{"id":11026,"date":"2026-07-22T15:06:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T07:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/?p=11026"},"modified":"2026-07-22T15:06:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T07:06:38","slug":"student-interns-share-learnings-on-inclusive-climate-governance-in-south-south-virtual-peer-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/2026\/07\/22\/student-interns-share-learnings-on-inclusive-climate-governance-in-south-south-virtual-peer-exchange\/","title":{"rendered":"Student interns share learnings on inclusive climate governance in South-South virtual peer exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"
Student interns of the Enhancing Local Capacities for Socially Inclusive Resilience in Asia (SIRA) Project\u2019s internship programme and staff from ICLEI Southeast Asia and South Asia Secretariats engaged in a virtual peer exchange via Zoom last July 7, 2026.<\/span><\/i><\/h6>\n

Students from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines shared their learnings and experiences as interns of the Enhancing Local Capacities for Socially Inclusive Resilience in Asia (SIRA) Project, in a virtual peer exchange via Zoom last July 7, 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

Funded by UK Aid through the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the International Development Research Centre, Canada through the <\/span>Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CLARE) programme<\/a><\/strong><\/span> and under the implementation of the ICLEI SEA and South Asia (SEA) Secretariats, the <\/span>SIRA Project<\/a><\/strong><\/span> aims to identify and address the immediate capacity needs of local governments in pursuing climate action that is inclusive and sustainable through a systematic and phased capacity strengthening programme anchored on South-South cooperation among four Asian countries: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines.<\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The internship programme of the SIRA Project aims to build the capacities of future professionals in governance, urban planning, and sustainability by providing them with practical experience in urban sustainability, climate mitigation, adaptation, and circular economy through the SIRA Project and its participating local governments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The student interns worked with their assigned local governments and organizations, such as the ICLEI Secretariats, on their projects and programs on climate mitigation, adaptation, and inclusive resilience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The peer exchange aimed to facilitate knowledge sharing and foster connections between interns in the four SIRA Project countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

The student interns each prepared \u201cA Day in the Life\u201d videos, which are short video blogs, to show their day-to-day tasks in the context of their respective assignments.<\/span><\/p>\n

ICLEI SEA and South Asia also facilitated virtual breakout sessions for the interns to talk about how they applied their academic background to real-world, localized municipal challenges, their insights on how these challenges can be addressed, and how their internship experience will help build their expertise.<\/span><\/p>\n

From their breakout groups, the interns shared during the plenary session some common themes and observations from their direct involvement in project and program research, data gathering, planning, implementation, and stakeholder engagement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Interns emphasized the crucial role of local governments in mainstreaming Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) in local government processes\u2014in planning, budgeting, decision-making, and implementation\u2014to ensure the inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable sectors and that local climate policies and projects directly address their concerns and include their perspectives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on the interns\u2019 observations, active participation of vulnerable groups such as women and persons with disabilities (PWDs) in climate adaptation and mitigation efforts is still lacking, facing challenges such as climate-induced migration, food insecurity, and water, sanitation, and hygiene issues. The interns also shared how the internship helped build<\/span> practical skills and field experience, as well as increased empathy and understanding of social challenges through community interaction, which are key social skills in advancing inclusivity at the local level.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Inclusive and participatory approaches to meaningful community collaboration, institutionalization of inclusion mechanisms, integration of GEDSI in different government offices, cross-sector coordination, and intersectional data on vulnerable groups to address interconnected resilience challenges were among the recommendations from the interns.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Student interns of the Enhancing Local Capacities for Socially Inclusive Resilience in Asia (SIRA) Project\u2019s internship programme and staff from ICLEI Southeast Asia and South Asia Secretariats engaged in a virtual peer exchange via Zoom last July 7, 2026. Students from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines shared their learnings and experiences as interns of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":11027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,51],"tags":[2466,2187,2674,2104,703,2664,650,2679,2680,3204],"class_list":["post-11026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-news","category-news","tag-clare-sira-project","tag-enhancing-local-capacities-in-socially-inclusive-resilience-in-asia","tag-inclusive-resilience","tag-interns","tag-internship","tag-peer-exchange","tag-peer-learning","tag-sira-project","tag-socially-inclusive-resilience","tag-socially-inclusive-resilience-in-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11028,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11026\/revisions\/11028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icleiseas.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}