About this learning event

With this online course, we aim to strengthen the capacity of officials across the Western Balkans to effectively communicate climate change initiatives and the Green Agenda. We will gather participants from various sectors—communications, public policy, and environmental management—who are responsible for engaging stakeholders and informing the public on climate issues. Participants will explore key challenges and solutions, learning how to design communication strategies that foster public participation and transparency. The course will consist of four webinars, each focusing on a critical aspect of climate communication. Through interactive sessions and practical case studies, participants will learn to enhance their communication efforts and ensure their messages resonate with diverse audiences. They will gain insights into best practices, applicable across sectors such as energy, infrastructure, and agriculture, to promote climate-resilient development.

Tackling issues identified in Green Skills Assessment:

• Limited public participation and weak stakeholder engagement platforms for climate policy decisions.
• Lack of coordination and consistent messaging on climate change and the Green Agenda across institutions.
• Insufficient communication capacities at the national and local levels to effectively inform the public.
• Legal frameworks for public consultations that require better implementation and transparency.
• The need for long-term communication strategies, enhanced by the use of digital tools to increase climate awareness.

Learning objectives

• Identify barriers and opportunities in climate communication within the Western Balkans context.
• Learn to create clear, evidence-based communication strategies that engage stakeholders from various sectors.
• Develop skills to improve public consultations and participation in climate decision-making.
• Gain tools to effectively use digital platforms and media for climate messaging.
• Explore ways to build public trust and promote behavior change through targeted, transparent communication.

• Warm-up webinar
• Webinar 1: Improving stakeholder engagement and public participation 
• Webinar 2: Enhancing coordination and messaging on climate change
• Webinar 3: Building national and local communication capacities
• Webinar 4: Utilizing digital tools and long-term strategies for climate communication

Who should attend

We invite public officials from the Western Balkans and Türkiye:

• involved in the preparation of the Economic Reform Programme (ERP) and structural reforms in the areas of employment and education
• ERP Coordinators and their close team members
• ERP working group members
• officials of IPA units of line ministries, budget and macro-fiscal departments of ministries of finance
• and other public officials. 

This is an upgrade of the course Digital Communication for Public Officials delivered in 2023, so participants of this course are also invited.

Faculty

• Panayiota (Julie) Alevizou, Programme Director for MSc Marketing Management Practice, Sheffield University Management School
• Urška Miklič, Specialist, Partnerships & Communications, CEF

Practical information

• The number of seats available for the webinar is 30.
• The Warm-up webinar will take up to 1h.
• The Webinars will take 2.5 hours, with a 10-minute break. All webinars start at 10:00.
• Participants are required to have a working camera and microphone. Online courses will be highly participatory and organized in smaller groups.
• When registering, please reserve the timeslots for attending all webinars. If you already know that you will not be able to fulfill this, consider leaving the seat to candidates who can comply with this criteria.
• Upon the successful completion of this event, participants attending all webinars will receive a certificate. 
• No participation fee will be charged. 
• The online course will be delivered in English with no translation. 

Partners

This event is delivered as part of the EU-funded multi-beneficiary project “Structural Reforms Better Integrated Within Fiscal Frameworks” (FISR2) implemented by the CEF.