The Darwin Initiative

First regional Darwin workshop

The first regional workshop for the Darwin Initiative is to be in Arusha, Tanzania on the 6th November 2008. These workshops have until now been held solely in the UK and have been attended by UK Project Leaders and visiting staff but this workshop is now an opportunity for regional partners to attend. These workshops are an opportunity for teams to present their work surrounding the focus theme which for this workshop shall be ‘Partnerships'. This is intended to be a learning experience with topics arising from the presentations discussed in facilitated workshop sessions in the afternoon. The proposed theme is particularly pertinent given the remit of the Darwin Initiative to fund collaborative projects which draw on UK biodiversity expertise. To date 198 UK institutions have been involved in setting up collaborative projects. They range from big biodiversity institutions in the UK like the Natural History Museum, the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and WWF UK to academic institutions to small organisations or groups. The 759 partners in developing countries may come from government departments, universities, non-governmental organisations, scientists, policy makers, forestry workers, lawyers, teachers, or local communities and people.

We realise it may be financially and logistically impossible for the UK partners to attend this workshop. There is a second Darwin Initiative workshop planned for Spring 2009 in the UK which you will be invited to in due course. Please share this information with your partners so they are suitably notified of their invitation to the workshop. Further details of program and booking arrangements will be announced shortly.

In terms of presentations in the morning session we are interested to hear from parties who, through their Darwin projects, have lessons to share on what makes a good partnership. What have been the experiences of our regional partners of forming collaborations and networks, practical management solutions and best practice in establishing a productive, effective partnership under the Darwin Initiative? Please share this e-mail with your partners and nominate potential speakers by 20th September 2008. We will then contact speakers directly regarding their input to the workshop.

This workshop will be open to all current Darwin projects and recently completed Darwin projects with particular emphasis on Kenyan, Tanzanian and Ugandan experiences. The program is likely to follow previous UK workshop formats with presentations in the morning and early afternoon with time set aside in the afternoon for smaller seminar sessions.

Many thanks to all who aided in the development of this workshop format particularly in sourcing venues.

All submissions of potential speakers and queries regarding the workshop can be sent to:

Lesley Brown, Darwin Initiative Project Manager

Lesley-Brown@ltsi.co.uk

Darwin Projects
Pentlands Science Park,
Bush Loan,
Penicuik,
EH26 0PL

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