By Esra NURJA and Evert WAETERLOOS, Enabel Mozambique

Mozambique is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change (UNHCR, 2022). In recent years, the country suffered from more frequent and intense extreme weather events such as cyclones, tropical storms and floods. It is against this background that Enabel supports Mozambique in the promotion of sustainable access to renewable energy. As part of this support, Enabel responded to the lack of information dissemination within the different government institutions at central and provincial level, by promoting a Training of Trainer (ToT) methodology within the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (MIREME) and the Energy Regulatory Authority (ARENE). A ToT approach is effective in transferring both technical knowledge and pedagogical competencies to the trainers and trainees. This has the advantage of creating a "cascade effect" of new trainers forming other trainers. An Enabel Junior Expert was assigned to the elaboration and roll-out of such a ToT approach. The priority topics identified to introduce this methodology within MIREME and ARENE were: gender mainstreaming in the promotion of sustainable access to energy, energy data collection and management, and renewable energy technologies.

The ToT around gender mainstreaming has been developed and fully implemented. In other words, a ToT manual has been created and 23 Gender Focal Points (GFPs) from different government institutions at central and provincial level, were trained as gender trainers. Three training sessions were organised in 2022; one within the National Institute of Irrigation (INIR), one within the Department of Planification and Cooperation of MIREME, and one in the province of Gaza, within the Provincial Infrastructure Service (SPI).

The two other ToTs, around energy data collection and management and renewable energy technologies, were developed but could not be implemented. This means that the training manuals are largely finalised, but have yet to be approved, so no training sessions could be held. This is mainly due to institutional and time constraints, such as difficulties in receiving official data and feedback.

This project has brought many lessons learned that can be resumed as follows: first, defining a proper baseline for each target group of trainees is important to better assess their current level of knowledge, and respond more effectively to it. Having mixed target groups is also important to ensure that information reaches end-users more directly. For example, in the case of the ToT around gender mainstreaming, not only training GFPs, but also community leaders may result in a wider and more direct outreach. Secondly, creating a working group is important to facilitate ownership and receive frequent input from the partner institutions. This working group can also help avoid institutional constraints if needed. Therefore, it is important to choose the right people, able to provide frequent and relevant information, and access to relevant contacts. Finally, fostering all kinds of collaboration between different institutions, Enabel projects, national and international junior experts, allows for broader and deeper results, as this stimulates a wider sharing of knowledge and good practices. In this project, two government institutions, part of another Enabel's intervention in Mozambique (RERD2), have benefited from this ToT project by participating in the training sessions, as well as developing and implementing their own training action plan within their institutions, under the supervision of the Enabel Junior Expert. It must be noted, though, that this kind of project can only be successful if sufficient financial and operational resources are allocated.

These lessons learned can be used for the improvement of future ToTs, which are foreseen in the new 5-year cooperation portfolio of Belgium with Mozambique.
 
The full capitalisation report can be accessed here:
 https://www.enabel.be/app/uploads/2023/05/Capitalisation-report-on-training-of-trainers-approach-in-the-renewable-energy-sector-in-Mozambique.pdf

Picture 1. Armindo Culeco (INIR) giving a training session to his colleagues of INIR, November 2022. Photo credits: Esra Nurja (Junior Expert at Enabel)