Administrative Start-up Accomplishments to Date

2. Accomplishments to Date

2.1 Administrative Start-up

A full time Project Manager was selected based on an extensive search process and personal interviews of finalist candidates in June and July 2009. The Project Manager, Mr. Ousman Drammeh, started employment in July. Drammeh is a former Director of DoFish in The Gambia and more recently has been a regional consultant to FAO and the African Development Bank. The Project has also secured office space in the office complex of GIFPZA House on Kairaba Avenue. This new WWF office is centrally located and within easy reach of Banjul and the coastal fishing villages. Office equipment and supplies, telephone and telefax lines, and internet connections are being installed with completion anticipated by late Augustearly September 2009. Tenders for internet connections at DoFish and Department of Parks and Wildlife Management DPWM have been received and will be evaluated shortly. Subcontracting arrangements between URI and WWF are in place, including wire transfer procedures for sending operational funds in-country. WWF has also hired a new Finance Officer for The Gambia Office. A memorandum of understanding MOU between the Ministry of Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, and WWF-WAMER for the implementation of the Project was finalized and signed in August. Among other things, the MOU will enable the Project to procure vehicles and motor bikes tax-free. Two field staffs are being recruited and are expected to start in October. One will be assigned to work directly with the oyster harvesters and one will be assigned to work with the sole fisheries. During this start-up period, members of the CRCURI team completed two trips to The Gambia and Senegal and were involved in interviewing candidates for the Project Manager position and in stakeholder consultations. The team also participated in briefings of the U.S. Embassy in The Gambia and the Senegal Ministry of Fisheries, and in the Project launch event. The CRCURI team also oriented the senior management team in the WWF Gambia Office on USAID branding and marking policies and TraiNet requirements, and also engaged in joint work planning and detailed budgeting for the Project.

2.2 Project Visioning