Shaping waste management education in North Macedonia
This year we had a wonderful opportunity to be a partner to SALAR International in helping them develop training modules on sustainable waste management for municipalities and public utility companies in North Macedonia.
SALAR International (Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions) works globally on the development of well-functioning local and regional administrations. Their capacity needs assessment in North Macedonia had led to the development of a capacity development programme and this is when they found us. In the words of Yama Omari, the project manager at SALAR International: “Our main goal was to develop a structured curriculum framework for a number of training modules created to address capacity gaps in our partner municipalities and their public utility companies.”
The need was not only for content, but for a system that ensures quality, consistency, and sustainability of learning over time.
Our work with SALAR International was focused on two workstreams:
Structuring the content into a coherent and practical curriculum framework;
Strengthening the capacity of local experts to deliver these trainings themselves through our Trainer’s training (based on the Zero Waste Trainer curriculum).
Our educational programme manager Kadri Kalle worked with SALAR International on this collaboration. The curriculum framework consisted of 7 different modules, each focusing on specific aspects of sustainable waste management, from environmental inspection to communications. The modules were developed together with local experts based in North Macedonia, who are now starting to teach these courses. In parallel with the curriculum framework development, the local experts also went through a Trainer’s training, in hybrid training of online sessions and small practice simulations in a physical training setting in Skopje. There they got to test small parts of their trainings on each other, get feedback from the trainer and also get the sense of what it means to be an active learner.
Some comments from the local experts:
“The Trainer’s training was the last element to round up the entire process that would help us better institutionalise the effort through the MLS- established Resource centre.”
Emil Angelov, Team Leader, SALAR International
“Having completed this Trainer’s training, I can confidently say it is essential for anyone looking to bridge the gap between knowing a topic and actually being able to teach it. The expert who delivered the training was able to maintain high-level engagement from all participants, as well as to create a productive environment that led to effective learning.
The agenda was well-structured, moving seamlessly from theory to practice sessions. The real-life scenarios gave me a safe space to fail and adjust the training session during the simulations. I left the training not just with bunch of training materials, but with improved ability to transfer knowledge in a way that will stick with my future learners.”
Martin Nikolikj, Senior Project Coordinator, SALAR International
The final result of the collaboration provided a clear and practical structure that helps translate technical content into deliverable and usable training modules. In particular, the framework brings value by strengthening:
The overall structure and clarity of the training approach;
The way learning is facilitated, making it more interactive and engaging; and
The link between training and practical application in participants’ day-to-day work
Ranya Abdullah, the deputy project manager at SALAR International concludes the outcome of our collaboration with following thoughts:
“A positive and somewhat unexpected aspect was the level of reflection introduced around how people actually learn, not only what they need to learn. This helped shift the discussion from content delivery to facilitation, engagement, and follow-up, which is highly relevant for long-term capacity development.”
If your organisation also has a need in developing training programme, either internal or external use, then we can help you both with curriculum development and capacity building of your trainers.
