News

The GRÓ LRT Cohort 2024
8 March 2024

GRÓ LRT welcomes the cohort of 2024

The 2024 cohort of fellows have started their six-month training with GRÓ LRT at the Agricultrual University of Iceland. The programme, which is running from 1st of March to 27th of August this year consists of 23 working professionals from nine countries in Africa and Asia, 9 women and 14 men.
GRÓ LRT fellows of 2023 at Arnarstapi Snaefellsnes
23 December 2023

Season's Greetings from GRÓ LRT

GRÓ LRT sends you its best wishes for this festive season and wishes you a Happy New Year.
The training course participants and facilitators outside CAMP Alatoo offices in Bishkek
1 December 2023

Short course in Kyrgyzstan on gender, environment and sustainable land management

This week, GRÓ LRT in collaboration with GRÓ GEST, conducted a three-day training course titled "Gender, the Environment, and Sustainable Land Management" in Kyrgyzstan. The course was tailored for the staff of Camp Alatoo Foundation, comprising 16 natural resources management experts.
At Samarkand State University: Dr Muhtor Nadirov, Dr Sjöfn Vilhelmsdóttir, and Dr Toshpulot Rajabov
2 November 2023

GRÓ LRT visit to partners in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan

In October, Dr Sjöfn Vilhelmsdóttir, the Director of GRÓ LRT, travelled to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to visit GRÓ LRT's partner institutions in both countries. The purpose of the visits was to meet with the directors of these partner institutions and interview potential candidates for GRÓ LRT Fellowships to attend the annual six-month training in Iceland. Dr Bryndís Marteinsdóttir from the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland, who is a member of the GRÓ LRT Academic Committee and a key lecturer in the training programme, accompanied Sjöfn on the visit to Uzbekistan.
From right: Mr Allan Abwoga, specialist and project manager in the Department of Land Reclamation (Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation), Ms Mary Nyasimi, project manager at UNESCO,  Mr Christian Berretta, specialist at UNESCO, Ms Esther Musavi, deputy director at the Department of Land Reclamation (Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation), Ms Berglind Orradottir, GRÓ LRT deputy director, Mr Alexandros Makarigakis, director at UNESCO Nairobi, Dr Johann Thorsson, specialst at SCSI, and three interns at UNESCO Nairobi.
11 October 2023

Kenya becomes the newest partner country of GRÓ LRT

GRÓ LRT's Deputy Director, Berglind Orradottir, and Dr Johann Thorsson, a Senior Scientist at the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland, and a member of the GRÓ LRT’s academic committee, embarked on a fact-finding mission to Kenya in September. The primary objective of this visit was to establish connections with government agencies and research institutes actively involved in land restoration and sustainable land management. Their aim was to explore potential avenues for collaboration between these organizations and GRÓ LRT.
Binna Kipandula and Leonard Gondwe with Professor Ása L. Aradóttir who leads the Restoration Ecology MSc programme
13 September 2023

Two former GRÓ LRT fellows start master's studies at AUI

Ms. Binna Kipandula and Mr. Leonard Gondwe, both from Malawi, started their master's studies at the Agricultural University of Iceland in late August, on a scholarship from GRÓ LRT. Following their successful completion of the six-month training programme in Iceland in 2022, they applied to and were granted admission to the newly-established MSc programme in Restoration Ecology at the Agricultural University of Iceland.