Vanessa Zamora visited the Delegation in Canada from her home office in IICA headquarters during the week of the October 17 – 21 with the goal of supporting the delegation in project management. Staff appreciated her contribution to their efforts in managing the FonCT project “Enhancing Value-added opportunities of small cocoa producers in Peru and Dominican Republic”.
Ottawa, ON. Vanessa bring expertise on project management and performance management, skills sets of increasing importance to the Institute’s approach in managing and reporting on its work. IICA staff from the 3 countries involved in the FonTC project (Canada, DR, and Peru) benefited from Vanessa’s guidance in project planning and reporting, especially given the new requirements to report on the project’s progress via the institutional informatics system called SUGI.
Further to the project discussions, Vanessa participated in meetings with the team on administrative and technical matters and in an important high-level meeting with Canadian government stakeholders. She met with all Canadian IICA staff members individually, receiving perspectives from a country office, and providing appropriate guidance on the policies and procedures from the Division of Technical Cooperation (DCT). In her trip report, Vanessa commented on the valued input she received from IICA Canada’s Representative. Of significance she gleaned information on managing a delegation office, on the strategic vision and partnership engagement approaches adopted by IICA Canada, and on the research network of PROCINORTE.
The staff organized a “team” outing during her visit to show Vanessa some highlights from Canada’s capital city. The outing included a tour of Canada’s Parliament Buildings and an opportunity to sit in on a session of the Members of Canada’s Parliament, and a visit to Canada’s National Art Gallery. For both visitor and hosts, all agreed that the visit was fruitful in achieving its intended purpose and in strengthening relationships between colleagues.
