70 participants representing seven countries and over 40 organizations participated at the official launch of the CCLME project during the CCLME inception workshop on 2-3 November 2010.

CCLME IWS Group photoThe CCLME inception workshop was organized in Dakar, Senegal on 2-3 November 2010. Almost 70 representatives from the seven participating countries, donors, partners and stakeholders attended the official launch of the CCLME project and the inception workshop.

The overall aim of the workshop was to inform on the progress of the project since it became operational on 1 April 2010, to take into consideration the contributions of all parties involved in achieving the CCLME project objectives, and to present the project work plan.

Apart from presentations from the the Regional Project Coordinator on the progress and planned activities of the project, the workshop included a number of presentations introducing the main concepts and methodologies important for the CCLME Project, such as the Large Marine Ecosystem concept, the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries, Methodologies for TDA and SAP development and monitoring and evaluation of GEF LME projects.

A set of presentations to provide useful baseline information on the CCLME region were also provided, including information on fisheries, socioeconomic and governance, marine biodiversity and climate change.

In addition, each participating country presented national reports and the present regional organizations presented short overviews of their activities and potential linkages with the CCLME project.

A number of recommendations related to project management, project implementation (including the establishment of working groups), TDA/SAP development and monitoring and evaluation were made by the CCLME inception workshop.

The First Project Steering Committee Meeting of the CCLME project was held on 4 November 2010. The PSC meeting took into consideration the recommendations made by the inception workshop participants and adopted the overall CCLME work plan (2010-2015), the 2011 CCLME work plan and estimated budget, the CCLME technical working groups and ToRs and the CCLME monitoring and evaluation plan. The First PSC meeting also revised and adopted the terms of references for the CCLME Project Steering Committee, National Inter-Ministry Committees, National Project Focal Points and National Technical Coordinators.