Teach as you learn / good practices need to be documented, codified, put

into accessible and attractive formats and disseminated – e.g. WWTS and Vermiculture in IWCAM – How to and Intro manuals

• As confidence grows amongst Demo Managers in day-to-day decision-making, communication etc. allow adaptation of communications strategy as needed or practical given overall project deadlines.

• Encourage sharing of lessons learned and good practice amongst demo managers (technical exchanges, communities of practice etc.)

Re. Sustainability

• Linked to replication and only possible if there is country buy-in.

• In SIDS sustainability is significantly linked to availability of resources to continue initiatives / good practices etc. e.g. we train technicians, they go back to their countries or institutions and it is back to business as usual. We need to find ways to ensure that new skills are actually put into practice /used. This would be more efficient and result in benefits to the country in the longer term. Increased capacity must be used to be perpetuated.

• National uptake of policy is essential. E.g. WAMM in Jamaica.

• More likely if people experience the benefits that a particular choice or action results in.

Last words

If we are to change the way things are before it is too late, we must dedicate more effort, imagination and resourcefulness to

communicating. Everyone in a project needs to be involved and has a role. There’s no quick-fix – the messages have to be conveyed to many

audiences, and, repeatedly. Our best chance is to get the messages across in a way that makes sense to those we want to reach, in a way

that helps them make wiser choices. Communicating for change requires that we be strategic about our communications

from the very beginning.

Thank you