Regional Executive Agency (Farmahem) of the Landscape Fire Management Programme in the Western Balkans (LFMWB) with support of Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, RFMC and HAFL from 19th–22nd of December 2022 in Skopje, North Macedonia organized a Capacity-building Need Assessment workshop. The aim of the workshop was for the Programme partners to get familiar with the long-term vision and goals of the Programme with a focus on the core activities planned for 2023. Based on these activities, the capacity-building needs of the Programme partners were assessed.
Workshop was started with opening speech from Pierre-André Cordey, a Programme Manager at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Carmen Tönnissen, Regional Advisor on Water and Environment, at the Embassy of Switzerland in North Macedonia. They expressed the significance of building national and regional landscape fire management networks that will contribute to cross-boundary collaboration. Both emphasized that joint efforts and expertise will build the foundation for Better Cooperation, Better Capacities, and Better Policies as the main outcomes of the Programme that contribute to the overall goal of the LFMWB Programme.
The newly engaged LFMWB Country Project Staff (CPS) in Banja Luka, Belgrade, Podgorica, Prishtina and Skopje were welcomed by the REA and LFMWB partners. Workshop was organised as joint hybrid event (in live and online) with participation of the LFMWB partners. Through active participation, the Programme setup and goals were presented, as well as the role of the Programme partners with an emphasis on the role and responsibilities of CPS. Having all partners at the end of the year, it was good opportunity to discuss and review the proposed draft LFMWB Yearly Plan of Operations (YPO) for 2023. Aim of the second day of the workshop was to build common understanding among participants about landscape fire management, current situation in the Western Balkans and possible cooperation between Switzerland and Western Balkan countries. Additionally, based on the overall Programme activities the participants identified and had lively group work discussions about their capacity-building needs as a first step towards developing a capacity-building plan. The results of the workshop will be further used as a guide for the development of the capacity-building plan and for shaping the content of the tailor-made trainings.
