Sylvo-Pastoral and Partial Faunal Reserve of the Sahel near Zamarkoye, Burkina Faso. Photo via Wikimedia Commons/ Marco Schmidt
 
Nairobi, 19 March 2018. The African Forest Forum (AFF) in partnership with University of Ouagadougou  organized a validation workshop, from 12-16 March 2018 in Burkina Faso to validate eight training compendiums on various climate change related training for professional, technical and other groups in African forestry.
 
The compendiums have been developed as part of AFF’s “African forests, people and climate change” project that is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). They seek to improve education and training on climate change as related to forestry, at the professional and technical levels, as well as for short courses for people working on forestry and climate change issues.
 
The compendiums were prepared between 2015 and 2016 by ten experts engaged by AFF (3 from francophone Africa; 6 from Anglophone Africa; 1 pedagogical expert). They are based on “Training modules on forest based climate change adaptation, mitigation, carbon trading, and payment for environmental services” developed by more that 100 African stakeholders in 2013-2014. These compendiums therefore add value to these modules by providing comprehensive text that is pedagogically prepared to suit relevant training and educational needs. The training needs assessment that was carried out in Sub-Sahara Africa  prior to the preparation of the training modules identified lack of teaching/educational material relevant to climate change in African forestry as a key issue.
 
The eight contextualized teaching compendiums are namely:

Basic science of climate change (understanding global change and climate systems; drivers of climate change; vulnerability to and impact of climate change; and climate data) for professional, technical and other groups in African forestry; (three compendiums)
Basic science of climate change with specific focus on climate modelling and scenario development for professional groups in African forestry; (one compendium)
Basic science of climate change with specific focus on international dialogues, processes and mechanisms on climate change for professional and technical groups in African forestry; (one compendium)
Carbon markets and trading for professional, technical and other groups in African forestry; (three compendiums)

 
The five-day workshop  validated the content of each module before the compendiums are widely shared and used. Specifically, the participants and experts:
(a) assessed the extent to which the content developed in each of the training compendiums meets the current and future needs of the target group;
(b) assessed the logical presentation, in a pedagogical manner; and
(c) strengthened the compendiums based on any identified gaps.
 
Expected outputs of the workshop was then:

Eight validated training compendiums for professional, technical and other groups; and
Workshop report.

 
For further information contact:
The Executive Secretary,
African Forest Forum,
United Nations Avenue, Gigiri
P.O. Box 30677-00100, Nairobi, Kenya.
Phone: +254 20 722 4203
Fax: +254 20 722 4001/4181
Email: exec.sec@afforum.org
Website: www.afforum.org