The world is currently being faced by COVID-19 uncertainty and this has continued to present unique and unprecedented challenges to project execution & management. The pandemic has undoubtedly resulted in a rethink of the way we operate.
In Kenya, like in many other countries the world over, the spread of Covid-19 had led the government to declare a countrywide curfew and cessation of movement in selected areas. Mombasa county is one of those areas where the government has declared cessation of movement. At 54 per 100,000 people, the county has the highest rate of infection rate in the country.
The Miji Bora project has taken appropriate action to ensure the safety and well being of our project team members and staff. This includes, but is not limited to facilitating colleagues to work from home (mostly undertaking desktop work), encouraging virtual consultations and suspending field activities. Some of the activities which have been suspended/postponed include:
- A visit to Durban by Mombasa county officials scheduled for last March, being the second learning exchange between Mombasa county and eThekwini municipality in Durban to facilitate knowledge transfer,
- Quantification of degraded mangrove areas requiring strategic restoration
- Survey administration to gather information related to gender, poverty, energy and stakeholder analysis,
- Focus group discussions to validate information
In order to check in with the team members follow up on the progress of individual tasks, we held virtual mini symposium on the 8th May 2020. Also invited to the webinar were our partners and stakeholders. The meeting saw 20 participants joining the meeting from different institution and various County departments, viz; Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA), Coastal and Marine Resource Development (COMRED) (Kenya), County Government of Mombasa (Kenya), eThekwini Municipality’s Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department (South Africa), The University of Witwatersrand (South Africa), Macquarie University (Australia), Regional Center for Mapping and Resource Development (Kenya), Coastal Research Development for Indian Ocean, East Africa (Kenya), La Farge Holcim (Kenya), and ORKAR Services (Kenya).