CLIMATE CHANGE DIPLOMA 340: Blended Online—Live Training Program

Learn Climate Change Adaptation Solutions to Climate Changes Facing Communities

Climate Change Courses: Blended Training Program—Including: A 5 Day Live Workshop. PHASE I: Start dates are in the sidebar to the right. 1. Pre-workshop: You will have three weeks at home to assess and clearly define local need. 2. Join us for two pre-workshop field days conducting a participatory needs assessment with our local workshop field partner. 3. Then, we will convene for the five day workshop. Fully design a real project and develop funding and management documents.   PHASE II: 12 weeks online immediately following the live workshop. Post-workshop: Enroll in OL 343 and OL 344 to form a project team, design capacity-building workshops and launch your project.

DETAILED INFORMATION: Just scroll down for complete, detailed information about the diploma program.

Methodology.

This is a blended learning workshop. During the optional weekend prior to the five day workshop, guided by CSDi staff, you will conduct needs assessments with our local partner—or in the country where you work—in preparation for the workshop. You will spend five days developing and fine-tuning a project that will address the specific context that your community faces. At the end of the live workshop, upon returning home, enroll in OL 343 and OL 344. Then return to work with your community—and launch your project’s implementation— all under the continuing support and guidance of your CSDi workshop leader.

Facilitation
	The workshop will be led by Tim Magee, CSDi’s Executive Director, who has over 30 years experience in both working with nonprofits and leading training workshops. Mr. Magee is the author of A Field Guide to Community Based Adaptation published by Routledge, Oxford, England.

Background
	The course will use Mr. Magee’s book as the course text. To gain more background information about the course, follow the book’s link to search inside the electronic version to see in greater detail what the workshop will cover. To learn more about the breadth of participant’s projects, investigate students’ countries(153), organizations (500), and project themes (270).

Resources
	• you will be able to download a full range of document templates for you to customize to best address your project. • course facilitators will work individually with you as consultants throughout the program in developing your specific project.

• we will provide a library of links to resources for the different challenges that you’re likely to encounter: scientific studies, manuals, field guides, and community capacity building resources. Course participants’ projects have included 270 different kinds of solution oriented activities.

Pre-workshop	Participatory Field Assessment of Community Need
	The goal of the workshop is to guide you in developing a real project for your target community. In the 3 weeks before the live workshop the workshop facilitator will guide you in leading a needs assessment with community members. We will provide handbooks and workshop lesson plans for leading the assessment.

Community: Local Climate Knowledge
• reviewing the pre-workshop community needs assessments

Researching Development Solutions
• researching development based solution information
• summarizing development based solution information

Solution: Identifying Evidence-based Adaptation Activities
• researching evidence-based adaptation activities
• verifying activity effectiveness through scientific evidence
• developing the program and activity solution list
• mainstreaming: integrating adaptation and DRR activities with traditional development activities
• Share your proposed project concept locally with climate change colleagues to gain feedback and constructive criticism
• Return to the community with your project concept and get their feedback and hopeful buy-in. (Post-workshop).

Project: Management & Funding Tools
• developing a logical framework, detailed budget and a project schedule
• developing a detailed budget a
• developing a project schedule
• participant project presentations

• project summary: writing a compelling two page fact sheet (LOI)
• how will you organize a donor presentation?
• where will you find donors to present your project to?
• Make a list of 2 colleagues, 2 potential NGO partners, and two donors who have expertise in adapting to climate change that you can share this working project proposal with. Make appointments with 1 of them.
• We will polish this family of documents by including the constructive feedback, and by making sure that the docs are absolutely parallel to each other.
• We will then carefully print them out, spiral bind them, and make an appointment with a donor to present your project. (Post –workshop).
• Share your project informally with a donor, your boss, your professor, someone specialized in climate change for feedback. We will discuss why it is a good idea to visit a donor at this preliminary stage, and why you should wait on writing an actual full-length proposal. (Post –workshop).

Launch: Partnering with the Community
• preparing for the formation of a community project management committee

Sustainability: Capacity Building for Community Takeover
• community capacity building
• selecting the first activity for a community capacity building workshop
• two-way knowledge transfer: lesson plans

Post-workshop

The Program will Link Theory and Practice

3 Simple Steps to Launch Your Project. Upon enrolling in OL 343 and OL 344, we will support you in launching the project with your community that you developed in the training program. After the live workshop, after you return home, the workshop facilitator will provide guidance, consultation, and resources—and will guide you in forming a community based project management committee, engaging the committee in project management, and leading your first capacity building workshop with community members.

Requirements

You will only need to have functional knowledge of Word, Excel, email, and the Internet. A laptop/netbook with Wi-Fi for use in the workshop. There are no books to buy—all course materials are available on the course site. Some of the assignments suggest doing them in a community. If impractical for you, partnering with a classmate in the field who does have community access will add depth to your experience.

Participants

policymakers, administrators and officials at various governmental levels practitioners such as planners, disaster risk managers and nonprofit workers at provincial and local levels Southern and Northern development students and postgraduate students who want to learn more about what works in designing an impact-oriented,sustainable project donors, development practitioners, field staff, nonprofit staff, grant writers, project managers, directors, and donor staff.

Location

Claremont, California

Claremont, located at the foot of the beautiful San Gabriel mountains, is 32 miles east of Los Angeles. It became a college town in the late 1880s with the founding of Pomona College; now there are nine colleges and graduate schools. Claremont, with its tree lined streets, is a walking town. Downtown Claremont (“The Village”) boasts sidewalk cafes and a variety of shops and restaurants. Here is Claremont’s Summer 2015 Services and Activities Guide.

Quotes

“On behalf of the Zambia team, I wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude for the knowledge addition in our careers, the time you take to correct our assignments…. This has opened doors for us to venture into designing our own projects, very sure we shall never go POOR. You’ve indeed taught us how to ‘FISH not provided FISH’.” Dianah. Zambia “I want to take this opportunity to express my thanks to you, and your staff for your continued support during the courses in the feedback and comments that enhances our work and for the opportunity to participate. I thank you all very much.” Gillian, Grenada.

How to Enroll. See how to enroll by clicking on “Enroll Now” at the bottom of the page. to get started, fill out the Participant Application Form.

What Students Think:

“Thank you for all your effort in putting together a great program and all of the program resources. Thank you for everything – for making this possible, for your guidance, and for your continuous optimism and encouragement. I look forward to the opportunity to work with you again in the next session.” Wye Yee Yong

“As you know, as a real beginner in designing projects, without your project example templates I could never have written even a single word by myself.” Moise

“I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude for the knowledge addition to our careers and the time you take to correct our assignments. This has opened doors for us to venture into designing our own projects, and I’m very sure we shall never go POOR. You’ve indeed taught us how to FISH—not provided FISH.” Dianah

“This program was absolutely awesome! The course content, instruction, example projects, on-line resources and the most valuable – your timely guidance on the assignments were all perfectly done.” Boris

“I’m so excited with the whole experience this training has provided me. The interaction with the community, sharing their lives, their enthusiasm in participating and opening up to me – and with lots of hope in seeing me engage with them.” George

“This training program is an absolute cracker. After undertaking the course, I was able to relate and transform community need into a project idea that could attract donor funding. The exercise of transforming goals into a simple logical framework was particularly exhilarating and smooth. It was indeed an eye opener for me.” Perry