Project Organisation

In order to ensure the active involvement of stakeholders in the project, the project has established a project management structure through which all key stakeholders are actively involved in the project activities and related consultative processes. A schematic representation of the project management structure is presented below.

The project management organisation basically consists of the following structures:

At the policy level, the project coordination structure consisting of National Focal Point Institutions (NFPIs), which are the appropriate government institutions with a mandate for Environmental Policy Making and Implementation, represented by National Focal Points (NFPs). Since the WIO-LaB project operates under the umbrella of the Nairobi Convention, the NFPIs ad NFPs are those of the Nairobi Convention.

Under the general guidance of the NFPs, most countries have established National (Inter-Ministerial) Coordination Committees (NCC) of various nature, mostly based upon existing national coordination mechanisms, which function as the national mechanisms for project coordination and decision making.

At the governance level, the NFPs are united in the form of a Focal Points Forum, which provides guidance through the Nairobi Convention Regional Coordination Unit. Overall policy governance is, however, assured by a Project Steering Committee which consist of the NFPs, the executing and implementing agencies (Nairobi Convention Secretariat, UNOPS, UNEP/DGEF and UNEP/GPA), key regional NGOs (WIOMSA, IUCN and WWF), sister IW projects (the UNDP/GEF ASCLME project and the WB/GEF SWIOFP project) and national NGOs and the private sector as appropriate.

At the technical level, task/issue-specific management structures consisting of regional and national level Task Forces and Working Groups have been established. Such mechanisms have been set up for the main project components, which are (i) water, sediment and biota quality, (ii) municipal wastewater management, (iii) physical alteration and destruction of habitats, (iv) environmental impact assessment and (v) legal and technical review. At the national level the work of the Task Forces is overseen by the NFPs. At the regional level such guidance is provided by the PMU, in cases assisted by a dedicated Regional Experts.

The overall structure constitutes a virtual matrix structure, whereby on one axis, policy-level management is assured by the structure of NFPIs, and on the other axis, technical-level guidance is provided by the structure of Task Forces and Working Groups.

Apart from these official structures, the WIO-LaB Project has supported the establishment a number of more informal structures for stakeholder consultation and involvement in the WIO Region. Most importantly, these are:

• The Forum of Heads of Academic and Research Institutions (FARI) in the WIO region. This independent Forum brings together the Heads of various academic and research institutions in the WIO region not only functions as a mechanism for coordination of research activities, but also as a mechanism for quality assurance of scientific work in the region. A sub-committee of FARI, named the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC), furthermore, serves as a sounding board/clearinghouse for technical outputs from the project, such as the Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis.
• The Consortium for Conservation of Coastal and Marine Ecosystems in the WIO (WIO-C), is a partnership of mainly regional and international NGOs operating in the WIO region. The WIO-C is strongly driven by its eight founding members (IUCN, WWF, WIOMSA, CORDIO, WCS, UNEP-Nairobi Convention, NEPAD, IOC-UNESCO) and is anchored in the Nairobi Convention. This Consortium will provide a credible network of organizations that are active in marine ecosystem conservation in the WIO region, which will be able to provide decision support, share information and management experiences, mobilize resources and develop collaborative programmes. In particular these activities will relate to the regional and transboundary issues such as discussed within the context of the TDA/SAP preparation.
• The Informal WIO International Waters (IW) Forum (not displayed in the above diagram), is a regional event during which key players within the WIO IW arena, including organizations such as WIOMSA, WWF, IUCN, the IOC, as well as regional projects, discuss issues of coordination and synergy between projects and activities.

Click on this link for a list of the members of various taskforces and working groups involved in the WIO-LaB Project.