Fourth round of the junior development programme for nature conservation executives

For many years, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus region and Central Asia have been experiencing strong economic development. The burden on these regions’ natural ecosystems is also increasing with the accompanying growth in resource and energy consumption. As a result, the training requirements for junior executives in nature conservation are increasing and remain high. In order to meet this demand, the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), in close cooperation with the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), held the successful Klaus Töpfer Fellowship Programme for the fourth time from September 2017 to March 2019. The junior staff development programme prepares future decision-makers from the above-mentioned regions for leadership tasks in national and international nature conservation. The training programme is funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB).

Over a period of 18 months, two-week continuing education modules took place at the International Nature Conservation Academy (INA) of the BfN. Young junior executives were given the necessary technical competence and management skills in order to be better able to tackle current challenges in nature conservation in their home countries, such as the progressive loss of biodiversity or the implementation of multilateral nature conservation agreements.

adelphi was responsible for the overall technical moderation of the four classroom modules and supported the BfN in the selection and supervision of trainers. In addition, adelphi accompanied and advised the participants over the entire period of the programme in the technical development of their transfer projects, which consisted of a study to transfer the knowledge gained throughout the programme into professional practice.