Call for Applications - Negotiation skills training

Resolving land and resource use conflicts in and around Terrestrial and Marine Protected Areas in the eastern and southern African region.

Protected areas and biodiversity (terrestrial and marine) are under increasing pressure from other sectors such as agriculture, extractive industries and fisheries due to increasing demand for land and resources from a growing human population and growing economies. Many governments in the eastern and southern African region are focussing economic growth and poverty alleviation efforts around the increased exploitation of natural resources, expansion of agricultural and fishing activities, both large-scale and subsistence as well as increased infrastructure development to aid access to markets. Often little consideration is given to the longer-term impacts of these activities on key ecosystem services and protected areas, which provide a crucial basis for future economic growth. This puts pressure on the managers of these key areas to defend the protected area and the specific resources it protects as a legitimate land use at all levels – site level, national level and even internationally – and requires extensive stakeholder engagement and negotiation with other sectors and neighbouring communities to ensure a sustainable approach to development.

Negotiation Training:
BIOPAMA, in collaboration with the Sustainability Challenge Foundation, is offering training on stakeholder engagement and negotiation skills, using the Mutual Gains Approach, to support efforts to better secure protected areas and key biodiversity areas in the Eastern and Southern African region. A central principle of the Mutual Gains Approach to negotiations is that the vast majority of negotiations in the real world involve parties who have more than one goal or concern in mind and more than one issue that can be addressed in the agreement they reach. This model allows parties to improve their chances of creating an agreement superior to existing alternatives and meeting the priority needs of all stakeholders. It is based on four key steps for negotiating more sustainable solutions: preparation, value creation, value distribution and following through.

Who should apply:
Protected Area staff and other relevant stakeholders actively engaging on potential land/resource use conflict issues to improve the sustainability of protected areas in the context of development. How to apply Applicants should identify and describe a specific land or resource use conflict that they are dealing with (existing or potential) and the key stakeholders involved in this existing or potential conflict. Applicants are requested to fill in the attached application form and send it by email to Christine Mentzel (Email:
Christine.Mentzel@iucn.org). Applications will be accepted until 30 September 2014.

Proposed Location
The courses will be held in either Kenya or South Africa, dependent on the applications received.

Proposed Course Dates (to confirmed early September)
There are two proposed months during which the courses will be held – please indicate your preference and we will confirm the exact dates as soon as possible with applicants/interested parties.
1) October 2014
2) February 2015

Financial support:
Costs covered by BIOPAMA for all participants are all costs at the training venue (accommodation, meals, training and conference package) and transfers from the airport to the venue. BIOPAMA is also offering financial support to applicants who are unable to cover their own travel costs (flights, airport transfer in country of origin, visa costs) to attend this training, however, we encourage some contribution from the applicant or the applicant’s employer (see also Application Form for details).

Find the application form here