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The primary school of the Albanian village of Narta, where the Constructed Wetland system will be implemented in the framework of IDEASS and the ART GOLD Programme, will constitute the first Eco-logical School in the Country. The UNDP GEF Small Grants Program officialised its economical participation to the project, for an amount of 47,564 US Dollars. Contacts are ongoing with the Italian Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, which is interested in joining the project’s donors in the framework of the ART GOLD Programme.
A new mission of the ARPAT experts, Beatrice Pucci and Marco Gardenti, took place from 18 to 25 February 2007, in order to define the executive project. In this contest, according with the school director, the Narta’s authorities and the donors, it was decided that the system implementation will be accompanied by other ecological initiatives, in order to create a sustainable development model for other institutions and a didactical centre for environmental education... more

The mission to Morocco of the IDEASS International Secretary was held from January 23 to February 7, 2007, in the framework of the ART GOLD Programme.
During the mission, meetings have been held with the competent Ministries and the national scientific and academic institutions. All of them demonstrated interest in participating in the IDEASS National Scientific Committee, which will take charge of developing the activities in Morocco, in collaboration with the ART GOLD Programme. The Committee’s first considered activity consists in the organization of a national competition for human development, that will allow to valorise at international level the significant skills and potentiality of the Country.
Meetings with the ART GOLD Programme’s Work Groups of the Fès Boulemanne and the Oriental Regions have been also held.
This first work achieved encouraging results. Three Moroccan innovations have been identified and a work will be realized during the next months with the innovations’ authors in order to verify the technical aspects for their insertion in the international IDEASS catalogue. The Plant Protection Institute of the University Hassan II of Agadir manifested an actual interest in transferring to Morocco the IDEASS innovation “IPM Package on Olive”, created by the Plant [p:justify]Protection Institute of the Albanian Ministry of Agriculture. It was possible to establish the contact among the two institutions, which will collaborate to implement a pilot project in the Tanger Tetouane Region.
Other international innovations raised the interest of different competent Moroccan interlocutors: “Biorat”; the production of “Serodiagnosis Kits”; “Stabilak”; the methodology for the “Recovering of Historical Centres”; “Compagnia dei Parchi” for sustainable tourism; the “Natural Dehydration”. The Tuscany Region offered to collaborate at the promotion of the “Mother Kangaroo Method” in Morocco, with the scientific support of the Meyer Institute of Florence. Finally, some first needs of innovation have been collected in the different Regions and the IDEASS Secretariat is at the moment working to identify at international level the specialized structures capable to offer innovative solutions to the presented problems

On February 2007, the implementation of the Mother Kangaroo Method in Albania entered a new phase. The International Health Co-operation Unit of the A.Meyer Children University Hospital of Florence, one of the most relevant Italian Medical Institution specialized in Mother and Child care, decided to provide the IDEASS Initiative with assistance in formulate a project for the implementation of the Method and the Mother and Child Care programs in the Albanian Region of Shkoder, following the priorities of the Albanian Ministry of Health. The project will be realized in the framework of the cooperation activities between the Tuscany Region, the UNDP ART GOLD Albania Program and the ART IDEASS Program.
A mission to Albania of Dr.Maria José Caldés Pinilla, Responsible of Meyer’s International Health Co-operation Unit, and Dr.Maria Letizia Caccamo, Pediatrician Neonatologist, was held from 11th to 14th February, 2007. The mission aimed at conducting a feasibility survey for the formulation of a project to be implemented in the Region of Shkoder. The project will be articulated in two components: training activities in the Shkoder Hospital on the Mother Kangaroo Method and on the correct use of medical technology; training activities on the territory with the medical and paramedical personnel of the territorial Health Centers of the Skhoder District, which will assist the mothers before and during the delivery and address them to the Method. The “follow up” of the mothers and children after the delivery will be provided by the Centers themselves.
The technical assistance to the project will be provided by the Meyer Hospital and the Maternity Hospital of Tirana. The World Health Organization, whose Representative in Albania, Dr. Dévora Kestel, met the Meyer-IDEASS delegation, gave full support to the project. The Shkoder Mother Kangaroo executive project will be defined in details in the next period and will be funded by the Tuscany Region. The ART GOLD Albania Programme will provide logistic and organizational assistance to the project activities.
A visit to Albania of the Director of the International Cooperation of the Tuscany Region, Massimo Toschi, is foreseen on the next period, in order to meet the Albanian Health Autorities and start to the project in Shkoder.

The mission of Compagnia dei Parchi in Albania, carried out from 11 to 14 December 2006 within the framework of the ART GOLD Programme, produced important results, generating the interest of the Albanian Ministry of the Environment to implement a successful strategy for Albanian Park management and development and for sustainable tourism initiatives.

