Lessons Learnt. The predecessor fund to the GPE Fund and the GPE Fund II, the Catalytic Fund (CF), has allocated more than USD 2,018.4 million to 37 countries (2003 – November 2010) whose national education sector plans have been endorsed by local donors through a GPE process but who have insufficient domestic or external aid resources to implement them. The GPE is not only about financing: it helps donors and developing country partners work together to ensure that education aid is better coordinated and more effective, based on countries’ own education strategies. However, financing from the GPE Fund and the GPE Fund II has become an increasingly important source of funds for implementing GPE-endorsed education sector plans. The external mid-term evaluation of the GPE (Oct 2008-Feb 2010) reconfirmed the founding principles of the GPE in terms of focusing on the education MDG and the Education for All goals and in terms of the four gaps — policy, data, capacity, financing — aid effectiveness and donor coordination. The GPE has helped to keep the issue of Universal Primary Completion/Education For All visible. It has championed the Paris Declaration principles of aid effectiveness in the education sector and has contributed to improving partner countries’ policies on education. However, the evaluation also concludes that the GPE has fallen short of its ambitious goals. The Board welcomed the evaluation and its recommendations and has, since June 2010, carried out a strategic reform process. Substantial progress on clarification, quality assurance and strengthening of country level processes is under way with the development of the new Process Guide.
Lessons Learnt what worked really well – what facilitated this? • what did not work – why did it not work?
Lessons Learnt. Visually presenting data from the GCMs was a challenging task. But once the first prototype was available, it was well received, not only by scientists involved in the PRIMAVERA project, but also by users. Having an intuitive tool that provides a visual comparison of different model resolutions was pointed out as a useful dissemination tool that can be also used for presentations and talks. The lessons learnt are related to three different aspects of the work.
1. Working with high resolution global climate data: o A fast WMS server with netCDF support (adaGUC) was used to enhance the viewer responsiveness. o We learnt how to use JASMIN HPC cluster to access the data and to compute the indices. o Daily frequency data from high resolution GCMs required memory efficient workflows so it did not fill the memory of the computing cores.
2. Visual presentation of global climate data: o While selecting the indices, we opted for well-known ones and those that can be visually presented in a meaningful way. Selecting the colour scheme was yet another challenge. o The scheme we used, cubehelix (Green, D.A. 2011), has been chosen in line with the colour palette used by IPCC. It proved very intuitive for some indices, while less user-friendly for the others. o Precipitation 95th percentile has its own colour scheme, which was positively evaluated.
3. Heuristic evaluation of the user interface design: o The experience from conducting the heuristic evaluation was very positive. o It is a practical approach for providing, in a systematic manner, user feedback to the interface usability, contributing to the co-design of the portal. o This methodology, however, demands face-to-face interaction and is time intensive, asking for motivated users who have time available to devote to the evaluation.
Lessons Learnt. As we have seen for other European countries the process to reduce landfilling of waste and to increase the recycling and energy recovery takes a lot of time and needs first of all legal and technological framework. Nevertheless this is a very relevant issue for the West African countries. It is not the goal to reach (already) the European standards but to start with measures. 5 Cf: Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety: xxxx://xxx.xxx.xx/english/press_releases/archive/doc/36349.php.
Lessons Learnt. It has become clear that, with the globalisation of economies, the small Caribbean countries, which tend to be dependent on agriculture and are often mono-cultures, have to stand together to face and deal with their national economic difficulties; they need to band together to create larger markets, practising economies of scale, to increase intra-Regional trade and to make themselves more attractive to foreign investment. The physical, economic and social constraints of the Region, described below, make such integration particularly necessary. In addition, the Region can then offer more competitive products to other countries. The RIP for 9th EDF is more oriented than previous RIPs towards promoting integration within the Caribbean. Regional co-operation with the Commission is conducted through CARIFORUM, the Caribbean Forum, an organisation established specifically for this purpose. CARIFORUM consists of the 14 CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Member States1, except for the British OCT (British Overseas Country and Territory) of Montserrat, plus the Dominican Republic and Cuba (which has not signed the Cotonou Agreement). CARICOM was established in 1973 by the Treaty of Chaguaramas. In 1989, its Governments decided to advance towards the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) which aims to achieve a single market in which people, goods, services and capital could move freely. This is a major and costly Regional integration operation, which still requires much to be done before completion and which the present programme will support. The CARICOM Single Market (CSM) took effect from 1 January 2006 and six Member states have already signed on, namely, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. The other six Member States, the OECS countries became compliant on 30 June 2006. The Single Economy is due to take effect from 1 January 2008. There are a range of Regional institutions contributing to the CSME, such as the Caribbean Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA), the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and the proposed Institute of Translation and Interpretation. An evaluation carried out on behalf of the Commission in 2004, whilst recognising the achievements of EC co-operation in the Region, also recognised that the allocation of resources in the past had broadly 1 CARICOM consists of Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grena...
