Shaping the Mindsets of Future Leaders in Central Asia to Improve Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change Adaptation in the Region

Until the end of 2019, PlanAdapt, in collaboration with Adelphi and GIZ, supports the integration of sustainable land use and climate change aspects into the Central Asian Leadership Programme. The aim of the programme is to develop the leadership and management competencies of high potential managers in governmental and non-governmental positions from different sectors from all Central Asian countries. PlanAdapt will ‘inject’ the latest knowledge on sustainable and climate-sensitive land use practices, policies and technologies. The relevant scientific knowledge will be carefully embedded in a sense-making process that uses aspects of theory U and design thinking.

The programme follows 2017´s round of the Leadership Programme that serves as a basis for the concepts and materials used. Apart from three week-long workshops, PlanAdapt supports the programme through ongoing mentoring and technical backstopping with regard to sustainable land use and climate change aspects. Besides other relevant scientific sources, the forthcoming IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land will provide cutting-edge knowledge that will inform the  work under in this initiative.

The Leadership Programme will be based on the GIZ (Academy of International Cooperation) didactical approach of a “leadership journey”. Leadership Journeys combine the GIZ approach ‘Leadership for Global Responsibility’ with a focus on a specific sectoral topic, here: sustainable land management and climate change. In addition to input on selected topics of the sector area and of leadership and management latest thinking, the leadership approach emphasizes experiential learning, learning by doing, peer-exchange, awareness and self-reflection. The rational, cognitive mind is stimulated as much as paying attention to the emotional and physical aspects of our Self. Participants are asked to bring in their own transfer project and work challenges and reflect and work with peers on possible solutions.