
ODINAFRICA COORDINATORS FROM BCLME MEET IN WINDHOEKThe first ODINAFRICA regional meeting for the BCLME region took place on 17th and 18th of August 2010 at the United National house in Windhoek, Namibia. The meeting was attended by the national coordinators of Angola, Namibia and South Africa, the information managers of Angola and Namibia as well as the data and information manager of the Benguela Current Commission (BCC). The UNESCO office in Windhoek kindly provided logistical assistance.
Mr. Ernesto Fernandez-Polcuch, Programme Specialist for Sciences at the Windhoek UNESCO office, provided valuable insights in clarifying administrative processes within the organization.
The proposed work plan of ODINAFRICA IV was briefly revisited. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between ODINAFRICA and BCC was also revisited and selected items flagged to be included in the work plans.
The information manager of Namibia, Mrs Ashilungu gave a short feedback presentation on the OceanTeacher courses she attended during the past year. Mr Gulekana, national coordinator of South Africa, presented the status of the information management in South Africa on behalf of the information manager. He further presented the unique challenges faced in South Africa regarding the establishment of a national ODINAFRICA working group.
The country questionnaires were revisited to identify training and equipment needs. Due to several training opportunities since the questionnaires were initially submitted, some training and software needs could be eliminated. A work plan, guided by the work plan for the African Marine Atlas was set up for all three countries. As there was a need to consult with colleagues and stakeholders on the final work plan in all three countries, a deadline of 15 September 2010 was set for submission of the national work plans to the regional coordinator, who will then forward these to the project management. |
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| African repository of marine related publications |
| Sea level data facility |
| African Ocean Portal |
| Tunisian Oceanographic atlas |
| Mauritius marine organisms database |
| Ocean Teacher |
| Ocean Data Portal |