Developing local capacities

• The EMTC Network has begun implementation of a one-year project to train a group of up to 20 Albanian trainers in selected environmental management training modules, including Environmental Policy, Solid Waste Management, and Public Participation. The $100,000+ project is funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and in addition to the local partner - the Committee of Environmental Protection - the project will involve at least two EMTC Network members and their trainers.

New partner - new project

• The EMTC Network has developed a successful collaboration with the Irish company Environmental Development Consultants Ltd. The two partners are currently working jointly on a EU Phare funded project called "Training on European Union Environmental Policy, Regulations and Standards for Municipal Authorities in the Danube River Basin". The project will design the course and train trainers in six EMTC Network member countries.

How to spur communication

• A communications research survey has been completed recently of Network members' needs for effective exchange of experience and expertise. The research revealed that two most preferred strategies for exchange of information and experience among the EMTC Network members are (1) Exchanging Training Modules, and (2) Exchanging Contacts. The two strategies scored 11 and 10 points, respectively. The next most preferred strategy - Improved Internet Resources - scored only 4 points followed by others such as Conducting Joint Trainings (4 points), and Exchanging staff (4 points).

Recovering costs effectively

• In Poland, environmental experts are queuing to enroll in the course "New Environmental Impact Assessment Act and Procedures in Poland," designed and delivered by the Polish EMTC and the for-profit environmental firm Ekologus. The two-day course, which has been delivered numerous times already since its first delivery in December 1995, brings a significant financial contribution to the Polish EMTC. The major attraction of the course is the fact that it is actually being conducted by the father of the EIA Act in Poland - Mr. Deja of the Polish Ministry of the Environment.

Busy Bulgarian trainers

• The Bulgarian EMTC has been extremely busy with their training courses this year. From December through January, the EMTC delivered a seven-week training course on the "Ecology of Industrial Processes and Environmental Impact Assessment" for the Department of Labor. The course was funded by the United Nations and implemented in cooperation with the Knowledge Foundation. Unlike most courses, this one provided certification for participants to upgrade their qualifications.

  In the beginning of February, the Bulgarian EMTC delivered a five-day course funded by EC Phare on "Development of Project Preparation and Appraisal Capabilities in Ministries of Environment in CEE". A Dutch group, Haskoning, together with France's BCOEM, designed the course to help Ministries of Environment gain World Bank and EBRD support for investment in environmental projects. Representatives of these institutions were present at the course.

  During March and April, the Bulgarian EMTC delivered an extensive set of training courses, including Occupational Health (four-week training in March), River Basin Management, Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Prevention, Environmental Auditing, Pollution Prevention, and Project Planning and Implementation.

Expertise grows through training

• The EMTC Network has recently joined the REC's Public Participation Program and other environmental organizations in CEE to implement the Public Participation Training Project. The Training Project, developed in response to the huge demand for increased awareness and skills of public participation techniques and methods, will initially be developed as a pilot project in Bulgaria and Romania. The project will develop a training manual and a companion set of training guidelines and materials for trainers and facilitators. It will also provide the resources to organize the first training-of-trainers in both countries.

Network members met in April

• All but one of the EMTC Network's 13 member institutions from 10 countries in Central and Eastern Europe attended the 3rd EMTC Network Workshop in Gozd Martuljek, Slovenia, on April 17-21, 1996. Besides welcoming the new Network member - ETP-Slovakia Foundation, the participants discussed such critical issues as training evaluation, needs assessment, budgeting, measuring organizational performance, EMTC Network strategy, products and services in 1996, and internal and external cooperation. The workshop, hosted by Slovenian member DREVO - Institute for Environmental Management, has significantly strengthened cooperation within the Network and boosted the effective exchange of experience and expertise among its members. The next workshop will be held in Bulgaria on September 4-7, 1996 and will be hosted by the Bulgarian Environmental Management Training Center in Sofia.

For e-mail fans

• The EMTC Network has launched the EMTCNET Digest, an electronic newsletter providing information about the ongoing developments of the EMTC Network and its members. EMTCNET Digest is being distributed via an unmoderated mailing list. To subscribe and receive your first issue, send an e-mail message with an empty subject heading and a message that reads "subscribe emtcnet-digest" (without the quotation marks) to listserv@rec.org