Community-Based Collaboration Workshop

Why Community-Based Collaboration?

An ever-increasing number of organizations in the Northern Rockies are embracing opportunities to collaborate with others at the community level to advance conservation. Some of these organizations have been involved in collaborative initiatives for many years; for others, such approaches are new and untested.

Collaborative approaches to community-based conservation are not always well defined and many of the terms and concepts used to describe such approaches are applied loosely. Moreover, there are relatively few reference sources offering case studies, or providing insights from practitioners or academics with regard to “Best Practices” or “Guiding Principles.” As a result, projects generally described as “community-based collaboratives” vary widely in their design and execution.

Recognizing the wealth of knowledge and experience from individuals and organizations in the Northern Rockies region, and drawing on available research and specialist expertise from academics and conservation practitioners, this workshop provides an opportunity share and discuss learnings from community based collaboration initiatives, craft shared definitions and principles, and identify best practices for maximizing conservation impact while avoiding pitfalls.

The conveners of this workshop anticipate that organizations and individuals—both experienced and new to the field—will gain knowledge and ideas from this event that will enable them to be more effective in their current and future projects and, as a result, the general public will have a better understanding and appreciation of the value of their conservation efforts.

The overall purpose of the workshop is to increase conservation impact of organizations embracing collaborative, community-based approaches to conservation.

Objectives include:

1. Ensure all participants have a shared understanding of key terms and concepts related to collaborative community based conservation and appreciation of the range of such initiatives across the Northern Rockies region.
2. Drawing from research, case studies and practical experience, identify a suite of guiding principles and best practices for effective, community-based collaboration, as well as some of the common pitfalls to be avoided.
3. Determine how guiding principles and best practices for effective, community-based collaboration might be applied to increase the effectiveness of conservation projects and initiatives in the region.

Draft agenda coming soon – content will be tailored to the specific needs and interests of participants.