Survey results and next steps

By: Peter van Sluijs

Key findings

• A lot of you indicated "leading a project or organisation" as an important aspect of what you like in your job. Having contacts with people and organisations is important for your work, and many of you would like more access to experts, libraries, research institutions, governments and international partners. Basically: to people and organisations outside your current network. And, especially in Africa, you want to make your information and experiences more available to those others.
  
  
• The accent on information needs seems to lean towards having access to evaluations in Asia and Europe, and towards specific practical examples/case studies in Africa. European and African respondents would like more access to case studies. "Nature conservation" is particularly in Africa an important topic. Information about fundraising opportunities is important for many, and a lot of you would like better access to such information.
  
  
• Most of you access information on websites daily. We did the survey via the web, so we expected those who respond to have relatively easy access to the web, but with such a high response and a lot of you accessing websites almost daily, we're confident the Natureandpoverty.net website can play an important role.
  
  
• It seems that in Asia and Europe, people use more (different) websites as well. And the easier your access to the internet, the more you likely to have more access to information, like case studies and geographical data. Access to information via mobile phone and radio seems mostly prominent in Africa, and least so in Europe. Accessing the web via mobile phone is mostly done in Asia.

Next steps

We want to position the Natureandpoverty.net website as a platform to foster contacts between professionals who lead projects and organisations, and to share practical experiences, case studies, and lessons learned. We will work towards a platform that makes it easier to find the information you are looking for, by connecting to other websites on nature conservation and poverty reduction. The way we are building the website is "step by step": we will have a first version of the website in the next few weeks, which will allow you to create a personal profile, and join our discussions on how the case studies can be made the most useful, and how the platform can be used to share your experiences, and help make workshops and learning opportunities more effective and lasting. The next "step", a few weeks later, will then enable you to share and find experiences around the world, and keep up with what others are sharing, based on the outcomes of that discussion. Subsequent "steps" will be determined based on your experiences and feedback, to make the portal as easy to use as possible and helping you in your work to lead your projects and organisations. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly with any questions or comments you might have! With kind regards, Peter van Sluijs Coordinator Natureandpoverty.net