The Inception Workshop took place on 4th and 5th of October in Nairobi, Kenya.
The workshop was attended by 20 participants including government representatives of the recipient countries (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire), project partners (ICCA, UNEP, UNITAR, SAICM) and private sector.
Additional participants such as from the European Commission, the European Chemicals Agency, UNEP, ILO, OECD, recipient country representatives, and industry representatives joined online (~20 online participants). The list of participants is available for download.
Objectives
The objectives of the workshop included:
a) To allow the core project stakeholders and the members of the project steering committee to meet in person to support future communication and provide a common base for the project to build on.
b) To update project execution partners on the project scope including concept, objectives, components and outputs;
c) To ensure common understanding of the project delivery structure, the linkages, and the roles and responsibilities of each partner (Implementing Agency, Executing Agency, Component Leads, and Delivery Partners and contractors), including reporting requirements;
d) To exchange information on the current status of GHS implementation in the recipient countries;
e) To share experience from countries having implemented GHS;
f) To agree on a communication plan and knowledge management approach for project partners and executing agency.
Agenda
After an introduction including opening remarks and a summary of the project objectives and expected outcomes, the first session focus on country presentation.
The four recipient countries gave a presentation covering:
- National chemicals landscape: chemical regulatory framework, industry overview, existing national committee, …
- GHS Implementation status, previous GHS related activities, and how the implementation process will be organized
- Responsibility of the governmental institutions: How are the responsibilities divided between the governmental institutions in the corresponding country in terms of implementation including responsibility for compliance, enforcement etc?
- Involvement or contribution from other stakeholders, industry, private sector, civil society groups, and IGOs
- Challenges pertaining to the implementation of GHS
- Level of ambition in implementing GHS
The second session consisted of a group discussion.
The third session focus on sharing experience, with presentation on the implementation of GHS in South Africa and in Malaysia as well as the work of industry in developing GHS standard.
The fourth session included a presentation from the consulting company hired to support to the establishment of roadmaps for GHS implementation and a final discussion on project organization and communication plan.
The agenda for the workshop is available for download. Note that the agenda was slightly adjusted during the meeting.
Documents
The following meeting documents are available for download.