The Blue Capacity Hub

Developing Capacity for Healthy Oceans

By GRID-Arendal

February 22^nd, 2022

View of the landing page of the Blue Capacity Hub. (source: Blue Capacity Hub).

What is the Blue Capacity Hub?

Building capacities is key to enable change. The need for positive change is particularly important in the environmental field due to multiple threats our planet is facing via/due to pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change. The ocean is at the centre of this planetary crisis, where the urgency for sustainable practices in the marine space is immediate.

Capacity development has been one of the pillars of Blue Solutions. The global initiative developed training courses in key topics for Integrated Ocean Management, such as Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), Sustainable Blue Economy (SBE) and Blue Leadership. These courses were implemented in different countries and regions of the world, supporting partners in their path to achieve healthy oceans for sustainable development.

The Blue Capacity Hub is a legacy of Blue Solutions and was created to enable and facilitate the use of its open-source training courses over time. These trainings aim to enhance the capacities of decision makers and practitioners to overcome competing economic interests and uncoordinated sectoral approaches in the marine space. The courses complement each other, training both hard and soft skills in the following topics:

Blue Planning In Practice

The Blue Planning in Practice (BPiP) course introduces the theory and practical starting points of Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning with the aim to strengthen ecosystem-based ocean planning and management. Since its launch in 2017, BPiP has been conducted with great success by various organisations in over 25 countries and regions worldwide, such as Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mozambique, Myanmar, South East Asia (COBSEA region) and Senegal.

The Sustainable Blue Economy

The Sustainable Blue Economy training provides concepts, frameworks, tools and guidance to support partner countries on their pathway towards a Sustainable Blue Economy, an ocean-based economy which enhances wellbeing, prosperity and social equity; while protecting, regenerating and maintaining the integrity of the environment. This training was developed in 2021 and has already travelled to 3 continents virtually: Namibia, the COBSEA region and Costa Rica..

The Blue Leadership Journey

The Blue Leadership Journey supports change agents to develop individual and collective leadership skills, deal with challenges and act in complex situations to facilitate meaningful change in systems. With this training, ocean leaders find their own answers to these matters. The Blue Leadership training was created in 2020/21 and has been conducted in hybrid and virtual settings in Namibia, with a global cohort of Blue Leaders, and the Blue Solutions team.

Session with Ocean Leaders who inspired the concept of the Blue Leadership training in September 2021 (source: Blue Solutions)

All three trainings are characterised by highly participatory learning methods which convey theory with practical exercises and reflection. Top experts in each of the topics have contributed to the development of the courses, providing sound technical knowledge. The modular structure of the courses makes them easily adaptable to different geographical contexts. The trainings can be conducted both in person, online and hybrid formats. The content is available in 4 languages: English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

A pool of trainers with broad experience in conducting these courses is also available throughout the world. They can facilitate and adapt the trainings to diverse capacity needs and contexts. These blue trainings and trainers are willing to continue raising capacities to sail the stormy seas, navigating through the challenges and complex systems of our blue world.

We invite you to make use of these cutting-edge training approaches in your own context. Visit www.bluecapacityhub.info/ and get in touch with us at info@bluecapacityhub.info

Footnotes

The Capacity Development Hub was created by the Blue Solutions Initiative. Blue Solutions was implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), GRID-Arendal, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) of Germany.