Lessons Learnt. Based on the variables that were requested for analysis, which represent only a small fraction of all the data produced, the initial data request appears to have been much too large for the need of the project. It remains to be seen whether the variables that have not been used so far will generate interest once made available to the wider scientific community.
Lessons Learnt. There were a number of lessons learnt from CS project implemention that could be usedul to other PVO CS project. The main lessons learnt regarding the entire project: From the successes of the Luwero district CS project the main lesson to learnt is that CBHC approach is effective in implementing integrated child survival interventions. From the marked difference between achievement in Semuto and Butuntumula the lesson to be learnt is that community capacity building is a slow process and effects take time to achieve. Most of the sustainability plans within the CBHC framework were implemented and the project activities are likely to be continued in the project areas after the project is terminated. The lesson learnt is that integrated CBHC approach provides better prospects for sustainability than vertical programme approach. The experience in Semuto and Butuntumula indicates that the CHWs and TBAs are well accepted by the Community. The lesson learnt is that CHW and TBAs if properly trained and given the necessary support of and recognition can be well accepted by the community as providers of basic Primary Health Care. Other lessons learnt relating to specific interventions: The project relied on static immunization units and limited outreach clinics to raise the EPI coverage to target levels. However, the target was not reached. The lesson to learn is that it is difficult to achieve a large increase in the EPI coverage particularly from very low levels without increasing access to EPI. The gain made in the promotion of ORT use was a result of promotion of home based fluids. The lesson to learn is that promotion of home based fluids without undue emphasis on distribution and use of ORS sachets enhances ORT use in treatment of diarrhoea in children. Pregnant mothers increasingly received prenatal care from the TBAs rather than to the health units to be attended to by professional midwives. This was mainly due to the fact that TBAs were closer and more accessible than the professional midwives. The lesson to learn is that visits for prenatal care is more likely to improve with improved access to prenatal services. The other lesson to learn is that mothers are willing to be attended to by the TBAs once the TBAs are trained and recognized.
Lessons Learnt. ✓ Integration of OVC activities into ChildFund Sponsorship on- going programs was an effective way of addressing their issues. The involvement of existing ChildFund Staff and continued assurance that the program was not a threat to the existing programs and structures created a strong sense of ownership and prudent utilization of the available resources. ✓ Partnerships at all levels: national, intermediary and the community are a sure way of maximizing on the limited resources as well tapping on the vast experiences/expertise of other organizations. ✓ Community participation/involvement promotes a sense of ownership and sustainability of the activities implemented. WSN program involved the OVC, youth and PLWHA in an effort to create a sense of belonging/reduce stigma and instill a sense of responsibility among the beneficiaries. ✓ Adequate and continuous sensitization of the program beneficiaries is critical to achieve growth and impact among the target group. Business training in particular is critical for the success of the credit component since most beneficiaries have limited skills in business management. ✓ Capacity building of the CORPs is very important as it ensures that the skills and knowledge acquired remains within their communities. Facilitation of community training is eased as the CORPs are readily available and accessible to communities for any consultations. Cultural beliefs and customs are well understood thus simplifying interactions and implementation of the program interventions. ✓ It is evident from the Journey of Life training that children need to be listened to, their ideas given attention and learning from their coping strategies. People need to be cognizant of children’s resources (internal/external) and help them build resilience to cope with diverse events in their entirety. ✓ OVC needs are many and more often than not require immediate and integrated interventions. The program has learned that short-term interventions (uniforms, fees, books, food and shelter), though not sustainable, are imperative for the wellbeing of OVC and create opportunities for long–term interventions that can be implemented with their caregivers. ✓ Functional HBC care delays orphan hood and consequently lessens the increasing burden of OVC to extended families and the community. HBC ensures that children remain in a family setting where they learn and absorb the values, culture and skills that they need to survive as adults. ✓ A vibrant M&E system is k...
Lessons Learnt. As shown in this research, the approaches of the unions in defining the negotiating rates have important impacts. The GTUs and workers were apparently more satisfied with the high-road approach as their benefits have been improved. The employers are slightly more satisfied with low-road agreements 8. However, if the negotiating rates are set too low, the agreement may lose its meaning of upholding the interests of workers and the unions’ goal of conducting ‘genuine bargaining’ may not be achieved.
Lessons Learnt. As discussed extensively throughout the project, the focus of Stream 2 was to provide enough ensemble members to support a robust analysis of the potential added value of high versus low resolution on the quantification of uncertainties in future projections (see Figure 1 which illustrates the spread in atmospheric circulation changes purely due to internal atmospheric variability). While it was not possible to have additional members for all models, we managed to have three groups with new members so a robust estimation of the influence of internal variability on future projections can be performed (in particular due to the extra realizations by Xxxxxxx and MOHC).
