Western Balkans Environment Programe

Regional Team Meeting on Study Tour Exchange Experience, Programme Progress and Team Building

Regional Team Meeting on Study Tour Experience Exchange, Programme Progress and Facilitated Team Building was organized from 9-11th of December 2008 in Montenegro, promoting information sharing in the region on: a) how implementation of different remediation activities within the programme is affecting/changing environmental management practices in the countries in the region, b) how to follow up by individual countries/territories or in groups on contacts, knowledge and information gained on the regional study tours attended; c) how to use this regional programme to raise awareness and knowledge on environmental issues locally (in communities), nationally (in countries/territories) and in the region (Western Balkans). To make the most use of the information that were collected at each study tour, to ensure regional exchange/information sharing and to expose countries to the widest number of environmental management ideas, a follow up information-exchange workshop was organized, at which each country/territory presented and shared with others the lessons learnt, ideas, experiences gained during the study tours and follow up planned.

Participants at the meeting were: Advisory Board members, study tour participants (one per each participating country/territory), some of the Programme Management Board members, as well as UNDP country/territory project teams. Study tour participants were able to present their experiences and possibilities to apply/use the knowledge/contacts gained during the study tours. As participants put it, it was very useful to hear about others experiences and explore the possibilities and discuss about what could be applied in their countries. According to the evaluation forms filled in by the participants, the workshop was evaluated as very qualitative and the one that fully met participants’ expectations (for 17 out of 18 participants who filled in the evaluation forms).