Many of ESSA’s projects involve supporting and developing capacity in existing institutions to enable them to provide more effective environmental management responses. ESSA staff have a long history of strengthening environmental capacities of provincial and national government agencies, as well as private sector companies, NGO’s, and community based organizations around the world.
To date, ESSA’s institutional support activities have included:
- designing and delivering various trainings and workshops (including training-of-trainers);
- development of guidance and good practice materials;
- advising on policy and regulation development;
- developing data collection and management systems (including training)
Selected Project Examples:
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Vietnam Provincial Environmental Governance Project (VPEG)
ESSA is a consortium member with SNC Lavalin on this $15M CIDA project (2008 – 2013). VPEG builds upon previous support (VCEP, 1996-2006) to advance industrial pollution management (IPM) in 8 provinces as well as within the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) of Vietnam. VPEG is building the capacity of provincial governments to work with local governments, industry (including small-to-medium industrial enterprises), and community organizations in the areas of industrial pollution prevention and compliance; monitoring and enforcement; communication and awareness-raising; and data collection and management. VPEG is also working with national environmental agencies to improve technical cooperation, and support to provinces, regarding IPM and environmental expenditure management (EEM) policy and regulatory development. To learn more, visit the VPEG website. |
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State of the Environment Report Training for Environmental Managers, Jordan
ESSA designed and developed the State of Environment Reporting (SOER) training component for Jordan’s King Hussein Environmental Management Training Program. The project began with a two-week needs assessment in Jordan working with five Jordanian trainers to identify needs for SOER training. This information was then used to develop a week long SOER training course. The ESSA project team organized and hosted a three-week technical upgrading study tour in Canada for five Jordanian trainers. The tour included training in course delivery as well as visits to national, provincial and municipal SOER agencies to learn how SOER is approached in Canada. The Jordanian trainers subsequently delivered the SOER course to environmental agencies in Jordan under ESSA’s supervision. |
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Government Strengthening of Environmental Impact Assessment, Nepal
ESSA assisted the Nepalese government with improving the capabilities of its ministries to effectively implement the country’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Guidelines and to strengthen inter-ministerial co-ordination. The project team undertook an institutional analysis to build ministerial and human resource capacity, prepared a human resource development plan, and designed a uniform implementation procedure for EIA programs. A key component of the institutional analysis was a comprehensive assessment of the information management needs with regard to EIA implementation in Nepal. Using the information gathered, a database system for storing, tracking, and sharing EIA information was developed. ESSA also designed and delivered a training course to teach key ministry staff how to use the system, and provided training in EIA implementation for Nepalese government administrators, the private sector, and NGOs. |
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Support to the Formulation and Implementation of Vietnam National Agenda 21
The Project facilitated the formulation and implementation of Vietnam’s Agenda 21, referred to as the National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS). ESSA was engaged by the UNDP to build capacity for self assessment of existing socio-economic and sectoral plans through application of SEA/EIA tools and techniques. This included the development of a rapid assessment tool to be used by government officials and relevant stakeholders in a number of pilot provinces and sectors, as well as carrying out training workshops on SEA/EIA methodology. |