Responses to Equator Net Discussion "Sharing Knowledge and Learning from Each Other via the Equator Net"

Discussion Topic: Sharing Knowledge and Learning from each other via the Equator Net

Dear Equator Net Members,

I would like to thank you for the inspiring contributions and replies we received lately. It is exciting to see that the Equator Net is turning into an interactive network!

In response to the increased email traffic and the request from several members we decided to consolidate all remaining responses to the message from Prabhjot Sodhi, National Coordinator of the GEF UNDP Small Grants Program in India - please scroll down to see Prabhjot’s original message and related recent responses.

Please keep sending us your input, funding opportunities, discussion points etc. and thank you once again for your much appreciated messages!

Warm regards,

Gaby

Original Equator Net Message

Dear Equator Net members,

Hello to one and all, I have been thinking of late that we need to share and learn from each other's experiences, knowledge and leverage resources and skills. Taking a start, I am sharing two stories/case studies of GEF UNDP Small grants program (SGP) projects in India for sharing with your partners. We will keep sharing more project stories and we would request you to ask other partners on your network to share success stories on their part so that we can cross learn. Enjoy... Looking forward for your comments, guidance and support.

Cheers and very best wishes.

Prabhjot Sodhi
National Coordinator, GEF UNDP Small Grants ProgramCentre for Environment Education (CEE)
New Delhi, India

English Responses

Dear Mr. Sodhi,

I was glad to see this mail and your interest to share the experiences that is very useful as well as vital to move forward not just the conservation agenda but also to link conservation with development as demonstrated by several SGP projects world-over.

However, I feel that it might be very helpful if you can work on a possible format for the stories to be written up. This can help get some consistency in the kind of information that people might put in as well as provide a common thread to the ‘story-line’. I am sure we can work on getting some products out of this, including providing the needed support to MDG initiatives being put together by UNDP themselves in different parts of the world.

Best regards

Bala Pisupati [pisupati@ias.unu.edu]

Response to message from Bala Pisupati:

Dear Dr. Bala,

Good to hear from you as equator-net mail recipient. You may recall that we met at Khulna press club and during your presentation of Bangaldesh National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan at Dhaka. Are you not at IUCN?

However, you have rightly mentioned for having a kind of format for compiling the conservation stories through UNDP-GEF-SGP format development. I do agree but we the Bangladeshi are unfortunate for NOT being eligible yet.

Regards,

Mowdudur Rahman [mowdud_ccec@yahoo.com]

Director, Centre for Coastal Environmental Conservation, Khulna, Bangladesh

Response to message from Bala Pisupati:

Hi Bala,

Great to see you online. I just would like to get an update of the action points we had during the MEA Brainstorming Session which you conducted in Bangkok last October 2006.

Best regards,

Donato Bumacas [kmcydkalinga@yahoo.com]

KAMICYDI, Philippines

Dear Mr. Sodhi and Equator Net Members,

Dear Mr. Sodhi, congratulations for your initiative in sharing these cases with Equator Net. Like other members said, I also think that sharing experiences is very important in the learning process and sharing best practices experiences can motivate and inspire people that are in similar processes in social and environmental projects. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy the Equator Initiative and partners work, which I had the opportunity to get know better in Taba Community-COP8.

I also agree with Mr. Balakrishna that we could establish some formats to the stories presentation. I was thinking also that we could even create a group Blog in internet, where we could add texts, pictures and videos. We could create sections by themes, geographical areas, Section for comments, campaigns, etc. What do you think? I’ve been working, lately, in a proposal that involves knowledge exchange network using blog and discussion groups, at the NGO I work. If the equator net members are interested, I can present this proposal for discussion. And we can create a team to work on it.

This could be a good activity to add to the great work that the Equator Initiative have been doing with the Learning Exchange Program. What the Equator Initiative Team think about ?

If there is more members in the Equator net that share from this view, are interested in develop these ideas and have more things to add, please give your opinion.

Best Regards,

Yasmin Grummt Naddaf [yasmingn@yahoo.com]

Environmental Services Association – ASA, Curitiba, Brazil

Dear Colleagues,

We are trying to get a similar initiative up and running, but focusing on issues of mobile pastoralism and the environment. We were asked to do this through our partnership with GEF and I hope that we will have a web-forum up and running in about a month or so. The forum is initially for GEF staff and will be private access, but if you are interested to join then please let me know.

Dr. Jonathan Davies [Jonathan.Davies@iucn.org]

Global Coordinator, World Initiative for Sustainable Pastoralism

IUCN-EARO, Nairobi

Tel +254 20 890 606-12

Mob +254 736 855 440

Visit WISP - http://www.iucn.org/wisp/

Respuestas en Español

Prabhjot Sodhi:

Es interesante su propuesta para aprender de lecciones, ejes motivadores, y también dificultades en la ejecución de experiencias. En Ecuador estaríamos dispuestos a participar con dos experiencias del PNUD. Recuperación de productos andinos en sistemas agroforestales y Manejo de Fuentes de agua por las comunidades en la parroquia Juan Montalvo. Ud cuenta con un formato para exponer las experiencias por favor envíenos.

Saludos

Consuelo Cederana [cederenauio@andinanet.net]