Training and Capacity Building for a Green Economy

We help to enhance the organizational capability to deliver on its sustainability performance goals at strategic and operational level by building capacity so that the employees understand relevant sustainability issues which are material to the organization and the wider stakeholder community and act to address these issues. We build capacity at all levels in an organization including the board as well as senior, middle and junior management. We also do this in manufacturing enterprises at operator level as well as for the employees of the suppliers and distributors within the ecosystem of the organization.

 

How do we help our clients?

We facilitate the change in the mind-set of company leadership, management and staff to understand, appreciate, adopt and embed the relevant concepts and practices of sustainability and to see the big picture of how this fits in with the overall strategy and goals of the organization. In addition we help to build technical capacity in the organization to design, manage and implement environmental sustainability programmes and measures. We offer three different levels of engagement – Building Awareness and Foundational Knowledge, Structured Training and Capacity Building.

As per United Nations Develop Programme (UNDP), Capacity Building is much more than Training and includes the following:

  • Human resource development, the process of equipping individuals with the understanding, skills and access to information, knowledge and training that enables them to perform effectively.
  • Organizational development, the elaboration of management structures, processes and procedures, not only within organizations but also the management of relationships between the different organizations and sectors (public, private and community).
  • Institutional and legal framework development, making legal and regulatory changes to enable organizations, institutions and agencies at all levels and in all sectors to enhance their capacities.


Training interventions address immediate organizational challenges and needs and learning outcomes are the knowledge, skills and tools needed by company employees in a short period of time. On the other hand, Capacity Building focuses on the long term and is most effective when conceived as an ongoing strategic commitment.

All our trainers and facilitators are cognizant of local culture protocols and gender sensitivity. The three types of engagements and interventions have specific solutions under each:

1.Building Awareness and Foundational Knowledge – These interventions help individuals and organizations understand sustainability in the broader context as well as that of the organization and its business ecosystem. They are also useful to introduce solution frameworks and methodologies, laying the foundation for gaining practical knowledge and skills to address the sustainability challenges. There are several programs available under this engagement. Depending upon the awareness building program chosen, participants will benefit from pre-defined learning outcomes, for example understanding climate change and its implication for business, understanding how resource efficiency can help a business lower operating costs whilst reducing pollution. The programs are mostly short duration ranging from 90 minutes to one day.

2.Structured Training – These are interventions of mostly half day to a week duration depending on the specific training program design. Our training extensively uses case studies developed with our over a decade of practical experience in implementing sustainable business practises across many industries and 10 Asian countries. In addition we use several other learning modes including videos, practical exercises, gamification and experience sharing by industry practitioners. There are several standard programs available under this engagement and they can be customized (content and duration) to suit specific client needs. Depending upon the training program chosen, participants will benefit from learning new knowledge and skills for example design and implementation of energy efficiency programme, development and implementation of an environment management system, reporting sustainability performance using GRI standards.

3.Capacity Building - These are relatively longer term and deeper engagements compared to stand alone training. These may include one or more of following or other  interventions customized and packaged for the specific client

  • Practical learning delivered by our trainers on-site as well as guidance and support provided from off-site over a defined period of time
  • Offsite exposure visits to see best practises
  • Design of new or modification of existing relevant Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
  • Creation of best practice manuals and training guides
  • Developing in house training capability for future using our appropriate Training of Trainers (ToT) programmes


Additionally we also do two very specialized type of engagements:

Assist governments and development institutions to develop and draft policies, schemes and programmes for fostering sustainable consumption and production by promoting resource efficiency which is one of the enablers to create a Green Economy. We assist by providing relevant inputs through our primary and secondary research, conducting stakeholder consultations, conducting cross country comparisons and many other types of measures.  

Help to create personal sustainability plans (PSPs) for all employees in an organization so that they become Ambassadors of Change (AoC) who not only influence their organizations positively but also the extended network of their friends and family. This goes well beyond conventional corporate social responsibility and creates a large community of citizens who personally adopt and promote sustainable consumption habits.  

We have 38 standard Building Awareness and Foundational Knowledge as well as Structured Training programs and these are listed for ready reference in a brochure called CAPACITATOR .We can also develop customized programs as per client needs. We use several frameworks/approaches, methodologies and toolkits in our different engagements. Some examples are:

Whole Person Process Facilitation (WPPF) framework for design and moderation of meetings and workshop to enhance participation and free flow of ideas and to find solutions in the best possible way. The WPPF method is developed by Genuine Contact organization.

Fun Factory - a training set up to support learning by doing, adaptable for staff or operator level trainees. Used for a variety of topics such as energy efficiency, mass flow analysis and chemical waste minimization.

Virtual Factory Toolkit - this digital tool helps factory staff learn about generic resource efficient cleaner production (RECP) potentials across a (typical) factory in a fun and interactive manner. Areas to focus on are identified and simple solutions proposed. Being a visual tool this also helps engage and involve operators.


Examples of our work 

  • In an assignment targeting the garment factories in Myanmar, our team delivered a capacity building package which included 21 days of class room as well as on-field training on implementing Resource Efficient Cleaner Production (RECP) solutions to local consultants over 1 year. These capacity building sessions covered topics like boiler energy efficiency, compressed air assessment system, carbon foot printing amongst others. These trained consultants have then gone on to train more than 80 garment factory staff with our support. 
  • Since 2013, we have been conducting on a quarterly basis, a one day training program on energy management at Maruti Centre of Excellence (MACE) for the tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers of Maruti Suzuki.
  • In early 2021, along with GRI South Asia team we conducted an online knowledge workshop for the suppliers of Mahindra Automotive and Tractors businesses.