ECOP Programme Funded Training calls
Photo credit: Hugh Whyte / Ocean Image Bank
The Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOP) Programme is proud to share the results of the call from November 2021, designed to provide financial support for legal entities (various types of organizations) to organize online or in-person short capacity development programmes.
Four organisations were successful in receiving funding to deliver training courses that addressed ocean science, ocean governance and ocean sustainability with direct relevance to the Ocean Decade vision, mission and challenges. It was imperative that they specifically target ocean-related issues in Africa, Pacific SIDS or Caribbean SIDS and featured ECOPs based in these regions. Whilst all of the training adhered to the oveararchiching objectives of the call, they also covered more detailed topics pertaining to each location and facilitating organisation.
The following training courses were conducted between March and April 2022, thanks to the generous support of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the IOC-UNESCO:
The Gulf of Guinea Maritime Institute delivered this training from 14th to 24th March, 2022. The course ran virtually via Zoom over a series of nine online sessions. All pre-readings, session videos and presentation materials have been made available on the Gulf of Guinea Maritime Institute’s website and can be accessed via the ECOP Programme Youtube channel here.
The International Ocean Institute (via its Secretariat in Malta) carried out this virtual training and through the training Centre of IOI in South Africa, as an opportunity for individuals from a diverse range of Ocean related backgrounds – self-identifying as ECOPs – to acquire a basic knowledge of Ocean governance. This was through a series of e-workshops over a period of four sessions between 29th March – 7th April 2022.
Dr Erick Ross Salazar, and ECOPs Vera Noon (MSc), and Sarah Mahadeo (MSc) conducted a training on Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) in Caribbean SIDS called Blue Planning in Practice (BPiP). This training programme was held from March 8th to 10th, 2022, in a virtual setting with participants from nine different Caribbean countries.
Sustainable Ocean Alliance (SOA) Caribbean and EcoVybz Environmental Creatives provided a special series on Developing ocean leadership and stewardship in the Caribbean, called “Thinking Beyond the Tides” with Khadija Stewart. This one-week virtual, Youth-led initiative ran from March 14th to March 22nd 2022 and included sessions on: Storytelling for Ocean Action, Marine Degradation in the Caribbean, Marine Opportunities, Idea Implementation and Leadership.