According to UNESSCO-IHE, cities around the world are facing unprecedented challenges as they deal with climate change, rapid urbanization, increasing disaster risks, volatile economies and environmental pressures. City-to-city learning aims to build greater institutional and human capacity to accelerate progress towards disaster resilience. The main difference and advantage of this initiative over other capacity development services, such as technical training, is that cities learn together and from each other’s knowledge and experience. Because often cities have complementary strengths and weaknesses, by cooperating, they can offer reciprocal support and knowhow. It is partly the reason why “Leadership for City-to-City Learning on Adaptation Training Course” has been jointly designed and implemented in Vietnam.

In the framework of the training course, the participants will progress through half a year of intensive work and learning involving two 3-day training sessions and a challenging on-the-job group assignment to implement city-to-city learning. The training course is designed to ensure that upon the completion, the participants will have: Greater self-awareness of how to lead change in cities; Knowledge of leadership tactics and ability to build a Leadership Development Plan (LDP); Enhanced Capacity to demonstrate network leadership behaviors; Improved ability to drive group-based leadership processes, and Improve ability to drive city-to-city learning on climate adaptation.

The training course has started with the first 3-day workshop at WACC on 27-29 March 2017 with the participation of 9 professionals from 4 cities. During the workshop, the professionals engaged in activities such as individual presentation, pair interview, team work, etc. to understand and practice leadership roles, especially the leadership roles in adaptation. In addition, the participants took survey and questionnaire to examine and define each one’s leadership style and attributes which were used as a basis to help them develop their own individual leadership development plan (ILDP).  These activities were carried out with enthusiastic support from WACC, UNESSCO-IHE and AIT’s experts.

At the end of the first workshop, a network among 4 cities, in which the participants keep in touch with each other, experts and organizers as well as implement the training course’s other relevant on-the-job assignments to implement city-to-city learning in the next 6 months, has been basically established. Each city’s professionals are encouraged to come up with an idea about an adaptation project as well as develop the project’s work plan and integrate 4 cities’ project into each other. The projects could receive support from WACC, UNESSCO-IHE and AIT’s experts. The other 3-day workshop is due in June/2017.

Here are some photographs during the first 3-day workshop: