Jump to the content
- {{#headlines}}
- {{title}} {{/headlines}}
The International Climate Protection Fellowship Programme (ICP) promotes Germany’s bilateral cooperation with developing countries and emerging economies in the field of climate protection and biodiversity conservation whilst also contributing to the International Climate Protection Initiative. This is the conclusion drawn by the Center for Evaluation (CEval, Saarbrücken) that evaluated the International Climate Protection Fellowship Programme on behalf of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The aim of the evaluation was to reflect on the course of the programme to date and comment on the achievement of programme goals.
The evaluation showed that with regard to their skills (such as commitment, willingness to cooperate and specialist competence), overall very good fellows have been selected. When ICP sponsorship comes to an end, fellows work in occupations that demonstrate that the programme has reached future decision-makers in science-related and climate-related fields. The aim of imparting knowledge, methods and techniques in the area of climate protection and climate-related resource conservation as well as adaptation to climate change has been achieved. The programme has been successful in building contacts and collaborations between German and international experts. Moreover, many former fellows have participated in climate-related negotiations and consultations in their own countries. The evaluation also reveals that, in their current professional positions, former fellows are influential in solving developmental problems in their countries of origin.
Forty-eight percent of those sponsored are women. Most fellows come from Africa (Sub Sahara) and Asia, relatively few from South America. There is a great breadth of topics in the projects conducted in Germany. At the time of the survey, approx. 73 percent of former fellows had returned to emerging economies and developing countries. Post sponsorship, the majority works in an international environment related to climate protection/adaptation.
In the context of this evaluation, qualitative and quantitative methods were used: all the fellows in the seven sponsorship cohorts from 2010 to 2016 and their German hosts (just short of 100 individuals respectively) were surveyed on their experiences of the programme online. In addition, nearly 30 interviews were held with stakeholders such as representatives of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the selection committee, the Humboldt Foundation’s programme managers, the organisations in the fellows’ own countries, climate experts, selected alumni and their academic hosts in Germany.