Rebecca Borges

I had a very rewarding time from May to July 2016 at GIZ- Bonn. I was working directly with the Blue Solutions Team, at the Marine Spatial Planning Subdivision. As part of the Blue Solutions Initiative, I had the opportunity to come in contact with real-life examples of successful conservation and management projects in the coastal and marine realms. Furthermore, I could also collaborate with the capacity building work at Blue Solutions, especially with the Blue Planning in Practice training, where I dealt more closely and could further learn about coastal and marine planning and management.

Blue Solutions is a global project at GIZ, in partnership with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and GRID-Arendal (http://bluesolutions.info/). Blue Solutions has two main lines of action: the exchange of positive management examples (the Blue Solutions online Platform) and capacity building.

Regarding the exchange of examples (known as ‘Blue Solutions’), I took part in the curation process, where I prepared these examples and/or oriented providers about the Blue Solution format, so that the solution can be uploaded onto the online exchange platform. During my three months at GIZ, I was directly involved in the curation of two solutions from Costa Rica, Columbia and Panama; three solutions from Australia; and six solutions under the management of UNEP.

I also worked on the improvement of the ‘solution provider manual’ in Spanish. To provide an overview of the solutions so far stored on the platform, I created a framework for a future assessment of the Blue Solutions, which will be further developed by a GIZ colleague.

Regarding the capacity building program, I directly contributed to the development of training materials, including PowerPoint presentations and the participant handbook. Based on my experience, I gave the team ideas about the training, especially regarding important iteration steps in the planning process and stakeholder engagement. I also improved the information in the handbook on decision-support tools, which are my area of expertise. In the process of contributing to the training material, I had the opportunity to learn and have contact with on-the-ground experiences on marine spatial planning. As short-term tasks, I helped developed factsheets about the trainings provided by Blue Solutions and translate them into Portuguese (http://bluesolutions.info/capacity-development/).

I also had the opportunity to improve my skills in the German language, since the language spoken in the work environment was almost exclusively German.

I am very grateful to GLOMAR for proving funding for this work placement and for believing tha these three months would represent a unique development opportunity and an important investment in my career as a marine ecologist.