News
Brief updates on Supras activities, specifically as related to activities in the core Service Areas. Links to other pages on the Supras site for more detailed treatment are often included. Older news items are moved to section Archive.
For further details on an activity see section Portfolio. The output of Supras’ work, be it documents, images or websites, is available in section Library.
2008
- Primo September 2008 (date tentative)
- Meetings with Foundation of Speleology; in Sucheava, Romania. The purpose will be discussions of the partnership between the Foundation and Supras, and more specifically preparation of a joint project proposal.
- 16-26 July 2008
- Mission de supervision de L’UNOPS, Project de Développement Rural dans le Moyen Atlas Oriental, Maroc. Supras contributed to the planning and setting up a comprehensive and scaleable monitoring and evaluation system (M&E) for this IFAD project.
Comment: The dedicated project website is here. - 14-18 July 2008
- 12th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Commons (IASC), Cheltenham, England. [access].
Comment: Two papers presented, on (1) a comparative analysis of aspects of coastal zone mgmt. in Colombia and Ghana, and (2) gathering herbs, market access and social change in a village in the high Atlas mountains of Morocco. Further information is available. [more] - 3-5 July 2008
- Networking visit to Association for the Support of Economic Development and Economic Integration (ASEDEI); in Varna, Bulgaria. The purpose was discussions of the partnership between ASEDEI and Supras.
- 1 July 2008
- The official launch of the NGO Fund for Bulgaria, under the EEA Financial Mechanism; in Sofia, Bulgaria. Organized by Foundation for Local Government Reform (FLGR) and Bulgarian Environmental Partnership Foundation (BEPF), jointly with Royal Norwegian Embassy. The workshop provided opportunities for networking between representatives of civil society in Bulgaria and Norway.
Comment: On EEA Financial Mechanism / Norwegian Financial Mechanism, see Comment under 30 January 2008 below. - 30 June 2008
- The official launch of the NGO Fund for Romania under the EEA Financial Mechanism; in Bucarest, Romania. Organized by Fundatia pentru Dezvoltarea Societății Civile (FDSC), jointly with Royal Norwegian Embassy. The workshop provided opportunities for networking between representatives of civil society in Romania and Norway.
Comment: On EEA Financial Mechanism / Norwegian Financial Mechanism, see Comment under 30 January 2008 below. - 23 May 2008
- Launch of a networking website for Norwegian organizations and institutions in the public sector, private sector and civil society that are involved with the EEA Financial Mechanism / Norwegian Financial Mechanism. The website is the result of a partnership with the Norwegian Association for Adult Learning (NAAL) and Community-Based Natural Resource Management Network (CBNRM Net). [access]
Comment: The website is available in Norwegian. On the EEA Financial Mechanism / Norwegian Financial Mechanism, see the Comment under 30 January 2008 below. - 6 May 2008
- Funding received for the project “Support for Local Initiatives” in Slovenia. The counterpart is Inštitut za politike prostora (Institute for Policies of Space); Ljubljana, Slovenia. The Community-Based Natural Resource Management Network (CBNRM Net) is a partner.
Comment: Funding from the EEA Financial Mechanism / Norwegian Financial Mechanism (for details, see the Comment under 30 January 2008 below). Details on the project are available. - 10 April 2008
- Participation in the launch workshop for the Norwegian bilateral fund for Hungary; in Budapest, Hungary. Organized by the Hungarian Environmental Partnership Foundation, jointly with Autonómia Foundation, Foundation for Development of Democratic Rights and Carpathian Foundation. The workshop provided opportunities for networking between representatives of civil society in Hungary and Norway.
Comment: On the EEA Financial Mechanism / Norwegian Financial Mechanism, see the Comment under 30 January 2008 below. - 3 April 2008
- Participation in the launch workshop for the Norwegian bilateral fund for Portugal; in Lisbon, Portugal. Organized by the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG). The workshop provided opportunities for networking between representatives of civil society in Portugal and Norway.
Comment: On the EEA Financial Mechanism / Norwegian Financial Mechanism, see the Comment under 30 January 2008 below. - 28-29 February 2008
- Participation in the NGO Fund conference “EEA Grants and Civil Society. Experiences and Visions;” in Oslo, Norway. Organized by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and EEA Financial Mechanism / Norwegian Financial Mechanism. The workshop provided opportunities for networking and exchange of experiences between representatives of civil society in a number of the recipient countries, as well as in Norway.
Comment: On the EEA Financial Mechanism / Norwegian Financial Mechanism, see the Comment under 30 January 2008 below. - 26 Febuary 2008
- Participation in the “Norwegian-Polish Partnership Forum;” in Warsaw, Polen. Organized by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The workshop provided opportunities for networking between representatives of civil society in Polen and Norway.
Comment: On the EEA Financial Mechanism / Norwegian Financial Mechanism, see the Comment under 30 January 2008 below. - 30 January 2008
- Participation in the launch workshop for the Norwegian bilateral fund for Slovenia; in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Organized by the Regional Environment Centre for Central and Eastern Europe, Country Office Slovenia (REC). The workshop provided opportunities for networking between representatives of civil society in Slovenia and Norway.
Comment: The EEA Financial Mechanism / Norwegian Financial Mechanism aim to reduce social and economic disparities within the European Economic Area (EEA), and to enable all EEA countries to participate fully in the Internal Market. See also the NGO Norway Information Portal.
2007
- 5 December 2007
- Uploaded a number of Supras documents prepared over the last several months, including conference papers. [access]
- 22-23 November 2007
- Participation in a civil society conference on “Good citizenship - A project or lifestyle?;” in Tallinn, Estonia. Organized by the Network of Estonian Nonprofit Organizations (NENO). The conference included the launch workshop for the Norwegian bilateral fund for Estonia, and provided opportunities for networking between representatives of civil society in Estonia and Norway.
