UPDATE
|
Previous Article
ASIAN LEAD PAINT ELIMINATION WORKSHOP ,Sri Lanka (15th to19th May, 2013)
By: Toxics Link, Source: Toxics Link, Date: , 2013
The
second workshop of the seven-nation EU-SWITCH Asia Lead Paint Elimination Project
was held from 15th to 19th May, 2013 in Sri Lanka. The
workshop aimed at sharing experiences during the first year of the project by
the seven partner countries (India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand,
Philippines and Indonesia). 
The
first day of the workshop was mainly dedicated to communication activities and
social media. The communication officers of all the partner countries shared
their strategies and communication tools adapted in their respective countries.
While sharing the information, it was observed that besides India and
Bangladesh, not many were using the social media as a tool to reach out to the
people. Both the countries shared their experiences on social media networks
after which Ms. Valerie Denney from IPEN made a presentation emphasizing on the
importance of social media.
The
technical officers of each country shared the overall project progress in their
respective countries which was followed by a discussion with the group-at-large.
This was followed by a session on financial management in the second year by
Martin Salmonsson from IPEN. The main points discussed were budget headings under partner budgets and costs, the budget
lines can cover. The second financial session was on Co-finance which
emphasized on the point that the EU will sponsor a maximum of 77.84% of the
total projects’ eligible costs. The need for co-finance was to gain
independence and ownership of the project.
During
experience sharing, it was observed that all the partner organizations were on
track with the EU work plan and were successfully moving towards the short term
goals of the project. However, the modes to reach these goals varied from
country to country taking in consideration the needs and situations of their
respective countries.
Going
by the project plan, the collected paint samples are already on their way to
the labs for testing. Once the results are out, the next important step would
be to do a media release. Toxics Link has done a few report releases,
therefore, the organisation was asked to share their experiences of report
releases and media follow up thereafter.
Perry Gottesfeld from OK International
held a session on lead dust sampling and soil testing. The gathering was taught
why and how to do lead dust sampling and soil testing. The IPEN team
distributed the sampling kits after which everyone was asked to participate in
the practical session for dust sampling.
During
prior conversations and experience sharing it was noticed that all the
countries had been sharing a roadblock while contacting small and medium
enterprises (SMEs). Thus it had been decided to hold a session on
re-strategizing approach to SMEs. This discussion was headed by project
advisors Jack Weinberg and Scott Clark from IPEN. 
On
the last day of the workshop, the group discussed the upcoming International
lead poisoning prevention week to be held from 20th to 26th
October 2013 by Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paints.
Previous Article
|
|