Capacity building and training are frequently included in technical assistance projects. But how can you really know what training is needed? What training topics are most valuable to your audience? And what format works best to get your message across? Training Needs Assessments (or Learning Needs Assessments) are one of the tools that we at Eco use to find out what training is really needed while improving the overall effectiveness…
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Wow! What a year…momentous on many levels, has there ever been as much dramatic news in one year? From the economic woes of the world to the “Arab Spring”; droughts and floods in Africa, Asia and South America; earthquakes, a tsunami and a nuclear disaster; 7 billion people; neutrinos breaking speed limits and a glimpse of a Higgs Boson; and much more. 2011 has had the lot! And through it all…
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If you’re commissioning or managing a project related to energy or climate change, it’s almost certain that you have a component on education, awareness and outreach. Development agencies must raise awareness in their projects. IFI boards require outreach to stakeholders. And the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change mandates education (see the New Delhi Work Programme). However, these are often three words for “lost opportunities.” When done effectively, education, awareness…
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Developing project strategies and formulating projects and programmes that make a real and lasting different on the ground takes specialist skills and knowledge. One of the reasons is that the challenges to creating markets for sustainable energy are truly wicked! No – we’re not making a moral judgement, but using a term from the social sciences. As Wikipedia succinctly puts it a wicked problem “… is a phrase originally used in social planning…
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