Sanaz

4 months ago

Emma shared a project focused on removing the invasive plant Opuntia stricta and using it as biomass to produce biogas for two local schools. While the physical work, removing the plant and building the biogas chambers, was completed successfully, the project failed to train the local community on how to feed the biomass and use the bio-slurry. As a result, the system is now underused and the investment is going to waste. The project struggled mainly due to the lack of community training and engagement. A simple solution could have been to include a training component as part of the implementation, possibly with step-by-step visual guides and demonstration sessions. Involving local leaders or school staff as project stewards might also have helped ensure the system was used effectively after installation. This example shows that community capacity building is essential for the sustainability of conservation technologies.

Lara

4 months ago

Since I volunteered with hedgehogs recently, I envision a project aimed at reducing hedgehogs deaths in urban areas. This project would face several challenges because there is lack on consistent data gathering on hedgehogs mortality. There are confounding factors, since hedgehogs die in different ways, while road accidents might be easy to record, other causes as poisoning or fencing entrapment would be difficult to address. The project would also need the help of communities, with low community engagement it can't succeed. And the absence of targeted interventions in high-risk areas would make it difficult for the project to meet its goals. The possible solutions could be:

1. Engage more with communities and explain them the importance of the project and how crucial their involvement is.

2. Develop a monitoring framework combining multiple tools (ex. surveys and camera traps) and or by training volunteers and community members to collect data.

3. Target high-risk areas strategically and work with authorities to implement road safety measures where most needed.

Natalie Ellis

4 months ago

Hannah shared a project on testing for water quality, I feel that that this project failed down to lack of communication between the University and the conservationist as there was no end date for the research to be published leading to the data being out of date by the time came to publish it as other research organisations had already published their newer more relevant date regarding the water quality. 

Caitlin

4 months ago

Sanaz shared a project on reducing chemical rodenticide that sounded exciting! A way that could have ensured long-term use of the artificial nesting platforms could have been community involvement. This would educate the people living in the surrounding areas of where these platform where installed, and encouraged volunteer-custodians of the platforms. Holding a workshop to educate on the impact of chemical rodenticide in the wider food chain could also help to encourage people to seek more environmentally friendly options/appreciate their local birds of prey more. 

Chitalu Shikaputo

4 months ago

Emma shared an example of removing an invasive species in a local community, but highlighted that training was not provided to the community on how to manage biomass. Possible solutions to this would have been:

1. Engage the local community from the conception of the project to ensure that they are involved in all phases of the project.

2. Developing a training plan in the project to ensure that the community is not overlooked. 

3. Engaging with the community as the project is implemented to get their insights and inputs on the project and if they believe they have benefits.   

Antonio Craveiro

4 months ago

Last year I had the opportunity to work as an anti poaching ranger / trainer in Sierra Leone. We had so many projects at the same time (from education to installing camera traps or patrols) just in a few months because during the raining season it is very difficult to travel due to the state of the roads. There is no network in the field, so it was impossible to send reports to those renponsible and financial donors, which caused some confusion. In the end, our biggest conservation project had to be stopped because the American funding was completely cut off and we were unable to continue.

Bavoua Dede Tatou Brageor

4 months ago

Chitalu shared about a project to raise awareness activities that aimed to find out if local community members were aware of convictions associated with wildlife crimes, which was conducted after a poster campaign and sensitisation exercise was done. After two months, the team went back to the local communities only to find out that posters had been torn down. Additionally, the team did not have any baseline information on the level of knowledge of convictions; therefore, they could not determine if the exercise had any impact, such as increased knowledge of convictions on wildlife crimes among community members.

For them to have had a conviction that their campaign activity was successful, 

1) They should have involved the local community in the work team (staffing), from the community leaders to the local native group within the community, as they will directly be involved and will protect the project.

2) They could organise a follow-up phase workshop, starting with a pre-post questionnaire to determine if the exercise had any impact, such as increased knowledge of convictions on wildlife crimes among community members and the level of knowledge received as it was initiated from the onset of the project.

