Tumi Tómasson
programme director
November 2003
Preparations for the establishment of the UNU-FTP started in the
mid-1990’s which led to an agreement between the UNU, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in
The programme is run from August to February each year and consists of
two distinct parts. In the six-week
common introductory course the fellows gain an overview of the fisheries sector
which enables them to put the fisheries in their home countries into a regional
and international perspective and to gain an appreciation for its development
potential. The rest of the programme is
devoted to specialist training, where the fellows are split into smaller groups
according to their areas of expertise.
This part consists of 5 weeks of
formal course work and 14 weeks of
project work and, where appropriate, on-the-job training. Care is taken to select projects that will be
of direct relevance to the home situation of the fellow and senior staff in their home institutions often take an active part
in the process of selecting a relevant topic for the project. In many cases the projects are based on data
which the fellows have been sent or have brought with them. Sometimes the projects are a part of larger
research and development projects carried out at one of the institutions
hosting the UNU-FTP, and this work then finds its way into progress reports,
technical reports, conference proceedings or even international journals. Most of the projects can be accessed on the
homepage of the programme http://www.unuftp.is/.
Emphasis is put on the practical application of knowledge for
assessment, development and research. The programme takes place in the working
environment of the Marine Research Institute (MRI) and the Icelandic Fisheries
Laboratories, the
So far, 62 fellows from 19 countries have completed the programme,
including 21 women. Of the 22 fellows
entering the programme in August this year there are six women and one new
country has now joined the programme. A
breakdown according to countries and areas of specialisation is given in Table
1.
Table 1. Fellows of the UNU/FTP in 1998-2003,
including 22 fellows who are expected to
complete the programme in February 2004
|
Area of specialisation |
|||||||
|
Country |
Quality Management |
Policy & Planning |
Resource Assessment |
Fishing Technology |
Company Management |
Environmental Studies |
Total |
|
Argentine |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
Cape Verde |
|
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
4 |
|
China |
3 |
2 |
|
|
|
1 |
6 |
|
Cuba |
3 |
|
2 |
|
1 |
1 |
7 |
|
Estonia |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
|
4 |
|
Iran |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
4 |
|
Kenya |
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
2 |
4 |
|
Malawi |
|
1 |
|
2 |
|
|
3 |
|
Malaysia |
1 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
3 |
|
Mauritius |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
Mexico |
1 |
|
|
2 |
|
1 |
4 |
|
Mozambique |
4 |
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
|
7 |
|
Namibia |
1 |
2 |
|
1 |
|
|
4 |
|
Russia |
|
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
2 |
|
South Africa |
|
2 |
|
|
|
|
2 |
|
Sri Lanka |
4 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
6 |
|
Tanzania |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
The Gambia |
1 |
|
3 |
|
1 |
|
5 |
|
|
5 |
2 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
9 |
|
|
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
7 |
|
Total |
29 |
17 |
13 |
10 |
8 |
7 |
84 |
There are three permanent members of staff working on the programme,
the director and deputy director in full time positions, and a programme
officer in a 50% position. The programme
officer went on maternity leave in the middle of the year and will return early
next year.
A seven-member board governs the programme, with representatives from
the cooperating institutions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the fisheries
sector in
All nineteen fellows who entered the programme in August 2002 completed
their studies successfully and graduated in February this year. Their projects
will be published on the web site of the programme. There were three main lines of specialisation
in 2002/2003, Quality Management of Fish Handling and Processing, Marine and
Inland Waters, Resource Assessment and Monitoring, and Management of Fisheries
Companies and Marketing. Specialisation
in quality management has been offered every year since the inception of the
programme, but only a trial run with two fellows had previously been offered in
company management. All specialisations
were favourably reviewed by the fellows, but there is always room for
improvement. All these specialist areas
will be on offer for the intake in 2004 again and a revision of the programme
is already underway.
