WLE Greater Mekong’s 14 projects, MK20-33, are just getting underway, with two, MK27 and MK30, having held inception workshops in the last few weeks. Our two senior project coordinators attended the meetings to better understand project roles and assist team members in long-term planning. Here are their dispatches from both workshops.

The MK27 team at NAWAPI HQ in Hanoi
My name is Mayvong Sayatham, and I am a senior project coordinator for WLE Greater Mekong. Of WLE GM’s 14 research projects in the Greater Mekong (MK20-33), I am responsible for MK 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 32, and 33.
MK 27, “Inclusive development paths for healthy Red River landscapes based on ecosystem services,” will work on how to address the challenging trade-offs between land development and riverine ecosystems, by focusing on the inclusive development of land and water resources while sustaining urban drainage, agro-forestry and minimum tillage. The project conducted its inception workshop on January 30th in Hanoi, which was attended by more than 40 participants from Universities, IWR, NAWAPI, WRU, MRC, VFU, greenID, VINwater, and other related government agencies.
The workshop opened with a presentation of Vietnam’s current challenges on water and land resources and urbanization, followed by how the project fits current research needs. In the afternoon the workshop focused more on developing the project implementation plan and assigning tasks to each team members.
With the revised plan and tasks assigned, the project is expecting to start their remote sensing research in the coming six months and it is expected that the project will be completed by the end of year 2016.
Greetings! I’m Rattamanee (or Ruby) and I’m one of the senior programme coordinators for WLE GM. I will be playing an integral role in the coordination of the programme, and I will be the focal person for 7 out of the 14 WLE Greater Mekong projects: MK 20, 21, 26, 28, 29, 30, and 31.
Recently, I attended MK28’s very successful inception workshop, held on February 3rd in Vangvieng Distict, Vientiane Province, Lao PDR. At the workshop, 51 participants from different relevant stakeholders of the project, including ministries and local administrations, convened to discuss key drivers of change in the Nam Xong river basin and identified indicators to assess decision and intervention outcomes.
I’m extremely interested in working closely with and learning more about the remaining projects. I encourage all interested parties to keep in touch with me regarding workshops or any future events that you are organizing.
To learn more about WLE Mekong’s projects, click here.