Twenty-two representatives of governmental and non-governmental organizations from 15 countries in the Asia and the Pacific region, together with representatives of various United Nations agencies, attended the Training Programme on Managing Project Preparation for Climate Change Adaptation to enhance their skills in effective planning and coordination of the climate change adaptation project preparation process. This training was offered under the umbrella of the Climate Change Asia (CCA) initiative and was jointly organised by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 11-15 September 2017 in Bangkok, Thailand.
At the event the participants mastered in practice their newly acquired skills during the group exercises and developed elements of adaptation project proposals, to be finalised when they are back in their respective countries.
“The group work component of the training was one of my favourites. I learned so much from my peers not only during the group work, but also during the discussions and group presentations. The training team did a great job. I learned a lot at this event, and I believe that other participants also find the week very productive”.
One of the critical aspects of the training programme was the provision of additional one-to-one mentoring/coaching services, so that the participants can gradually improve their project proposals with guidance and advice from climate finance experts. Participants from 11 countries, including China, Mongolia, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Marshall Islands, Nepal, Indonesia, Cook Islands, and Palau, benefitted from mentoring support. This innovative feature of the training was highly appreciated and accepted by participants.
The training programme was highly rated by participants as very practical and interactive, and generated high level of satisfaction among all participants and observers:
“By far this is the most useful workshop I have been to. The sessions were very interactive, and the facilitators were encouraging us to actively participate and built our confidence in sharing our thoughts on what we believe are the best practices in project management”.
A pre-, daily and post-training evaluation surveys were used to assess the progress in achieving training programme outcomes and changes in the trainees’ level of knowledge on the content topics. Results of the post-training evaluation confirmed that all outcomes of the training programme were successfully achieved and demonstrated a significant improvement in the participants’ knowledge level on training programme content.
The AIT RRC.AP staff will follow up with participants to offer further mentoring and support.