This memo describes how we can complete this project to review and evaluate 40 impact assessment reports for petrol station projects in Kenya.

1. Environmental and Social
YoungProfsNet
Development Practitioners
Completing our project:
Reviewing and evaluating impact assessment reports
for petrol station projects in Kenya
Completing our project
Because of some misunderstanding this project that we proposed on 22 July of last year, did not
produce the results that we had hoped for. Therefore we relaunched the project last February
and there were 29 members who volunteered to participate. For various reasons, not all known
to us, the project has stalled. Only eight members carried out the review and appraisal of the
four reports assigned to them (each report was to be reviewed by three project team members).
The other 22 did not react despite repeated requests by Maarten Smies to give feedback.
We now really want to complete this project with help of the project team and new members.
What did go wrong ?
We really do not know what went wrong and why. At the network directors meeting last
August we discussed this and one of us suggested that team members did perhaps not
understand what the workflow of the project was and what exactly their role was in the overall
project process. In addition, we spoke to some experienced impact assessment practitioners.
They suggested that perhaps the workload to review four reports proved to be too great.
We are very keen to make this (first) YoungProfsNet project a success, as this would
demonstrate that cooperative learning of young professionals can work. If we cannot make this
project to work, we shall need to reconsider the existence and future of YoungProfsNet.
Since the start of YoungProfsNet at the end of May 2015 Maarten has spoken to or exchanged
email messages with a considerable number of young professionals and with more experienced
environmental and social development practitioners. They all felt that this international
platform has great potential as it offers young professionals the opportunity to work together
on relevant activities and learn from it and make a difference.
Project workflow and the role and workload of project team members
iareviewproposalpetrolstationskenyacompletion20161012-161012180639.doc
score sheetIA reports
combine sheets
analyse results write report
team team

2. The project workflow is shown above. Team members review and evaluate the impact
assessment reports and fill in the score sheet (of review parameters). The score sheets are
merged and the results combined. A selection of team members analyse the results and draft
the project report. Another selection of team members reviews the report, which is then
submitted for approval to the Programme Council and the Network Directors.
The expected workload for review and evaluation of each individual impact assessment report
is 4 hours. As each project team members will review four reports, the total workload will be
16 hours and this task will need to be carried out within four weeks of the start of the project
work. (While we recognise that this may be considered a considerable effort, we believe that
the learning from reviewing only one or two reports would be too limited.)
The project lead will combine the score sheets and calculate average review scores for each of
the report.
A selection of 6 – 10 project members will analyse the results and draft the project report. This
task is expected to require 16 to 24 hours of work for each participant. This will need to be
carried out from week 6 until week 9 of the project.
Another selection of 6 – 10 team members will review the draft report. This task is expected to
take 12 to 16 hours of work for each participant and will need to be carried out from week 11
until week 13 of the project.
Approval of the report will take 8 hours of work by two Programme Council (PC) members and
another 8 hours by two Network Directors. This task will be carried out from week 14 until
week 15 of the project.
Therefore, the time and workload schedule for the project is as follows:
week # 1-4 6-9 11-13 14-15
task review of IA reports
who team members analysis and draft report
load 16 hours selected members (1) review draft report
16 - 24 hours selected members (2) approve report
12 - 16 hours PC and Directors
8 + 8 hours
The weeks between the consecutive tasks are reserved for the project lead to process the work
done.
The objective of the project
Over the last three years the Kenyan National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has
approved 39 impact assessment reports on petrol station projects in Kenya. Interestingly these
impact reports were written for 30 different project proponents by 30 different environmental
consultants. A list of these 39 impact assessment reports is attached as Attachment 1.
Therefore we have a very varied collection of reports for evaluation. Petrol stations are
relatively simple projects with comparable environmental and social aspects and impacts. The
reports should therefore be easy to compare and it should be straightforward to evaluate their
comprehensiveness and quality, and compliance with Kenyan impact assessment law and
regulations.
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3. The objectives of the project are:
1. To review recent Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports that have been approved
by NEMA, for learning purposes.
2. To determine if the EIAs conducted on filling stations comply with legal and regulatory
requirements, meet a number of generally accepted quality criteria and available best
practice guidelines and standards.
Review and evaluation rating
An integrated checklist is given in Attachment 2.
Checklist items will be rated as follows:
Rating Description
3 Satisfactory or good
2 Needs to be improved
1 Unsatisfactory
0 Not applicable; not available for review; not relevant
Project team communication
The Network Directors of YoungProfsNet and the South Africa project team have experimented
using Slack (www.slack.com) for team communication. In addition, the Network Directors have
held successful meetings using Skype while the South Africa project team has been using
WhatsApp.
In fact, all the impact assessment reports and the score sheets for them have already been
uploaded to the Kenya-project channel on Slack. Only Kenya project team members have access
to this channel.
We propose also to use Slack for the Kenya project. For instant messaging for the project we
can use Slack as well.
Project direction and coordination
In principle we like our team members to carry out as many tasks themselves as feasible. We
therefore hope that one or two project team members will be prepared to act as project leads.
Preferably, team members should review and evaluate impact assessment reports
independently and only discuss results with other team members after they have done this task.
Maarten Smies has been acting as the project mentor for the South Africa project and he is
willing to extend this role to the Kenya project.
Original project team and new joiners
The original project team with a list of recent new joiners is attached as Attachment 3. Contact
details are available to project members only.
We still welcome additional project team members to supplement our team and fill in for
current project team members, who did not manage to deliver on the task to review and score
impact assessment reports. Please get in touch with Maarten Smies
(ms@frogsinternational.com), who is the project mentor.
Project proposal
We did not develop a formal project proposal for the Kenya project. However, the South Africa
project team worked on a project proposal for their project. We attach that proposal
(Attachment 4) for your information, although the list of review criteria is naturally slightly
different as this follows the South African rules and regulations for impact assessment.
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4. If you would like to read a brief overview of the impact assessment process, we recommend the
report ‘Overview of IOGP’s Environmental-Social-Health Risk and Impact Management Process’,
published by the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) in 2014. You can
download that report here: http://www.iogp.org/pubs/529.pdf
Can we please make this project the success that we as YoungProfsNet need ?
How to become a team member ?
If you also want to take part in this project, please send an email message to Maarten Smies
(ms@frogsinternational.com) with your first name and family name, country, personal email
address and instant messaging ID (also include your instant messaging provider: Skype,
Hangouts (GTalk), WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger).
Please apply before 20 October 2016 so that we can start on 1 November and complete the
project early next year.
Remember, this project is the first demonstration that YoungProfsNet works and is
providing learning and development for our members as well as producing work products.
Eva Kimonye, Carolina Casserly, Trupti Jane and Maarten Smies
Network Directors YoungProfsNet
12 October 2016
Attachments:
Attachment 1: NEMA approved impact assessment reports for petrol station projects in Kenya
Attachment 2: Integrated checklist of criteria for the review and evaluation of Environmental
Impact Assessment reports on filling station projects in Kenya (Version 2)
Attachment 3: Kenya Impact Assessment Review - Project Team
Attachment 4: Project proposal: Review and evaluation of Environmental Impact Assessment
reports on filling station projects in South Africa
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