The Pacific Community’s (SPC) Ridge to Reef Regional Project launched their programme website, an innovative digital solution to foster an effective R2R knowledge network.
Launched on World Water Day on March 22, the Pacific R2R website has over 2,200 users, with around 16,000 page views, almost 1300 downloads from across 114 countries in the world. The resource library is the most visited site, followed by news, project pages, capacity development and the science portal.
Pacific R2R Programme Coordinator Samasoni Sauni said: “This is a significant milestone achievement ensuring that regional and national level outputs of the GEF R2R programme are accessible, supporting our goal to maintain and enhance Pacific Island countries’ ecosystem goods and services through integrated approaches to land, water, forest, biodiversity and coastal resource management that contribute to poverty reduction, sustainable livelihoods and climate resilience.”
Pacific R2R Programme Coordination Unit Communications and Knowledge Management Adviser Dr. Fononga Vainga Mangisi-Mafileo said: “This achievement is central to our Knowledge Management and Communications Strategies, cutting across all areas of programme activity from planning to practice, learning and adaptive management in order to facilitate cooperation, coordination and collaboration.”
“Importantly for the programme, knowledge management and communications play key roles in facilitating planning to policy processes facilitating the adoption of integrated coastal management and integrated water resources management practices supporting sustainable livelihoods and climate resilience among Pacific small island developing states,” she emphasized.
One of the core outcomes of the GEF Pacific R2R Programme focuses on the establishment of national and regional platforms for managing information and sharing of best practices and lessons learned from implementation.
Dr. Mangisi-Mafileo explained that they have adopted an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach to achieving organizational objectives with benefits to the R2R knowledge network that include:
- Cohesion – cooperation, coordination and collaboration
- Accelerated Knowledge Access and Transfer - creation, storing, sharing and application of knowledge
- Costs and Optimization - minimize costs of organizing, finding and leveraging knowledge
The launch of the website is Phase 1 of the development work. Phase 2 will include the launch of the Project Management Information System for status of investments and results reporting, the Science Portal and the Roster of R2R Experts and Practitioners planned for the last quarter of 2020 coinciding with the Fifth Regional Steering Committee meeting.
“Having access to new documents, technical data and information, project related news and results, professional R2R contacts and expertise, members of knowledge network can effectively contribute and participate in achieving a common goal,” she said.
The Pacific Ridge to Reef programme is a Global Environment Facility (GEF) multi-focal area programme guiding coordinated investment of GEF grant funding across its focal areas of biodiversity conservation, land degradation, climate change adaptation and mitigation, sustainable land management, sustainable forest management, and international waters in Pacific SIDS. It is a multi-agency initiative involving the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as GEF implementing agencies.
Executed regionally by the Pacific Community through the GEF Pacific Ridge to Reef International Waters project (GEF Pacific R2R IW), the operations of the R2R programme is supported in areas of science-based planning, human capital development, policy and strategic planning, results-based management, and knowledge sharing. Implemented through the GEF Pacific R2R IW project the R2R IW national pilot projects are designed to strengthen R2R integration by establishing synergies between sector agencies and the GEF National R2R STAR Projects, governments and communities, civil society and the private sector.
The Programme Coordinating Unit (PCU), hosted by the Pacific Community’s Geoscience, Energy and Maritime Division based in Fiji, is tasked with the provision of technical, operational, reporting and monitoring support as requested by the participating countries.
