Africa

The training of trainers course in Africa was hosted by Stellenbosch University from 22nd – 28th November 2009, bringing together established trainers from 6 African countries, namely, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, The Gambia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Workshop participants/Participants de l’atelier/ Participantes del taller

The training aimed to strengthen the capacity of selected trainers from the region to develop and deliver training on enhancing stakeholder participation in national forest programmes in their own countries.

The training covered various aspects including instilling among the participants a (greater) belief and understanding of the principles of experiential learning- the backbone of the training approach. This portion of the training was also used to show the benefits and principles of an iterative approach for a national forest programme. Finally the training focussed on examining/analysing the NFP contexts that the participants came from and encouraged them to develop a tailored training plan for their context that would maximise impact with regards to enhancing stakeholder participation.

This was the first training of trainers on this topic as such participants were eager to try out the training in their own countries, through comprehensive plans that they developed. A mentoring programme was developed where the trainers would either jointly facilitate with an international trainer, similar training activities in their countries or be guided by the international consultant remotely and/or physically.

Some of the participants who hailed from Training institutions and Universities planned to take this module step-by-step in their own training curricular. This will require further support from FAO to realise. 

Final training report