92 participants from seven provinces of the country strengthen their capacities within the “Trainer of Trainers in Training and Facilitation Tools” program with a REDD+ approach

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PROAmazonía, program of the National Government, which has the support of UNDP, is currently a benchmark for intersectoral articulation, which strategically manages the national agendas of forest conservation and sustainable production with a gender and intercultural approach, under the leadership of the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition (MAATE), and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestosk (MAG), as implementing partners.

The mid-term evaluation, carried out by PROAmazonía, showed that encouraging results have been achieved regarding the work made together with local governments, cacao, coffee, palm and sustainable livestock associations, Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities to promote sustainable and integrated management of natural resources within the framework of the implementation of the REDD+ Action Plan. And in turn, this evaluation revealed the need to generate training processes for the technical team of the program and its strategic partners, as well as training and facilitation tools, with the aim of ensuring that the implemented actions are sustainable over time.

In this sense, the Capacity Building team of PROAmazonía identified that the training and facilitation processes were one of the acitivities in the program with high demand; therefore, the generation of a program that provides methodologic tools to improve the skills of the teams around the facilitation of training, workshops and roundtables was proposed , together with local stakeholders in multilevel planning spaces, known as territorial platforms.

In this way, once the need was identified, a multidisciplinary team of PROAmazonía facilitators was formed, composed by Fernanda Proaño (capacity building with a REDD+ approach), Claudia Vinueza (environmental facilitation and education), Mario Mejía (E-learning specialist), Magdalena Muñoz (stakeholder participation and engagement), Gustavo Jaramillo (territorial platforms), Soledad Quintana, Jhoanna Martínez and Alexandra Suasnavas (gender team), who, in coordination with the Undersecretariat of Climate Change and the Directorate of Environmental Education of the MAATE, developed the training program “Trainer of Trainers in Training and Facilitation Tools” with a REDD+ approach.

This hybrid training, lasted 76 hours, 60 hours distributed in five thematic modules developed from January 17 to February 20, 2022, through the MAATEduca Virtual learning platform, together with 5 synchronous activities (video conferences), carried out by  national and international experts, plus a  16- hour on-site meeting.

Description: Virtual learning platform “MAATEduca Virtual”.

This training program had 92 participants from the provinces of Morona Santiago, Napo, Orellana, Pastaza, Pichincha, Sucumbíos and Zamora Chinchipe.

Photo: Gustavo Jaramillo. PROAmazonía
Description: First on-site workshop in the Southern Amazon, City of Macas, Province of Morona Santiago, February 2022

 

The practical nature of this training program has allowed its participants to apply facilitation techniques in their work, “the contents and themes of the program contributed to making my actions at the community level more effective; as a public official I work together with the members of the Water Boards, and I provide tools and technical support for its management” , says Marco Merino, Social  Manager of the Technical Office of the MAATE in Morona Santiago.

Photo: Marco Merino, Social Manager of the Technical Office of the MAATE n Morona Santiago

Description: Implementation of techniques and tools learned in the Trainer of Trainers program

 

On the other hand, for the members of the facilitating team, the experience has also been enriching, “I feel happy and grateful to see such a positive response from the group; as a facilitator it is a two-way learning, both from the team we formed, and from each person who integrated the program, in this sharing around environmental education”, said Claudia Vinueza, part of the facilitating team.

Fotografía: José Miguel Galvez – PROAmazonía
Descripción: Facilitator Claudia Vinueza during the on-site meeting in Quito

 

The reception in the participation of the Trainer of Trainers program, has also been reflected in the participation of the Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities, as is the case of Lola Piyahuaje, Leader of CONFENAIE. For Fernanda Proaño, responsible for Capacity Building and Knowledge Management of PROAmazonía “it has been a great experience and a useful work between a multidisciplinary team that contributed in the development of this course, several topics of interest  and usefulness to the participants were addressed”.

Photo: Gustavo Jaramillo – PROAmazonía
Description: On-site meetings in the North Amazon (Shushufindi – Province of  Sucumbíos) and Center (Tena- Province of Pastaza), February 2022.

 

Finally, in view of the reception and participation during the development of the training program  “Trainer of Trainers in Training and Facilitation Tools”, it is expected to have a second edition and the possibility of establishing a network of facilitators at the national level with a REDD+ approach. PROAmazonía, will continue coordinating capacity building actions and develop training tools, to contribute to the management of knowledge about the importance of forest care and conservation.

Photo: Gustavo Jaramillo – PROAmazonía
Description: On-site meeting in the city of Quito, March 2022

Author: José Miguel Galvez, Communication Unit- PROAmazonía