USAID/ICMA Planning for Climate Adaptation Program – Quarterly Report 3 (September 2015)

FEDOMU's Municipal coordinators began working as part of the Program, and technical teams were established in Distrito Nacional, Santiago, and San Pedro de Macorís. These teams serve as executive committees for the working groups and technical coordination units within each municipality. Technical teams worked on stakeholder mapping, the identification of working group members, municipal capacity needs, and climate change vulnerability assessments. Community organizations are engaged and aware of the Program's initiatives in San Pedro de Macorís, Santiago, and Santo Domingo. Program staff began working with them in participatory municipal planning. Implementing partner ICF visited the four target cities to begin the identification of vulnerabilities, with a focus on water services. The ICF team is working with Alejandro Herrera, the Program's Climate Change Specialist, to collect data and information for the preliminary vulnerability assessments, participate in the Program's working group meetings, and provide climate change technical input. Implementing partner INTEC initiated the Certificate Course in Climate Change Adaptation, which creates a space for dialogue and interaction among Program stakeholders, while improving technical capacities in adaptation. ICMA has identified two cities via its Citylinks component to exchange experiences in land use planning inclusive of climate change adaptation. In November, officials from Dubuque, Iowa will visit the municipality of Santiago, while representatives from Fort Lauderdale will visit San Pedro de Macorís. Resource Partner I2UD traveled to the DR in a scoping trip to visit selected municipalities within the project to review current planning and CCA activities. The ICMA team is leading the coordination efforts among the USAID CLIMA programs. As part of the work plan, a coordination workshop was organized by USAID in September. COP Indhira De Jesus made a presentation proposing coordination mechanisms. The program also hosted the first coordination meeting with the four CLIMA implementers prior to the workshop. Municipal technical teams were established in National District, San Pedro de Macorís, and Santiago. These teams serve as executive committees for the working groups and technical coordination units within each municipality. An evaluation of the capacities of municipal staff in San Pedro de Macorís was conducted to ascertain future training and capacity building needs. The municipality of San Pedro de Macorís stakeholder mapping process was completed, identifying key, primary, and secondary stakeholders. Working group members in Santiago and San Pedro de Macorís were identified, and the first working group in San Pedro de Macorís was initiated. Key existing vulnerabilities, especially related to potable water and hydropower from drought (Santiago and Santo Domingo) and flooding (San Pedro and Las Terrenas), were identified. A first draft of the preliminary vulnerability assessment of Las Terrenas was conducted, and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed with the San Pedro de Macorís Municipality. MOUs were drafted for the National District, Santiago, and Las Terrenas. Four municipal technicians were hired through FEDOMU and began training, with one based in each municipality of the Program. A workshop on Climate Change Concepts and the Results of the CRIS Program was conducted for municipal technicians and FEDOMU staff at FEDOMU, conducted by ICF. An administrative assistant was hired at the ICMA DR office, and ICMA's in-country registration was approved by local authorities. ICMA COP and staff, along with partner ICF, supported DGODT/Med in the formulation of a climate change adapted guide for the municipalities.