B R I E F S

Strategic Planning Training of Trainers

• Training networks from five Central and Eastern European countries attended a Strategic Planning Training of Trainers hosted by the REC April 8-10 at its new head office in Szentendre, Hungary. The session, conducted by Don Holub, a Peace Corps volunteer working at the REC, showed participants how to conduct strategic planning workshops in their own countries. The workshops focus on organizational planning and development for NGOs, governments and businesses. The three-day training covered strategic planning, issue development and project management. In addition, participants learned how to deliver a workshop and put together a strategic plan for trainers in the EMTC Network that will be used by the different EMTC trainers in the region.

Three-part Albanian project lays foundation for training

• The project ToT-Albania, which the EMTC Network started in March 1996 under the auspices of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has been quite successful so far. The goal of this one-year project is to build training capacities in Albania that will form the basis on which environmental training can be institutionalized.

  The project focuses on three training modules: "Environmental Policy," "Solid Waste Management" and "Public Participation in Environmental Decisionmaking." The first two training modules were developed and delivered by EPA trainers, while the section on public participation is based on a REC module developed for Bulgaria but tailored to Albanian legal and social contexts with a local expert's input.

  So far, 18 Albanian specialists have been trained as well as 50 Albanian specialists in Albania in two modules - "Environmental Policy" and "Solid Waste Management."

  The third module on "Public Participation in Environmental Decisionmaking" took place at the end of February.

  The training modules were attended and supervised in Hungary and Albania by EMTC trainers recommended by EMTCs in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Slovenia, which assisted the Albanian trainers in successfully delivering the training modules.

  The participants represented various target groups from the central and local governments, regional environmental agencies, public institutions, NGOs and the media.

EMTC Network Conference focuses on network's future

• The 5th Environmental Training Management Center Network (EMTC Network) Conference was held in Velke Losiny, Czech Republic on April 3-5. All member organizations of the EMTC Network were invited to participate in the workshop, which focused on the continuing education of the organizations and on the form of future cooperation among the organizations within the framework of the EMTC. The conference included presentations from the Regional Environmental Center and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Also included was continuing education on the topics of "Developing comprehensive program evaluations for projects," presented by Teodorina Lessidrenska from the Institute of Sustainable Communities in Vermont; and "Marketing: What Does it Mean for Environmental Nongovernmental Organizations," presented by Sarah Connor and Steve Kautz from the U.S. Peace Corps-Czech Republic Business Volunteer Program.

  If you are interested in more information, please contact:

  Amy Arends or Marie Ticha

  Center for Environmental Analysis

  Krizova 25

  405 01 Decin I

  Czech Republic

  Tel: (420-41) 222-084

  E-mail: cea@space.gts.cz

Management training for municipal authorities

• A three-day management training course for municipal authorities took place April 7-9. The course was organized by DREVO, and it is a PHARE-Danube River Program which is coordinated by the REC-EMTC Network.

Danube River Basin municipal water authorities

• On May 7-10, the EMTC Romania (TIMCED) organized the phase 3 of the Management Training for Municipal Authorities in the Danube Basin Program. This project which is financed by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) through UNECIA, focuses on managing municipal water authorities in the most effective manner. The EMTC countries involved in the program are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.