On 12^th and 13^th, Jun, 2014, Center of Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD) in collaborated with Department Natural Resources and Environment (DoNRE) Nam Dinh, People’s Committee of Tien Hai District, organized the program “TOT training on communication skills and deeper knowledge on climate change”

The training program had the participation of officials of Nam Dinh DoNRE, officials of the People’s Committee of Tien Hai district, focal point officers of the district, commune, head of livelihood groups, head of resource management groups, the Village Facilitators (VFS), and the typical livelihoods at local community.

The training program also introduced for the participants the information about the effect of climate change at local area in several years, the knowledge about community communication and climate change adaptation communication.

The scene of training session

The participants were explained the communication methods particularly, such as one-way communication, two-way communication, and multi-dimensional media. The communication designing method suitably the objects and community cultural. The approaches of communication channel, for instance: through the festivals, activities of community. The communication skills, such as organization the local meeting, persuasion skills, advocacy and education.

Mr. Phan Van Phong- Deputy Director of Nam Dinh Natural Resources and Environment Department, said: “ The effects of climate change (CC) for Nam Dinh province in particular and the country in general in the past few years, the role of the training program in communication skills, expansion the knowledge about responding to climate change are really important”. Mr. Phong also thanks to MCD for organizing the practical and efficient training program.

Mr. Phan Van Phong- Deputy Director of Nam Dinh Natural Resources and Environment Department

The participants had the experiments with the useful practical exercises about community communication and communication of climate change, in order to understanding and feeling their works. They participated in group exercises, such as: building method the tree of messages communication about climate change, composed and performance the communication skits of climate change, designing and presentation a communication message, convinced the community change livelihood patterns to adapt to climate change. The practical exercises help the participants to understand the efficient approaches to community communication and climate change communication. The practical exercises also make the participants enthusiastic and the atmosphere more dynamic.

Participants do the practical exercise: Draw the message tree about Climate Change

            Participants do the practical exercise: Draw the message tree about Climate Change

In particular, the participants had introduced for one letter from the future: “A letter written in 2070”. The content of the letter are confessions of the human future, talking about the hazards will happen and their direct impact on human lives, such as the scarcity of resources in general and water resources in particular. “A letter written in 2070,” has really created a profound impact on the psychology of those who attend the training. All of them know that the needed to preserve natural resources, protect the environment, to create sustainable development for future generations

The participant build the message communication about climate change adaptation.

Mr. Hoang Trong Nghia- Head of Sea sub-department- Nam Dinh Natural Resources and Environment Department said: “The training is really profound, rich content and easy to understand. It also create lively atmosphere and inspire the participants”.

Mr. Hoang Trong Nghia- Head of  Sea sub-department-Nam Dinh Natural Resources and Environment Department

The program “TOT training about communication skills and expand the knowledge of climate change” was really motivating participants become communicators in community communication and CC communication. The participants were interactive and creative. They integrated the knowledge and the real model, which supported by MCD, in the training and exercise participation. Through the results of training program, we can say that the activities of MCD has contributed effectively in changing and improving people’s perception about actions and communication climate change adaptation. It also help transform the information about the climate change adaptation into the daily activities of the people

The activities were in the framework of the project “Building partnerships to enhance the ability to adapt to climate changes and coastal communities of Vietnam” (MCD 46) with financial support from the Australian government and technical support from Oxfam. The goals are: to strengthen the ability of local coordinators, leader of the livelihoods of gender mainstreaming skills, event organizing, leadership, teamwork, conflict resolution and synthetic knowledge about climate changes and the soft skills to help collaborators able to communicate to people about climate changes and livelihoods adaption for households in the community.