Major INECO Events during the 1st Project Year

The kick-off meeting of the INECO project was held at the  National Technical University of Athens, Greece on the 13^th and 14^th July 2006. The meeting was attended by Project Partners and by the Project Manager of GEWAMED, Dr. Juan-Antonio Sagardoy.

The meeting marked the launch of project activities, following the signature of the Project Contract by the EC on July 1^st. Discussions focused on the planning of project activities, including:

• The overall framework of the project and the overview of project activities for the entire project duration;
• The detailed description of work for the upcoming project tasks;

• Presentations by the regional project partners on:
  • The overall conditions on water use, pricing and application of economic instruments in their respective countries;
  • The institutional framework on water resource planning and water policy making;
  • Stakeholders that could be involved in the overall INECO process and potential constraints with regard to stakeholder involvement and participation;
  • Expectations from project results, possibilities and sectors for further analysing alternative institutional instruments and arrangements.
• Possibilities for developing synergistic action with the GEWAMED project.

Presentations and material from the meeting are available at the INECO web site.

The first Steering Committee Meeting for the INECO project was held in Paris, France on the 22^nd and the 23^rd November 2006, and attended by:

• Prof. Dionysis Assimacopoulos (Project Coordinator), NTUA;
• Dr. Jean-Marc Berland, International Office for Water;
• Prof. Antonio Massarutto, IEFE-Bocconi, Italy;
• Prof. Bernard Barraqué (Expert advisor to the Project), CNRS – LATTS;
• Prof. Evan Vlachos (Expert advisor to the Project), Colorado State University;
• Mr. Khatim Kherraz, Agence de Bassin Hydrographique de Constantinois-Seybousse-Mellegue;
• Ms. Elina Manoli, Chemical Engineer, NTUA.

The objectives of the meeting were to:

• Introduce INECO to the Algerian Regional Partner (Mr. Khatim Kherraz) and to the project experts (Prof. Barraqué and Prof. Vlachos);
• Discuss with project experts the framework for Stakeholder Workshops and the formation of a Council of Experts;
• Discuss the framework for the implementation of Regional Activities and Case Studies developed by the NTUA, the outcomes of the Inception Phase and the problems already identified in the regions of INECO;
• Integrate the work developed by IOW and IEFE with Regional Activities;
• Draft a preliminary plan for forthcoming project events.

Presentations and material from the meeting are available at the INECO web site.

The Interim Project Meeting of the INECO project was held in Athens, Greece on the 1^st and 2^nd February 2007. The meeting was an important milestone for the overall implementation of the project, and aimed at reviewing the work undertaken thus far, and taking important decisions on the forthcoming project activities.

The meeting was attended by the majority of Project Partners, and by Prof. Evan Vlachos, expert advisor to the Project. The objectives of the meeting were to:

• Discuss the outcomes of the Inception Phase, through the presentation by the Regional Partners of the institutional and economic setting and the analysis of Focal Water Management Problems (FP) in terms of causes, effects and current water management policies. The overall aim was to reach a decision on the FP that will be analysed in each country.

• Elaborate on the methodology and workplan for the implementation of forthcoming project tasks, by:
  • Presenting the work completed in the framework of WP 2.1 and WP 2.2, in order to discuss ways of integrating best-practice examples in the formulation of alternatives for addressing focal water management problems,
  • Deciding upon plan and structure for stakeholder workshops,
  • Discussing project dissemination strategy and tools, and
  • Discussing ways to integrate the gender dimension in the project framework.

Presentations and material from the meeting can be downloaded from the INECO web site.