From 1-12 March 2010 I facilitated a regional training on Climate Change Adaptation in agriculture and NRM in Addis Ababa. It was attended by 19 participants from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Nigeria. Participants were drawn from universities, agricultural research institutes, non-governmental organisations and government departments. Last year in June we also facilitated this course, but now it was part of the regular Nuffic-fellowship course programme.
The course was coordinated and facilitated by a team from HoA-REC and Wageningen UR, complemented by presenters and lecturers from various universities and institutes in Ethiopia. The course covered a variety of topics related to climate change adaptation, vulnerability, stakeholder analysis and the science-policy interface. Interactive training methods were used. Experiences of participants were the entry point for interaction – and participants brought in their own examples of climate change hotspots that were used for joint analysis. The course included field work to practice vulnerability assessment and an interactive seminar with policy makers to discuss and refine strategies for policy development and programming.
The regional course is part of a larger support programme for climate change adaptation in Eastern Africa in 2008. This programme was started at the request of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) in the Netherlands in partnership with ASARECA, IUCN and RUFORUM. The focus is on building the capacities needed to better integrated climate change adaptation responses into agricultural, rural development and natural resources policy processes. The support programme includes the regional course on climate change (held in 2009 and 2010), a knowledge component (action research on climate change hot spots in Ethiopia) and policy support.
More information on this programme can be found on our climate change portal. A Trainer's Manual on Climate Change Adaptation and Development can be found at our publication page: and below.
