CLIDEV – a new VITRI project for Strengthening Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development in Myanmar and Vietnam

Project for strengthening climate change education for sustainable development in Myanmar and Vietnam received funding from Ministry for Foreign Affairs

[Update: due to the political uncertainties in Myanmar, the collaboration with local partners was suspended and new partners from Vietnam joined the project. More information is available at the CLIDEV website https://blogs.helsinki.fi/cli-dev/]

CLIDEV project for Strengthening Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development in Myanmar and Vietnam has received 4-year HEI ICI funding from Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The project aims to empower an ever-increasing number of students with improved climate change knowledge and skills to make a positive contribution to the needs of society.

The project’s main intended outcome is the enhancement of the forest and agriculture related climate change higher education systems in Myanmar and Vietnam. This will be achieved by modernizing, improving accessibility and internationalization of partner HEIs curriculum by supporting the development of new learning and teaching tools (including Massive Open Online Courses – MOOCs and Open Educational Resources – OER), specifically in relation to agriculture, forestry and other land use sectors. Thus, domestic capacity to sustainably manage natural resources will be improved, for the benefit of the local people and the environment, while at the same time enabling Myanmar and Vietnam to effectively respond to the demands and opportunities of international processes e.g. Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Agreement on Climate Change, Bonn challenge.

The outputs of the project will lead to increased understanding of climate change to support fact-based decision-making resulting in increased resilience of vulnerable communities. It will also support partner countries to pursue sustainable development pathways.

CLIVEV is coordinated by the Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI) at the Department of Forest Sciences. The project is a collaboration between six partners: University of Helsinki and Laurea University of Applied Sciences (Finland); Yezin Agricultural University and University of Forestry and Environmental Sciences (Myanmar); Hue University and Vietnam National University of Forestry (Vietnam).

What is HEI ICI ?
The Higher Education Institutions Institutional Cooperation Instrument (HEI ICI) supports cooperation projects between higher education institutions in Finland and the developing world that are designed to enhance higher education provision in these countries. The projects support the higher education institutions in developing their subject-specific, methodological, educational and administrative capacities.

Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs provides funding for the programme through its development cooperation funds. The Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI) administrates the programme.

More information about HEI ICI and the list of all funded projects for the period 2020-2024
https://www.oph.fi/en/programmes/hei-ici-programme

HEI ICI PARFORM Kick-off meeting

On 27th of June, 2017 VITRI launched a new 3 years (1.3.2017-30.3.2020) project called “Partnership for Forestry Higher Education Cooperation in Mekong Region (PARFROM)” in cooperation with Savannakhet University at Kaysone Phomvihan Cultural Hall, Savannakhet Province. The project is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland under the “Higher Education Institutions Institutional Cooperation Instrument (HEI ICI)”

His excellency Mr. Khamphoun Touphaithoun, Vice-governor of Savannakhet province was the chief guest. Project members from Savannakhet University, National University of Laos, Souphanouvong University and Kasetsart University of Thailand attended in the event. In addition, representatives from Hue University of Vietnam, World bank, ADB and AUSAID projects joined in the event.

For more information contact with Mr. Dipjoy Chakma, Project coordinator

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