Approach

The workshop will proceed from the premise that there have been significant achievements in parks and protected area management in the insular Caribbean in recent years, and that these achievements, and the participants that are responsible for them, provide the basis for creating a culture of success essential to further capacity building.  A training goal for this workshop is to create a culture of achievement by engaging leaders about spotting success, nurturing it, and becoming comfortable with being successful.  Rather than dwelling on the failures in management, participants will be invited to consider how to replicate or improve on success.  The country participants will be asked to prepare and submit ahead of time, a brief situation analysis of the critical aspects of governance, including:

• The existing protected area governance situation (Who is involved?  Who holds the decision-making authority and responsibility?  Who is accountable to whom? What structures, institutions and relationships are concerned?  How do they function?)
• The protected area governance goals (What are the values, principles, approaches and goals underlying the system?  Can those be better served by an improved governance system? )
• The desirable changes in protected area governance (What needs to be modified for the PA governance system to function more effectively and efficiently?  Who can take action? How?  With whose help?  With what resources?)
• The strengths and weaknesses of existing protected areas management arrangements, and the opportunities and threats to these protected areas, especially from climate change.
• Information resources and tools to empower stakeholders in effective decision-making
• The possibilities of other governance types (private/public partnerships, private protected areas, and community conserved areas, etc),……… have any lessons been learnt or documented?

The workshop will start with a visioning exercise, in which participants will consider an ideal situation 5 years hence. Small-group and plenary discussion will help to develop a consensus vision of protected area management that will serve as the foundation for the action planning sessions that will follow.The second and third days of the workshop will review the governance aspects based upon the vision and situation analysis, identifying strengths and weaknesses, constraints and challenges that they have faced in protected area management.  Participants will reflect on lessons learned or lessons that should be learnt from their prior experiences and identify strategies for overcoming obstacles.   Elements of leadership skill training, including communication skills, and facilitation skills will be interwoven with the sessions. The fourth and final day will be spent on the discussion of the need for and elements of a capacity-building program that could be developed and used to build local governance capacity using tools such as interactive training modules.  Additionally, participants will concentrate on elements of success and the role of the peer network in reinforcing success in the region.  Benchmarks and targets will be identified and participants will be asked to commit to specific steps that they intend to take to promote a culture of management excellence in the region.