A pioneering multi-country consortium including the Independent University of Bangladesh (IUB), BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health, Bangladesh University of Liberal Arts, Maastricht University in the Netherlands and the University of Heidelberg in Germany, has been awarded the prestigious ERASMUS Capacity Building in Higher Education Fellowship for “Adapting education, skills and sustainability to climate change to advance locally led solutions” – ACCESS4ALL.
The project officially started on November 1, 2023 and is expected to take place over two years. The initiative aims to co-design and co-develop innovative, practice-based short courses on climate change education and green skills to advance contextualized knowledge and locally-led solutions, says a Press release.
K Ayaz Rabbani, PhD, head of IUB’s Department of Environmental Science and Management and the university’s point of contact for the project, said: “ACCESS4ALL seeks to address climate change education and sustainability in Bangladesh to prevent vulnerability to the impacts of climate change due to “The deltaic nature of the country. The project takes a unique approach by harnessing indigenous knowledge and proven techniques of local communities.”
The main activities include field research to identify green skills, organizing field events to engage stakeholders and creating a portal for knowledge dissemination. To engage local communities and raise awareness about climate change, the project plans to organize roundtables and conferences, building on initial discussions held at a pre-project conference at ULAB. The main action should begin on the ground, where real data will be extracted and processed. The expected outcome includes publications, in-depth stakeholder engagements and the creation of a Green Hub – an online portal that will make knowledge on locally led adaptation and green skills accessible.
As the IUB, alongside BRAC, ULAB, Maastricht University and the University of Heidelberg, embarks on the “ACCESS4ALL” project, the consortium of universities continues to play a central role in advancing climate change education, promoting sustainability, and creating locally led projects. solutions to meet the challenges posed by climate change.
This is the third grant received by the IUB Department of Environmental Science and Management in recent years. This achievement follows recent grants from the COLOCAL and RISK-E-SCAPE projects, solidifying IUB’s commitment to advancing research and academic initiatives.
