Currently VDT provides the following forestry courses and workshops:

Small Scale Sustainable Forestry Courses: Many of these 3-week training courses are conducted in partnership with the Timber Industry Training College in Lae. The VDT portion includes both the theory and practical adoption of small-scale forestry operations. A portion of the time is spent in the field at different VDT village partner projects. While VDT's partnership with TITC is continuing, the new training facility at Kamiali will allow an expansion of these courses; it will also increase the opportunity for more village residents from along the Morobe Coast and other parts of Papua New Guinea to benefit from attendance at such trainings.

Resource Awareness Workshops: These 3-day workshops are conducted in different regions of Papua New Guinea and offer village communities the opportunity to discuss what is happening to the country's forests and consider the question: "What are you doing about it?" These workshops encourage people to share their perspectives and draw on the positive and negative results within communities through out Papua New Guinea. A major objective of the course is for people to consider alternative methods for developing their resources and to support them in taking appropriate actions.

Integral Forestry Courses: These course are offered to the final year forestry students attending The Department of Forestry at the PNG University of Technology (Unitech) and the Bulolo University College. A number of these have already been conducted at VDT's ICAD site at Kamiali, despite the minimal lodging facilities. Now with the combination of the Training Centre and Guest House more of these institutional forestry courses will be conducted here.

Managing For Success - Business Training Course: Starting in June 1996, VDT began offering a new business training course for portable sawmill operators. Both women and men have attended these courses. Among the topics covered are: the nature and purpose of a business; the concepts of value added and income flow; timber production calculations and bookkeeping; understanding de tion and banking; and developing a business code of practise. To date all 4 of the courses provided over the last year have been delivered at the TITC facilities in Lae. However, course are now planned for other locations and this training will be incorporated into the new facilities at Kamiali.

Other Programmes

In addition to the above courses VDT offers a range of workshops, field trainings and advocacy initiatives designed to assist village communities in better managing their resources, improving their quality of life, and developing long term income sources as an alternative to unsustainable development options. Many of these are conducted in partnership with other Papua New Guinean NGOs. The most recent activities falling under this category are:

The Eco-Home Project underway with 12 villages along the Morobe Coast in partnership with ADRA and Habitat for Humanity for the construction of village homes utilising portable sawmill technology.

Assisting the villagers of Bau Village with a Boat Project

Eco-Tourism Courses have now, with the expansion of activities at Kamiali, become a new part of VDT's training activities; intended are general tourism awareness workshops and trainings related to the operation of the new VDT Training Centre and Guest House

The National Botanical Garden Redevelopment Project is a new initiative undertaken by VDT in 1997 because of its implications for enhancing environmental and forestry education to village communities through out Morobe Province.