The cool and verdant  hills of Puteri Gunung (which means "Princess Mountain"), was the perfect backdrop for  CISCAIs  Mid-year  Technical and Financial Project Review, which was conducted  from  19-20 June 2009,  at Puteri Gunung Hotel in Lembang, Bandung  Indonesia.

 

¢    To benchmark the Projects  accomplishments  with the  current  project schedule;
¢    To highlight some of the novel innovations made by the Project Coordination Unit (PCU) in the efficient and effective management of the CISCAI project;
¢    To conduct   a  Strengths, Weakness  Opportunities and Threats (S.W.O.T.) Analysis   of the whole CISCAI Project.

 

ASEAN Foundation personnel who joined the review  were  Ms. Ivy Renelle  Adan, Head of  Programs; Mr. Ade Cahyadi, Head of  Finance and Administration; Ms. Yussy Agastuty, Finance Officer and    Ms. Nyla Prieto,  Program Officer .

A technical presentation was made by Mr. Bambang Wijayanto, CISCAI Systems Administrator. In his presentation, Mr. Wijayanto highlighted on the major accomplishments of the   CISCAI project  since its inception  in the middle of fiscal year 2008. Among the many achievements for  the CISCAI Vietnamese component include the following: Completion on the Network & Experimental Technical Design of Mobile Wireless System; Completion on the 1st Phase of User Need Assessment; Completion of the System Design of the WiMAX;  Completion on the Development of the GIS prototype. For the CISCAI Laos component of the project,  the following accomplishments were highlighted: Installation  two (2) sites of WiMAX Networks at Animal Health Center & Friendship Hospital; Connection via Optical Fiber Network  of two (2) sites  to the ITRI  Network Operations Center (NOC).

This was followed by a financial presentation  by Ms. Piranti Savitri, Project Assistant and Finance Officer of  CISCAI.  Ms. Piranti reported on the percentage utilizations  for each of the CISCAI country-based components, namely Vietnam, Laos PDR and Thailand.   

Dr. Aban  gave a quick review of the  major administrative and   in-house reforms that were instituted  upon his assumption to the post of Project Coordinator in  October 2008. Among the topics he discussed dealt on PCU in-house operational reforms and establishment of standard operating procedures (SOP) within PCU;   PCU infrastructure upgrade; institutional project networking activities of PCU with external  dialogue partners; activities related to information dissemination and  advocacy; the conduct of CISCAI special events such as those of the User Needs Workshops in early July  2008, the first WIMAX Engineering  Training Workshop in March 2009; as well as the recently  held Mini-workshop on State-of the-Art   ICT Applications  for the  Monitoring and Management of  AI in Indonesia, last 16 June 2009.

A brief but equally vital S.W.O.T. analysis  of the  CISCAI was made by Dr. Aban. In the analysis, Dr. Aban highlighted on the strong points of the CISCAI  among which are the  clear significance of   AI  and other emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) as  issues of global concern and  appeal; and  the CISCAI being composed mainly of highly motivated group of staff and  partners, to name a few.

The Mid-Year review was capped with  a menagerie of  team building activities in the near environs of Lembang,  which somehow provided the much needed respite  by  the staff, away  from the  urban jungle of Jakarta City.