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CANADA-BRAZIL COOPERATION
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Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
- Agência Brasileira de Cooperação (ABC) |
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SUMMARY
OF ACTIVITIES
for
2000 and 2001
OPENING REMARKS
After nearly two years in development, the Northeastern Brazil Groundwater Project was approved by CIDA on April 18th 2000. Although approval was granted, CIDA was not totally satisfied that the project, as presented in the project proposal, would deliver the kinds of results that they demand and have come to expect from their projects. Thus, during the first six months (May to October), the project underwent a probation period or Inception Phase, during which certain aspects of the proposal were developed further, including the all-important social and gender equity agenda. In October, a Project Implementation Plan, as the inception phase report is called, was submitted to CIDA for approval. Again we received passing marks, but not the accolade that we thought we deserved. But in spite of the reservations at CIDA, the project generated an enormous amount of enthusiasm and interest in Brazil, and amongst the Canadians who became aware of it, either by participating in its activities or through various information outlets.
At the time of writing this page (May 2001), a little more than a year in the life of the project has gone by. And it has been an incredible year in terms of activities, accomplishments, progress, generation of new ideas, and collaboration. During the development phase, we had promised ourselves and you, the reader, to update our Web Site regularly, as we felt the need to keep everybody informed. Our last Newsletter is dated December 1999 and, unfortunately, the shortage of resources, mostly human resources, has made it impossible to keep this promise. But we anticipate that things will become somewhat less hectic in the second year, and we expect to be able to post updates at this site more regularly.
Below are some of the
highlights of the first and second year of operations (to December 31, 2001),
mostly related to activities that involved both Canadians and Brazilians. In
addition to these joint activities, there is an enormous amount of project work
being conducted by the Brazilians on their own. The modus operandi of the project, for those
who are unfamiliar, is posted elsewhere on this site. For some of the
activities listed below, more details can be obtained by following the links.
APRIL 2000
- Project approved; CIDA puts $1.34 million over 4 years and Brazil, $6.8 million
MAY 2000
- 1st Steering Committee Meeting, Rio de Janeiro
- CIDA’s Lessons Learned Symposium, Guarujá, São Paulo
JUNE 2000
JULY/AUGUST 2000
OCTOBER 2000
- End of 6-month Inception Phase
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2000
- Canadian social and gender equity specialist, Sherry Nelligan of Toronto, is hired to coordinate project social/gender agenda
- Brazilians assemble a team of social workers in three states, led by Luciana Cibelle dos Santos
NOVEMBER 2000
- Regional (state) committee meetings and 2nd Steering Committee Meeting, Rio de Janeiro
- Solar power development project
- 1st Social Mission to NE-Brazil
MARCH 2001
- Regional Committee Meeting in Fortaleza, in preparation of 3rd Steering Committee Meeting held in Recife in April, 2001
- 2nd Social Mission to NE-Brazil
- Airborne geophysical survey begins in Ceará pilot area; surveys completed in three pilot areas at the end of April 2001
- Training in remote sensing techniques
APRIL 2001
MAY/JUNE 2001
- PROASNE is featured on the Discovery Channel (click here, then on first story)
- PROASNE sponsors special edition of children's book for distribution in northeastern Brazil communities
- Canada's Ambassador to Brazil, Jean-Pierre Juneau, visits PROASNE's pilot area in Ceará
- Technical Mission to NE-Brazil
- Short courses on Isotope Geochemistry, Fortaleza, CE and Natal, RN
- Development of a project with the Federal University of Ceará to investigate Groundwater Salinity
- Enhancement of Brazil's National Groundwater Database
- Short courses on Groundwater Modeling techniques, Fortaleza, CE and Natal, RN
- Development of a Groundwater Modeling Project to facilitate management of the Açu Aquifer, RN
- Preliminary attempt at developing an Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Project in one of PROASNE's pilot areas
- Regional Committee Meetings, Fortaleza and Recife
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2001
· Social Mission to Canada, September 23 to October 6, 2001
NOVEMBER 2001
- Results of the airborne geophysical surveys are released showing great potential
- Inauguration of solar powered pumping and desalinization station in Ceará
DECEMBER 2001
- Brazilian partners hold 4-day Program Review - December 10 to 13, 2001
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