Objective 

The 4th Capacity Building Hub’s Open Space Learning Day (OSL) focused on organizations and issues that benefit from significant participant interaction and learning.  The organizations and UNFCCC bodies that presented topics valued shared learning as they inform participants and welcome their ideas.  Topics were explored and refined through group interaction. 

Topics 

The Open Space Learning Day featured three blocks with themes, within which a variety of topics will be explored.  In addition to the scheduled organizations and topics, the three OSL Day blocks include the option of “emergent topics.” An emergent topic is one that is not programmed but emerges from participants in the room.  This is a unique feature of the Open Space approach. 

The scheduled themes and topics are:  

• Theme One Block  – People and Media, with the topics of (1) learning design with stories from the front lines and (2) young climate reporters. 

• Theme Two Block  – Sustainable Cities, with topics of (1) transformative urban coalitions and (2) a virtual capacity building platform for energy systems in cities 

• Theme Three Block – Tools and Applications for Capacity Building, with topics led by (1) the Paris Committee on Capacity Building, (2) the Least Developed Countries Expert Group, and (3) the Adaptation Committee. 

Each Theme Block had three parts: 

Part One: A brief description of the topics featured and proposed emergent topics. 

Part Two: Topic discussions. 

Part Three: Topic group summary reports for all Block participants.  

In each block programmed and emergent topic sessions occur in parallel.  Hub participants were invited to propose a topic (e.g., the role of civil society organizations in building urban capacities). 

The climate crisis, and the negotiations that address it, are understandably complex.  Capacity building, as a multi-faceted cross-cutting issue, is similarly complex.  Capacity building concerns relate to every aspect of the actions needed to confront the climate crisis effectively, including  implementing and strengthening the Paris Agreement. 

Capacity building, though, is not just about substantive matters, whether technical (e.g., climate finance, climate credits, CDMs) or non-technical (human matters such as indigenous knowledge, cultural responsiveness, collaborative governance).  Capacity building is strengthened by improving processes of participation, engagement, decision-making, and implementation.  Open Space Learning Day features an innovative process that can strengthen how stakeholders – parties, observers, media – engage one another.  As a process, it values the three D’s of stakeholder engagement: discovery, dialogue and deliberation as a foundation for climate action.