Regional Alumni Conference
Danang, Vietnam
23-24 April 2013
by T. Dacles
The Regional Alumni Conference:
Energizing Activities of South East Asia GIZ Alumni in the Green Sector was
hosted by GIZ Vietnam as one of their flagship programs under the Human
Capacity Development. The conference was attended by more than 35 participants
composed of alumni and partners from Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the
Philippines.
It has been known in the past that
the German supported alumni have been active in
many countries and have successfully taken up responsibility for sustainable
development issues in their respective regions. Moreover, Alumni networks,
whose main activities focus on the green sector e.g. Natural Resources
Management and Governance, Forest/Watershed Management, Integrated Coastal
Management, Biodiversity Conservation, Renewable Energies, Climate change
adaptation and mitigation programs, etc. have been established and effectively
contributed to the regional development trend.
The idea of revitalizing the Regional Alumni
Conference started during the GIZ Alumni Network & Association Workshop
“Connecting for Change” held from October 30 to November 02 2012 in Berlin. This
is in support to the GIZ Alumni E3 program, recognizing and networking with
previous alumni in the different regions.
The Philippines was represented by alumni coming
from AUFTRAG (5), CDAP (1) and UniFELD (1). These 3 alumni associations are
actively supported by GIZ Philippines (formerly InWent).
The goal
of the conference/workshop was to foster the ties between alumni and GIZ in
order to further and deepen the cooperation alumni networks, alumni
associations, GIZ and other strategic partners at regional level and to develop
a conceptual plan for future cooperation of alumni in the Green Sector. The
following expected outcomes were as follows:
·
Information exchange about GIZ Green
Sector programs in the SEA;
·
Mechanism to harness the potential of
GIZ partners and alumni in the region;
·
communication model between alumni and
GIZ in the SEA region to support potential joint undertakings; and
·
Alumni roadmap for the Green Sector.
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Regional Alumni Conference Program
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Welcome speeches by
·
Dr. Andreas Schneider, D.Director of GIZ Vietnam
·
Dr. Le Quang Nam, Director of DOST Danang City
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Working Phase I (Plenary)
·
Introduction of the GIZ Green Projects: Integrated Coastal and Mangrove Forest Protection
for the Adaptation to Climate Change in the Mekong Delta Provinces / Bio
diversity Ms.
Tham Phuong / GIZ Biodiversity project
·
Introduction of
Climate Change and Coastal Ecosystems Programme , Ms. Lisa Steurer
/ GIZ CCCEP
·
GIZ good practice
in Management of Natural Resource and Forest Production in Thanh Hoa
Province, Mr. Geroge Kloeble, GIZ Development Advisor
·
Environment and
Rural Development Program (EnRD) from the Philippines. Mr. Terence Paul
U. Dacles, GIZ Philippines
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Working Phase II (Info
market)
·
Alumni networking in Water
resources/GAAGroup Prof. Ngo Thi Thanh Van, WRU,
Hanoi
·
Alumni
networking in the provate Sector Dr. Hoang Duc Nghia, Vietnam Sustainable
Development, Inc.
·
Alumni
networking in the Philippines Mr.
Terence Paul U. Dacles, GIZ Philippines/AUFTRAG
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Working Phase III (Group
Competition)
Identification of Alumni strengths
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Working Phase IV (in plenary)
1. Presentation of GIZ
A&P Program in Vietnam, Trang
Presentation
of GIZ A&P Program in Laos and Cambodia, Kim Virak
2. Presentation of GIZ
A&P Program in Indonesia and the Philippines, Ronaldo Limbago
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Working Phase V (Group work)
Elicit ideas to energize
alumni activities in SEA in concrete areas in the green sector
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Working Phase VI (in plenary )
Showing role of Alumni in creating enabling
environment for developing new projects
1.
Key
Factor about Danang city, Director of Danang Investment Promotion Centre
2.
National Energy
Saving Programs, Dr. Le Quang Nam
Director of DOST Danang, Germany Alumni, TU Dresden.
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Working Phase VII (Info market)
To elicit/gather
comments/ recommendations from other alumni to make selected project idea of
selected alumni to be more feasible.
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Working Phase VIII (“Group work”)
What
can GIZ and A&P do to shape and further develop the regional alumni
network in SEA? Identification of
individual ideas
Development of an action plan of
Alumni/GIZ activities for each subsector in the GREEN sector
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Visit
Hoi An ancient town and discussion on place: Integrated Coastal zone management - Hoi An, a Case study
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Outputs
of the workshop relevant to GIZ Green Sector Programs in the Philippines (full
proceedings to follow):
- · Each country were asked to update their director list of alumni to include their expertise in the Green Sector;
- · Sharing of Alumni Associations experiences help other countries organized their Alumni associations. There were several challenges identified: financial support, time of the alumni to allocate for the association, government regulations in organizing associations;
- · The ICZM group will form a network within SEA using the Alumni Portal Deutschland (APD) platform;
- · Identification of relevant topics that the Alumni can work together with the GIZ Green Sector program;
- · Regular meetings were recommended to review and sustain the AA intiatives in the region; and
- · Linkage of the Alumni Association to the Sector Network Rural Development- Asia Green Sector.
