The Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) organizes trainings and courses to improve the capacity of NGOs in developing countries. The International Training Programme (ITP) organizes these trainings in Sweden as well as different parts of the developing world to strenthen participants for bringing about change in their organizations and sectors. Participants from low and middle income countries can apply to participate in these trainings. SIDA provides full and partial support to selected participants so that they can benefit from the ITP.
The programmes cover areas of strategic importance to the social, environmental and economic development of co-operating countries and are based on identified priorities and needs. In the long-term perspective, the programmes shall contribute to institutional strengthening and capacity development in the co-operating countries.
Commissioned by Sida, the training programmes are organised by Swedish public authorities, universities, private companies and NGOs.
In most cases, the programmes starts with a 3-4 weeks training in Sweden. The participants review and get started with their plans for change supervised by skilled Swedish colleagues and experts in a mixture of lectures, workshops, process oriented work and study visits. Six months later a follow-up meeting takes place in one of the participating countries. Exchange of experiences and lessons learned concerning implementation of the plans for change dominates this phase that concludes the training programme. Support from the programme organisers are given during the entire programme period.
In many programmes, the participants form networks in order to keep contact after the training has been concluded. These networks can be both global, regional and/or national and also include participants for every year the programme is open.
Following are some of the upcoming trainings under the ITP:
- Training Programme on ‘Child Rights, Classroom and School Management’
- Training Programme on ‘Copyright and Related Rights in the Global Economy’
- Training Programme on ‘Genetic Resources and Intellectual Property Rights’
- Training Programme on ‘UN Resolution 1325: Women, Peace and Security
- Training Programme on ‘Efficient Energy Use and Planning
- Training Programme on ‘Intellectual Property for Least Developed Countries
