19 March 2013: The Ministry of Economic Planning and Development (MoEPD) and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Management (MoECCM) of Malawi co-organized a workshop in the framework of the national UN CC:Learn Project, to review and validate this country’s National Climate Change Learning Strategy.

The workshop, which took place on 19 March 2013, in Lilongwe, Malawi, brought together participants from different Government sectors, education and training institutions, civil society, and development partners, to define strategic priority areas and actions to strengthen climate change learning in Malawi.

The UN CC:Learn Project in Malawi is part of the National Climate Change Programme (NCCP). It seeks to mainstream climate change issues in the national development agenda through multi-sectoral coordination. Yona Kamphale, Director of Economic Planning, MoEPD, noted that the goal of the Strategy is to ensure that by 2030, Malawi disposes of a functioning education and training system that responds to the challenges posed by climate change.

Participants also agreed that the Strategy will be implemented in the framework of the NCCP, with the MoECCM as the coordinating agency, and noted the need to create linkages with the Climate Change Investment Plan currently under development. In closing, participants stressed that the final draft strategy document would available mid-April, with an official launch of the final document planned for May 2013.

UN CC:Learn is a partnership of 33 multilateral organizations which supports member States in designing and implementing results-oriented and sustainable learning to address climate change. UNITAR serves as the Secretariat for UN CC:Learn. [UN CC:Learn Press Release]