Climate variability has always been a driver of community and environmental dynamics, and the effects of this driving force will be exacerbated by future climate change. Sensitive communities, therefore, must build resilience and adapt to climate change with a solid understanding of the science behind it and the impacts it can have. This begins with the managers of these communities, which are the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs). Climate change will irreversibly change community dynamics in many areas through its various impacts. These impacts include drying, warming, and more frequent and intense extreme events. The ?Climate Change Training and Capacity Building for NGOs and CBOs? and the disabled is geared towards increasing climate change risk awareness of members of NGOs, CBOs, and the disabled community. Importantly, this project seeks to address climate change issues for a markedly vulnerable group- The disabled. In doing so, the project will provide training with both audio-visual and other specially formatted material for the disabled. It will help to summarize the history of climate change already experienced, explain projected changes and likely risks for the vulnerable sub-group, and propose suitable adaptation and mitigation options that can be taken in a timely and effective manner. The major output of the training workshops will be climate-based knowledge products for the disabled and climate change training tools and materials outlining how to carry out similar workshops and the information necessary. This will allow NGOs and CBOs to carry out future training sessions in their communities without the necessity of external drivers. The training can, therefore, be carried out on a much larger scale, with involvement from additional organisations and communities. The Climate Studies Group Mona has been seeking opportunities to meet this need by offering new training opportunities and to also share the latest research and information on Jamaica?s climate. Further one major omission from the initial training was members of the disabled community. The Climate Studies Group recognizes that this group is particularly vulnerable given their lack of portability, reliance on others to advise of climate risks and threats, and their limited response options. The Climate Studies Group has therefore sought to develop a new training programme that will address these hiatuses and wants to take the training to at least one area outside Kingston to maximize participation. Based on consultations held in our continued outreach, there is much interest in and need for this training and for customized material that will cater to the differential needs of the identified community of persons. The climate change training will engage the widest cross-section of stakeholders possible and will teach them about past and future climate change, impacts of climate change on natural and physical resources, vulnerability to climate, and adaptation. It will be conducted in two half-day sessions. This will include interactive exercises on: ? Analysis of past historical climatological data ? Influence of hurricanes on local climate- Potential changes in wind and rainfall as category and path of a hurricane vary ? Building site specific future scenarios of climate trends ? Adaptation decision making- using climate forecasts to distribute monetary resources to hypothetical communities

Given the extent of the area of focus, a likely challenge will be inclusion and coordination of members of all communities. To facilitate this, one part of the training will be held at the University of the West Indies Mona, to allow for a large space and necessary facilities for a large number of participants drawn from different demographics, with also special attention paid to children and the disabled.