Training Courses
One of the key aims of the MAW is to Improve the skills of civil society in the suite of actions linked to wetlands, particularly the protection, restoration, management, monitoring, and communication concerning wetlands. As part of the two main projects funding its initial years (funded by AFD and FFEM), eight training sessions were organised in 2019-2021, mainly for technical staff of the 12 MAW members that were officially taking part in these projects at that moment.
The topics covered :
- Restoration of wetlands through water dynamics
- Advocacy campaigns for wetlands
- Development of environmental education programs on wetlands
- Threat management of wetlands
- Creation of national/local wetlands observatories
- Training of trainers
- Involving local populations in wetland management
- Influencing public policies in favour of wetlands
- Scenario-planning for adapting NGOs to a changing Mediterranean
These were conducted in a “Train the trainers” and peer-to-peer spirit, recognizing that a MAW member may be an expert in one topic and thus a course organizer at one time; and a potential trainee on other topics. Some courses were face-to-face and others online. The content developed for these courses was later capitalized in the form of training modules, freely accessible and posted online on the Alliance SLACK platform. A number of MAW partners have been able to use these modules (or parts of), to organise national training courses towards younger, emerging NGOs in their countries.