Summer School to target and accelerate the work of champions in local dryland forests and production systems

01/09/2022

The FAO Committee of Forestry Working Group on Dryland Forests and Agrosilvopastoral Systems is working on the launch of its first summer school, which will train champions on a transformative approach to building resilient drylands and boost dryland planning and work.

The summer school will be held alongside the COFO WG's 3^rd Session, which will be hosted by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in June/July 2023. The initiative targets planners, policymakers, and practitioners – called ‘champions’ = and is based on the transformative approach developed in 2021. The school will combine theoretical concepts with practical insight from case studies and one day of fieldwork. It will last four days, be delivered in English, and the trainees (champions) will have the chance to interact and discuss their work on case study data sets provided by trainers. Champions are needed to advocate and promote transformational changes in the management of dryland agrosylvopastoral systems, facilitate the creation of a shared vision and help make sustainable innovations known. Most importantly, dryland sustaining communities need champions to support the wave of transformation in dryland policymaking and management.

The COFO WG approved this initiative during its 2^nd session in 2021 in Tanzania as part of its 2022-2024 workplan. The lessons for the summer school are currently being put together by FAO partners, including the University of Richmond (UR), the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Wageningen and Universite Mohammed V Rabat, Uppsala University.

ELearning course

To join this program, the participants will first be required to complete the eLearning course on building climate-resilient dryland forests and agrosilvopastoral production systems found on the FAO eLearning Academy website. The e-learning course, set to be launched in December 2022, is based on knowledge from a recent FAO publication. It turns knowledge-based content from this publication into a five-part course with feasible competency-based lessons. It aims to transform the way practitioners manage their dryland forests and retain the benefits of other interventions by encouraging the transfer of soft skills and boosting multidisciplinary competencies. The e-learning course will provide context and practical examples of the use of the transformative approach to prepare participants for summer school. In addition to this prerequisite, participants will go through an application and selection process.

Sharing knowledge

Drylands are the source of livelihood for over two million people. With the impacts of climate change increasing, it is important to build the capacities of champions to manage the fragility of dryland production systems – the summer school will play a vital role in doing just that.