Hannah Cooper

4 months ago

Daud shared a community beach clean project that had its impact limited by funding phasing out. In order to prevent this from happening again when communities are reengaged, a project budget should be drawn up alongside a funding plan. This should include dates that allocated funds run out and new funding opportunities open, including any application deadlines. It should also assign a team member to be a funding lead, who should allocate budget according to active and prospective funding and search for new funding opportunities.

Irati Abascal Zúñiga

4 months ago

Chitalu shared an experience - If I understand correctly, the main objective of the original campaign was to find out whether the community was aware of convictions related to wildlife crimes. They carried out a poster campaign and sensitisation activities, but when the team returned, they found that all the posters had been removed.

Building on this, I would suggest that a crucial first step is to explore the situation and context within the community. It’s important to understand the local issues and to identify key people who can act as bridges—those who can share insights about the community and help create genuine interest and closer connections.

From experience, when external teams come in to “implement” something without prior engagement, it rarely goes well, especially in communities that haven’t had much access to information before.

So, in my opinion, it’s essential to involve the community from within. This means investing time in dialogue, interviews, and spending time together before any fieldwork begins. Building trust and relationships early on helps ensure the community understands and supports the work. There might be existing tensions or resistance around the topic, so having a clear picture of the context, interests, and challenges allows for designing more effective strategies.

Most importantly, the community should be active participants and owners of the process, not just recipients of solutions brought from outside.

As a potential solution, this approach could be framed as a workstream or work package within a project focused on community engagement and context assessment.

Key elements could include:

• Building strong bonds with the community by learning about their history, context, and local issues.

• Understanding local ideologies and the root causes of wildlife crimes (e.g., necessity, trafficking).

• Collaborating closely with community members to organise and develop awareness activities.

• Enabling the community itself to create and share sensitisation materials, making the message more relatable and effective.

• Establishing ongoing dialogue and feedback loops to adapt strategies as needed.

This would help ensure that any subsequent interventions are well-informed, culturally sensitive, and more likely to succeed.

Teagan Morris

4 months ago

Daud shared a story about a project aimed at increasing community awareness around the importance of clean shorelines. The projects funding was phased out which resulted in a lack of support from the project team. As Daud also stated, a lack of continuity planning for this project meant positive contributions and efforts were lost once funding disappeared. All projects need to have a continuity plan, which details what happens to the initiative at the end of the funding agreement. Will the initiative continue, and how?

Stanley Mbuagbaw

4 months ago

In Emma"s example,

The non appropriation by beneficiaires of the project concept and innovation is the major setback of the project. A ¨proper feasibility study and contextualised capacity building /knowledge transfer are possible measures to  use , appropriation and adoption by target beneficiairies. Also setting a local governance body for such an infrastructure are measures geared at rendering the beneficiairies autonomous on the use and sustainability of the initiative 

Mario Jimenez

4 months ago

Irati shared a seabird conservation project aimed at monitoring several species across different islands to assess populations and guide conservation actions.

The project faced difficulties because standardized protocols and training were not established from the beginning, which led each team, working on different islands, to apply different methods and obtain incompatible data. Additionally, the unequal distribution of resources left some teams without basic necessary equipment, affecting the quality and consistency of monitoring efforts. The lack of solid initial planning and constant communication between teams meant that these problems were not detected in time, compromising a significant portion of the collected data.

To avoid these mistakes, it would have been essential to hold a kickoff meeting where the objectives, methods, and roles of each team were clearly defined, while also ensuring that all teams had access to the minimum necessary resources. Developing standardized protocols and distributing them before starting fieldwork would have guaranteed consistency in data collection. Additionally, establishing a coordinating team responsible for maintaining fluid communication between the islands would have allowed for timely detection and correction of methodological deviations. The key was in proactive planning, ensuring equal operational conditions, and maintaining constant and effective communication among all teams.

C. M.

3 months ago

Marvelous details their experience with a community tree planting effort. Unfortunately tree survival rates were poor and budgets were maxed out; project had to be restarted the following year. In order to improve future outcomes I would suggest the following:

- Develop thorough standard operating procedures for each phase of the project: Planting - how deep, how far apart, tools needed, logging activity. Maintenance - how much water for each sapling, hand pull weeds or chemical control, etc. Monitoring - how often, what is the protocol, tools needed.

