Environment Officers’ Conference

LAC Regional Session

February 26, 2016

1:30-4:00 PM

Session Purpose:

  • Environmental ComplianceUpdate LAC environment officers on environmental compliance-related guidance and documents, identify/coordinate future compliance training needs and brainstorm how to more effectively incorporate compliance into program design and procurement processes;
  • Budget/EarmarksIncrease knowledge and awareness of budget trends, earmarks and the budget cycle;
  • Burning questions/issues Identify and respond to LAC missions’ key questions; identify people in the region who have experience related to key questions who can serve as resources to provide assistance to their peers; and establish mechanisms within the region and USAID/Washington to address questions that cannot be answered during this session.

NOTE: During the week, please use the following link to submityour questions and ideas:

TIME / ACTIVITY / FACILITATOR(S)
1:30 – 2:00 / Environmental Compliance
  • LAC REAs will present latestcompliance-related guidance and documents (e.g., latest EMMP format, latest IEE standard language, etc.)
  • Discuss past compliance training and identify/coordinate future training needs.
  • Brainstorm more effective incorporation of compliance into program design and procurement.
/ Joe Torres, Paul Schmidtke
2:00 – 2:40 / Budget
  • Overview of trends, earmarks, and budget cycle.
  • Q&A on latest information available from Washington.
/ Jessica Rosen
2:40 – 2:45 / Prepare for “Burning Questions” segment
  • Reflect on key questions that have come up for attendees during the conference sessions this week.
  • Write the most important key question(s) on a post-it note and post it on the flipcharts.
/ Facilitator
2:45 – 3:00 / BREAK
3:00 – 4:00 / Regional Assist: Addressing your burning questions!
Gallery walk
  • Readposted questions, organized in groups by similar theme.
  • If you see a question that you can answer or contribute to answering based on your experience, write your name on a post-it.
There will be two ~20 minute rounds of discussion around key topics. The number of tables will be determined by the number of topics with people identified who can address these questions. Tables will write answers to the questions on flipcharts and note any questions still needing response.
(Depending on the number of topics and types of questions, the 2 rounds may cover different topics at each table or may continue with the same topics so that people who weren’t able to participate in that discussion can have that opportunity.)
After the second round, we will identify:
  • What burning questions remain?
  • How can EOs in the LAC region (field and Washington) support each other to answer these remaining questions and new questions that come up? What mechanisms (existing or new) can be used?
  • What steps do we need to take to make this happen?

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