| Session Title: Building Capacity for Planning, Monitoring, Evaluating, and Learning among Conservation Leaders |
| Multipaper Session 563 to be held in Baltimore Theater on Friday, November 9, 10:20 AM to 11:05 AM |
| Sponsored by the Presidential Strand and the Environmental Program Evaluation TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Vinaya Swaminathan, Foundations of Success, vinaya@fosonline.org |
| Abstract: Historically, the biodiversity conservation community has placed limited emphasis on program evaluation and, thus has been unable to provide evidence of the effectiveness of their actions and to learn from their experiences. Recently, however, there has been a growing interest in program evaluation and an explicit desire to use monitoring and evaluation to learn about, adapt and improve conservation actions. The session presenters have been directly involved in helping generate the capacity to do just that among conservation leaders worldwide. This session will highlight our experiences with two different audiences - on-the-ground conservation managers and university students (a group we term "tomorrow's leaders"). We see these as two key audiences for promoting a learning culture that encourages critical examination of successes and failures to uncover the reasons behind them. This session will focus on the process we have used and the achievements and challenges of these two groups. |
| Developing Monitoring, Evaluation, and Programmatic Learning Skills in Conservation Project Managers: How the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) is Institutionalizing Adaptive Management |
| Caroline Stem, Foundations of Success, caroline@fosonline.org |
| Marcia Brown, Foundations of Success, marcia@fosonline.org |
| Guillermo Placci, Foundations of Success, guillermo@fosonline.org |
| Richard Margoluis, Foundations of Success, richard@fosonline.org |
| Caroline Stem, Foundations of Success, caroline@fosonline.org |
| Nick Salafsky, Foundations of Success, nick@fosonline.org |
| Vinaya Swaminathan, Foundations of Success, vinaya@fosonline.org |
| In 2004, the Worldwide Fund for Nature/WWF developed a set of program management standards designed to encourage systematic planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of its conservation efforts. The standards advocate a process that helps teams systematically design their projects and develop useful monitoring plans that provide the information they need to learn about and improve their conservation actions. Foundations of Success (FOS) - a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the practice of conservation - has played an instrumental role in helping develop and roll out these standards. FOS has helped build WWF capacity by conducting workshops, facilitating online learning courses, and providing face-to-face and remote technical assistance and follow-up. This session will highlight FOS's experience working with WWF teams, the methodology used, and some of the main achievements and challenges FOS and WWF have encountered. |
| Adaptive Management Training at the University of Maryland: Teaching Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Skills to Tomorrow's Leaders in Conservation. |
| Vinaya Swaminathan, Foundations of Success, vinaya@fosonline.org |
| Fabiano Godoy, Bushmeat Crisis Taskforce, fgodoy@conservation.org |
| Sara Zeigler, University of Maryland, szeigler@umd.edu |
| Marcia Brown, Foundations of Success, marcia@fosonline.org |
| Nick Salafsky, Foundations of Success, nick@fosonline.org |
| Richard Margoluis, Foundations of Success, richard@fosonline.org |
| Guillermo Placci, Foundations of Success, guillermo@fosonline.org |
| Caroline Stem, Foundations of Success, caroline@fosonline.org |
| At the request of the Conservation Measures Partnership (CMP), students in the Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology (CONS) Master's program at the University of Maryland (UMD) developed a graduate-level course in adaptive management. The course is based on the CMP Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation and teaches the theory and skills necessary for systematic project planning and effective monitoring and evaluation. Foundations of Success (FOS) played a large role in developing the course as part of our strategy to reach tomorrow's leaders' in conservation. UMD and FOS jointly offered the course to CONS students in Spring 2007. Enrolled students heard FOS presentations on strategic planning topics and experienced the practical side of project management by working in teams with practitioners and FOS facilitators to develop management plan outlines for actual conservation projects. This presentation will highlight the structure of the course and lessons learned from its first iteration. |