Team Building em Portugal e sua Importância na Motivação das Equipas

Para enfrentar os desafios com que se deparam actualmente, as empresas deverão apostar mais nos seus colaboradores, e principalmente, preocupar-se em criar estímulos, de forma a motivá-los para que possam alcançar tanto os objectivos da organização quanto os objectivos pessoais. Pois pensar apenas em obter lucro e produtividade não incrementando politicas e práticas que privilegiem os recursos humanos, certamente não será uma boa opção. As actividades de Team Building estão a obter cada vez mais importância no seio das organizações, grandes empresas e multinacionais. Estão a tornar-se cada vez mais cruciais para qualquer empresa, dadas as melhorias verificadas no ambiente de trabalho e, consequentemente conduzem a um aumento de produtividade. Existem diversas actividades que se realizadas têm o objectivo de aumentar o grau de motivação dos colaboradores, sendo que, de acordo com as necessidades e pretensões, as empresas podem adoptar as actividades que mais se adequam à sua situação. O recurso ao Team Building como um instrumento de motivação dos colaboradores é actualmente muito praticado nas organizações que utilizam estilos de gestão modernos e orientados para a estratégia. Neste sentido, pretende-se ilustrar as melhorias que o Team Building tem vindo a desempenhar particularmente numa empresa portuguesa. Em termos metodológicos, recorreu-se ao método do estudo de caso qualitativo, à técnica de inquérito por questionário e à pesquisa bibliográfica.

Soil and Water Conservation Strategies in Cape Verde (Cabo Verde in Portuguese) and Their Impacts on Livelihoods - An Overview from the Ribeira Seca Watershed

Severe land degradation has strongly affected both people’s livelihood and the environment in Cape Verde (Cabo Verde in Portuguese), a natural resource poor country. Despite the enormous investment in soil and water conservation measures (SWC or SLM), which are visible throughout the landscape, and the recognition of their benefits, their biophysical and socioeconomic impacts have been poorly assessed and scientifically documented. This paper contributes to filling this gap, by bringing together insights from literature and policy review, field survey and participatory assessment in the Ribeira Seca Watershed through a concerted approach devised by the DESIRE project (the “Desire approach”). Specifically, we analyze government strategies towards building resilience against the harsh conditions, analyze the state of land degradation and its drivers, survey and map the existing SWC measures, and assess their effectiveness against land degradation, on crop yield and people’s livelihood. We infer that the relative success of Cape Verde in tackling desertification and rural poverty owes to an integrated governance strategy that comprises raising awareness, institutional framework development, financial resource allocation, capacity building, and active participation of rural communities. We recommend that specific, scientific-based monitoring and assessment studies be carried out on the biophysical and socioeconomic impact of SLM and that the “Desire approach” be scaled-up to other watersheds in the country.

Building adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change in the water sector in Cape Verde

Purpose of the evaluation This is a scheduled standard mid-term evaluation (MTR) of a UNDP implemented GEF LDCF co-financed project. It is conducted by a team of an international and a national independent evaluator. The objective of the MTR, as set out in the Terms of Reference (TORs; Annex 1), is to provide an independent analysis of the progress of the project so far. The MTR aims to:  identify potential project design problems,  assess progress towards the achievement of the project objective and outcomes,  identify and document lessons learned (including lessons that might improve design and implementation of other projects, including UNDP-GEF supported projects), and  make recommendations regarding specific actions that should be taken to improve the project. The MTR is intended to assess signs of project success or failure and identify the necessary changes to be made. The project commenced its implementation in the first half of 2010 with the recruitment of project staff. According to the updated project plan, it is due to close in July 201410 with operations scaling down in December 2013 due to funding limits. Because of a slow implementation start, the mid-term evaluation was delayed to July 201311 The intended target audience of the evaluation are:  The project team and decision makers in the INGRH  The GEF and UNFCCC Operational Focal Points  The project partners and beneficiaries  UNDP in Cape Verde as well as the regional and headquarter (HQ) office levels  The GEF Secretariat.

Building digital libraries in developing countries

Digital libraries (DL) are seen as the hope for developing countries in their struggle to access scientific and academic publications. However, building such libraries in developing countries is a real challenge. These countries usually face several difficulties, such as low computer and Internet penetration rates, poor ICT infrastructure, lack of qualified human resources, lack of financial resources, etc. Thus, it is imperative finding alternative mechanisms of building DL that best fit the specificities of these countries. This paper presents the process used for building a digital library at the University Jean Piaget of Cape Verde, created in a context of scarce access to printed materials and serious difficulties in accessing ICT resources. This paper also presents the challenges, the solutions and the adopted methodological framework.