The apparent gap between GBIF and decision makers, at the national level, reflects a deficiency in the implementation of actions to improve the impact of GBIF-mediated data in the government policy. It is important to improve and strengthen this link, highlighting the importance of evidence-based decision making through the discussion of strategies and the generation of policy-relevant data products.
As part of the Biodiversity Information for Development programme, GBIF has led a series of capacity enhancement workshops on biodiversity data use for decision-making. The adaptation of these workshops to our community and regional needs, will contribute to bridge the gap between GBIF nodes and managers.
To achieve this, we have identified experts within the Spanish-speaking community who can lead and adapt each of the workshop topics. The target audience for these workshops will be people who can have a strategic impact on environmental policies (i.e., representatives of national networks, agencies and NGOs) who also possess an understanding of biodiversity data management and basic computer skills to enable them to apply data use techniques in decision-making.
This proposal is well-aligned with the 2019 GBIF work programme, as it aims to extend the course materials for wider reuse and in different regions (1b Strengthen skills).
The project team will measure the success of the workshop based on post-event participant surveys that evaluating relevance of topics, activities and usability of materials. To monitor long-term impact, we will monitor the participants' replication of the workshop curriculum (either in part or in whole). While workshop replication lies outside the project's temporal scope, but the nodes' encouragement and support of such efforts will serve as an indicator of their success in managing the project.
Project Progress
The project began as proposed bringing together countries and experts in the use of biodiversity data to discuss the reuse and adaptation of existing materials available, to train key actors in the methodologies and strategies to incorporate the use of the data into their workflows. It worked towards the coordination of the planned workshop and locating the ideal participants to attend. An informative brochure containing the background of the project, the program and the expected learning results for the workshop were also developed.
However, due to the COVID-19 and its global context, which forced continuous restructuring of the project in time and form, it was eventually necessary for the project team to cancel the project.
At the closing stage of the project, training materials prepared and translated during implementation were shared with the GBIF Secretariat, with the view to building on this work, and project partners continue to the work towards achieving the project’s objective through their institutional guidelines.