- Create a comprehensive schedule that includes all the phases of the project: Planting (what time frame, what locations), Maintenance (watering, weeding, repairing structural components), Monitoring (when to monitor which plots, can this be combined with any Maintenance activities). 

- Establish clear roles / responsibilities for those involved and ensure team members are adequately trained to complete those tasks. Is there a team that only plants trees, while other teams do other tasks? Or will all involved eventually perform each role? Clear roles and schedules would allow for more efficient management of time and work-hours, reducing redundant staffing and number of mobilization events.

- Ensure a clear line of communication between roles and phases. For example, each team should be logging their efforts so that the following team will know what has been completed and what still needs done. If a planting crew has to adjust their plots for some reason and only 100 trees could be planted instead of 200, there should be a way to record those changes and have others access that information. The maintenance crew needs to be able to know where to look for the trees and how the change impacts their watering schedule. The monitoring team would need to have access to this information as well; if they only see 100 trees when there are supposed to be 200, they could incorrectly assume that 1/2 of the trees had died and record inaccurate data.

Dr. Kassahun Berhanu

2 months ago

Lara proposed project to reduce hedgehog deaths in urban areas risks suffering from weak project parameters. Its scope is broad and lacks measurable targets, making priorities unclear. A defined budget and resource plan is missing, so activities such as community outreach, volunteer training, and monitoring may face funding gaps. There is no timeline for data collection or safety interventions, increasing the chance of delays. Data quality standards are not specified, leaving volunteer-collected information potentially inconsistent. Key risks like varied mortality causes are noted but not paired with mitigation strategies, and stakeholder engagement—critical for community participation and cooperation from local authorities—has no formal structure. Without clearly setting and enforcing these parameters, the project could experience scope creep, unreliable data, low participation, and inadequate funding, ultimately hindering its ability to reduce hedgehog mortality.

John Hartshorn

2 months ago

It's interesting to note that a common theme in a number of different people's examples is around not fixing, documenting, and agreeing the scope in relation to the known parameters of budget and time. Both Kass's project (veterinary hospital build) and my own example (a software development project) are very similar in that both projects began with poorly defined scope/requirements. Cynthia's example (a conservation education project) also shows the impact of making project assumptions that then turn out to be incorrect and then don't necessarily have mitigation plans in place.

Hannah Abbott

about 2 months ago

Ashton discusses park animals being translocated due to drought. The project had no clear budget and no number of animals was communicated. The preparation was lacking. 

- Risk-assessment in weather extremities to avoid future emergencies without preparation (put aside emergency equipment) 

- Communication of budget and numbers before taking on the task (is there a budget specifically set aside for unexpected circumstances) 

- Put Park Surveys in place to assess the location and environment 

Brenda Muriithi

25 days ago

Marli’s example on the National Response Strategy to Succulent Poaching in South Africa highlights common challenges in multi-stakeholder conservation projects. The project struggled mainly due to unclear role definitions, unrealistic timelines, and insufficient focus on behaviour change, which is critical when addressing demand-driven illegal trade.

To make the project more effective, a few simple steps could have helped:

1.Integrating a behavioural change component into the strategy to target demand in consumer countries.

2.Clarifying roles and coordination mechanisms among implementing agencies to avoid duplication of efforts.

3.Revising the project timeline and budget allocations to reflect realistic, achievable targets.

Such adjustments could strengthen collaboration, improve efficiency, and make the overall impact more sustainable.

Priyanka Sheoran

4 days ago

In an example by Kass about launching a plan to build Veterinary Teaching Hospital with special facilities for stray horses and donkeys. The main drawbacks were: hospital’s objectives were not written or agreed upon, increasing cost and complexity; the funding estimate was incomplete and lacked a contingency reserve, leading to a serious budget shortage; lastly, roles and decision-making authority were unclear, and risks such as cost overruns were not tracked. In my opinion, the involvement of the accounts department should have been there, so that a detailed budget could have been formulated. This would have helped overall project in keeping a close eye on the expenses. This example underscores the importance of coordination between multiple departments to make a project successful.