The Conservation Capability Maturity model provides a very useful framework for assessing institutional capacity and effectiveness, especially regarding the key processes involved in the practice and management of conservation work. The model provides a scorecard format for identifying where an organization is on key processes (e.g., strategic planning, information management, learning and sharing) and what it would need to do to move to the next level (if relevant). The model draws heavily from the business sector – there is much to learn from this sector, but conservation practitioners should carefully consider their organizational context when applying some of the approaches…

This is a great resource for M&E staff or other “integrators” in small to medium-sized organizations that are playing a support role to projects and programs. It provides them with an understanding of how to improve workflows across their organizations, why it is important to do so, and why it is important to invest in processes and technology to support the conservation workflow, the core of its business. This is important information to get decision-makers in an organization to help them understand the value of the Open Standards and supporting technologies. The concepts in the document are excellent, but the…

This is an excellent guide that explains how to use Open Standards’ supporting systems, Miradi and Miradi Share, to manage project information. In particular, it provides guidance on using Miradi and Miradi Share for work planning, budgeting, and reporting across projects and rolling up to a program level (via Miradi Share). The guide is aimed at integrators (often monitoring and evaluation staff) in small-to-medium sized conservation organisations in the initial pilot stages of using Miradi and Miradi Share. Here is the link to the document, which is part of a comprehensive set of documents penned by Annette Stewart as part…

This document relates Open Standards concepts and tools with those of the “Collective Impact” framework, which provides guidance for organisations tackling complex “adaptive” problems (such as conservation challenges) involving multiple partners. Since its initial publication in 2011, the model has been widely used and is credited with providing support to many successful initiatives.  The Open Standards community has often struggled with the implementation phase of projects, where efforts can dissipate or inadequate monitoring thwarts efforts for results-based management and adaptive learning. Leveraging the Collective Impact principles has the potential to strengthen project implementation. Here is the link to the document,…

This report describes the emerging Environmental Impact Investing market, a potential source of funding at the scale required to effectively protect global biodiversity. It illustrates how use of the Open Standards builds the project management and impact measurement skills needed to access this market. It also outlines the IRIS Metrics, which provide an industry standard for reporting the impact of projects, helping investors to compare performance across different organisations. Here is the link to the document, which is part of a comprehensive set of documents penned by Annette Stewart as part of her 2016 Fulbright Scholarship. Also see below the…

This is a very useful resource for conservation teams to consult as they are designing their projects and programs. It encourages looking at different aspects of sustainability and being more intentional about building sustainability into projects and programs. The guide has good high-level advice, but it would be strengthened with greater use of examples of real-world application. Full Citation WWF (2017) Planning for Sustainability and Responsible Exits. WWF. Gland, Switzerland.

This thoughtful, persuasive and comprehensive report summarizes key findings from Annette Stewart’s Fulbright project: how organizations are using the Open Standards, and specifically how they manage their conservation work. The findings focus primarily on small-to-medium sized organizations, and how the tools Miradi and Miradi Share can be used to improve the management of the business. It identifies areas for improvement and thus focuses on “issues” rather than all the wonderful things that Annette found in her study. See the first entry below as the study’s summary and a user’s ‘roadmap’ of the component reports. Individual reports have been assessed by…