During the mission, Roberto Di Vincenzo and Matteo Fusilli, Presidents of Compagnia dei Parchi and Federparchi, the main Italian associations of Natural Parks, met the Albanian Environmental and Tourism Authorities in order to implement a project for developing and managing the natural protected areas in the Country with the CdP’s methodologies. The Minister of Environment, Forest and Water Administration, Lufter Xhuveli and the Deputy Minister, Taulant Bino expressed the will to realize a project for sustainable tourism in a wide area of North Albania that possesses the characteristics to become an international “adventure tourism” and naturalistic attraction pole. The Deputy-Minister of Tourism and Culture, Suzana Turku and her staff offered complete support to the mission and proposed the realization of a common work table in order to explore the ways to activate in Albania an innovative tourism product fostering economic local development. Some areas of the Country have been mentioned, and their suitability will be investigated on the basis of the documentation that will be collected and transmitted to the IDEASS staff in the next weeks.

The Ministry of Science and Technology of Brasil, through the Secretariat for the Social Inclusion SECIS and the UNIEMP Institute, decided to participate at the ART IDEASS Programme, through their initiatives of promotion of science and technology in the State of San Paulo.
By means of this collaboration, the identification of innovations with the characteristics for being promoted at the international level by IDEASS, is already in course in the State of San Paulo. A first brochure for the international promotion of the BIOMAPS will be launched by IDEASS in the next months. The innovations of the IDEASS catalogue will be promoted in the State of San Paulo as well, in order to generate an interest in their transfer.

For more information:
www.ideassonline.org/paes_view_eng.asp?id=30

Reynaldo Espino from the LABIOFAM Institute in Cuba will conduct a mission in Libya from September 18 until October 27, in order to promote the biological rodenticide BIORAT. The mission activities will be carried out within the framework of the ART GOLD Programme and in close collaboration with the General Environment Authority (EGA), its Scientific Committee for Rodent Control and the local Governments of the regions involved.
Libya is a country where plagues of rats are growing rapidly as a result of the urbanization process. All Libyan regions have embarked on initiatives for the elimination or reduction of the rat population. In particular, Misrata local authorities are interested in BIORAT and they officially asked to receive all the information regarding the opportunities related to BIORAT and the IDEASS initiative.
On September 20, the LABIOFAM expert will present BIORAT characteristics, benefits, previous experiences and applications in a national workshop, organized by the EGA and open to more of 200 representatives from national and local institutions.
The expert will carry out practical tests of BIORAT in selected areas in collaboration with EGA. He will analyze its effectiveness in the context, in view of the installation of the south-south project for the BIORAT production in Libya.
For more information about BIORAT please visit: www.ideassonline.org/pdf/br_24_18.pdf

The Albanian Office of UNDP – GEF/SGP (Global Environment Facility – Small Grants Programme) will provide financial support for implementing a natural depuration system at a school in the Narta Village. The Constructed Wetlands pilot-project was designed in collaboration with the UNDP MedWetCoast Programme (Conservation of Wetland and Coastal Ecosystem in Mediterranean Region) that operates to improve the environmental conditions of the Narta Lagoon area, and with the Albanian Ministry of Environment which will provide assistance for the educational and environmental awareness activities. Technical assistance for the project implementation will be provided by the ARPAT (Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Tuscany).
The project will be carried out in collaboration with national authorities, the administrations of the municipalities that surround the Narta Lagoon and the Vlorë Local Economic Development Agency. The project will be accompanied by initiatives aiming at the improvement of the environmental condition of the area. The construction of the wetlands system will start next autumn after the conclusion of the fundraising activity, at the moment in process.
For more information about “Constructed Wetlands” please visit:
www.ideassonline.org/pic/doc/report arpat in albania.pdf

The Ministry of Science and Environmental Protection of Serbia and Montenegro has decided to launch a National Competition for Human Development Innovations in the country, in collaboration with IDEASS.
The initiative will be part of the prestigious Innovation Competition that has been carried out in Serbia and Montenegro for the last two years; this year its objective is to stimulate the research for the renewal of industry and services.
The Competition is advertised on the website www.inovacija.org that provides information about the procedures to participate and the results of the previous editions. The website will also provide information about the rules and procedures of the Competition for Human Development Innovations and it also helps to identify innovations that have already proved efficient in improving the quality of life of persons and communities. The deadline for applying to the Competition is 15 October 2006. Winners will be selected during a two-month period after the closure of the contest. Over the Christmas period, the national broadcasting network RTS will show the awards ceremony for the winners of both competitions.
In order to inform the public of Serbia and Montenegro about the Competition for Human Development Innovations, the Ministry of Science and Environmental Protection has invited a representative of the IDEASS Secretariat to participate in the very popular television program “Sarenica”, broadcasted every Sunday by the national network RTS, visible in the whole country. The Ministry has also organized many meetings with Serbian research institutions to help identify the first three innovations to be included in the IDEASS catalogue.

The mission to Albania of the ARPAT experts was carried out from 12th to 19th February 2006, in collaboration with the GEF/UNDP MedWetCoast Project (Conservation of Wetland and Coastal Ecosystem in Mediterranean Region). During the mission, the experts provided technical assistance to the Albanian actors to identify the characteristics of a water natural purification pilot system in the Vlore region. The project will be implemented in collaboration with national authorities, the administrations of the municipalities that surround the Narta Lagoon and with the Vlore Local Economy Development Agency; besides, it will be accompanied by initiative aimed at the improvement of environmental condition of the area.