Training courses

Kulima has a wide range of training and capacity building expertise, including in-depth knowledge of the pedagogy around teaching and learning.  We specialise in designing and delivering a wide range of training courses relating to our thematic areas of expertise, particularly vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, gender and climate change, disaster risk reduction, food security and social protection – each of which is tailored to the audience and their particular needs.

2011-2014

Climate risk capacity building in the Southern African Development Community

Kulima is partnering with South Africa's CSIR on a regional project funded by USAID, entitled "Climate Risk Capacity Building".  This project has generated new high resolution downscaled climate projections for the SADC region, published in a handbook together with information on impacts and adaptation.  This novel climate information formed the core of four training courses, which were tailored to the national contexts based on needs assessments in Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  Each course was attended by national government decision-makers, including directors from a number of ministries, and selected NGO representatives.

2012

Climate change training for local government officials in Gaza Province, Mozambique (Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance)

The Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance, as part of their second phase of programming, commissioned Kulima to design a deliver a two day introductory training course to local government officials in Gaza Province, Mozambique.  ACCRA is currently working in Guija district in Gaza province, and has found that, whilst there is enthusiasm for addressing climate change issues, effective engagement with the issues is severely impeded by lack of technical understanding and capacity.  The training course introduced climate change science, the latest high resolution projections for Mozambique, links between climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, and climate finance.  It is hoped that further technical skills will enable local government decision-makers to more effectively integrate climate change in their activities.  A blog summarising the training and its outcomes was published on the ACCRA website.

Training of WWF and Kenya Wildlife Service staff to undertake Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments (CVCA)

Kulima was commissioned to train staff from WWF Tanzania and Kenya Wildlife Service to undertake a CVCAs, with a particular view to an initial CVCA in the Lamu seascape and Tana landscape.  The training course comprised 3 days of classroom training looking at the opportunities for vulnerability assessment and tools within the CVCA, together with how to design research questions and select tools to collect the required data.  A further 2 days of training took place in the field, where participants had the opportunity to conduct their own participatory qualitative research, under supervision, and be mentored in how to analyse and report on data gathered.

2011-2012

High level and themed climate change training courses for the African Development Bank

Kulima partnered with Garama 3C and International Development UEA to run a series of climate change training courses designed to raise awareness of climate change and development issues for African Development Bank staff at a variety of levels. A one-day overview training was held for Executive Directors in October 2011, followed by a half-day training for Senior Management.  These were followed by two multi-day thematic training courses aimed at task managers: one focused on the impacts of climate change on agriculture and natural resources; and the other focused on energy and transport.

2011

Gender, climate change, food security and agriculture – Training of trainers in the Indo-Gangetic Plains

Kulima was commissioned by the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security programme of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research to design and run a training of trainers programme on gender, climate change, food security and agriculture.  Potential trainers from India, Sri Lanka and Nepal attended the event, learning content on projected climate change in South Asia, its (gender-differentiated) impacts and adaptation options, as well as techniques to communicate this information to rural women farmers and village leaders.  The manual provided to all participants is available online, as are photos from the training of trainers event.  Katharine and Tracy ran the training of trainers in New Delhi, and then oversaw the first training course led by the newly-trained trainers in the Punjab. The ultimate aim is to empower women at the grassroots to understand that they are able to make choices that enable adaptation to climate change but require little financial or technological investment, and feedback from the first training was very positive.

SEI-UN/ISDR Writeshop and Mentorship Programme to Support Developing Country Publications on Disaster Risk Reduction and Adaptation to Climate Change

Both Kulima directors were invited to act as mentors on the SEIUN ISDR Writeshop and Mentorship programme to support developing country publications on disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change.  Roles included screening applications for the anglophone Africa writeshop, held in Ghana in February 2011, providing training during the workshop on various aspects of the peer-reviewed publication process, and mentoring participants over the six months following the writeshop until their papers were ready for submission.  

2009-2011

Short Professional Training Courses Around Vulnerability Risk Assessment at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Since 2009 Kulima has managed and facilitated the running of a twice-yearly short professional training course in Introduction to Vulnerability Risk Assessment, directed by Professor Coleen Vogel in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Targeted at policy-makers and practitioners in southern Africa (and with now over 100 graduates), this course has the following aims:

  • Purveying the theoretical and practical meaning of vulnerability and related terms – such as disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation
  • Explaining the key drivers of vulnerability in southern Africa, and how they have changed over time
  • Introducing the key legislative and policy frameworks relating to vulnerability and disaster risk reduction in various southern African countries
  • Teaching the key methodologies for undertaking the process and practice of vulnerability risk assessment
  • Highlighting awareness of data needs and constraints, methods and tools, limitations of the various approaches, and contextualising the results of vulnerability risk assessment.

2008-2010

Establishing a flexible, modular-based training curriculum around Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis for the Southern African Development Community

During their time working with the Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme, Tracy Cull and Katharine Vincent were responsible for collaborating with SADC and national Vulnerability Assessment Committees to design and implement a training curriculum on hunger and vulnerability assessment methodologies and responses housed in various institutions across southern Africa.  This entailed compiling and maintaining an active database of training providers in SADC and course contents in the fields of hunger/food security, vulnerability and social protection; identifying potential partners across southern Africa to collaborate on the delivery of the training courses, and facilitating the institutional arrangements required to ensure the sustainability of the course; in addition to responding to demands from a variety of stakeholders (government ministries,NGOs, civil society, technicians) to provide evidence, analysis, and offer training on initiatives to address hunger and vulnerability (including social protection) in southern Africa.