Climate Protection Manager
In Podluží, Moravia, and around Timisoara, Romania, local climate groups will gain knowledge to drive and support sustainable environmental and climate policies and behaviours in their communities. Our capacity building programme provides comprehensive knowledge, concepts, and tools for local climate governance.
Climate Protection Management Training (CPM Training)
To briefly outline the specific objectives of ELCA Capacity Building as defined at the beginning of the ELCA project together with the partners from the Czech Republic, Romania and Germany, the first planning phase of ELCA was primarily concerned with discussing shared information on training needs in climate protection management in order to develop a highly relevant training curriculum for a core group of trainees from the Czech Republic and Romania.
To accommodate the time constraints of the predominantly working participants, the ELCA team initially opted for a part-time online format. The first part of the training (TP1) took place from 16 April to 26 June 2024 and aimed to provide a general overview of the complexity of 'project management in climate protection' and to create a knowledge base for the second central training phase (TP2). The first training consisted of four work packages with the aim of bringing together a highly interdisciplinary group of experts from two countries in a virtual space, to provide knowledge exchange and much space to get to know each other. A regular weekly online CPM training and a discussion platform (2 hours each) were implemented in 13 training sessions.
The second phase of the ELCA CPM training (TP 2)
This phase will take place from 24 September to the final week in March 2025, has several objectives that aim to deepen the knowledge and skills already acquired by the participants and to better understand complex CPM concepts and the connections with their own work experiences. As in many adult learning programmes, great emphasis is placed on collaboration and knowledge sharing between experts. Specific objectives are pursued to strengthen practical experiences, team dynamics to address participants' skills.
The ELCA Study Tour to Witzenhausen, Germany, as part of the second training phase took place from 6 - 11 October 2025 and was designed by the ASD (Association for Sustainable Development) in Witzenhausen. The participants were able to familiarise themselves with the cultural, social and economic conditions in the North Hesse region and understand how these factors influence local climate protection. Successful, institutional and practical experiences, innovative climate protection projects, technologies and practices in the region were on the week's programme and were examined and discussed from various perspectives. The study trip offered participants ample opportunity to establish contacts with other experts, organisations and stakeholders.
Since November 2024, the planning for the creation of country-specific CPM project plans or concrete CPM action plans plans in the field of 'Project Management in Climate Change' has started and requires a sound application of knowledge and theories, with regard to future professional opportunities and challenges. In order to establish sustainable concepts in local climate protection practice, this training output will provide valuable learning experiences for the country teams and create potential for a viable sustainability strategy in the ELCA project, especially when it comes to developing project- or action plans to the level of an EU funding application.
The final week with - Climate Protection Conference in March 25
In the final week, the CPM knowledge will be further deepened. Once again, we will set out to become climate protection managers in practice and look into the working world of German climate protection managers in urban areas. The final conference is a good opportunity to bring the ELCA CPM training, which was made possible by funding from the European Climate Initiative, to a fitting conclusion and an important step towards further advancing local climate action through awareness raising, knowledge transfer and networking. As part of the conference, participants will share their experiences and present their project work or action plans. Joint reflections, expert discussions, specialist lectures and workshops will help to strengthen commitment and networking in climate protection and raise awareness of various climate protection issues. Professional contacts can be made and networks expanded. The final week ends with the ceremonial presentation of the ELCA CPM certificate to the trainees.
Download ELCA Climate Protection Management Handbookmbj