First day of class for the GRÓ LRT fellows of 2022

We welcomed a new group of fellows to our annual six-month training this morning. This year, the six-month training will run from 14 March to 14 September with 19 participants; 17 arrived over the weekend and we expect the remaining two to join us by next week. The group is the fifteenth cohort of LRT fellows and the first cohort of fellows to participate in the six-month training after it became eligible for ECTS credits. This means that upon successful completion of the training, the fellows receive a Postgraduate Diploma in Ecosystem Restoration and Sustainable Land Management (30 ECTS) from the Agricultural University of Iceland in addition to the GRÓ LRT Certificate of Completion.

The 2022 cohort of fellows come from eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Central-Asia: Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. They are all experts in their respective countries working on issues related to ecosystem restoration and land management. Since the establishment in 2007, 156 working professionals have graduated from the annual six-month training, coming from 65 collaborating institutions in GRÓ LRT partner countries. This year, in partnership with UNESCO, GRÓ LRT expanded its reach and invited two working professionals from UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere (MAB) network to take part in the six-month training: from the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria and the Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust in Malawi.

The GRÓ LRT staff welcomes the fellows and is looking forward to working with them.