Activities (overview)

Release date	28/02/2006

Since 1999 the following training courses have been organised for the partner countries:

Basic CHM web master training courses
Follow up after the training
Regional training courses
National training course
Future activities

Basic CHM web master training course

See the page on Webmaster training in Belgium

Follow up after the training

The training does not stop after the participants return to their country. Examples of follow-up to the training are:

• When an update is made for the partner web site the pages will be checked on consistency, structure etc. by the Be-trainers. A report will be sent to the partner on changes made to the updates. This report also contains advise on how to proceed and how to improve the pages.
• The Belgian trainers also do a follow up training in the partner country. This is normally a three to four day visit to the partner country, and if possible, combined with meetings with the existing and possible partners of the national CHMs. To raise awareness on the functioning of the national CHM meetings will also take place with policy makers. If time permits the trainer will assist in a meeting of the steering committee of the partner CHM and give presentations on the CHM and the Belgian partnership initiative.
• During international meetings of the CDB the Be-nfp will organise a meeting of representatives of the partner countries to discuss the partnership and exchange experiences.
• A regional Workshop for ex trainees has been organised in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, December 2003. This Workshop has been a collaboration with the nfp of Burkina Faso and the Secretariat to the CBD.

Regional training courses

See the page on 'Regional training'.

National training course

On the demand of partner countries the Be trainers can participate in a national training course. The partner country needs to ensure the funding  to organise the course before inviting the Be-CHM to give the training. If possible the Be-CM will consider with the partner country to invite other countries, on funding privided by Belgium, to participate in such a national training.

The training organised  in the Comoros in  2005, is a good example of the above. However due to unforeseen circomstances the training became again a national training of one week.

Future activities

New partner countries:

The Be-CHM, in collaboration with DGDC, has opted to strengthen the existing partnerships with the current partner countries and regional initiatives through advanced training of the ex-trainees, regional training and Public Awareness activities. New CHM partnerships with other countries will only be possible with countries that are on the list of priority countries of the DGDC.

Basic CHM webmaster training:

In some countries ex-trainees have taken on other duties or left their service for other reasons. This does not mean that their knowledge is lost. The ex-trainee is some times still active for the national CHM or has been able to train a successor. If this is not the case an other person can be trained in Belgium, however the national focal point needs to guarantee that this second person will stay on duty for at least three years. There will be one basic training per year.

Advanced training:

With the developments in the Internet one needs to stay up to date to improve the exchange of information. The Belgian CHM with 10 other European parties, as well as Colombia, Guatemala and RAC/SPA have opted to start using a tool developed for the EC-CHM. This tool has been in use for some years and the second version is the result of an intense collaboration between European parties. The Belgian CHM will offer a training for existing partner countries that are interested to migrate to this tool. This training will be a two week training session in Belgium for ex-trainees that are active.
With the implementation of the knowledge gained during earlier training sessions on developing a national CHM, the different national focal points have expressed their interest in a follow-up training on other subjects related to information exchange. In the coming months an inventory will be made on the type of advance training that is requested. Based on the results of this inventory a curricula will be established for future training possibilities.

Hosting of CHM sites:

Some of the partner countries have expressed their desire to migrate their CHM site to a national server and to maintain a mirror site on the Be-CHM server. The Be-CHM promotes this as it is a sign that partner countries have developed their capacities since the start of the partnership.

However since the use of the PTK for the CHM sites this stategy as changed as national hosting of a CHM website based on Zope requires more human resources than a normal website. European countries that are using the PTK have their sites hosted on the EC CHM server. The Be-CHM will continu to host the sites of the partner countries and organise training in order to facilitate the migration of the partner sites to the PTK. Countries that will not use the PTK can still host their sites on the Be-CHM server but no technical support or training will be provided.