The ISA

ISA is a project of the Schutzgemeinschaft Deutscher Wald Lv. Hamburg e.V. (SDW) [The Protective Association for the German Forest] and is located in Hamburg in the WÄLDERHAUS. The goal is to support and strengthen international cooperation in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Available resources and network structures of the SDW can and should be used effectively. In this way, the Academy creates the link between work at the local level and international exchange. In the first instance, the planned project goals should take climate protection and gender equality into consideration.

The scholarship is sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and is aimed at interested parties in emerging countries and economies on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list. The Schutzgemeinschaft Deutscher Wald Landesverband Hamburg e.V. (SDW), as a NUN-certified education center for sustainable development (BNE), heads the ISA which is responsible for the scholarship-holders. The program will be sponsored until the end of 2024. Seven rounds are planned from September 2019 to December 2024.

Aims of the sponsorship

The international transfer of knowledge shall help the 13 scholarship-holders to further develop their existing special fields and/or existing projects in terms of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Of particular importance and given priority are activities in respect of climate protection and gender equality in their home countries. The primary objective is the discernible use in the home country through the continuation of the projects and/or the perspectives, solution approaches and contacts acquired during the course of the scholarship. Their projects must be put into the context of one or more SDGs. The ongoing exchange between the Academy and the scholarship- holders is therefore essential, even after returning home.