Table 4: Suggestions for capacity building Human resource development
• Team building awareness in using information to support decisions and policy • Appropriateness of technology
• Training in concepts and methods for systematic data collection
• Use of standards • Use of data and appropriate indicators • Quality assurance • Training of trainers • Integrated environmental assessment and reporting
• Training in technology tools system specifications
• Assessing functionality • Specific software packages • Training trainers
Technology implementation • Hardware selection and installation • Software selection and
installationdatabase management systems
• Geographic information systems • Graphic and presentation packages • Image analysis software
• Telecommunications capacity local and wide area networks
• Email • Internet connections
Source: Adapted from Martin 1996, Ndayitabi 2009, REMA 2009
Issues of institutional coordination and staffing are critical to the success of the REIN. The institution selected to coordinate the REIN should ideally have the mandate for environmental over- sight in the country. One such institution is REMA. If REMA is to take the lead in coordinating the REIN, issues of staffing will be critical. Currently there is only one staff member within REMA who is leading the REIN initiative under a project frame- work. The project approach does not lend itself to continuity and long-term sustainability, and may likely affect the approach to- wards network activities. Capacity building is likely to be a key component of activities in the REIN. As observed from the sur- vey, the institutions are at different levels in terms of human ca- pacity (numbers and skills) and available equipment. As some of the organisations lack computing facilities, there is a need to upgrade these to bring them up to the same level as the others. A more comprehensive equipment-needs assessment may be necessary. In any event, the guiding principle for capacity build- ing should be inter-operability and functionality. Institutions will need to identify and implement systems that are appropriate to their requirements and resources, but that also enable easy ex- change of data across different software protocols. Some areas for training are shown in Table 4.
Possible mechanisms for implementing capacity building ac- tivities in any of the above areas include: exchange arrange- ments, formal training, workshops, symposia, pilot projects and on-the-job training.
The establishment of a library or environmental resource centre would be an asset to environmental management in the country. Improving access to environmental information would enable individuals to play a more meaningful role in decision-making and strengthen opportunities for environ- mental justice. Not only would a library support network ac- tivities, but also the wider environmental community. Such a resource centre should be easily visible and accessible to its users and should also have room for expansion. The experi- ence in Uganda showed that soon after the establishment of the information centre, the number of users quickly outgrew expectations (Gowa 2009). In these cases, issues of staffing would also have to be considered. Box 5 shows some of the issues that would need to be considered in setting up such a resource centre.
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Infrastructure development
• Institutional frameworks defining roles and responsibilities • Organisational structures
• Networks data sharing • standards and harmonisation practices
• "lead" centres
• Policy strengthening legal frameworks
• Data dissemination
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