Education and Training

Capacity building of national institutions in the use of GIS technology and applications has been a priority area for ICIMOD since the inception of its MENRIS programme in the early 1990s. Recently, the unprecedented growth and convergence of GIS, GPS, Earth observation, and Internet technologies have dramatically increased the application areas. It is an equally challenging task to transfer these new technologies to end users for operational purposes. The user-base includes a diverse cross section of thematic experts, including foresters, urban planners, economists, agriculturalists, senior managers, technical personnel, computer specialists, and the general public. ICIMOD has designed customised training courses and conducted training in different thematic areas in response to the needs of different audiences in the region. These courses range from sessions of a few days (awareness training targeted to senior managers and policy makers), to much longer on-the-job training sessions. The courses are designed using a modular approach, keeping in view the needs of diverse groups of participants. The use of local datasets with practical applications, extensive hands-on exercises, and field visits provide participants with a feeling of working on real projects, and build their confidence to work independently on problems after completing the training.