The sixth session of the UNU/FTP is now well
underway. The current group of fellows, the largest so far, arrived in
Reykjavík in late August and will be here for 6 months, leaving towards the end
of February. Increased emphasis was placed on contributions
from the fellows who had to give five presentations on selected topics,
relating the situation in their home countries to the global situation. This brought into sharper focus how a
comparative approach can be used to evaluate the development potential of
fisheries in different countries and gave the fellows a good opportunity to
contribute to the course. This was
evidently highly appreciated as the introductory course received a particularly
favourable evaluation by the fellows this year.
At the time of writing the fellows are finishing the course part of
their specialist training and have started preparing their project
proposals. The specialisations offered
in Fishing Technology, and Aquatic Environmental Assessment and Monitoring were
reviewed extensively earlier in the year.
A group of five fellows are specialising in each area. In addition specialisation was also offered
in the better established Fisheries Policy and Planning and Quality Management
of Fish Handling and Processing, with six fellows being admitted into
each.
All fellows are selected after a personal interview and in
consultations with the directors of their organisations. The main criteria used were discussed in some
detail in last year’s annual report. In
all cases we have noticed an increased interest in the programme once the first
fellows from a country have returned home.
This year the director travelled twice to
Guests received
Interest in the programme remains strong and unfortunately we are not
able to enter into cooperation with all, since this would compromise one of the
main objectives of the programme which is to establish a group of experts with
each partner as experience of the UNU-GTP has shown that this is a key issue to
ensure positive impact of the training.
This year the programme has been presented to ministerial delegations
from
At the beginning of the year the foreign minister of
Staff of
A number of ambassadors have visited the programme during the year,
including those of
Visiting lecturers
Each year the UNU-FTP invites one or two visiting lecturers of
international repute to give a series of lectures. Usually these are held in December and/or
January. Apart from giving lectures,
visiting lectures also engage in discussion sessions and participate in
seminars where fellows present projects or assignments. This year the main emphasis will be on
quality management. In late October Dr.
Felicia Kow gave five lectures on quality assurance
management systems in
In January we are expecting a visit by Hans Henrik
Huss, professor emeritus in
Finances
The total budget of the programme in 2003 is estimated at USD 973
000. Of this USD 783 000 are provided
from the state budget as part of the Icelandic contribution to multilateral development
cooperation. The UNU also supports the
programme with a direct monetary contribution of USD 100 000. Other organisations, mainly ICEIDA,
contribute the remaining USD 90 000.
Development of short courses
This year the UNU-FTP has been involved in the development of short
courses in fish processing and quality management in
Much has been gained from this project.
It has strengthened the position of former UNU fellows participating in
the project, and it has also provided the Icelandic experts with new insights
which will be used to revise the specialist course in quality management before
the next session. The UNU-FTP would like
to continue to develop further short courses in cooperation with its partners
in the developing countries. As
mentioned elsewhere, discussions on a possible partnership with the
Evaluation of the UNU-FTP
Each year the fellows of the UNU-FTP have been asked to evaluate the
programme and these evaluations have been used to guide the development of the
training. The board of the UNU-FTP is of
the view that a formal evaluation by an outside agency of the programme is now
timely. Accordingly, a contract has been
signed with the Iceland University of Education Research Centre to undertake
such an evaluation. The emphasis will be
on the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the
programme, but its execution will also be evaluated against the background of
the review and analysis of the UNU capacity building activities presented at
the UNU Council meeting in December 2001.
It is expected that the evaluation will be completed during the first
half of next year.
Staff of the UNU-FTP is frequently consulted by Icelandic authorities
and participate in variety of professional activities. Earlier this year the director completed a
two year term on an expert advisory group of the Icelandic Research Council
which evaluated research proposals put forward for funding, the latter year as
a chairman of the group. This year he
was appointed by the minister of fisheries to participate in a group of experts
evaluating the fundamental assumptions normally made in stock assessment on the
biology of exploited stocks. The deputy
director has undertaken an evaluation of a project in
The UNU-FTP was during the year approached by the Global Programme of
Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA)
of UNEP to provide a base for a consultancy required by the GPA from an expert
in