Capacity Development

Along with education and research, the third pillar of activities within CNRD is capacity development (CD). In addition to generating knowledge by conducting problem-oriented (applied) research, the key role of the universities is to enhance individual capacities, e.g., in post-graduate education.

Lifelong learning plays a key role in bridging the gap between academic education and the ever-changing demands on experts and decision-makers in their working environment.

The need for individual capacity development beyond formal higher education is very high, especially for professionals working in sectors related to the management and development of natural resources.

Training workshops “Higher Education didactics”

The CNRD universities are educating future experts, researchers, and decision-makers addressing natural resources management questions in relation to the Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs).

To ensure that the graduates acquire the required competencies, CNRD partners have moved towards a student-centered problem- and project-based teaching approach. This move demands capacity development at various levels of the universities. To address this demand, the CNRD network is supporting its members by conducting with them training workshops on modern higher education didactics. To guarantee a sustainable impact the workshops follow a training of trainers approach aimed to create, at each CNRD partner university, groups of “higher education didactics” experts who are going to influence change in teaching through peer-to-peer exchange, co-teaching, and faculty level workshops.