Learning with BNHR

A data-driven approach to success

BNHR’s brand is a data-driven approach to learning.

The foundations of our capacity building activities are the Data Literacy Activity Matrix and the Two-Phase Training Model—both of which are built on the collective experience of data practitioners across the globe.

The Data Literacy Activity Matrix

The Data Literacy Activity Matrix allows us to think critically and assess the effectiveness and added value of various learning activities in relation to your organization’s time commitment and specific goals.

Time	Objective	Activities
A few days	Awareness raising and community building	Meetup, Seminar, Short tutorials, Workshop
1 week to a few months	Skill building	Lectures from experts, Short training, Bootcamp, Mentoring, Hands-on project
Several months to a year	Support for skill building	University/online course, Training series, Coaching and mentoring, Data project
Extends beyond a year	Direct impact	Communities of practice, Coaching and mentoring, Long-term data project

Important

Not all learning activities and interventions are created equal and they should not be treated as such.

The Two-Phase Training Model

As much as possible, BNHR utilizes a Two-Phase Training Model to address the challenge of building skills for individuals and organizations who find that traditional short-term training programs lack relevance to their day-to-day work while longer programs are difficult to enroll in due to work and time constraints.

This novel model adapted by BNHR adds a mentoring and project expedition component at the end of the training resulting in more skills-based and outcome-oriented learning experiences.

This format also addresses two challenges common to training programmes:

1. Attending training does not translate easily into actionable skills: participants often leave frustrated because the time constraints of a traditional training leaves them unable to digest what they have learned.
2. Remote and short-term training activities make it difficult to support participants who are lagging behind: the mentoring can be a place for participants to get additional explanations on topics they had trouble to follow.

Exercise-driven and outcome-oriented

We always set aside the last day or half-day of our in-person training for participants to work on relevant projects with our help and mentorship.

Pre-training activities

Prior to the training, several pre-training activities are conducted to ensure that the training runs smoothly and that the expectations of the trainer and participants are met. This includes:

• A pre-training survey and quiz to gauge participants’ backgrounds, skill level, and expectations.
• Development of a detailed training agenda and tailored content in the case of custom training courses.
• Early access to training materials, available at least one week prior to the training, so participants can review them beforehand.
• Optional online pre-training sessions and post-training sessions—when needed—to help participants download and install any required applications/data or to clarify topics from the training.

There is no cookie-cutter training

Training participants will always vary from training-to-training. This is why we use pre-training activities to generate data that will inform our team how to create the best learning environment for a group of participants so that we can avoid the scenario where participants leave the event feeling frustrated and displeased because they did not gain or learn anything of value to them after the training. By having a pre-training assessment, we are able to identify what’s valuable for a participant by knowing their backgrounds, needs, skills, and motivations for learning.

Live training

The live training includes in-person or virtual training sessions where trainers will deliver the learning content and guide participants through exercises and activities to learn the concepts, build skills, and apply their knowledge.

Each live training session lasts three to four hours and a full training course is composed of one or more training sessions. Training sessions include lectures, hands-on exercises, discussion sessions, data expeditions, or follow-up sessions.

Mentoring/project expedition

The mentoring/project expedition allows the participants to directly apply what they learned from the live training in simple projects that are relevant to their day-to-day work with the support and guidance of the trainer. Examples of possible projects include: creating maps (e.g. hazard, risk, thematic maps), doing geospatial processing and analysis, and creating models for automation.

For in-person training, we reserve the last day or half-day of the training for the mentoring/project expedition.

For remote training, we may opt to have a staggered remote mentoring phase over the course of 4 weeks with weekly catch-ups and mentoring sessions.

BNHR Certificates of Completion and Attendance

Participants who complete the course requirements are issued a certificate of completion from BNHR while those who do not are given a certificate of attendance.

Official QGIS Certification

BNHR is a QGIS certifying organization and is able to provide official QGIS certificates with unique identifiers that are verifiable online at https://changelog.qgis.org/en/qgis/certificate/.