Date: Wed, 9 May 2012 09:11:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Hay, Mark" <mark.hay@biology.gatech.edu>
To: William Bill Aalbersberg <aalbersberg@usp.ac.fj>
Cc: jcavelier@thegef.org, Sameer Karki <sameer.karki@undp.org>
Message-ID: <1101433149.8663388.1336569076366.JavaMail.root@mail2.gatech.edu>
In-Reply-To: <212414168.8656532.1336568159706.JavaMail.root@mail2.gatech.edu>
Subject: meeting with Sameer
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bill,

i just finished a meeting with sameer.  he was very helpful and i'm copying this to him in case i misunderstood anything and he needs to correct any misreads on my part.

1) Sameer will soon provide you with a basically "filled in" letter of endorsement in the form they need to get the ball rolling on this effort.  they have to have a request form the gov of fiji in this form in order to light the fuse on their end.  if you can get this signed, that allows us to begin moving forward.

2) Sameer feels we have enough in place and an adequate focus to allow us to go directly to the Medium Sized Project proposal stage, BUT to do this, you, I, or someone in our group needs to do the actual writing of the project (with Sameer's guidance).  I simply cannot do this anytime soon, and given the economic state of most governments today, sooner is MUCH better than later.  so a) can you do this or b) our outer option is to go through the Project Identification Form (PIF) route.  this will take a bit longer - but maybe not so much and if successful will allow a person to be hired to facilitate the writing.  BILL,  YOUR THOUGHTS?

3) Sameer and his agency do not mandate or even suggest how things are handled "in-country" - but he and i discussed having this project and the funding for it run through the University of the South Pacific (USP) Center for Drug Discovery and Conservation (CDDC) as a way to both empower and further support he center and to focus this effort without having it fall between the cracks due to overworked gov. folks in fiji having this added to their tasks when they are already over committed.  BILL, DO YOU THINK YOU CAN GET THIS PUT INTO THE LETTER OF ENDORSEMENT?  Make clear to those in the Gov that this is ADDITIONAL funding that your center could bring in and it is not being taken from $ already committed to fiji.

4) on all of the above, faster is better.  

5) bill, i'm in thailand now-the 14th, in atlanta the night of the 14-afternoon of 17 may, then in fiji 19 may-12 june.  i'm a moving target but available by email most times in there.

6) SAMEER - MANY THANKS for taking time to meet and to begin guiding us in this effort.

cheers,

mark


-- 
Mark Hay
Teasley Professor of Environmental Biology
School of Biology
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332-0230 USA
voice 404-894-8429
FAX 404-385-4440
<mark.hay@biology.gatech.edu>
http://www.biology.gatech.edu/faculty/mark-hay/