Alumni

The seminars cover themes that are of direct relevance and importance to the region and the participants.

The immediate objectives of the refresher seminars include:

• Facilitating exchanges of experiences between alumni from different countries facing similar issues and problems in their professional capacities;
• Enhancing and strengthening relationships among these alumni, and between them and UNESCO-IHE;
• Adapting and improving the approaches and contents of courses held at UNESCO-IHE on the basis of the experiences and practices of professionals working in developing countries; and
• Exploring opportunities for establishing and strengthening local and regional knowledge centres that are part of regional and global networks for capacity building in the water, environment and infrastructure sectors.

The refresher seminars, which are typically one to two weeks long, consist of interactive lectures, role-plays, group discussions, field trips, excursions, social events, country presentations by participants, and a final ceremony where certificates of attendance are awarded.

2011 Refresher Seminars

1. Application deadline closed. Cochabamba, Bolivia, 19 - 24 September: Small Water Supply and Sanitation: Serving the disadvantaged communities in semi-urban and rural areas in developing countries
2. Application deadline closed. Lusaka, Zambia, 25 September - 4 October: Serving More With Less: The challenge of sustainably managing African water supply and sanitation assets of the 21st century
3. Deadline extended for female applicants. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 6 – 16 November: Decision Support Systems in River Basin Management
4. Deadline extended for female applicants. Maputo, Mozambique, 14- 18 November: Management of Climate Change related risks in coastal lowlands: Balancing water allocations for food, people and environment

Application Procedure (the Ethiopia and Mozambique application deadlines have been extended for female applicants)

• Select the refresher seminar you would like to enroll (the seminars are listed below).
• Once you have chosen your preferred seminar, access the online application form through the ‘click here to apply for this course’ link on that seminar’s web page.
• Fill out the form.
• By selecting 'scholarship' in the question 'how do you intend to pay for the course', you will automatically apply for a NFP fellowship, UNESCO-IHE will handle this.
• Submit your information. UNESCO-IHE will now receive your information digitally and you will receive an automated e-mail message confirming your application and listing all your submitted information.
• UNESCO-IHE will notify you by e-mail two weeks after the application deadline to let you know whether or not your application has been accepted and in case you applied for a fellowship, whether or not you are awarded a fellowship.
• The deadlines for applications for the Ethiopia and Mozambique Refresher Seminars have been extended to August 21st, 2011.

NFP Fellowships for Refresher Seminars

The Netherlands Government has made full fellowships for a maximum of 20 participants available for each refresher seminar.

These fellowships include:

• air travel (economy class) from the nearest international airport in the candidate’s home country to the refresher seminar country and vice versa,
• transfer from the airport to hotel and vice versa. No other travel costs are refunded,
• accommodation, including meals, for the duration of the seminar, up to a maximum of 15 days in total, depending on the date of arrival in and departure from the hosting country,
• direct visa costs (no related costs, such as travel costs to the Embassy or hotel stay are refunded)

Please take note that you can only register for one seminar.

Fellowship Eligibility

At this moment, you can only apply for a fellowship only if you fit the following criteria. You:

• are female, and
• work and live in Sub Saharan Africa (for the Mozambique Refresher Seminar) or countries within the Nile Basin (for the Ethiopia Refresher Seminar), and
• received your Postgraduate Diploma course, Master of Engineering, Master of Science or PhD degree at UNESCO-IHE, and
• graduated before or in 2009, and
• studied on an NFP fellowship, and
• have not attended any UNESCO-IHE refresher seminar or UNESCO-IHE short course on an NFP fellowship since 31 December 2008, and
• if your application is endorsed by your employer.

By selecting 'scholarship' in the question 'how do you intend to pay for the course' in the application form, you will automatically apply for a NFP fellowship so no further action from your side is required.

Self paying participants

The seminar is open to a limited number of self-paying participants who have the necessary background and work experience, and who are not necessarily alumni. The tuition fee for the seminar is Euro 200, to be paid in advance. This tuition fee covers registration, tuition, and fieldtrips (when applicable), all other costs such as meals, hotel and travel costs are borne by the participant.

More details can be provided upon request.

Refresher Seminars 2011