Preparing for Brain-Storming Session 15 Sep 2006 following the

First Leadership Workshop, Kingston, JAMAICA

This note builds on the earlier background note “UNESCO-IOC Self-driven Capacity-development Program for Marine Sciences: Through Workshops in Leadership, Proposal-writing, and Team-building”.

Regional Capacity-development Needs

The brain-storming session on 15 Sep following the Leadership workshop will be a crucial test of how well the lessons of the 3 day workshop have been absorbed. It will be a performance indicator for all of us – IOC, HR facilitator, and participants.

q The first task at the brain-storming session should be drawing up a priority list of what you as peers consider the capacity-development needs of the region to be. This will require that you consult your colleagues in the institute, and other fellow directors in your country, prior to attending the workshop. During your consultation, also draw up a list of the major regional marine-related projects [just completed, on-going or in the pipe-line] and the CD needs of each such project.

q The second task at the brain-storming session will be to compare the prioritised CD needs against CD needs of major projects, and reach agreement on the way forward.

It would be great to reach agreement on one highest priority CD need, so that the region can focus energies on one proposal for funding, with scientists from different institutes and different countries collaborating as a team. However we appreciate that different member states have different capabilities and this may lead to more than one CD need being identified. Hopefully such issues, if any, will be harmonised at the session.

Country profiles and Performance indicators

We are embarking on a process that works the self-drive of directors and their institutes in developing capacity. This implies that IOC remains distant from influencing decisions. However we still need to know how the process is playing out, so that we can benchmark our performance and correct our future implementation accordingly. We therefore need to document the status of institutes as they are today so that in 3 years time we can compute how they have progressed. Such a document will be useful to a host of users – institutes, country decision-makers, international funding agencies, and IOC. The question therefore is what metrics should we define to help us capture this “work in progress” of leadership and team-building?

q We need suggestions on core parameters to document that will allow us to track change and progress most effectively. Draw up a questionnaire that you feel comfortable with and send it to us before the workshop. We shall work on your inputs and present a consolidated questionnaire at the session. These will be the quantitative indicators.

q Other indicators are more subjective and difficult to capture. Amongst these could be: visibility [with local communities, policy/decision-makers, and general public]; usefulness [to local and scientific communities, country and regional planning processes, providing scientific data for holding positions at international fora on emerging issues]; leadership of institute in local and regional matters; status amongst country scientists; and other similar indicators.

We are also aware that many such profiles would have been conducted earlier and we welcome knowledge of them and where these can be found. They would serve as an invaluable learning tool and an indicator of progress since they were written.

Attracting funds for the workshop series

The Swedish Development Agency has been very generous with an initial grant that will allow some of the workshops to be conducted. The grant is from their “global funds” and we are using it to start the series of workshops in many IOC regions. However to complete the entire set, we need additional funds. Therefore:

q Could you list 1 or 2 regional funding agencies in the region and how we could approach them?

q Give us your thoughts on what proposals these agencies would consider funding. You will be attending the brain storming session having experienced the first leadership workshop. This will give you a better idea on how the package of workshops could be ‘dressed’ to make it attractive for funding.

We are proposing approaching regional funding agencies. However if you feel that agencies outside the region are also good bets, please tell us. Any success stories of such initiatives being funded will also be welcomed.