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INTERIM ACTIVITY REPORT

Period: March 2003 - July 2003

The initial months of my International Policy Fellowship have been used to establish a solid foundation for the project and to compile some of the data and information necessary. The activities have been designed according to the research methodology developed prior to the initiation of the project. Specific activities have been discussed and agreed with my academic mentor.

The main activities of the period included the following:

• Review of literature available at the CEU library and at online resources;

• Discussions with experts including my research mentors Mr. Lajos Kossa and Mr. Aleg Cherp, as well as with Ms Vilma Eri, Director of the Center for Environmental Studies, Budapest;

• Preparation of questions, topics of discussion for field visits and interviews
  

• Field visits and interviews at selected municipalities including the Municipality of Aba, the Municipality of Hatvan, the Municipality of Orosháza, the organic farming community in Somogyvámos, the Office of the Assembly of Pest County;

• Participation at the IPF Training Seminars in March and in June;

• Design, review and updating of the IPF personal web page;
  

• Participation at the Workshop on Introducing Health Impact Assessment in Hungary at the National Government Level - organized by 2002 IPF Fellow Ms Margit Ohr in Budapest;

• Participation at the Conference for Sustainable Development organized in Budapest by the Urbanissimus Club, presentation of a paper on "Sustainable Development Initiatives at the Local Level in Hungary"; 

• Participation at the 23rd Annual Conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment on Impact Assessment & Capacity Building hosted in Marrakech, Morocco by the Moroccan Ministry of Land Use Planning, Water and Environment, presentation of two papers on "Corporate environmental management tools at Hungarian local governments" and on "Linkages between strategic environmental planning and corporate environmental management"
  

• Writing up the first findings of the research.