From the Forest in Ede, on the Road to Copenhagen...

...I decided to make a stop near a beautiful forest in the Netherlands to learn about advocacy and policy influencing from the pros at MDF....

So here I am nestled right next to this forest... thinking about advocacy and the road to COP-15. http://en.cop15.dk

If you've ever been to a training you know it can be a frustrating experience. Paying someone to ramble on about something they've never experienced, while repeating themselves and asking the course participants to do more work than they are is a less than motivating way of learning. However things are not like that at MDF. http://mdf.nl/ They've been in the business of training, capacity building and consulting for well over 25 years, are some of the best in the business. Their Project Management course is second to none. I took the two-week course in 2003 and it was so good we translated it into Russian and after contextualising it, we used the material as a Training-of-Trainers curriculum for our civic activist network in Kyrgyzstan, "Suyuu Bulagi". The network is now providing a version of the Project Management as well as other training and consulting services to expatriate and national clients in Kyrgyzstan and other neighboring countries. It's good stuff.

The course I am in now is focusing on policy influencing. It's taught by lobbyist and policy/advocacy expert Ger Roebeling, most recently known for the whistle blowing on Betty Makoni and the Girl Child Network incident in Zimbabwe. Ger is now on staff with MDF. I'll keep you posted on the course as well as on preparations for COP-15 in the coming days. I will be blogging from the event, and I will use the knowledge and skills gained from my spot in the forest at the conference of parties...