The training, jointly organized with the GEF LME:LEARN Project, will be intended for professionals (project managers, chief technical advisors or project staff) responsible for planning and management of coastal and marine areas from Philippines, Laos, Samoa, Fiji, Vietnam, Cambodia and Sierra Leona.

All participants were invited to undertake a 4-week online course as a prerequisite to attend the face-to-face training. Participants dedicated at least 2 hours per week to go through the prescribed content and short quiz.

The training will cover:

• Understanding of what Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is about, what benefits it can have, and what results you can expect;
• A presentation of the basic steps of MSP processes, actors and responsibilities, legislation and finances needed, and MSP tools and techniques, with a special emphasis on Large Marine Ecosystems and transboundary and cross-border contexts for MSP;
• Awareness of what has worked and what has not in MSP practice around the world;
• Increased collective capacity to respond to change and challenges in coastal and marine environments and find practical and sustainable solutions to marine resource use through Marine Spatial Planning and Sustainable Blue Economy in the transboundary context of Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs).

By the end of the course (online and face-to-face), participants will be supposed to:

• Have a broad understanding of the key elements that constitute MSP at national and LME/transboundary scale, and be able to relate these to the organizations and countries in which they work;
• Understand the relevance of MSP as a topic for coastal and marine development and management;
• Be able to balance interests of different stakeholders on the basis of clear and transparent criteria;
• Be able to start applying MSP in their own specific legal, governance and administrative contexts.

In the context of MSPglobal and with the support of the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the MSP Challenge game will be used with all participants.