GRÓ Annual Report 2024 published
The year 2024 was an active and productive one for GRÓ – Centre for Capacity Development, Sustainability and Societal Change – and the four training programmes focusing on fisheries, gender equality, geothermal energy and land restoration. A total of 97 specialists graduated from the five to six-month training in 2024, bringing the total number of GRÓ alumni to 1,767. Seven GRÓ scholarship recipients graduated, two with a PhD and 5 with a Master’s degree. In addition, several short courses were held in the partner countries, and a new online course was launched.
These and other activities of the year are featured in the GRÓ Annual Report 2024, which provides an overview of the main activities of the four GRÓ training programmes and the main priorities of the GRÓ Centre over the past year. GRÓ operates under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
“Since their inception the GRÓ programmes have been an integral part of Iceland’s international development cooperation efforts. Their roots go back to the late 1970s, when Iceland had only recently transitioned from being a recipient of development assistance to taking its first steps as a donor and a partner. Just over a century ago Iceland was one of Europe’s poorest countries, mostly reliant on small-scale farming and fishing. Today, it ranks among the world’s most prosperous nations, scoring consistently high in global indices that measure economic and social well-being and gender equality. The themes of the four GRÓ training programmes are not only within sectors where Iceland has long-standing and recognised expertise; those sectors are also among the very foundations upon which Iceland’s development was built. It is therefore fitting that the professionals trained through these programmes have become catalysts for progress in their own countries,” says Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The report includes a specific annex detailing the activities of each GRÓ Training Programme, as well as an annex with examples of impact and success stories highlighting achievements of GRÓ alumni and how they have applied their training to the benefit of their home countries. Information on GRÓ’s activities in 2024 is presented in GRÓ’s results framework providing a holistic overview of the scope of operations.
Among GRÓ’s key initiatives in 2024 was the development of a strategy to enhance the support to GRÓ alumni and to encourage the formation of alumni associations in the fellows’ home countries. These networks aim to foster peer learning, facilitate knowledge sharing and strengthen links between GRÓ alumni, Icelandic embassies in partner countries, and UNESCO.
An extensive independent external evaluation, commissioned by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and carried out in 2024 by the consultancy firm GOPA, confirmed the effectiveness of the work of the four GRÓ training programmes. Covering the period 2018–2023, the review concluded that the GRÓ programmes are highly relevant and fully aligned with Iceland’s international development cooperation policies and strategic goals.