Comment: The EEA Financial Mechanism / Norwegian Financial Mechanism aim to reduce social and economic disparities within the European Economic Area (EEA), and to enable all EEA countries to participate fully in the Internal Market. See also the NGO Norway Information Portal. - 10 October 2007
- A new consultant, Bernadette Montanari, added to the Supras roster. For details see Staff and consultants.
- 6 October 2007
- The tool Snap shots (from www.snap.com) installed on select pages. It enhances links with visual previews and interactive excerpts of the external destination site.
- 24-27 September 2007
- Participated in Web2forDev 2007 in Rome, Italy. This is the first conference devoted to exploring the ways in which international development stakeholders can take advantage of the technical and organizational opportunities provided by Web 2.0 methods, approaches and applications.
- 1-16 September 2007
- Project supervision missions: Raymah Area Development Project and Dhamar Participatory Rural Development Project, two IFAD/UNOPS projects in Yemen.
- 28 June 2007
- Gave presentation at an internal staff seminar at the World Bank in Washington DC on “ICT-based networks as communities of practise: Past, present and future.”
- 18-22 June 2007
- Participant at the Twenty-Seventh Annual ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, USA. Presented the paper “Environmental trends analysis (ETA): Tools for poverty alleviation,” written jointly with Jim Tarrant and Lauren Sorkin (International Resources Group).
- 2 June 2007
- Agreement reached about an internal seminar that I will give at the World Bank ultimo June. The topic is: “ICT-based networks as communities of practise.” Details to be announced.
- 30 May 2007
- Submitted an abstract for the annual conference of the Norwegian Association for Development Research (NFU). Prepared jointly with good colleagues and friends in Colombia and Ghana, this is a comparative study of coastal zone management in the two countries, emphasizing institutions (in the sense of New Institutional Economics) and organizations, as located in the traditional and the modern sectors, and their roles in poverty reduction. Nice that the Bank sector work I did in Ghana 10 years back still is useful. [access]
- 24 April 2007
- Uploaded a new paper “Social GIS: Integrating GIS and participatory mapping,” that builds upon experiences with the [Mauritania Technology Fosters Tradition (TFT) project. It presents Social GIS, a new methodological approach and process for how to integrate participatory mapping and GIS. This paper came about as a separate output in connection with preparing the paper on Environmental Trends Analysis (ETA) for the ESRI 2007 International User Conference (see above). The paper is available in html format and will, upon final revision, be available as a Supras Notes paper. [access]
Additional links: conference | ETA] - 29 February 2007
- Began collaboration with Lauren N. Sorkin and James J. Tarrant (both with International Resources Group, Inc.) on a paper on Environmental Trends Analysis (ETA) and poverty alleviation to be presented at the ESRI 2007 International User Conference (San Diego, 18-22 June). [more]
[conference | ETA]
2006
- 3-11 November 2006
- Lars T. Soeftestad participated in the 9th plenary meeting of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Organization (GSDI), in Santiago, Chile, and a USAID-sponsored workshop on Environmental Trend Analysis (ETA). He presented on the World Bank project Technology Fosters Tradition (TFT) in Mauritania, for the workshop as well as to the conference at large. [more]
[images] - 18 October 2006
- Preparation is underway on two presentations. The first is a public lecture in Kristiansand on 24 October, organized by Forum Sør (Forum South) on the topic of “Stakeholders, relations and results in development cooperation.” The second is a presentation on GIS and the environment-poverty nexus, using data from Mauritania, to be presented at the 9th plenary meeting of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Organization (GSDI) (see immediately above). [more]
- 15 October 2006
- The site modification is almost over. What remains now is largely the support pages, that is, FAQ, Help, Page index, Search and Sitemap.
- 14 August 2006
- A major modification of the Supras site is underway, involving structure, architecture, usability and content. It will be done in steps, and will hopefully be done by mid-October.
- 9 August 2006
- Project “Reversal of land and water degradation trends in the Lake Chad Basin ecosystem: Establishment of mechanisms for land and water management” (Lake Chad Basin Commission / Global Environment Facility, RAF/00/G31/P070252). In connection with the “Environmental and social risk assessment” assignment under this project (see below), submitted report on “Social risk analysis in the Lake Chad Basin.” [more]
- 17 July 2006
- Project “Reversal of land and water degradation trends in the Lake Chad Basin ecosystem: Establishment of mechanisms for land and water management” (Lake Chad Basin Commission / Global Environment Facility, RAF/00/G31/P070252). Submitted, jointly with Impact Assessment, Inc. (La Jolla, California, USA), Social Impact Assessment (New York, USA) and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (Johannesburg, South Africa), the draft final report under the project’s “Environmental and social risk assessment” assignment. [more]
- 1-7 July 2006
- Project: “Aceh and Nias Recovery Program.” Informal reconnaissance and study field visit to Meulaboh, Aceh, on the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, to study the project “Aceh and Nias Recovery Program,” implemented by Norwegian Church Aid in collaboration with Church World Service (CWS) Indonesia. [more]
- 20-23 June 2006
- Presentation of a paper “Regulating the commons in Mauritania: Local agreements as a tool for sustainable natural resource management,” written jointly with Karl Peter Kirsch-Jung, at the 11th International Conference of the International Association for the Study of Commons (IASC), Bali, Indonesia. [more]
- 6 June 2006
- Lars was elected Chairperson of Forum Sør (Forum South), a resource network for institutions and organizations – as located in civil society, public sector and private sector – in the Agder region in southern Norway that work on development cooperation.
[website]