REC - EMTC: Insight 1/2: Regional briefs

B R I E F S

Regional briefs

Last June, the EMTC Network saw the successful completion of its international Training of Trainers (ToT) activities, some of which are part of the Danube Environmental Program. Their success was proved by a follow-up of some of the courses in July.
The Regional Environmental Center in Szentendre, Hungary, offered its Conference Center as the venue for these activities. The new trainers are now working with the respective EMTC Network member institutions on delivering the national training courses.

"Management Training for Municipal Water Authorities" and "Training on EU Environmental Policy, Standards and Regulations" were the most important and successful courses of EMTC Network's Training of Trainers programs. Both took place last June and produced further development in July, respectively in the UK and Romania.
"Management Training for Municipal Water Authorities" funded by the GEF/UNDP, and organized in collaboration with the Universities of England Consortium for International Activities, was attended by 27 participants. "Training on EU Environmental Policy, Standards and Regulations," funded by the European Commission Phare Program, and in collaboration with the project team of Environmental Development Consultants Ltd., trained 11 trainers from Central and Eastern Europe.

The annual strategic planning session for the EMTC Network staff took place on September 25. Its outline was: vision and mission; SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats); goal; objectives; actions and work plans. The mission of the EMTC Network project has remained "achieving sustainable environmental training in Central and Eastern Europe," "sustainable" meaning continuous, long-term and responding to changes. The main goal of the EMTC Network project is to initiate and coordinate international training projects, which will be achieved through the project's main assets, such as good reputation, possessing great expertise in the field of environmental training and a good portfolio of products and services.

The 4th EMTC Network workshop, organized twice a year by different EMTC Network institutions, was held in Sofia on September 4-7, and was hosted by the Bulgarian EMTC.
The workshop which was attended by directors of 11 EMTC Network Institutions from eight Central and Eastern European countries, focused on Strategic Planning training and on the exchange of experience and ideas about how to intensify the work on international projects.

In the frame of the EMTC Network Training the Trainers project in Albania, the transfer of experience in Environmental Policy-the US EPA module-was entrusted to two training experts from the Information Center of the Project Silesia, an EMTC Network institution in the Czech Republic.
The US EPA module has two objectives: to understand and practice principles and methods of course topics, and to become familiarized with the concept of democratic discussion. The three-day course was given by a varied team of trainers built from a daily evaluation process. In response to the demands for the Environmental Policy course in the Czech Republic, the Czech Ministry of the Environment provided funding to adapt the US EPA Environmental Policy course to the Czech needs. This adaptation process, based on the Albanian experience, resulted in a one-day seminar and a two-day workshop. Courses on adaptation are available starting from the end of 1996.

A training course was held between October 11-13, 1996 at the Training, Information and Mediation Center for Eco-Development (TIMCED) in Ploiesti, on Environmental Journalism, organized under the Milieukontakt Oost-Europa's project "Strengthening Environmental NGOs and Raising Public Participation on Environmental Issues in Romania."
The 20 participants addressed an appeal to Romania's major newspapers, calling for their support in the campaign for promoting public participation on Environmental Issues, by properly reflecting environmental problems through reliable press news and articles.