Following the successful completion of the first national workshop in Colombia, organization is now fully underway for the next EMPOANDES Co-creation Workshop in Ecuador, scheduled to take place on July 15 and 16, 2026. The event will be co-organized by the International Research Center on El Niño (CIIFEN) alongside the project's Ecuadorian partners: Universidad Central del Ecuador (UCE), Universidad de Investigación de Tecnología Experimental Yachay (Yachay Tech), Universidad de las Américas (UDLA), and the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (INAMHI).
Under the framework of the EMPOANDES project—co-funded by the European Union's Erasmus+ program—this workshop in Quito aims to design a proposal for an educational strategy to strengthen capacities and train technical experts in the provision of climate services in Ecuador. The strategy is designed to align with the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), focusing on five key competencies: data management, climate products, forecasting and modeling, quality assurance, and communication.
On the first day (July 15), the focus will be on sharing and receiving feedback on the national educational diagnostic report for Ecuador, which was structured based on mapping current academic offerings and surveying key stakeholders. The second day (July 16) will center on the co-creation of the educational strategy draft and defining a roadmap with short-, medium-, and long-term targets, establishing a continuous learning community in climate services.
As the leader of Work Package 2 (WP2) 'Needs Assessment and Co-creation', CIIFEN is coordinating this effort together with all Ecuadorian partners. Following the productive experience in Bogotá, this workshop will strengthen regional collaboration and pave the way for future academic courses (undergraduate, postgraduate, and professional training) to improve climate adaptation across the Andean region.