The theme of the IAIA23 Conference is to create a path to resilience through impact assessment and leadership. Post-ESIA monitoring and auditing requires attentive management to ensure project sustainability and resilience.

Handling large volumes of monitoring data, applying appropriate monitoring tools and techniques, analyzing results and reporting conclusions requires specific skills.  Without a scientific and evidence-based understanding of the baseline environment, one cannot identify project impacts; determine ESMP effectiveness; and maintain monitoring programmes.  Environmental auditors require additional skills to lead an audit and need to be systematic, inquisitive and assertive.

The aims of this course, therefore, are to: improve understanding of the roles and responsibilities of environmental and social monitoring and auditing; explain how to set up systematic, robust systems following the Plan – Do – Check - Act Model; and show how monitoring and auditing data become useful information for managers, companies, governments, finance institutions. Three facilitators will offer lectures and case studies, stimulate discussions, and activate group work. Participants’ outcomes will be to learn how to:

• Establish effective monitoring processes to verify realization of predicted project outcomes and related mitigative measures and adapt performance;
• Ensure effective implementation of ESMPs through robust auditing systems; and
• Enhance project monitoring and auditing skills.

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Prerequisites: Participants must have knowledge of the ESIA process including the formulation of Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMPs) and some experience with project monitoring or auditing.

Language: English

Duration: 2 days (6-7 May)

Min/Max: 10-35

Price: US$480

Instructors: Bryony Walmsley, Director, SAIEA (South Africa); Defne Arisoy, Consultant, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (Turkey); Charlotte Bingham, EIA practitioner (USA)

Bryony Walmsley

Bryony has 42 years’ experience in environmental consulting, starting in Canada in 1980.  She has lived and worked in southern Africa since 1983.  After 24 years as an EA consultant, she moved to the Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment where she specialises in capacity building and training, development of reference materials, external review of large projects, environmental compliance auditing and development and research of environmental tools.  She has extensive experience in all aspects of EIA practice, including participating and managing large EIAs for infrastructure and mining projects throughout southern Africa.  More recently, she has participated in multi-disciplinary teams for several Strategic Environmental Assessments on a diverse range of policies, programmes, sector and regional developments.  She has developed and conducted many training courses for a wide variety of clients, including the World Bank, UNDP, many African governments, IAIA (CBBIA project) and other private clients.  She developed and presented a course on Managing the EA Process at IAIA08, co-presented a course with Peter Tarr on Quality Assurance in EA at IAIA11 and IAIA12 and co-presented a course with Charlotte Bingham on Integrated EIA for three consecutive years (2013-2015) at the annual IAIA conference.  She was one of the trainers for the course on Effective Implementation of Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMPs): How can we Improve? at the IAIA19 and IAIA22 conferences in Brisbane and Vancouver respectively.

Defne Arisoy

Defne has 24 years’ general experience in Environmental Management and Monitoring since 1998. She has been in the oil and gas industry for 20 years conducting training, dealing with environmental management, permitting, monitoring and auditing processes as well as authority liaison and stakeholder engagement with respect to EHS issues. After 13 years of experience in a refinery, Defne started her role in the TANAP Project as an EIA expert and continued with Environmental Monitoring, Inspection, Auditing and Compliance Reviews as Senior Environmental Engineer during the construction of the pipeline with an additional role of Lender Coordination in communication and collaboration with various IFIs and ECAs. She presented some lectures at the local well-known universities as a guest lecturer on Environmental Management and Monitoring, including HS. She has been serving as a mentor since 2015 in the project, which has been started by LIMAK Foundation, “The Engineer Girls of Turkey (EGT)” that attracts schoolgirls from all over the country having engineering education. The project is being carried out in partnership with the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Family and Social Policies and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) since June 2016.  She was one of the trainers in IAIA19 and IAIA22. In June 2019-2020, she worked as an E&S Manager in Themis Energy for Renewable Energy Infrastructure Projects carried out in Africa. She is now working as an Individual Consultant on ESG, EHS and Sustainability in infrastructure projects and oil and gas projects to ensure Lender compliance before and after the financial close.

Charlotte Bingham

Charlotte has more than 45 years’ experience in ESIA, starting in the US in 1977.  For 18 years she prepared EAs for US and international infrastructure projects as part of a multi-disciplinary team and managed these teams for an A&E consulting firm. From 1994 through 2010 she administered EA processes and conducted EA review with USAID (Senior Regional Advisor at regional office in Nairobi), the World Bank (Africa Safeguards Coordinator and Lead Environmental Specialist) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC Senior Director and Practice Leader).   As a consultant from 2010 through the present, she provides technical assistance on Involuntary Resettlement as well as ESIA and has served on expert panels.   Her training experience includes:

• 1973-1976:  Wheaton College. Massachusetts. Urban Studies and Field Work Program Instructor.
• 1980: Responsible for two-week Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Training for Transportation Planners, Ministry of Transport, Guyana.
• 1982: Co-developed and delivered West Africa Regional USAID Seminar in Techniques of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment hosted by Ivory Coast Ministry of Environment. 
• 1989-1994: Instructor in Environmental Assessment Training Course, Centre for Environmental Management and Training, U. of Aberdeen.
• 1991-1994: Developed and delivered (6 times per year) NEPA modules for Executive Enterprises Environmental Regulation Course.
• 1994-1999: Designed USAID Environmental Documentation Manual for PL 480 Cooperating Sponsors Implementing Food-Aided Development Program, adopted agency-wide; developed training and delivered to 180 individuals of NGOs in five week-long courses.  

Developed the Africa Regional Environmental Assessment Training Course in English and French to enable USAID partners to prepare environmentally and socially sound, small-scale activities; led trainings for more than 400 participants representing over 100 institutions in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mali, Kenya and Rwanda.

• 1999-2009: At the World Bank and MCC, training courses developed and delivered in safeguards consistent with the policies of each institution.

• 2013-2015: IAIA Integrated Environmental Management course in Calgary, Vina del Mar and Florence.  
• 2014-2017:  Technical assistance to World Bank to establish the Vietnam Learning Center.  Guided, prepared and helped deliver Training of Trainers courses in ESIA, Involuntary Resettlement, EIA Review, Biodiversity and Health Impacts plus shorter courses for PMUs in ESIA and Involuntary Resettlement.
• 2019: Course on Effective Implementation of Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMPs): How can we Improve? IAIA19 conference in Brisbane.
• 2022: Course on Effective implementation of ESMPs, virtual trainer for the Vancouver conference.