Report from the Tanzanian workshop

Educational Workshop on Climate Change
TANGO and UNA Tanzania

Introduction

This is a report of the Citizens Global Platform (CGP) Tanzania educational workshop on Climate Change. The workshop brought together regional stakeholders (national organizations, community groups and development partners) from diverse backgrounds. The aim of the workshop was create awareness and share tools for climate change advocacy.

During the workshop, participants received presentations that shared experiences on what is Climate Change and its Impacts, examined Existing Interventions in tackling Climate Change and discussed tools to Scale up Civil Society participation in Climate Change Processes.

This report details the proceedings of the workshop, noting with emphasis the "thinking, ideas and recommendations" from the stakeholders. The workshop was organized by CGP Tanzania under the auspices of the Tanzania Network of NGOs (TANGO) and the United Nations Association (UNA) of Tanzania

Background

Citizens' Global Platform (CGP) brings together civil society actors from Brazil, India, Tanzania and Finland. The goal is to empower marginalized groups and to create new mechanisms for citizen participation in international political processes. The project focuses on combating the climate change and strengthening the appreciation of sustainable lifestyles .

The work of CGP is rooted in the Helsinki Process on Globalization and Democracy, which was jointly coordinated by Finland and Tanzania. The Helsinki Process, initiated by the Ministries for Foreign Affairs of Finland and Tanzania, seeks to strengthen democracy and promote openness and equality between the South and North through global cooperation . CGP Tanzania is coordinated by TANGO and UNA of Tanzania.

Workshop Goal and Objectives

The objectives of the workshop were as follows;

a) To share findings from the Climate Change research,

b) To create awareness and sensitization of stakeholders to engage on Climate Change,

c) To share information, experiences and knowledge on Climate Change advocacy.

Workshop Overview

The workshop was attended by representatives of organizations running different community based programmes to address Climate Change in Tanzania. 75% of the workshop participants came from outside of Dar es Salaam, with the Isles represented by a participant from Pemba and others from the mainland coming from as far north as Mwanza and Musoma regions.

The workshop was given a three step mechanism (represented by the three main presentations made) where participants would be able to take full advantage of the assembly. The first step was a learning one, where basic information on what Climate Change is, the impact, first hand examples of the impact in Tanzania, and the concepts of adaptation and mitigation were presented.

The second step was to also learn about efforts in the country to address Climate Change where different interventions were presented. The third and final step was to then paint a way forward from this learning process where participants listened to two presentations on the means to scale up Civil Society engagement in Climate Change processes.

The idea was, as workshop organizers were quoted as saying, to provide the participants was linkages to further understand the complexities of the issues surrounding Climate Change; learn about other efforts on the ground that they can explore for even more learning and consider partnership; and think collectively on what can be common action towards adaptation and mitigation of Climate Change in Tanzania

Proceedings

The workshop was attended by 45 participants from different parts of Tanzania, with more than 75% coming from outside of Dar es Salaam. The nature and capacity of the organization was widespread, running diverse programmes and activities to address Climate Change in Tanzanian communities.

The workshop started slightly ahead of schedule with opening remarks from the CGP Chairperson, Mary Mwingira. Welcoming all participants to the workshop and urging all participants to seize the opportunity to learn as much as they can, the chairperson explained the origins of CGP and the collaboration between TANGO, UNA Tanzanian, UNA Finland, Kehitysyhteistyön Palvelukeskus (KEPA) Finland and KEPA Tanzania. The noted that with CGP promoting Democracy that insists on full participation, it was welcoming a fact to see that more than 75% of the participants were from outside out Dar es Salaam, a fact rarely seen in most gatherings in the city.

The chairperson noted that CGP is promoting widespread knowledge sharing to show that Climate Change is more than environmental issues, something it has been seen to be at many levels. She told the participants that CGP conducted a study that aimed at strengthening marginalized voices, understanding and participation on the issue of Climate Change.

The explained that the workshop was aiming at enabling understanding on the issue of Climate Change, to know the impact in Tanzania, to enable participants to agree on how best to engage on issues of Climate Change (internally and internationally) - specifically at COP 15, to widen the group pf participants on Climate Change issues, to share experiences on the different initiatives being implemented by the participating organizations and share ideas on how these can be useful in the efforts to mitigate Climate Change in Tanzania.

Furthermore, the chairperson highlighted that the workshop was going to be an opportunity to examine how best Tanzania CSOs can push their involvement in the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other processes as a marginalized voice. She also made clear her aspirations that participants would find motivation through the workshop to continue to engage on Climate Change mitigation.

Following her opening remarks were the three main sessions of the day, which would be led by three Presentation and Discussion Sessions.

The whole report is attached

Attachment	Size
CGP Educational Workshop on Climate Change - Report-1.doc	1.86 MB