The delegation of the UEH-CELG participated in an international training Workshop on Building Macrofinance Capacity in Government and Universities to Better Manage Climate Change in Kenya

05 Apr, 2023

From March 27th, 2023 to March 31st, 2023, World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Resilience and Adaptation Mainstreaming Program (RAMP) hosted its first University Network workshop in Nairobi, Kenya from March 27th through March 31st in collaboration with the Centre for Sustainable Finance at SOAS, University of London (SOAS). RAMP seeks to leverage and improve the expertise and teaching capacity of local universities through its University Network to build the capacity of governments to manage climate-related risks. RAMP’s University Network convened and trained 53 faculty from across nine countries to deliver four new graduate-level course curricula related to climate adaptation, resilience, and finance. This core curriculum was developed through RAMP’s University Network in collaboration with academics and technical partners from across the Global North and South, including Bangladesh, Uganda, United Kingdom, and Vietnam. This event also formed an initial network with more than 50 experts from universities, research institutes and international organizations from 11 countries around the world, including Bangladesh, Jamaica, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, USA, UK and Vietnam.

RAMP’s delivery model is unique: RAMP partners with leading institutions of higher education and research to support governments in a sustainable and context-specific manner. RAMP recognizes that leveraging the relationships between local universities and their government counterparts built over decades is crucial for sustainably building the capacity of countries to better align economic development with climate-related risks. This triangular approach differentiates RAMP from traditional technical assistance programs that often overlook the talent and expertise countries already rely on, ultimately failing to deliver longer term change.

In Vietnam, the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City is a founding member of the University Network, and is the only representative of Vietnam to sign the Memorandum of Understanding with this network at the end of 2022. The training course chair includes the following members: Dr. Carter Brandon - World Resources Institute (Former Chief Global Economist of the World Bank); Professor Ulrich Volz - SOAS; Dr. Harald Heubaum - SOAS. Members of the delegation include Assoc.Prof.Dr. Bui Thi Mai Hoai (Dean of the Institute of Sustainable Finance); Dr. Ho Quoc Thong (Lecturer of the Faculty of Economics); Dr. Tran My Minh Chau (The Economy and Environment Partnership of Southeast Asia); Dr. Pham Thai Binh, Accsoc.Prof.Dr. Dang Van Cuong, Dr. Tran Trung Kien (Lecturers of the Faculty of Public Finance), MSc. Dang Thi Bach Van (Head of Administration Office of CELG, Lecturer of Faculty of Public Finance).

Figure 1: CELG-UEH team and members of the Organizing Committee of the training course

Figure 2: CELG-UEH team participating in training in Kenya

Participating in the training course is especially important for UEH-CELG. Accordingly, the trained lecturers are expected to have a better capacity to support public sector organizations in Vietnam, support the government in the next steps of the roadmap, and strengthen adaptive capacity and resilience to increasingly severe climate change. Besides, the delegation of UEH-CELG also actively contributed ideas on the upcoming orientation and plans of RAMP together with the University Network. The comments focused on the proposal to organize capacity building training courses for lecturers and government officials, maintain and develop collaborative relationships among network members through research projects, support and jointly develop training programs, develop programs to support students and researchers on climate finance and related topics, and promote the introduction of research output into policy making.

Figure 3: Presentation by Dr. Carter Brandon – World Resources Institute

Figure 4: Discussion of issues

At the course, each lecturer of UEH-CELG was optional to participate in 02 out of 04 training topics:

(1) Adaptation Finance

Reporters: Gaia Larsen and Carter Brandon - World Resources Institute ;

(2) Understanding Climate-Related MacroFinancial Risks (Understanding Climate-Related MacroFinancial Risks);

Reporter: Yannis Dafermos - SOAS

(3) Climate-related public finance and budgeting (Climate budgeting and public financial management);

Reporter: Shanaz Broermann - CABRI

(4) Disaster Risk Finance (Disaster Risk Finance).

Reporter: Emily Montier - Consutant / Ulrich Volz - SOAS

Each topic consisted of an average of 05-10 lectures, lasting 02 working days/topic. In addition, the project incorporated some research showcases. In particular, the faculty team of UEH-CELG had a round table session with Professor Ulrich Volz - SOAS on further activities that will develop in the nearest future in Vietnam.

Figure 5: Information exchange between CELG-UEH members during the training session

The organizers have expected each member participating in the training course to maximize their capacity in developing lectures (new lectures or integrated into lectures of existing training programs) aimed at fostering and improving adaptive capacity, reducing risks of climate change, improving the ability to make effective budgets, etc. Participants in the training course will also play an important role in operating and developing the network, encouraging young teams to actively contribute to the network's effective development through lectures, training programs, quality research. In particular, this team will become the core force of upcoming training courses to meet the needs of governments for building and enhancing climate change mitigation and adaptation capacity.

Figure 6: Dr. Harald Heubaum – SOAS presents the work of the University Network on Climate Finance

The training course has took place with high productivity, the UEH-CELG delegation affirmed their important role in introducing UEH's image, professional capacity and efforts to connect with international partners in increasing internationalization of UEH. In addition, the UEH-CELG delegation has highly appreciated the contents equipped in this training course.

Some pictures from the course