Third Executive Committee Meeting and Institutional Capacity Workshop

The SAWEN Secretariat in collaboration with the Government of Nepal and National Trust for Nature Conservation has successfully organized the Third Executive Committee Meeting of SAWEN and the Workshop on 'Strengthening Institutional Capacity of SAWEN' on 11-13 September 2017 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The third EC meeting was held on 11 September 2017 that reviewed previous meetings decisions and implementation status. The meeting chiefly discussed on endowment fund mobilization, recruiting of Secretary General and other staff, information sharing and membership fees and also proposed to convene fourth EC meeting in between December 2017 to January 2018.

Coinciding with the EC meeting, the two day workshop was completed in participation of more than 40 participants including SAWEN Focal Persons, government delegates from SAWEN member countries, representatives from international and national partner organizations on 12-13 September 2017 in Kathmandu, Nepal. Inaugurating the Workshop, the Chief Guest, Mr. Prakash Mathema, Secretary of Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Nepal emphasized on enhanced cooperation and collaboration among the member countries. In the inauguration program, chairperson of the inaugural program, Mr. Man Bahadur Khadka, Chief Enforcement Coordinator of SAWEN and Director General of Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Nepal requested for the SAWEN Statute endorsement from rest of the three countries and pledging for the endowment fund.

The workshop discussed on six tasks under the IDF grant to SAWEN. These tasks included i) Drafting of Operational Framework of SAWEN ii) Reviewing policies and guidelines on wildlife crime and developing bilateral and regional MoUs iii) Mapping of wildlife trade routes in SAWEN member countries iv) Conduct a regional political economy analysis on wildlife crime v) Undertaking capacity development on skills relevant to wildlife crime and vi) Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of SAWEN by developing public awareness strategy, communication plan and a regional communication mechanism. The workshop was fruitful to gracefully receive the suggestions and feedback.

The Workshop was concluded with a brief closing program. The SAWEN Secretariat would like to wish for safe back home to all the participants coming from the member countries and beyond for participating the SAWEN program.