25 March 2019
Our Twinning partner visited Suriname in the week of 17-23th of March for the launch of the project
Wieteke (Louise) Willemen and Nina Schwarz from UT-ITC traveled to Suriname for the first time on the 17th of March 2019. After a successful trip with special reception from the aircraft at Zanderij, because it was the last flight for the KLM captain, Wieteke and Nina were able to recover before the start of a week with a full program.
Although the team of Tropenbos Suriname already met Wieteke and Nina in December 2018, this was the first time to welcome them at the Tropenbos office on the Anton de Kom University (AdeKUS) campus.
On the first day, a schedule for the final preparations of the week was made: Unpacking the measuring instruments for the project: Temperature meters and acclimatization of them.
Op de tweede dag, dinsdag stond er een ontmoeting met de 3 MSc afstudeerstudenten op de planning. Samen met deze 3 studenten, die van de AdeKUS SMNR mastersopleiding zijn, is nagegaan hoe hun afstudeeronderwerpen passen binnen het groter plaatje van het project en hoe deze ook op elkaar aansluiten.
On the second day, Tuesday, a meeting with the three MSc students was scheduled. Together with these three students, who are from the AdeKUS master program (MSc. Program in Sustainable Management of Natural Resources, MSc. in SMNR), it was investigated how their graduation subjects would fit within the larger picture of the project and how they would be able to connect with each other.In the afternoon, the project coordinator, together with the partner, made an orientation trip through Paramaribo to view various types of urban greenery that is present. The ride went from South Paramaribo, via the Cultuurtuin, to North Paramaribo, the inner city and West Paramaribo, with a lunch stop for tasty roti. It was clear that in some places there is still quite some urban greenery and in other places there is a lack. It was also noticeable that a lot of waste is around. This affects the quality of the urban greenery that is present.
The third day was for the student training. The graduation students and some staff members of Tropenbos Suriname followed a short training on the use of the measuring instruments. Those instruments not only measure temperature, but also wind speed, humidity, and other parameters that can be calculated based on these values.
The fourth day was a national day off and was mainly used to make the final preparations for the project launch on Friday. Fortunately there was also time for Wieteke and Nina to experience the celebration of Holi.
Friday was the launch of the project which took place in the IGSR auditorium. In addition to the introduction of the cooperating organizations, the attendees also receive more information about the project and the theme and were able to interactively indicate a number of important and less pleasant locations of urban greenery on the map.
After the inception meeting there was a final meeting with the direction coordinator of the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources course at the Anton de Kom University of Suriname. This was in the context of the supervision of the students, but also to lay a foundation for lasting cooperation during and after the project.
On the last day it was finally time to travel back to the Netherlands. After a visit to the central market and some final shopping, Wieteke and Nina went back to Zanderij.
The first visit to Suriname can be seen as a success. This is just the beginning of working together on a Greener and Livable Paramaribo.