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From May 31 to June 4, 2021, IUCN, through the Regional Support Office of the West African Coastal Management Program (WACA), in partnership with the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment (CNEE) and the World Bank, organized a training workshop on Strategic Environmental and Social Assessments (SESA), Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA) and Resettlement Action Plans (RAP) in Saly, Senegal.
This workshop, intended for specialists in environmental and social safeguards from the six Project Management Units and for focal points of national institutions in charge of environmental and social assessments, was attended by 27 people in person and about 30 online. The participants represent 10 countries, including the six WACA countries (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritania, and Guinea Bissau identified under Phase II of the project, and three WAEMU countries, namely Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
The training focused on the levels of mastery of the administrative, regulatory, and technical processes for developing, implementing, and monitoring Strategic Environmental and Social Assessments (SESAs), Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs), and Resettlement Action Plans (RAPs).
According to Thomas Louis Price, Coordinator of IUCN WACA BAR, “this training is an integral part of the capacity building plan of the Regional Component of the project validated by the World Bank and part of which is implemented by IUCN WACA BAR.
At the end of the meeting, the participants expressed their satisfaction while renewing their interest for a next meeting of this type.
As a reminder, the WACA program, financed mainly by the World Bank, aims to provide a regional and multisectoral response to the complexity of the management of marine and coastal ecosystems in West Africa given their high vulnerability to the effects of climate change. UEMOA, which is the project manager for Component 1 on regional integration of the program, has signed a subsidiary agreement with IUCN, which is thus responsible, as the delegated project manager, for setting up and coordinating the program’s Regional Support Unit (WACA BAR).