UN CC:Learn Partner Countries Develop Recommendations for Successful Climate Change Learning Strategies
30 September - 1 October 2014, Geneva, Switzerland - Participants from the five UN CC:Learn pilot countries (Benin, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Malawi, Uganda) met with participants from three new partner countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan) to share experiences in the development and implementation of national climate change learning strategies during a UN CC:Learn workshop, 30 September and 1 October 2014, in Geneva, Switzerland.
“This workshop is a landmark in the history of UN CC:Learn”, said Angus Mackay, Head of the UN CC:Learn Secretariat. “As part of the 2014-2017 phase of UN CC:Learn we are trying to foster as much as possible South-South collaboration and this event is only a start”. The workshop was articulated around the main steps and greatest challenges in the development and implementation of a national climate change learning strategy. Each session was facilitated by one of the newly appointed Climate Change Learning Ambassadors.
At the end of the workshop, the group agreed on several important recommendations to facilitate the development and implementation of a climate change learning strategy:
- Make sure key government sectors are involved from the start. For example finance and planning authorities, as well as local government, should be engaged.
- Involve other stakeholders including civil society, academia and the private sector. Time, effort and good communication are needed to secure this involvement. On average it takes 18-24 months to develop and start implementing a national climate change learning strategy.
- Mobilize high-level political support for the national climate change learning strategy. For example, Ministers and Members of Parliament are important at national planning and launch events. There is also a need for a well-positioned lead institution and personal commitment of key personalities.
- Engage UN Country Teams (UNCTs) and other development partners from the start. This helps to ensure joined up approaches which are compliant with the Paris Declaration.
- Working group hard at work at the Experience-Sharing WorkshopWorking group hard at work at the Experience-Sharing Workshop
- Make sure the education sector is on board. It has a central role to play in mainstreaming climate change learning in general education, helping countries to address the medium and long term challenges of climate change.
- Strengthen the capacity of local training institutions in implementing national climate change learning strategies to ensure sustainability and avoid one-off events.
- Start resource mobilization efforts at an early stage. Countries have encountered challenges in mobilising resources beyond UN CC:Learn, to ensure strategy implementation in the long term. In particular, countries need more support in understanding and navigating the climate change financing architecture (international and domestic).
- Provide an initial injection of funds to get things moving. Early implementation of visible projects will catch the imagination of stakeholders.
- Make the strategy a living document. Strategies set goals and objectives, but there should flexibility at the activity level, notably for new partners to get involved.
- Tailor the strategy, its development and implementation to country needs and practices. It is important to recognize that all countries have different contexts and national circumstances.
UN CC:Learn is a partnership of more than 30 multilateral organizations supporting countries to design and implement systematic, recurrent and results-oriented climate change learning. At the global level, the partnership supports knowledge-sharing, promotes the development of common climate change learning materials, and coordinates learning interventions through a collaboration of UN agencies and other partners. At the national level, UN CC:Learn supports countries in developing and implementing national climate change learning strategies. Through its engagement at the national and global levels, UN CC:Learn contributes to the implementation of Article 6 of the UNFCCC on training, education and public awareness-raising, and the 2012-2020 Doha Work Programme. Funding for UN CC:Learn is provided by the Swiss Government and UN partners. The Secretariat for UN CC:Learn is hosted by the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).