Refresher seminars

Refresher Seminars 2009

• Title: Disaster Management of Urban Water System under Climate Change
  Location: Bangkok, Thailand
  Date: 23 – 28 November 2009
  Application deadline: 14 August 2009
  download brochure | download application form (MS Word)
• Title: The Ecology of Livelihoods in African Wetlands
  Location: Njoro, Kenya
  Date: 24 - 28 August 2009
  Application deadline: deadline passed: 22 May 2009
  download brochure | download application form (MS Word)

About Refresher Seminars

The seminars cover themes that are of direct relevance and importance to the region and the participants.

The immediate objectives of the refresher seminars include:

• Facilitating exchanges of experiences between alumni from different countries facing similar issues and problems in their professional capacities;
• Enhancing and strengthening relationships among these alumni, and between them and UNESCO-IHE;
• Adapting and improving the approaches and contents of courses held at UNESCO-IHE on the basis of the experiences and practices of professionals working in developing countries; and
• Exploring opportunities for establishing and strengthening local and regional knowledge centres that are part of regional and global networks for capacity building in the water, environment and infrastructure sectors.

The refresher seminars, which are typically one to two weeks long, consist of interactive lectures, role-plays, group discussions, field trips, excursions, social events, country presentations by participants, and a final ceremony where certificates of attendance are awarded.

Organized each year since 1993, the refresher seminars have proven very successful and places are in great demand among UNESCO-IHE alumni. UNESCO-IHE is pleased to continue this tradition.

Since 2002 several new elements encouraging participation, learning and knowledge sharing have been included in these seminars.

Over time, many UNESCO-IHE-trained alumni have reached prominent positions in which strategic, managerial, policy and decision-making responsibilities have become important components of their functions.

Professionals with academic training (to MEng, MSc or PhD levels) may in time wish or need to upgrade their knowledge and skills in order to develop a knowledge base that is in tune with current and potential sector and professional demands.

Refresher Seminars in previous years

2008

• Indonesia: Climate Change and Coastal Lowland Development in (sub-) tropical environments (July 2008)
• Uganda: Decentralized Water Supply and Sanitation: A key approach to achieving the millennium develoment goals (September 2008)

2007

• Costa Rica: Urban Wastewater Management in the Coastal Areas (June 2007)
• Zambia: Water Services: reaching the poor in the peri-urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa (june 2007)
• Delft, Cairo (Nile basin alumni), Nanjing (Yangtze basin alumni): Institutional Development and Capacity Building Needs for Integrated River Basin Management: a cross-basin blended learning course in Nanjing (Yangtze) and Cairo (Nile)