The first phase of the survey was conducted between November 2007 and April 2008. The main countries selected were Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.  These islands are of interest since they have taken differing approaches to the integration of their environmental and development objectives and all exercise considerable political influence within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).  CANARI has a long-standing relationship with key stakeholders in each island. 

Initial discussions with regional and national researchers and practitioners identified that:

1. the rate of return of questionnaires in the region is generally very low;
2. the concepts of tools and methods and environmental mainstreaming is not universally understood and therefore a brief introduction and clarification/discussion of terms would be helpful;
3. a need to probe why so few tools and methods are currently being applied in spite of a considerable investment in capacity building.

The methodology used in each of the countrie therefore involved:

1. A series of half-day focus group meetings, each involving an introduction by CANARI, discussion of what ‘environmental mainstreaming’ means and the extent of practice in the region, brainstorming on approaches, individual completion of the questionnaires (slightly modified for the local target audience), feedback, followed by group discussion.
   
   

   The breakdown of the focus group meetings was as follows:
   

   • Barbados: separate half-day sessions with civil society and private sector; government; international, multilateral and bi-lateral agencies (total 21 persons);
   • Jamaica: separate half-day sessions with civil society and private sector; government agencies with a focus on environment; government agencies with a focus on poverty reduction and social development (total 15 persons);
   • Trinidad: separate half-day sessions with civil society and private sector; government agencies with a focus on environment; government agencies with a focus on poverty reduction and social development (totoal 30 persons);
   • Tobago: single session with all sectors (12 persons
   
   
   
2. After some of the focus group meetings, face-to-face interviews were conducted with selected individuals (5 in total) to gain more in-depth information.
   
   
3. Each focus group was conducted by two persons to ensure effective facilitation and rapporteuring (a senior CANARI staff member, and a local consultant).
   
   
4. Face-to-face interviews (and some telephone interviews) were conducted with other key stakeholders in each country (5 in total).  These included persons unable to attend the focus groups and participants whose input indicated that a more in-depth interview would be valuable.

CANARI has sought to seek leverage opportunities presented by other project activities to distribute questionnaires and conduct interviews or focus groups in other countries in which it is currently working (such as Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines).

Through the above process, in total, 70 people were interviewed.

Phase 2 (May-July 2008) will involve follow-up meetings in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and a regional meeting, particularly to gather deeper user perspectives on particular tools selected for profiling in the User Guide.

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