From March 01 to March 10, 2023, United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) (www.UCLGA.org), through its African Local Government Academy (ALGA), in partnership with the French Ecological Transition Agency (ADEME), and with the support of the Higher Institute of Information and Communication (ISIC), organized the 2^nd Training Session for Trainers on Climate Action: Ecological Transition, Climate Plan and Strategy for Adaptation to Change Climate.

21 participants (including 16 Certified Trainers and 5 Observers) from seven African countries (Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Mali, Morocco, and Togo), benefited from this session held in the ISIC premises in Rabat, Morocco.

This 2^nd Training of Trainers Session (ToT) targeted Local Elected Officials, Territorial Executives in charge of issues related to Climate Action (Climate Change, Sustainable Development, Environment, Climate Plan), Experts and Professors, as well as resource persons.

This 2^nd Session follows a first session which was organized within the framework of the 6^th edition of the African Forum of Territorial Managers and Training Institutes targeting Local and Regional Governments, during the annual meeting of ALGA from UCLG Africa (FAMI6_2022), from November 28 to December 03, 2022 in Agadir (Morocco).

During ten (10) days, learners benefited from awareness raising, training, capacity building and coaching on 4 Modules relating respectively to

• Module 1: Territorial strategy for adaptation to climate change in African cities;
• Module 2: Introduction to the Ecological Transition of Territories;
• Module 3: Methods for developing and leading a Territorial Climate Energy Plan (PCET);
• Module 4: Andragogy and Adult Education.

This program was prepared, implemented and animated after a long process of adaptation, testing and reframing of the pedagogical content to the local African context by the following team of Trainers and Experts:

• Ms. Muriel DESGEORGES, International Project Manager at the ADEME Agency (France);
• Dr Joseph Magloire OLINGA OLINGA, Consultant of UCLG Africa/ALGA (Cameroon);
• Mr. Stéphane SIMONET, Director of Cabinet Acterra (France);
• Dr. Parfait C. BLALOGOE, Consultant of UCLG Africa/ALGA (Benin);
• Mr. Sébastien DENIS, Director of Cabinet Equinéo (France);
• Mr. Abdelmajid DAHAB, Consultant of Cabinet LMS-ORH (Morocco).

“The training we have provided will endow local elected officials so that they are operational once in their territory. Since 2015, national Governments have adopted Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and have committed to carrying out climate action in the field of adaptation and mitigation. To achieve this, it is important that local elected officials and African territorial executives be able, on the one hand, to be able to develop territorial strategies for adaptation to the impacts of climate change, but also to implement actions resulting from these adaptation strategies”, said the Trainer, Dr. Joseph Magloire OLINGA OLINGA, Consultant of UCLG Africa/ALGA.

The Program was crowned by the organization of a Certificate Ceremony for this 1^st Class of African Trainers, on Friday, March 10, 2023, in the presence of:

-Mr. Jean Pierre ELONG MBASSI, Secretary General of UCLG Africa;

-Mr. Philippe MASSET, Europe and International Director of the ADEME agency (by videoconference);

-Dr. Najat ZARROUK, Director of Development, Knowledge Management and ALGA of UCLG Africa;

-Mr. Abdessamad MOUTEI, Deputy Director in charge of Continuing Education and Internships at ISIC;

-Mr. Radouan YESSOUF, Deputy Director of the Strategy and Development Division of the Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency (AMEE).

“The issue of climate change must be faced with full knowledge of the facts. This is why those who carry this knowledge like you must feel invested with a particular mission to get out of people’s heads the idea that climate change is a hoax, secondly, to convince people that it is necessary to adapt to it, and thirdly, that we must anticipate its effects", declared Mr. ELONG MBASSI to the laureates before continuing: "Almost 75% of the funding that has been put into the fight against climate change has been injected into mitigation. On the other hand, regarding adaptation to climate change, which is Africa's number one problem, there is no metric. And because there is no metric, we don't know how to find the money for this component. Currently, things are so out of balance that African priorities are not taken into account in the climate finance system. We are counting on you to lead the advocacy for greater consideration of adaptation and resilience to climate change as an African priority”.

On the side of the ADEME agency, Mr. Philippe MASSET invited the beneficiaries whom he described as “The Climate Army” to be Ambassadors of the cause. "I am delighted to have this partnership with UCLG Africa which allows you dear participants to be trained on this major issue which must be made understood,  and which must be disseminated, to ensure that the populations, the different decision-makers, and the various schools can also disseminate this extremely important message relating to the need to adapt to climate change and to act in everyone's daily life so that the impacts are as minimal as possible for all citizens ”.

“This training will undoubtedly allow participants to engage in future training. We are very happy to see this pool of trainers engaged alongside us to launch new initiatives in the African continent. We wish you a good continuation in your future actions”, declared ISIC’s Mr. Abdessamad MOUTEI.

Among the beneficiaries of this Training of Trainers Program, Mr. Abdoulkader Iman Aden, Mayor of Boulaos (Djibouti), said: "This training has been very helpful. The modules were very well delivered for the future trainers that we are. In our action plan, we are implementing activities for a green and clean commune. In Djibouti, we have 360 days of sunshine as well as extreme weather events that cause flooding during the rare rains of a day. This is due to climate change. These floods have caused a lot of damage and death in the past. The construction of the Friendship Dam has reduced the impact of these heavy rains."

Enclosures: Interviews conducted during the training: https://apo-opa.info/3Jz41qS